Instruction
Collin Morikawa’s simple key for hitting draws and fades
Most amateurs struggle to manufacture different shots off the tee, particularly if they go against the player’s natural shot shape. One reason is, they make it too complicated. When it comes time to hit a draw, they might alter their alignment, ball position, grip, clubface aim—you name it. The tweaks can be endless.
But as 2020 PGA champion Collin Morikawa explains, you don’t have to change a lot to create your desired ball flight. For Morikawa, the difference between hitting a draw or fade is as simple as how you follow through—lower for a draw and higher for a fade. “Finish is huge for me,” Morikawa says. “[For shot shape] a lot has to do with where I’m going to finish.”
As Morikawa demonstrates in this video, when the club finishes low and around the body, slightly below head height, the clubface tends to release a little more through impact and impart right-to-left spin on the ball. Conversely, when the club finishes higher, that promotes less face rotation through the ball, imparting left-to-right spin and producing a fade.
Morikawa explains how he shapes the ball in the below video:
Learn how to not only shape the ball but also to control trajectory and distance in “Undercover Lessons: Collin Morikawa,” now available in Golf Digest Schools. In this 22-minute, mic’d-up range session with Morikawa and his coach, Rick Sessinghaus, you’ll learn all about how golf’s emerging star controls his shots.
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