How to Hit a Fade in Golf: 8 Practical Tips & Drills for a Controlled Fade
Hitting a fade isn’t as simple as lining up left and swinging away. You can rehearse the “how-to” steps all day and still watch the ball go straight, or worse, slice.
The key is understanding that a controlled fade comes from the right combination of setup, wrist position, swing path, and follow-through.
A fade is one of the most reliable shots in golf because it flies high, lands softly, and stops quickly. It’s the shot professionals lean on when accuracy matters most, and it’s one amateurs can learn with just a few small adjustments.
In this guide, we’ll walk through practical, easy-to-apply tips to help you produce a consistent fade, without overhauling your entire swing.
How to Hit a Fade in Golf (Key Takeaways)
If you don’t have time to read our entire guide on how to hit a fade, you can take away with you these most important tips.
- To hit a fade, your clubface must be slightly open to the swing path at impact. Control that angle of the clubface by having a little extra extension in your lead wrist.
- Weakening your grip should help you keep the clubface more open through impact and hit the fade.
- Moving the ball position slightly forward can help promote a more left-to-right ball flight.
- Check to make sure your equipment is not draw bias and prevent you from hitting a fade.
- Trying a slightly outside-in swing path should help you get the ball fading, if you exaggerate this too much, you’ll hit a slice.
1. What do you want to improve in your full swing?
8 Practical Tips for Hitting a Fade Shot in Golf Every Time
1. Get the Lead Wrist Slightly Extended
Extension in the lead wrist often causes problems for golfers trying to hit straight shots.
But when your goal is to hit a fade, that same move actually works in your favor.
Extension, sometimes called “cupping”, is when the back of your lead hand bends upward toward your wrist. This motion slightly opens the clubface, which is exactly what you need for a controlled fade.
The key is moderation: a small amount of extension is enough to create the left-to-right flight. Too much, and you’ll risk pushing the ball or slicing.
A simple way to train this is with a pre-set drill, set your lead wrist into a bit of extension at address, then swing normally.
Wearing your HackMotion while practicing gives you instant feedback on how much extension you’re creating, making it easier to repeat the right feel every time.
2. Weaken Your Grip
A weaker grip helps you deliver the club with a slightly open face at impact—ideal for producing a fade.
If you’ve ever fought a slice, chances are an instructor told you to strengthen your grip. For hitting a fade, the opposite applies.
Turn both hands slightly to the left (for a right-handed player) so they sit more on top of the grip rather than on the side or underneath.
This position makes it harder to shut the clubface through impact, giving you that soft left-to-right ball flight.
Checkpoints for a Weaker Grip:
- You should see only 1 to 2 knuckles on your lead (left) hand at address.
- The “V” formed between your thumb and index finger on both hands should point more toward your lead shoulder rather than your trail shoulder.
- Your trail (right) hand should feel more on top of the grip instead of sitting under it.
Pro tip here: Make this change subtle. A slight adjustment is usually enough to encourage a fade; you don’t want to overhaul your grip completely.
3. Move the Ball Position Up a Bit
Shifting the ball slightly forward of center helps promote a higher, softer fade that lands and stops quickly.
At setup, place the ball just ahead of its normal position and feel like your head stays behind it a touch longer through impact.
This keeps the clubface open a fraction longer and encourages that left-to-right movement. Use alignment sticks to check ball position, too far forward, and you’ll start to see inconsistency in your strike.
4. Let the Club Exit Left (Right Handed Golfers)
One thing that all the best golfers have in common is the way they exit their swing.
This refers to the position the club assumes after striking the golf ball.
To practice this left exit, you will take an extra golf glove and put it under your right armpit. As you swing through the golf balls, squeeze the glove in place. This will push the club to the left and ensure it’s on the proper path.
As long as you keep the clubface just a little open as it works its way through impact, you’ll hit a nice fade shot.
1. What do you want to improve in your full swing?
5. Visualize the Shot You Are Trying to Hit
Visualization always helps when it comes to hitting solid golf shots. You should visualize the ball’s left-to-right movement before you take your swing.
Interestingly, golfers have a good amount of feel in their golf games. Sometimes, without making too many adjustments or changes to the swing, you can hit a shot left or right on demand.
However, to do this consistently, you’ll need some idea of the technique you are using.
Visualization combines the technique changes we are making with the natural ability and feel that you have in your game.
6. Check Your Equipment
Some golf equipment is made to fight the fade. Draw bias and significantly offset equipment are really hard to fade.
There isn’t too much you can do here to change this. You’ll have to go for a golf fitting to ensure your equipment is designed for your game.
7. Stay More Centered in the Backswing
When you take a backswing that causes your head and body to move behind the ball, hitting a draw or a hook is more common.
This type of movement makes it so that you rotate further behind the golf ball and swing more in to out.
To hit a proper fade, it’s best to swing out to in.
To do this, stay more over the golf ball.
You’ll stay centered and be able to get a more upright path that moves from the outside to the inside. The result should be a pretty simple fade shot.
8. Lower the Handle at Setup
One of the most overlooked adjustments for hitting a fade is the position of the handle at address.
Many golfers instinctively set up with a forward shaft lean, which tends to close the face and promote a draw. For a fade, you want the opposite.
When you set the handle slightly lower and back, you reduce shaft lean and add just a touch more lead wrist extension. This subtle adjustment encourages the clubface to stay a little more open through impact, creating that soft left-to-right ball flight.
To practice, take your normal setup, then drop the handle down so the toe of the club hovers just a little off the ground. From here, focus on swinging through while holding that extension feel in your lead wrist. Pairing this setup tweak with a forward ball position makes fading the ball much more repeatable.
Final Thoughts
At this point, you should have the insider tips you need to hit a fade shot.
Most amateur players make big changes in their swing, which are unnecessary. If you can keep things to a minimum and make these small tweaks, you will have no trouble switching from straight shot to fade while out on the golf course.
Learn to control your wrist angles with the help of HackMotion, and you can quickly incorporate the draw shot into your game.
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