Instruction
Do you have a fade-biased pivot?
The way you arrange the components of your swing can make it better suited for certain ball flights more than others. Certain grip types work better for low shots, while others are better for hitting it high. Some transitions are more likely to produce fades than draws.
What I call making your swing “biased” is gearing your swing components for a certain shot shape, height and even distance. The more you align your components toward the same goal, the more likely the desired outcome.
Whether I’m with a PGA Tour player or amateur, a lot of my job is aligning components to get players hitting shots the way they want. I travel to 35+ PGA Tour events every year, and while I’m there to work with some of the guys playing in the event, I usually get to work with a few amateurs as well.
Wednesdays are when PGA Tour events hold their Pro-Ams, which give regular golfers the ability to tee it up with a real Tour player on a real Tour course. It costs a lot of money to play in a Pro-Am, and the entry fees support the tournament’s charity.
When I’m at the course on Wednesdays to work with my guys, I get to see the amateurs play a little, too. Like most amateurs, more of them hit fades than hit draws. Unknowingly, almost all of them have aligned their components toward a fade, which is often the result of their pivot.
My video on the pivot below could have saved me a lot of breath during Wednesday Pro-Ams over the years. So many amateurs are using a pivot that is best for producing low fades even though they want to hit a high draw. Watch it to learn more about aligning your pivot with the type of shot you want to hit.
The author, Scott Hamilton has created a four-lesson video course with his keys to achieving consistent, solid contact. The Solid Contact Series is available for free on his website OnTourGolf.com.
There may be no more painful affliction in golf than the “yips” – those uncontrollable and maddening little nervous twitches that prevent you from making a decent stroke on short putts. If you’ve never had them, consider yourself very fortunate (or possibly just very young). But I can assure you that when your most treacherous and feared golf shot is not the 195 yard approach over water with a quartering headwind…not the extra tight fairway with water left and sand right…not the soft bunker shot to a downhill pin with water on the other side…No, when your most feared shot is the remaining 2- 4-foot putt after hitting a great approach, recovery or lag putt, it makes the game almost painful.
And I’ve been fighting the yips (again) for a while now. It’s a recurring nightmare that has haunted me most of my adult life. I even had the yips when I was in my 20s, but I’ve beat them into submission off and on most of my adult life. But just recently, that nasty virus came to life once again. My lag putting has been very good, but when I get over one of those “you should make this” length putts, the entire nervous system seems to go haywire. I make great practice strokes, and then the most pitiful short-stroke or jab at the ball you can imagine. Sheesh.
But I’m a traditionalist, and do not look toward the long putter, belly putter, cross-hand, claw or other variation as the solution. My approach is to beat those damn yips into submission some other way. Here’s what I’m doing that is working pretty well, and I offer it to all of you who might have a similar affliction on the greens.
When you are over a short putt, forget the practice strokes…you want your natural eye-hand coordination to be unhindered by mechanics. Address your putt and take a good look at the hole, and back to the putter to ensure good alignment. Lighten your right hand grip on the putter and make sure that only the fingertips are in contact with the grip, to prevent you from getting to tight.
Then, take a long, long look at the hole to fill your entire mind and senses with the target. When you bring your head/eyes back to the ball, try to make a smooth, immediate move right into your backstroke — not even a second pause — and then let your hands and putter track right back together right back to where you were looking — the HOLE! Seeing the putter make contact with the ball, preferably even the forward edge of the ball – the side near the hole.
For me, this is working, but I am asking all of you to chime in with your own “home remedies” for the most aggravating and senseless of all golf maladies. It never hurts to have more to fall back on!
Over the last couple of decades, golf has become much more science-based. We measure swing speed, smash factor, angle of attack, strokes gained, and many other metrics that can really help golfers improve. But I often wonder if the advancement of golf’s “hard” sciences comes at the expense of the “soft” sciences.
Take, for example, golf instruction. Good golf instruction requires understanding swing mechanics and ball flight. But let’s take that as a given for PGA instructors. The other factors that make an instructor effective can be evaluated by social science, rather than launch monitors.
If you are a recreational golfer looking for a golf instructor, here are my top three points to consider.
1. Cultural mindset
What is “cultural mindset? To social scientists, it means whether a culture of genius or a culture of learning exists. In a golf instruction context, that may mean whether the teacher communicates a message that golf ability is something innate (you either have it or you don’t), or whether golf ability is something that can be learned. You want the latter!
It may sound obvious to suggest that you find a golf instructor who thinks you can improve, but my research suggests that it isn’t a given. In a large sample study of golf instructors, I found that when it came to recreational golfers, there was a wide range of belief systems. Some instructors strongly believed recreational golfers could improve through lessons. while others strongly believed they could not. And those beliefs manifested in the instructor’s feedback given to a student and the culture created for players.
2. Coping and self-modeling can beat role-modeling
Swing analysis technology is often preloaded with swings of PGA and LPGA Tour players. The swings of elite players are intended to be used for comparative purposes with golfers taking lessons. What social science tells us is that for novice and non-expert golfers, comparing swings to tour professionals can have the opposite effect of that intended. If you fit into the novice or non-expert category of golfer, you will learn more and be more motivated to change if you see yourself making a ‘better’ swing (self-modeling) or seeing your swing compared to a similar other (a coping model). Stay away from instructors who want to compare your swing with that of a tour player.
3. Learning theory basics
It is not a sexy selling point, but learning is a process, and that process is incremental – particularly for recreational adult players. Social science helps us understand this element of golf instruction. A good instructor will take learning slowly. He or she will give you just about enough information that challenges you, but is still manageable. The artful instructor will take time to decide what that one or two learning points are before jumping in to make full-scale swing changes. If the instructor moves too fast, you will probably leave the lesson with an arm’s length of swing thoughts and not really know which to focus on.
As an instructor, I develop a priority list of changes I want to make in a player’s technique. We then patiently and gradually work through that list. Beware of instructors who give you more than you can chew.
So if you are in the market for golf instruction, I encourage you to look beyond the X’s and O’s to find the right match!
Most pros take months, even years, to win their first tournament. Lottie Woad needed exactly four days.
The 21-year-old from Surrey shot 21-under 267 at Dundonald Links to win the ISPS Handa Women’s Scottish Open by three shots — in her very first event as a professional. She’s only the third player in LPGA history to accomplish this feat, joining Rose Zhang (2023) and Beverly Hanson (1951).
But here’s what caught my attention as a coach: Woad didn’t win through miraculous putting or bombing 300-yard drives. She won through relentless precision and unshakeable composure. After watching her performance unfold, I’m convinced every golfer — from weekend warriors to scratch players — can steal pages from her playbook.
Precision Beats Power (And It’s Not Even Close)
Forget the driving contests. Woad proved that finding greens matters more than finding distance.
What Woad did:
• Hit it straight, hit it solid, give yourself chances
• Aimed for the fat parts of greens instead of chasing pins
• Let her putting do the talking after hitting safe targets
• As she said, “Everyone was chasing me today, and managed to maintain the lead and played really nicely down the stretch and hit a lot of good shots”
Why most golfers mess this up:
• They see a pin tucked behind a bunker and grab one more club to “go right at it”
• Distance becomes more important than accuracy
• They try to be heroic instead of smart
ACTION ITEM: For your next 10 rounds, aim for the center of every green regardless of pin position. Track your greens in regulation and watch your scores drop before your swing changes.
The Putter That Stayed Cool Under Fire
Woad started the final round two shots clear and immediately applied pressure with birdies at the 2nd and 3rd holes. When South Korea’s Hyo Joo Kim mounted a charge and reached 20-under with a birdie at the 14th, Woad didn’t panic.
How she responded to pressure:
• Fired back with consecutive birdies at the 13th and 14th
• Watched Kim stumble with back-to-back bogeys
• Capped it with her fifth birdie of the day at the par-5 18th
• Stayed patient when others pressed, pressed when others cracked
What amateurs do wrong:
• Get conservative when they should be aggressive
• Try to force magic when steady play would win
• Panic when someone else makes a move
ACTION ITEM: Practice your 3-6 foot putts for 15 minutes after every range session. Woad’s putting wasn’t spectacular—it was reliable. Make the putts you should make.
Course Management 101: Play Your Game, Not the Course’s Game
Woad admitted she couldn’t see many scoreboards during the final round, but it didn’t matter. She stuck to her game plan regardless of what others were doing.
Her mental approach:
• Focused on her process, not the competition
• Drew on past pressure situations (Augusta National Women’s Amateur win)
• As she said, “That was the biggest tournament I played in at the time and was kind of my big win. So definitely felt the pressure of it more there, and I felt like all those experiences helped me with this”
Her physical execution:
• 270-yard drives (nothing flashy)
• Methodical iron play
• Steady putting
• Everything effective, nothing spectacular
ACTION ITEM: Create a yardage book for your home course. Know your distances to every pin, every hazard, every landing area. Stick to your plan no matter what your playing partners are doing.
Mental Toughness Isn’t Born, It’s Built
The most impressive part of Woad’s win? She genuinely didn’t expect it: “I definitely wasn’t expecting to win my first event as a pro, but I knew I was playing well, and I was hoping to contend.”
Her winning mindset:
• Didn’t put winning pressure on herself
• Focused on playing well and contending
• Made winning a byproduct of a good process
• Built confidence through recent experiences:
- Won the Women’s Irish Open as an amateur
- Missed a playoff by one shot at the Evian Championship
- Each experience prepared her for the next
What this means for you:
• Stop trying to shoot career rounds every time you tee up
• Focus on executing your pre-shot routine
• Commit to every shot
• Stay present in the moment
ACTION ITEM: Before each round, set process goals instead of score goals. Example: “I will take three practice swings before every shot” or “I will pick a specific target for every shot.” Let your score be the result, not the focus.
The Real Lesson
Woad collected $300,000 for her first professional victory, but the real prize was proving that fundamentals still work at golf’s highest level. She didn’t reinvent the game — she simply executed the basics better than everyone else that week.
The fundamentals that won:
• Hit more fairways
• Find more greens
• Make the putts you should make
• Stay patient under pressure
That’s something every golfer can do, regardless of handicap. Lottie Woad just showed us it’s still the winning formula.
FINAL ACTION ITEM: Pick one of the four action items above and commit to it for the next month. Master one fundamental before moving to the next. That’s how champions are built.
PGA Professional Brendon Elliott is an award-winning coach and golf writer. You can check out his writing work and learn more about him by visiting BEAGOLFER.golf and OneMoreRollGolf.com. Also, check out “The Starter” on RG.org each Monday.
Editor’s note: Brendon shares his nearly 30 years of experience in the game with GolfWRX readers through his ongoing tip series. He looks forward to providing valuable insights and advice to help golfers improve their game. Stay tuned for more Tips!
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Mbwa Kali Sana
Mar 28, 2016 at 1:42 pm
A complétely misleading video lesson .There are so man y différent parameters other than spine tilt which create the draw and the fade ,That the wise Golfer should entirely disregard this simplistic ” lesson”.
Obee
Mar 24, 2016 at 6:55 pm
Great stuff. Definitely holds true in my group of 7 or 8 scratch and below amateur buddies. I create quite a bit of angle, as does one of my buddies, and we both hit low, trap draws as our “standard” shot. Another buddy has very little angle away from the ball, and he definitely favors a cut. A few others are more neutral, and their ball flights are, well … more neutral!
Thanks! Will definitely keep this in mind when fading the ball. I think if I think of less lean back and away, that I will be able to more consistently fade the ball with my irons….
Sean
Mar 22, 2016 at 2:24 pm
Great video, never thought about that. Out of curiosity, the head movement is the killer here, right? Seems like the only way that angle changes is by the head moving too much forward or back. If you keep your head still, your pivot angle can’t come one way or the other too much. I only ask because I don’t think you offered a tip here so is that what you’d have these students work on to fix it?
Scott Hamilton
Apr 6, 2016 at 10:31 pm
Good question Sean- Moving your head is one way to change your pivot. The way you slide or turn your hips can also change your pivot angle.
Rocco Mediate
Mar 14, 2016 at 6:57 pm
This is how I swing guys! It’s good on your back!
Jafar
Mar 14, 2016 at 1:21 pm
I’ve been trying to find this in my swing and it does explain why my shots tend to fade when they look like they should be drawing.
I also figured out that my “trigger” finger has been causing backswing issues and once I fixed that, I found myself in the draw position described here.
Great info to check your swing with!
Scott Hamilton
Mar 11, 2016 at 5:58 pm
Hey guys-
Thanks for watching.
-Scott
Butch
Mar 11, 2016 at 1:41 pm
Thank you, Scott. I appreciate your sharing your insights!
Hogg
Mar 10, 2016 at 11:02 am
What a complete load of hogwash.
birdy
Mar 10, 2016 at 11:15 am
willing to bet Scott has a little more knowledge of the swing than you….
http://www.golf.com/instruction/scott-hamilton-best-golf-teacher-you-have-never-heard
Tom
Mar 10, 2016 at 2:10 pm
Amen to that
Wash
Mar 10, 2016 at 7:08 pm
According to that article,
“I’m still an on-plane teacher, which some people think is old school, but it works.”
“A quiet head tends to keep the clubface quiet through the hitting zone. Then, if you can just line up your left arm and the shaft, you’ll have a better chance of hitting the ball straight.”
Oh that’s it, is it?
You don’t need to know anything about tilting in a pivot in any direction to do this.
And he wants people to hit it straighter.
Hamilton talks a load of country hogwash. Don’t believe the explanation in the video. It’s another way to mislead people real quick in one direction, make money off them while doing that, then steer them back to make more money off them from those lessons, and then bring back into the middle. A classic method to keep the students coming back. Totally dishonest.
Tom
Mar 10, 2016 at 11:29 pm
are you sayin it’s a CONSPIRACY?
Leon
Mar 10, 2016 at 8:22 pm
Agreed. Just common sense
Obee
Mar 24, 2016 at 6:56 pm
No it’s not — at least in my game and the games of my buddies. I see a pretty distinct correlation between what he’s saying and the shot shapes of the guys I play with. What you think is “hogwash,” I see as solid insight.
Buddy
Mar 10, 2016 at 9:18 am
Scott – Thank you for sharing this tid-bit of information with us here on WRX. I hope you continue to share your knowledge with us in the coming years.
Shallowface
Mar 10, 2016 at 7:11 am
Many years ago there was a golf shop on Dale Mabry in Tampa (no longer there as far as I know) and the owner had a son who was looked to be a pretty good player. He claimed the son could hit any shot just by changing how he rotated his shoulders during the swing. So I found this article quite interesting, and am looking forward to checking out Mr. Hamilton’s website.
antonio
Mar 10, 2016 at 3:07 am
I appreciate any tip but just watching the video above it seems too simple and too obvious. It depends only on your tilt on your stance.
Jack
Mar 10, 2016 at 2:39 am
This kind of “instruction” is why nobody ever gets any better. Just get guys hitting the inside of the ball and they will learn to draw the ball with a shallower swing — period; Let there natural athletic ability sort it out. And btw, not to be offensive, but you and other “coaches” are just security blankets for tour pros; They would play just as well without you.
Tour Pro
Mar 10, 2016 at 8:22 am
Jack,
I’m a tour pro and Scott knows his stuff. Your comments show how little you know and understand a coaches job on tour. There’s a reason why Scott was voted the 2nd best teacher out there by your pro’s. Quit being a hater and be thankful that guys like he and Butch would share their knowledge.
Philip
Mar 10, 2016 at 10:06 am
Actually, I have been thinking about this the last few weeks. This video just confirms what I have been discovering. Personally, I like the approach and find the article quite clear. Horses for courses … oh, and thanks Scott, I’ll be checking out your site.
larrybud
Mar 10, 2016 at 10:09 am
I can hit the inside of the ball ALL DAY by sliding my upper body to the target, and I’m going to hit push-slices all day as well.
Jack
Mar 10, 2016 at 11:10 pm
Some people are never going to be good players and you may be one of them.
Tom
Mar 10, 2016 at 10:19 am
Jack you’ve been schooled!
Jack
Mar 10, 2016 at 11:23 pm
Really? Presumably you believe I have no credibility because I am an anonymous internet poster, however that logic would have to apply to the putative schoolers who would also lack any credibility for the same reason… Now you have been schooled through logic which stands on its own and requires no credibility from anyone in this thread!
Tom
Mar 11, 2016 at 10:31 am
Jack Mar 10, 2016 at 2:39 am
“This kind of “instruction” is why nobody ever gets any better….”
A broad statement, I don’t agree with.
Jack
Mar 11, 2016 at 7:15 pm
Fine. Not exactly a schooling, though.
Tom
Mar 11, 2016 at 9:45 pm
I don’t benefit from long hours and detailed instruction. I understand my flaws, simply describe them to me and prescribe a
solution.
birdy
Mar 10, 2016 at 11:09 am
lol this comment no doubt comes from a hack who has no idea the knowledge and experience that scott hamilton has.
Jack
Mar 10, 2016 at 11:19 pm
He is doing what other coaches are doing — trying to put you in positions that he has seen good players in — this may work sometimes but only through a personal lesson. There is too much pseudo science in golf and most of these pros are not helping amateurs — especially with out of context generic videos. It’s like a doctor putting a drug out there and encouraging anyone to give it a try and see if it helps with something without first examining the potential patents!
Tom
Mar 10, 2016 at 11:56 pm
” Whether I’m with a PGA Tour player or amateur, a lot of my job is aligning components to get players hitting shots the way they want. I travel to 35+ PGA Tour events every year, and while I’m there to work with some of the guys playing in the event, I usually get to work with a few amateurs as well “
Jack
Mar 11, 2016 at 2:19 am
And yet a generalized video is still worthless and most amateurs never improve even with lessons and practice. Why?
Tom
Mar 11, 2016 at 10:33 am
So your issue with the article is the video?
Jack
Mar 11, 2016 at 7:18 pm
The video will do more harm than good as all of the hacks venture to the driving range and attempt their best Curtis Strange sway off of the ball to try to finally hit a draw.f
Mike
Mar 22, 2016 at 1:54 pm
Oh please enlighten us, anonymous golf site poster. Moron.
Tom
Mar 9, 2016 at 9:03 pm
hawt damn. I’ve spent hours on the range with instructors only to have my question answered in five minutes reading your article. Now I have an idea of why I hit a draw. Thank you.
Scott Hamilton
Apr 6, 2016 at 10:31 pm
Glad it helped Tom.
Stephan Lechner
Mar 9, 2016 at 6:58 pm
I figured out that if you click on the link titled solid contact series it gives you the opportunity to create a login but if you click on the link to the website it does not. I hope this helps others trying to get there.
Stephan Lechner
Mar 9, 2016 at 6:48 pm
It says that you can watch the rest of the videos for free on his website which you provide the link to in your article. When you go to the website it requires a login however there is no place to create a login. Please provide some insight. Thanks
larrybud
Mar 10, 2016 at 5:59 pm
Scroll down, the create account is all the way to the bottom.