Do you play a cut or a draw, why?

[TheDeanAbides]

6 minutes ago, rsballer10 said:

I've seen just as many players (including me) that learn to draw it by shutting the face down and not fixing their path. I see a lot of inside/OTT pull draws when playing with single digit golfers. Not saying you're wrong, I also see a lot of big hitters that dump their trail shoulder under, and hit way up and out on it. Great scramble partners.

Yeah, that's a common pattern too. No doubt. 

[MrCook]

17 hours ago, BSI99 said:

I think for a lot of golfers there's a progression. A lot of guys start hitting slices off the bat and then learn to hit a draw to neutralize it. Eventually some of those same players will go back to a cut because they don't like the left miss. 

 

This is exactly me. Started off with a slice (driver and woods)/weak spinny fade (irons), learned to draw the ball with lessons, ultimately transitioned to a cut since I hated the misses associated with the draw. The difference is, it's now a cut, not a slice. I'm not sure if I'm physically able to play a draw at this point, but I'm fine with that. I don't miss it at all. But I think there's a lot of truth to the saying that "In order to hit a cut, you need to know how to play a draw". Everyone can make tha ball go right, not everyone can play a cut.

[mshills]

Product of 1990s golf instruction when I learned the game — strong grip and big turn, so it’s a fade and always been a fade. 
 

I am an adaptive player now and still play a small fade. A draw is more reliable than it used to be, probably because my speed is a fraction of what it was when trying to hit a draw meant imminent “FORE LEFT!! WAAAAAAY LEFT!!”

[Nard_S]

Played a fade/slice for many years, evolved to a draw bias, did that for many more years, found my eye likes path of fade better into most every green. Took a while, but stock swing is once again a fade & can command a draw only when needed.

[BSI99]

How often do you guys play a different shot shape, ie if you're a fader how often do you hit a draw? I will maybe hit a draw once every 3 rounds or so. In my experience the advantages of shaping one very rarely outweighs the disadvantages of playing a shot i'm less comfortable with. 

[getitdaily]

3 minutes ago, BSI99 said:

How often do you guys play a different shot shape, ie if you're a fader how often do you hit a draw? I will maybe hit a draw once every 3 rounds or so. In my experience the advantages of shaping one very rarely outweighs the disadvantages of playing a shot i'm less comfortable with. 

Generally my rule is this...

 

Driver - hardly ever (almost never) try to draw it. Use the 3w

3w - kind of whenever I want. 

 

All other clubs, I generally draw it if I need to keep it lower and get a bit more distance. 

 

I will.srsw my 20 hybrid if I need it to run out to 235-240. Stock carry is 225.

 

I will hardly ever draw my 4i. I will draw a 5i or 6i if I am.in between and dont want to feather a longer club. For example...if I'm 190 with a slight down breeze and a left pin, I'll draw the 6 rather than cut the 5. 

 

With 8i or lower, I'll "draw" them at will. Almost always in order to control distance...150 to back.pin..draw 9i goes 145-150. I'd hit that draw 9 to take long out of play and still hit it tight...8i would bring long in. Fade 9 would leave me with 30 feet. 

[mshills]

17 minutes ago, BSI99 said:

How often do you guys play a different shot shape, ie if you're a fader how often do you hit a draw? I will maybe hit a draw once every 3 rounds or so. In my experience the advantages of shaping one very rarely outweighs the disadvantages of playing a shot i'm less comfortable with. 

If the shot requires a draw, it’s almost certainly a recovery shot and therefore not one I should attempt. A recovery shot almost always has an option for an aggressive swing at a conservative target, so that is what I should do. So to answer your question, if my head is in the game, never. 

[BSI99]

3 minutes ago, mshills said:

If the shot requires a draw, it’s almost certainly a recovery shot and therefore not one I should attempt. A recovery shot almost always has an option for an aggressive swing at a conservative target, so that is what I should do. So to answer your question, if my head is in the game, never. 

What about serious dogleg holes off the tee? I can think of maybe 2 holes near me where I'll try to turn a 3 wood over simply because the reward for cutting the corner is huge

[mshills]

2 minutes ago, BSI99 said:

What about serious dogleg holes off the tee? I can think of maybe 2 holes near me where I'll try to turn a 3 wood over simply because the reward for cutting the corner is huge

Nope. A man has to know his limitations. I don’t hit it far enough any more to cut a dogleg corner off R to L, and the downside risk of the high hook is not worth it. 

[RSLP]

push draw irons , pull cut woods...mostly ball placement 

Edited July 8 by RSLP
typo

[MidwestHacker]

I try to play neither - I want to be as neutral as possible. Straight is ideal (and not achievable on even the majority of swings for me) because I have a habit of getting to the extreme very quickly when Im trying to "play a cut" it turns into "I cant start it far enough left to keep this slice in the fairway" really really quick for me. Trying to get as neutral as possible and hitting a 10 yard shape in either direction (which I dont actively try to control) will still put me in the fairway if I aim down the middle, and my misses that are 20-30 yards of curve are still in play on most courses most of the time. Im naturally a high ball hitter off the tee as well, so if I need to cut a corner I can usually easily get over the trees without having to change anything.  

[Pepperturbo]

1 hour ago, BSI99 said:

How often do you guys play a different shot shape, ie if you're a fader how often do you hit a draw? I will maybe hit a draw once every 3 rounds or so. In my experience the advantages of shaping one very rarely outweighs the disadvantages of playing a shot i'm less comfortable with. 

Maybe 2-4 times per round, depending on the difficulty of the course and pin positions.  Either baby draws or fades.  But most of the time, straight gets the job done.  When I took up golf, I learned using blades.  They forced me to learn how to hit it straight and later inevitably led to moving the ball, so it's fun for me.

 

One course I frequent visually calls for more shot-shaping, including driver, but straight works too.  Depends on how much a person trusts their shot-making.  There's one par 5 tee I hit a draw to move around a large tree and land on the left, firmer side, so the ball bounces right into left center. Later, on the same course, off the tee, I hit a baby fade to an almost 90-degree fairway.  There's a par 3 with a pond on the left running up to the green, pin in the back left, into breeze, hit a draw 5i.

[SNIPERBBB]

2 hours ago, BSI99 said:

How often do you guys play a different shot shape, ie if you're a fader how often do you hit a draw? I will maybe hit a draw once every 3 rounds or so. In my experience the advantages of shaping one very rarely outweighs the disadvantages of playing a shot i'm less comfortable with. 

When swing is in fade mode, I will never try to force a draw. Doesnt work most of the time. When I'm in draw mode, I can hit a cut somewhat reliably.

[Socrates]

Today I started hitting almost everything dead straight.  Somewhere on 10/11 my lower back got a kink in it and it was fade city for a few holes until I worked out the kink.  My last 6 full shots were 5 dead straight and on fade 4 iron to ride the wind and stop on the green.  Even though I was running out of gas, I played the last 4 holes at -1.  We won't talk about what went on, on 14 which was UGLY.

[b.mattay]

I draw everything off the turf-my swing flaws mean hitting a consistent fade is tough for me. I can hit it straight if need be by opening up the face a little and moving the ball fractionally up in my stance. 
 

Driver is kind of funny. If it’s a cold day and/or I’m not warmed up, it will draw too, which I hate seeing with driver.
When I’m hitting it well, I would call it straight-ish. A good strike is straight to a small cut and my frequent miss is the high toe-ball gear-effect 10 yard draw. 

[TheDeanAbides]

16 hours ago, SNIPERBBB said:

When swing is in fade mode, I will never try to force a draw. Doesnt work most of the time. When I'm in draw mode, I can hit a cut somewhat reliably.

Even though I'm very neutral, this is the same for me. 

[getitdaily]

36 minutes ago, TheDeanAbides said:

Even though I'm very neutral, this is the same for me. 

Im just glad you're playing again. Been a while hasn't it?

[SNIPERBBB]

45 minutes ago, TheDeanAbides said:

Even though I'm very neutral, this is the same for me. 

I'm pretty much a straightballer as well. Ball generally just falls off one way or the other on good hits. It's just the bad ones that have real movement.

[TheDeanAbides]

2 minutes ago, SNIPERBBB said:

I'm pretty much a straightballer as well. Ball generally just falls off one way or the other on good hits. It's just the bad ones that have real movement.

Yeah, exactly that. My bad one is usually a pull hook when I get a bit spinny with my shoulders and ahead of it. 

[Phabs]

Stock shot is a 5y draw

Fade from gap wedge down 

 

 

My swing coach in high school was a really really good player at Florida and the first thing I noticed when we played was he drew everything except wedges. Clicked to me a fade lands softer and doesn’t seem to be as prone to over spinning in most circumstances.  Helped me control spin from 140 and in - made a huge difference once I figured it out. 

[golferdude54]

Push-fade, aim inside edge of fairway and green at a given club distance carry/total.
 

Always have my start line on that line or towards the fairway and green. That way I know I’m starting it in the same initial direction relative to my stance line every time.

 

If I pull it, I know I made a bad swing instead of making what felt like a good swing and double-crossing and getting confused, losing confidence in my swing, and trying to change it.
 

That type of double-cross scenario happens a lot to pull-faders, turns out if you start the ball left, it will be more likely to end up left, who knew? 
 

It’s akin to shifting your focus/alignment on hitting to center field in baseball to aligning/hitting off the first or third baseline and making sure the ball never crosses the line.
 

Lee Trevino did an exaggerated version of this in his prime but his club path was always out relative to his stance and the path was still pointed inside the edge of fairways and greens and he sure hit a lot of them.

[Valtiel]

On 7/7/2025 at 3:40 PM, BSI99 said:

I think for a lot of golfers there's a progression. A lot of guys start hitting slices off the bat and then learn to hit a draw to neutralize it. Eventually some of those same players will go back to a cut because they don't like the left miss. 

A majority of the time the draw isn't learned in a fundamentally sound way e.g. manufacturing an inside plane, strengthening the grip and playing with a shut face, and dumping the trail shoulder to "swing to right field" for a righty etc etc. All bad stuff that easily becomes very inconsistent. I've definitely known a few guys that have embraced the over the top power fade as that's far more playable on average than the poorly learned manufactured draw. 

IMO when it comes to shot shape...everyone's swing has tendencies/flaws that they have to manage and those things usually come with a shot shape bias. As you (ideally) progress towards a more fundamentally sound swing with good mechanics that you can repeat a natural shot shape will usually emerge. Either via a reduction/neutralization of the bias from your flaws or by a bit of a "flip". For me my main flaw gets me a little out and across the ball so the flight can get a little wipey. When i'm swinging the most "neutral" I hit the ball straight to a slight draw. I know i'm backsliding a bit when the ball falls right when I don't want it to, and i'm overdoing it if it draws too much. A straight ball is a pretty good "close enough" most of the time. 

I would like to re-learn how to cut the ball though as that isn't coming naturally anymore. 

[Maine Golfer]

I only play a draw with PW and lower, because funny things happen on longer clubs. Everything else cut

[BombinJim]

I draw/push draw pretty much everything. Occasional push fade with driver. Wedges I will setup more for a cut and it will generally just go straight.

[BSI99]

On 7/11/2025 at 8:52 PM, Phabs said:

Stock shot is a 5y draw

Fade from gap wedge down 

 

 

My swing coach in high school was a really really good player at Florida and the first thing I noticed when we played was he drew everything except wedges. Clicked to me a fade lands softer and doesn’t seem to be as prone to over spinning in most circumstances.  Helped me control spin from 140 and in - made a huge difference once I figured it out. 

Even when I hit a draw I faded my wedges. It was never on purpose but I think that with wedges since I'm swinging softer I'm using less lower body and a more upper body driven swing which probably promotes out to in. 

[fishstix94]

I play a draw, because I literally cant cut the ball!

[tx_bayou]

On 7/13/2025 at 1:05 AM, Valtiel said:

A majority of the time the draw isn't learned in a fundamentally sound way e.g. manufacturing an inside plane, strengthening the grip and playing with a shut face, and dumping the trail shoulder to "swing to right field" for a righty etc etc. All bad stuff that easily becomes very inconsistent. I've definitely known a few guys that have embraced the over the top power fade as that's far more playable on average than the poorly learned manufactured draw. 

IMO when it comes to shot shape...everyone's swing has tendencies/flaws that they have to manage and those things usually come with a shot shape bias. As you (ideally) progress towards a more fundamentally sound swing with good mechanics that you can repeat a natural shot shape will usually emerge. Either via a reduction/neutralization of the bias from your flaws or by a bit of a "flip". For me my main flaw gets me a little out and across the ball so the flight can get a little wipey. When i'm swinging the most "neutral" I hit the ball straight to a slight draw. I know i'm backsliding a bit when the ball falls right when I don't want it to, and i'm overdoing it if it draws too much. A straight ball is a pretty good "close enough" most of the time. 

I would like to re-learn how to cut the ball though as that isn't coming naturally anymore. 

Are you, me?

[Robot_Dog]

I draw everything. I've learned that's what my body wants to do, and if I try to force a different shape, it goes awful for me. 

[phizzy30]

Used to exclusively play a draw as my swing used to be in to out, however, I've been playing a cut with driver the past 2 years with great success.  Lee Trevino once said you can talk to a fade but a hook won't listen which is so true.  My swing path is now -3 which is so much easier to manage than +3.  I'm also playing a straight fade with irons now which will take time to get used to as I've always had to aim right of the target to play a draw in the past.  My swing is in a good place now.  Still need to work on face angle as that's always been my problem ever since I was a kid.  

[phizzy30]

On 7/16/2025 at 6:15 AM, Robot_Dog said:

I draw everything. I've learned that's what my body wants to do, and if I try to force a different shape, it goes awful for me. 

Yep.  Don't go against your natural swing path unless you're willing to put in the time and work like I did.  Even the guys on tour play their natural shot shot shape for the most part.  Martin Kaymer really screwed up his game/swing when he went from a fade to try and draw the ball.