Never confuse these golf terms again with this hack
Golf has a language of its own. Sometimes it can be a little confusing to remember what all the terms mean when you are trying to absorb so much. I’ll show you how I use the alphabet to remember these four common golf terms.
First let’s start by defining these terms.
Hook & Slice
Hook & slice are terms that are used typically to describe bad golf shots. You’ll hear people say, “I hit a bad slice” meaning they hit the ball unintentionally sharply to the right (for a right handed golfer).
Slice - when the ball curves sharply from left to right in the air (for a right handed golfer)
Hook - when the ball curves sharply from right to left in the air (for a left handed golfer)
Fade & Draw
Fade & draw are terms that describe a good shot, typically a nice and controlled way to navigate curves in the fairway or around obstacles on the golf course.
Fade - a controlled shot where the ball gently curves from left to right (for a right handed golfer)
Draw - a controlled shot where the ball gently curves from right to left (for a right handed golfer)
Note: The “left to right” and “right to left” reverse for each term when talking about a shot hit by a left handed golfer.
Use the alphabet to remember them
Now here’s how I remember which one is right/left and which one is gentle and controlled vs unintentional and out of control. Keep in mind I’m a right handed golfer (you can still use this but reverse the L and R for a left handed golfer).
When I kept getting them confused, I figured out a way to use the alphabet to remember this.
The orientation of D (for Draw) relative to F (for Fade) represents the direction of each shot - (D is on the left of F; and F is on the right of D). The distance between the letters is pretty small - the letters are close together in the alphabet, so that represents the gentle and controlled curvature of the shot shape.
Similarly, H and S are oriented in the same manner (H is to the left of S; and S is to the right of H). The distance between the two letters is much larger than D and F (Draw and Fade), and this represents the shot traveling sharply to one side or the other. A slice goes right (because it’s to the right of Hook in the alphabet), and it goes wayyyy right (because it is a bigger distance from Hook especially relative to the distance between D & F for draw & fade).
Does this make sense to anyone else? (or is it just me?)
Let me know what other golf terms you sometimes get confused about and I am happy to explain (and hopefully share other tricks I have for remembering that info). Hope you enjoyed this shortie blog post.
