Martin Kaymer tuition tips: The Power Fade
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Exclusive tuition from US Open 2014 Champion Martin Kaymer. Here, he describes how to hit the power fade, a shot he used in the Abu Dhabi Championship in 2010.
1: To hit the fade, the club must attack the ball from just outside the ball-hole line. I program this swing path by setting up with feet, hips and shoulders aiming to the left; body aim programs the swing path and the ball’s initial direction. The face is just open to this path, something I also pre-set at address.
2: While the draw works best with a shallow swing, the fade prefers a steep angle of attack. I pre-set this by bending a little more from the hips, creating more angle in my upper body. As the body rotates, my shoulders turn on a steeper pitch back and through. You can also feel more weight towards the balls of your feet.
3: I use my foot line to set the path for the first portion of the swing; with feet, hips and shoulders aiming left, my club moves back outside the ball-target line. Footline also acts as a good reference for the club’s path through impact.
4: My throughswing feeling is of swinging to the left of the target, while fighting any tendency for the toe of the club to turn over and the face to close. When the club swings out-to-in with its face open to that path, you can only hit a fade.
Tee it down
One thing I would add about hitting the fade off the tee; tee the ball down. This is how low I tee the ball when I want to see it move left-to-right. The low tee encourages a much steeper attack on the ball – and a steeper attack goes hand in hand with the out-to-in impact path that sees the ball start left before curving back to the target.
I will also move the ball back a little in my stance for the fade – here, it’s just in front of centre. This helps by moving impact earlier in the club’s arc, promoting a steeper angle of attack and giving some insurance against the club’s natural rotation closing the face down.
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This was originally published in Golf World Magazine, Feb 2011. Click here to subscribe to Golf World.
