DUSTIN JOHNSON

I was always a natural drawer of the ball until, in 2015, I decided to start fading everything left-to-right. The decision was made to help keep my driver under control, but it’s had a beneficial impact on my irons. With a fade, your attack is slightly more downward and your path tends to work left through impact. This helps compress the ball and improves spin, flight and distance control. It also helps it land softer on the green.

MAKE YOUR SHAPE ADJUSTMENTS AT ADDRESS

For me, hitting a fade is all done at set-up. I like to play with zero swing thoughts, and knowing that my address position takes care of my shot shape helps me with that. I aim my feet, hips and shoulders a little left of parallel to the ball-target line to encourage a leftward swing path. Then I aim the clubface between my path and the ball-target line at impact.

The Coach’s View

why there’s room for latitude in DJ’s technique

“When DJ started working with my father, Butch, they talked about the very bowed wrist and ‘shut’ face he played with. My dad was smart enough to leave it in place. ‘This is what makes you good,’ he told DJ. ‘We could change it, but then no one’s going to know who you are.’ History has shown us that trying to force orthodoxy on a feel player rarely works. DJ proves that, as long as you put the club on the ball consistently well, there is plenty of room for latitude in technique.”

– Claude Harmon, Jr