Power Fade Delivers Driving Distance With Control - Golf (Video) - by Pete Styles
Power Fade Delivers Driving Distance With Control - Golf (Video) - by Pete Styles

If you're a big driver of the golf ball, and you're trying to hit the golf ball as far as you can down there in the golf course, you've got to make sure you've got some control mixed in with that power. And quite a nice shot to have in your lock is a power fade, a left-to-right shot, not really a slice or a cut, but a deliberate left-to-right slider for the right-handed golfer.

And the easiest way and best way for you to play a power fade is to start off by aiming correctly, aligning correctly to try and make the fairway play as big as possible. So start off by teeing your ball upon the right-hand side of the teeing ground, and then aiming down the left-hand side of the center of the fairway, so from the right-hand side of the teeing ground, aim down the left center of the fairway. That makes the fairway feel like it's playing bigger when the ball is moving from left-to-right as it will do when you faded the ball.

Now to create a fade on the golf ball, you have to have a clubface that's slightly open to your swing path. So if your swing path is heading down the left-hand side and your face is open to that path, the ball will move gently from left to right. Don't open the face too much in relation to that path. It will create too much spin and it might turn into a slice or a cut.

So if your body's aiming down the left-hand side of center, and then your face is aiming slightly more towards the center of the fairway, so not quite as far left, then you go ahead and make your normal, classical straight shot, the ball – straight shot, swing should I say, your normal swing that would hit a straight shot but with that adjustment and setup, the ball will set off down the left side and just start to move back towards the center of the fairway.

And the power fade is quite a nice, useful shot because generally it has a little bit more backspin on the golf ball than the normal drawing shot that you might try and hit for distance. The fading shot, a little bit more backspin lands softly on the fairway, doesn't run too much, flies a little bit higher. And you might feel that's a safer, more controlled shot than trying to hit a big raking hook or a big raking draw that might go further, but the power fade might be a safer, more controlled shot.

So if you're using the driver to hit the ball a long way, have a power fade in your armory as well because that's a safe version of that long tee shot.

 2012-08-08

If you're a big driver of the golf ball, and you're trying to hit the golf ball as far as you can down there in the golf course, you've got to make sure you've got some control mixed in with that power. And quite a nice shot to have in your lock is a power fade, a left-to-right shot, not really a slice or a cut, but a deliberate left-to-right slider for the right-handed golfer.

And the easiest way and best way for you to play a power fade is to start off by aiming correctly, aligning correctly to try and make the fairway play as big as possible. So start off by teeing your ball upon the right-hand side of the teeing ground, and then aiming down the left-hand side of the center of the fairway, so from the right-hand side of the teeing ground, aim down the left center of the fairway. That makes the fairway feel like it's playing bigger when the ball is moving from left-to-right as it will do when you faded the ball.

Now to create a fade on the golf ball, you have to have a clubface that's slightly open to your swing path. So if your swing path is heading down the left-hand side and your face is open to that path, the ball will move gently from left to right. Don't open the face too much in relation to that path. It will create too much spin and it might turn into a slice or a cut.

So if your body's aiming down the left-hand side of center, and then your face is aiming slightly more towards the center of the fairway, so not quite as far left, then you go ahead and make your normal, classical straight shot, the ball – straight shot, swing should I say, your normal swing that would hit a straight shot but with that adjustment and setup, the ball will set off down the left side and just start to move back towards the center of the fairway.

And the power fade is quite a nice, useful shot because generally it has a little bit more backspin on the golf ball than the normal drawing shot that you might try and hit for distance. The fading shot, a little bit more backspin lands softly on the fairway, doesn't run too much, flies a little bit higher. And you might feel that's a safer, more controlled shot than trying to hit a big raking hook or a big raking draw that might go further, but the power fade might be a safer, more controlled shot.

So if you're using the driver to hit the ball a long way, have a power fade in your armory as well because that's a safe version of that long tee shot.