Knowing When To Work The Golf Ball (Video) - by Pete Styles
Knowing When To Work The Golf Ball (Video) - by Pete Styles

As you start to gain a little bit more confidence and competence in terms of how you can shake the ball and work the ball on the driving range, you start to take that skill out on the golf course. It’s now important to utilize that skill at the right time when you’re actually on the golf course for real. The first consideration of when you might want to work the ball would be to have a dogleg. So if the ball – the hole is shaped that it goes straight and then curves off to one side and you as a golfer now have the ability to curve the ball around that dogleg, you might actually now start to use that shot.

So let’s imagine we’ve got a hole that doglegs from left to right of the tee, I can set it with my driver, aim down the left side, aim the face a little bit open, and deliberately fade the ball from left to right. So as the ball comes down it goes round the corner of the dogleg it might make the hole feel shorter, it might make the fairway play and feel a little bit wider if you can curve the ball around the fairway. Now the next consideration might be when you’re playing in the wind. So today I’m playing in the wind and the ball is – the wind is coming from left to right which means the ball is curving out to the right. Now if I don’t want the ball to curve to the right what I could do is actually try and shape the ball from right to left. So I’m going to try and play a draw, the wind’s going to come in from the left and if I get my amount of drill right, it’s going to cancel out the wind. I’m actually going to hit quite a straight shot. So I’m drawing, the wind’s pushing it back the other way and the two counts are at each other will end up straight. What we’d definitely want to avoid is a left to right wind and then a fade and the ball doubles the effect on the wind and certainly goes an awful long way to the right off target. So use the shape to effect the wind or to neutralize the wind. Next issue in shaping the ball and working the ball might work in your favor is actually trying to hit the ball really close to a flag. So let’s imagine that we’re tree lined down the right-hand side, we’ve got a small green set towards the trees and the flag is set over towards the trees as well. Now if I try and draw the ball in towards those – that flag around those trees, I’m actually going to send my ball almost into the trees to try and draw it back in, that’s going to be very, very difficult. But how about playing a fade in this situation? I aim on the left side, I fade the ball back in, the ball moves away from the trees and then it comes down in towards the trees, rolls up nice and close to the flag. So I’ve actually been able to get the ball nice and close to kind of a tucked in pen position but I’ve been able to avoid the trees. Now one last consideration would be to avoid a big hazard. Now on certain times on the golf course you’re going to see a big hazard. I don’t mean the little bunkers or the slightly long grass, no I mean out of bounds fences, houses, ponds, lakes, ditches, things that are really going to cost you penalties. So let’s imagine we’re playing a hole where it’s out of bounds all the way down the right-hand side of the fairway. But down the left-hand side it’s quite open and a bit more space. In that instance I would actually try and hit a draw. So I would aim towards the right-hand side, not actually at the out of bounds but towards the right-hand side of the fairway, and then I would make the ball move from right to left, I’d try and draw the ball. And pretty much as soon as I hit the ball and it moves from right to left I know the ball is not going to go in the hazard, I know it’s going to move to the safe side of the fairway. Because if I was hitting that shot and fading it, let’s say I aim left to avoid the hazard allegedly, I then fade the ball, now the ball is flying towards the hazard and as it lands is rolling towards the hazard, that to me is a bigger risk. So shaping the ball and working the ball can work in all four of those different scenarios. So helping the ball move from right to left, left to right can improve your on course core strategy by avoiding those hazards. 2016-08-24

As you start to gain a little bit more confidence and competence in terms of how you can shake the ball and work the ball on the driving range, you start to take that skill out on the golf course. It’s now important to utilize that skill at the right time when you’re actually on the golf course for real. The first consideration of when you might want to work the ball would be to have a dogleg. So if the ball – the hole is shaped that it goes straight and then curves off to one side and you as a golfer now have the ability to curve the ball around that dogleg, you might actually now start to use that shot.

So let’s imagine we’ve got a hole that doglegs from left to right of the tee, I can set it with my driver, aim down the left side, aim the face a little bit open, and deliberately fade the ball from left to right. So as the ball comes down it goes round the corner of the dogleg it might make the hole feel shorter, it might make the fairway play and feel a little bit wider if you can curve the ball around the fairway.

Now the next consideration might be when you’re playing in the wind. So today I’m playing in the wind and the ball is – the wind is coming from left to right which means the ball is curving out to the right. Now if I don’t want the ball to curve to the right what I could do is actually try and shape the ball from right to left. So I’m going to try and play a draw, the wind’s going to come in from the left and if I get my amount of drill right, it’s going to cancel out the wind. I’m actually going to hit quite a straight shot.

So I’m drawing, the wind’s pushing it back the other way and the two counts are at each other will end up straight. What we’d definitely want to avoid is a left to right wind and then a fade and the ball doubles the effect on the wind and certainly goes an awful long way to the right off target. So use the shape to effect the wind or to neutralize the wind. Next issue in shaping the ball and working the ball might work in your favor is actually trying to hit the ball really close to a flag.

So let’s imagine that we’re tree lined down the right-hand side, we’ve got a small green set towards the trees and the flag is set over towards the trees as well. Now if I try and draw the ball in towards those – that flag around those trees, I’m actually going to send my ball almost into the trees to try and draw it back in, that’s going to be very, very difficult. But how about playing a fade in this situation? I aim on the left side, I fade the ball back in, the ball moves away from the trees and then it comes down in towards the trees, rolls up nice and close to the flag.

So I’ve actually been able to get the ball nice and close to kind of a tucked in pen position but I’ve been able to avoid the trees. Now one last consideration would be to avoid a big hazard. Now on certain times on the golf course you’re going to see a big hazard. I don’t mean the little bunkers or the slightly long grass, no I mean out of bounds fences, houses, ponds, lakes, ditches, things that are really going to cost you penalties.

So let’s imagine we’re playing a hole where it’s out of bounds all the way down the right-hand side of the fairway. But down the left-hand side it’s quite open and a bit more space. In that instance I would actually try and hit a draw. So I would aim towards the right-hand side, not actually at the out of bounds but towards the right-hand side of the fairway, and then I would make the ball move from right to left, I’d try and draw the ball. And pretty much as soon as I hit the ball and it moves from right to left I know the ball is not going to go in the hazard, I know it’s going to move to the safe side of the fairway.

Because if I was hitting that shot and fading it, let’s say I aim left to avoid the hazard allegedly, I then fade the ball, now the ball is flying towards the hazard and as it lands is rolling towards the hazard, that to me is a bigger risk. So shaping the ball and working the ball can work in all four of those different scenarios. So helping the ball move from right to left, left to right can improve your on course core strategy by avoiding those hazards.