You're Correct!

Controlling the spin placed on a golf ball at impact is the mark of a truly accomplished player.

Hitting a fade into the wind is one of the most difficult shots to master because of the way the ball reacts to the combination of clockwise spin and buffeting wind.

As the ball is struck into the wind, any spin placed on the ball will be multiplied the longer it flies through the air. This includes back spin and side spin which needs to be taken into account when selecting the club to play.

Most golfers would be safer selecting a club with much lower loft and keeping the ball down to minimize the amount of height produced. As long as the ball is struck with a descending blow and a fade swing technique, a low left to right ball flight should be produced. Use this following technique and set up to play a better fade shot.

• Set up – place the ball just further back in the stance than you usually would with the selected club. Feet should be about shoulder width apart.
• Alignment should be angled left of the ball-to-target line. The more fade a player wants, the more they should angle their body to the left.
• Adopt your normal posture but place about 60% body weight on the front foot and lean the shaft towards the target so the hands are ahead of the ball opposite the left thigh.
• The club face should be aiming left of the ball to target line and right of the body alignment.
• Swing the club away along the toe line (out-to-in across the ball to target line) keeping the body weight 60% on the front foot.
• Drive down and through the ball, keeping 60% body weight on the front foot.
• With the ball placed further back in the stance than normal a downward strike should be easy to achieve.
• At impact the hands should be ahead of the ball and the club face should still be pointing left of the ball to target line and right of the body alignment.
• The ball should fly lower than normal with a piercing flight and move left to right through the air.

If you want to hit a fade into the wind, take one more club, hit it low and keep the swing rhythm smooth.

When you hit the ball harder, the amount of spin will increase. This means a ball struck hard into the wind will most likely climb high and stall in its flight. As Ernie Els once said: “When the wind starts to blow, swing it slow”.

If the wind is blowing into but off the left, hitting a higher ball could help it curve through the air a little easier. But hitting a ball high into the wind will always leave the golfer open to an odd gust which could throw the shot offline.

Hitting a more lofted club will increase spin but not the kind a golfer needs to produce a fade. Lofted clubs will produce a greater amount of back spin which will eliminate side spin. This is why most golfers can hit the lofted irons straighter than the longer irons.