Shaping Shots, Golf (Video) - by Pete Styles
Shaping Shots, Golf (Video) - by Pete Styles

So shaping the golf ball is often something that club and amateur golfers will do by mistake, by accident; but, actually, the professionals will be able to control their shape of shots deliberately. Now, if you've got a big curve to your ball that is by accident, I would encourage you to try and get that sorted out first. So if it's a big slice-one or a big hook that you're prone to doing, try and iron that out to a certain degree, try and get the ball going straighter.

Now, once you've got the ball a bit straighter and you're hitting shots that don't deviate too much off the line, that's when you can start to investigate the idea of deliberately curving the golf ball. Very few professionals will actually hit perfectly straight, laser-straight shots. In fact, Ben Hogan famously said that he only hits a golf ball straight by accident. He was always visualizing the ball curving from left to right or right to left. And he worked on the principle that if he chose to hit it one direction, it wouldn't get caught up by going the opposite direction; whereas if he hit the ball that's straight, it could go left; it could go right.

The other issue is, when you're playing around the golf course, quite often, the course will actually ask you to shape the ball a certain way, be it the layout of the hole is curving one way or another or the hazards are down one side or the green lays on a certain angle. The other issue where bending the golf ball can be quite helpful is to try and compensate for the wind. So if you're playing against a nice right-to-left wind, but as a golfer, you can hit a left-to-right shot, the ball will actually fly straighter because the shape and the wind will actually compensate for each of that iron--each of the round.

So there's lots of different reasons why you should try and shape the golf ball if you can be consistent doing it. If you're struggling with your consistency and you're getting wild hooks and big slices, just try and stick to getting your shape to be more consistent and straight rather than deliberately bending the ball. So this tip is maybe aimed at the more advanced golfer, the golfer who can already hit the ball quite straight quite nicely but then can see a course management advantage to being able to bend the golf ball. So left to right around the dog-leg, left to right into that cross wind as well or left to right to stay away from the danger; likewise, right to left, drawing it. Generally speaking, the draw should go a little bit further and is considered to be a better flight to watch and nicer shot shape. But, quite often, that little fade-y shot can work really nicely as well.

And just when you're in the driving range, experiment with hitting the ball different shapes. So I like to do a little routine where I'll pick one flag out in the distance, maybe 150 yards away, take a normal sort of standing club for that distance, be it a seven-iron or whatever, and then try and hit that flag with three different shapes. Try and hit that flag with a right to left draw shot, try and hit the same flag but with a little left to right fade shot, and then try and hit one that's nice and straight down to the same flag. And just work out which one feels the most consistent for yourself, which one feels like you can get a good strike and it's the same every single time. And if you've got a more consistent shot, try and stick to that one. Don't try and force the opposite distance--the opposite directional shape to the one you're most comfortable doing. So stick to a nice, consistent shape if you can. Straight, good; a little bit curve-y, the way is okay. Don't be confusing shaping the ball with slicing or hooking the ball, a different thing. If you're slicing and hooking, sort that out first then try and start shaping the ball with an element of control as well.

 2012-05-31

So shaping the golf ball is often something that club and amateur golfers will do by mistake, by accident; but, actually, the professionals will be able to control their shape of shots deliberately. Now, if you've got a big curve to your ball that is by accident, I would encourage you to try and get that sorted out first. So if it's a big slice-one or a big hook that you're prone to doing, try and iron that out to a certain degree, try and get the ball going straighter.

Now, once you've got the ball a bit straighter and you're hitting shots that don't deviate too much off the line, that's when you can start to investigate the idea of deliberately curving the golf ball. Very few professionals will actually hit perfectly straight, laser-straight shots. In fact, Ben Hogan famously said that he only hits a golf ball straight by accident. He was always visualizing the ball curving from left to right or right to left. And he worked on the principle that if he chose to hit it one direction, it wouldn't get caught up by going the opposite direction; whereas if he hit the ball that's straight, it could go left; it could go right.

The other issue is, when you're playing around the golf course, quite often, the course will actually ask you to shape the ball a certain way, be it the layout of the hole is curving one way or another or the hazards are down one side or the green lays on a certain angle. The other issue where bending the golf ball can be quite helpful is to try and compensate for the wind. So if you're playing against a nice right-to-left wind, but as a golfer, you can hit a left-to-right shot, the ball will actually fly straighter because the shape and the wind will actually compensate for each of that iron–each of the round.

So there's lots of different reasons why you should try and shape the golf ball if you can be consistent doing it. If you're struggling with your consistency and you're getting wild hooks and big slices, just try and stick to getting your shape to be more consistent and straight rather than deliberately bending the ball. So this tip is maybe aimed at the more advanced golfer, the golfer who can already hit the ball quite straight quite nicely but then can see a course management advantage to being able to bend the golf ball. So left to right around the dog-leg, left to right into that cross wind as well or left to right to stay away from the danger; likewise, right to left, drawing it. Generally speaking, the draw should go a little bit further and is considered to be a better flight to watch and nicer shot shape. But, quite often, that little fade-y shot can work really nicely as well.

And just when you're in the driving range, experiment with hitting the ball different shapes. So I like to do a little routine where I'll pick one flag out in the distance, maybe 150 yards away, take a normal sort of standing club for that distance, be it a seven-iron or whatever, and then try and hit that flag with three different shapes. Try and hit that flag with a right to left draw shot, try and hit the same flag but with a little left to right fade shot, and then try and hit one that's nice and straight down to the same flag. And just work out which one feels the most consistent for yourself, which one feels like you can get a good strike and it's the same every single time. And if you've got a more consistent shot, try and stick to that one. Don't try and force the opposite distance–the opposite directional shape to the one you're most comfortable doing. So stick to a nice, consistent shape if you can. Straight, good; a little bit curve-y, the way is okay. Don't be confusing shaping the ball with slicing or hooking the ball, a different thing. If you're slicing and hooking, sort that out first then try and start shaping the ball with an element of control as well.