Alright, so I hit the range today, had this idea stuck in my head about Sam Burns and that sweet little fade he plays. You see him on TV, just seems effortless, right? Starts it left, cuts back nice and soft onto the fairway or green. Thought I’d give it a whirl.
Got myself a bucket of balls, probably too many like usual. Picked out my 7-iron to start, figured it’s a good middle ground. First few swings? Man, they were all over the place. Tried aiming left like I thought I should, but the ball just went dead left. Hook city. Not exactly the smooth fade I was picturing.
Figuring out the Feel
Okay, deep breath. Watched a few swings of his again in my mind. It looks like he keeps that clubface pretty square, maybe even a touch open, but the path is what gets it moving left-to-right. So, I tried focusing on that. My thought process went something like this:
- Setup: Aim my feet and body slightly left of the target. Like, just a hair left.
- Clubface: Point this straight at the actual target, maybe tiny bit open feeling? This part felt weird at first.
- Swing Path: This was the main goal. Swing along the line of my feet, so swinging ‘out-to-in’ relative to the target line.
Tried that for a while. Better, maybe? Got a few that started left and just stayed there, dead straight but left. Got a couple that did this weak slice thing, high and spinny, no power. Frustrating stuff. Felt like I was tying myself in knots trying to coordinate the face and the path.
Getting Closer, Sort Of
Then I remembered seeing something about how Burns stays really stable with his lower body but rotates hard through the shot. So, I tried to feel more turn, more body rotation, less just arms and hands trying to manipulate the clubface. Stood there, really felt like I was swinging left, but turning through it.
Boom! One ball actually did it. Started maybe five yards left of my target flag, gentle curve back towards it. Landed soft. Felt pretty good, not gonna lie. Like, “Okay, that’s the feeling.”
But here’s the kicker: Consistency was nowhere to be found. Hit maybe 3 decent ones out of the next 10 swings. The others were back to pulls, weak fades, even shanked one (yeah, really). It takes a lot of practice, way more than one bucket of balls, that’s for sure.
My main takeaway? It’s not just one simple trick. It’s a combination of setup, path, face angle, and how you move your body through the ball. Seems like Burns has that combo absolutely dialed in. Me? I need a lot more reps. Gonna keep chipping away at it though. It’s a cool shot to have in the bag if you can pull it off reliably. Today wasn’t the day for reliability, but I felt like I scratched the surface a bit. Back out there again soon, I guess.
