Causes Of A Fade Golf Swing

Learning how to correct a fade in your golf swing is one of the fastest ways to gain an extra 10 to 20 yards on your golf drives. A fade is a much better ball flight than a hook, so don’t fret too much if you are a fader of the golf ball, but if you don’t like this ball flight, I’ve got some tips that may help you hit either a straight golf ball or a draw.

Causes Of A Fade Golf Swing

There are several different causes of a fade. The first, most obvious one is an open clubface at impact. This will push the ball out to the right 90% of the time. Another cause may be an upper body dive during your downswing, which will get you ahead of the ball at impact, with no time to square the face, again leaving it open through impact. An over the top golf swing can also create a fade, as your swing path is outside to in, imparting sidespin on your golf ball. One last possible issue is a lateral slide towards the target with your lower body. This is similar to the upper body dive, in which you get ahead of the golf ball at impact, leaving the clubface wide open.

Use A Stronger Golf Grip

Many times a fade is the result of a weaker golf grip. So for a right handed golfer, that means the left hand is rotated to far to the left if you’re looking straight down at your golf grip. Many times you will only see one knuckle on your left hand, which is considered a weak, if not atleast a neutral golf grip. The proper golf grip is shown in the picture below. Notice how my left hand is rotated more to the right if you were to be looking down at it? This is considered a stronger golf grip (but could be even stronger, but I wouldn’t recommend it), which will close the clubface more rapidly through impact. This closing of the face will correct your fade and produce a straight or draw golf shot.

 

Square Your Clubface At Address

This may sound like a “duh” tip, but I can tell you after 15 years of playing golf, and currently playing to a 7 handicap, I recently found out my face was open at address. It blew me away, but the very second I made the correction, my ball flight and compression was 100% improved. I was absolutely amazed at how solid I was hitting the ball after I fixed my square clubface at address. If you’ve never seen how it looks to have a square face, take a look at the picture I took recently.

 

Hit Inside Quarter Of Golf Ball

Here’s a golf tip I got that helped me visualize impact. I was told to focus on hitting the inside quarter of the golf ball. So if you’re looking down at the golf ball, and you break the ball into fourths; the bottom right fourth is the area you are aiming at hitting. This will encourage an inside to out swing which will promote a slight draw if you release the club. If you don’t release it, it will go right.

 

See the arrow? That is your visual to where you want your clubface to contact the ball.

I hope you enjoyed the above tips to help correct a fade in your golf swing. If you did, you’ll want to download our 25 Free Golf Lessons to help you even more!

Related posts: