HiDraw / LoFade Pattern and its Repeatability and Consistency on Request. Correlation between set Pelvis and Levelled Knees and the Shape of the Shot.

No matter how consistent is a pattern it will never match all courses and all possible situations. One of the most consistent player in history of golf, Lee Trevino, with his great push fade could not be able to win The Masters at Augusta mainly because that beautiful course favours heavily drawing the ball. Ben Hogan, who desperately sought for eliminating his hooks, found a secret to play fades with a draw swing which was considered the biggest secret in golf. Mac O'Grady worked out a great set of patterns called a set of windows that should serve all aspiring juniors and pro golfers.

We are not in the league of these above masters in any case, however, our aim is to help amateur seniors and body-handicapped persons enjoy playing golf thanks to implementing as much automatism as possible to their actions. Therefore, having mastered the Controlled Draw Pattern and having an unlimited access to Trackman nowadays we have been thinking about an universal pattern for the majority of situations on golf courses that would be extremely easy and very consistent on request at hoc. Hence our idea to have a pattern consisting of only two subpatterns (that in our opinion are the most useful from all), namely low fades and high draws.

We are not going to guide you through the meanders of the D-Plane and old vs. new golf ball flight laws as this knowledge is videly available in the net; we are going to give you a short and not complicated receipt how to be able to play these two subpatterns using the same pre-shot routine. Since the draw swing is the most natural and because we were working almost exclusively last years on the Controlled Draw Pattern, we are a bit hoganesque biased and treat fades as just anti-draws. We shall explain it later on, now let us concentrate on main pre-swing factors used in both subpatterns.

In both subpatterns we use the Diagonal Stance that we consider as the best option not only for golfers but also for other human activities when force vectors are directed sideways; what differs the LoFade and HiDraw subpatterns are the ball position and orientation of knee leveling procedure which is of key importance.

For HiDraw subpattern the ball position is like on improved version of Ben Hogan's 5L diagramme (in fact, two diagrammes -- for LED and RED persons:

The hips are being set open to the baseline, however, the knees have to be levelled as for the Controlled Draw pattern, i.e. the line is slightly closed in relation to the baseline (please revert to the "The Knee Flex Leveling Procedure [...]" article). In short, the lead knee is being bent more than the rear one.

Everything, i.e. the whole motion starting from the Trigger Compression phase is unchanged. In case one struggles with hitting draws please revert to the whole series dedicated to the Controlled Draw Pattern articles.

For the LoFade subpattern we need to move forward or to leave the ball back in the stance because it makes the path of the swing more outside and allow to deliver more open clubface to the ball; one the best illustration is what already mentioned Lee Trevino, himself playing predominantly push fades, was doing before starting the swing -- he moves forward both feet in his special way shown below: 

With the ball back in the stance we obtain lower trajectory and  relatively bigger easiness to find a spot to hit the ball while having a short flat spot while the shape of our swing is more similar to the letter V than to the letter U (that ois present and desired thing when playing a controlled draw).'

As regards bending knees we need to bend the rear knee joint more which is opposite to the knee action in the HiDraw pattern. Thus, the knee line is levelled in an open manner corresponding to the fade outside-in path. 

Please take a look on the diagrammes below:

Basically, this is it. The idea will not guarantee 100% repeatability plus typical for human beings  instability in delivering the clubface angle may end up with bigger or smaller draws and fades (or even pushes instead draws and pulls instead fades), however, on amateur level it appears to be relatively highly repeatable method that allows us seniors and body-handicapped golfers play all golf courses with high draws and low fades almost on request. It is a great feeling when we can see our shots go as planned, a true enjoyment of this great and difficult sport.

My Golf Resurrection. Controlled Draw Pattern and the Practice Swing enhancement for the OTT from Inside Approach.

 It has been just more than a year since my beautiful light went out. Months of the 2023 year were passing like weeks, weeks like days, so fast it is all happening, like I wanted my end here to become as soon as possible. I lost my nerve to think about golf almost completely, I stopped to to read books from my library, I stopped to watch swings of famous players and I stopped to think about my amateur studies....

However, suddenly it has dawned to me that it would be unfair to everyone, including my Dear Wife to end this blog that way. I said to myself that my miserable existence should still include giving something to the world even if it is so insignificant as my amateur theories for golfers. I have been recently slowly but steadily returning to golf, even enjoyed few Trackman sessions with my Son. To my great content it appeared that my swing, although very rusty, is still consistent and timing-proof to a degree, so to speak. Of course I used my Controlled Draw swing, as this was what I was working on as the last pattern before the break.

Funny thing, I was never a fan of practice swings before hitting balls. What is to be stressed here, this practice swing makes the late inside approach in the following swing (see the picture below) practically automatic. Unfortunately, it does not make the angle of attack of the clubface automatic, however, it is entirely compatible to the long flat spot concept and the horizontal AofA of the whole clubhead is not that fat away from 0 degrees. 

Furthermore, practice swings might be a precious link between the address and the waggle and the real swings. As you might remember, we have never dealt with the issue of setting up too close or too far away from the ball. It has dawned to us that the closer you set up to the ball the less are the chances of swinging from the outside as there is no time for an excessive opening up of the body in a rotational motion. It somehow forces the shoulders girdle to stay closed while the whole torso is opening which makes the draw swing even more automatic. Please look at the diagramme below:

The green spots are just bottom ones of swings depending on how close we are from the ball (of course in exaggeration). Notice that the closer we are not only the longer the bottom spot is (we have explained this in detail in the articles devoted to the Flat Spot Concept and Phil Rodgers) but also their location and direction is very different. Why it is like that ? Because when we try to swing very closely to our feet we shall hit the ground much earlier than in case we hang out to reach the ball. It is just a perfect scenario for our practice swing -- to swing between the ball and our feet while having adressed to the ball before and without changing neither our feet nor our joints' presets and just following it with our true swing.

Imagine two middle green spots for a better understanding -- the lower and right one symbolizes our practice swing while the upper and left one is our true swing:

Do not be afraid to hit the bottom near your rear foot -- in fact, it should be done that way.  The only one thing you should monitor is how this hit looks like. The clubhead should pass the ground smoothly, never sharply, like the flat spot is really long despite the location. Make two or three practice swings until you can feel this long flat spot. Then proceed to place the clubhead behind the ball and simply make a swing. You will be amazed how easy is to play a gentle draw.

Last but not least, one word of caution. You must not stand too away from the ball just to allow to make a room for this practice swing (mind you, your feet do not move after the practice swing) as this make the whole process useless and you will stand too far away from the ball in result which rather disturb your desire to play draws. You should address the ball standing as close to the ball as it is comfortable for you and despite this you will have plenty of room for your practice swings. Your unconscious mind will take care about everything and you will not hit the ball accidentaly. This is how it looks in action (with both an iron as well as with a wood)...:

...and the whole actions: