This shot sounds like a hand you see in poker. The flop goes down and you’re holding an open-faced draw. Another thing it has in common is that this shot is a bit of a gamble. It flies against convention and takes instinct and trust to pull it off.  Luckily, I know the tricks to do exactly that!

>>>The Brief:

To amaze your playing partners and self by opening up the face but still managing to hit a flush draw. Why? By opening the face, you’ll add loft, which means that you’ll still be able to hit it high, a tall order when you are bending your ball to the left. In addition, you can turn the face down hard into the hit, creating a confident strike without worrying if the ball will hook too much on you!

>>>The Weapons:

The loft of a mid-iron will give you the best results with this shot.

>>>The Execution:

This is a trick from the Ben Hogan vault no less. It’s fairly simple to set up, bet less simple for the mind to feel fully comfortable with what you’re doing so confidence is a preference for the voyeur of what is known as ‘open-face draw.’

Face Open at Address

To begin with there’s a number of fractional changes with your set-up position. The ball is a little bit more forward in your stance-just off your left instep (as a right-handed player) and I also want you to close your stance slightly. Now, I want you to open your club face to the line you’re hitting down.

Keep in mind, it’s not a closed club face that causes a draw, but rather a club face that is ‘closing!’ Ah…read that again! As long as your club face is the ‘the process’ of closing, it can still be open to the line of flight and curve the ball to the left.

Right Palm Turns Aggressively Downward

Once the face is set open, feel the face is closing hard in the downswing. Because the face was open at address, you will still deliver a good amount of loft to the ball at impact while bending it back to the left. This is important, as most intentional hooks will lose height as the club face closes. With this little advanced trick, you will create a soft controlled draw, with extra height!

>>>Expect:

To initially lose a few to the right. You have to close the face super hard in order to pull this off!

Jeff Ritter teaches at the Raven Golf Club – Phoenix. In 2010, he was named by Golf Digest Magazine as one of the “Best Young Teachers in America.” For more information, visit JeffRitterGolf.com

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