The Fade Shot – Fully Released rather than Hold Off

A Weapon with Sharp Edges

The fade is my favorite control shot.

Not a hold-off fade.

Not a cut that’s squeezed out.

A fully released fade.

There’s a big difference.

Fade Only Works If Energy Is Already There

To hit the kind of fade I’m showing, I need inside speed first.

If the engine isn’t working, the fade becomes weak.

You hold the face open.
You guide it.
You lose compression.

But if the energy is already flowing through the club,
you can release it fully — and still see the ball curve gently to the right.

Low effort.
High control.

The Club Progression

With the driver, the fade feels natural.

The ball is forward.
The arc is large.
It removes the big left miss.

With a long iron, it still works beautifully.

The fade organizes the face and makes the club easier to manage.

Mid-irons?
Still strong.

But as the club gets shorter, something changes.

By the time I reach wedges, I don’t really want that fade anymore.

It feels less stable.

That tells you something important:

Not every club wants the same exit.

Two Ways I Create It

When the power is in place, I can choose:

Slightly open stance, ball forward, swing normally
My preferred version — low grip pressure and feel the hands exit left

The second one only works because the engine works.

Without inside speed, that “left exit” becomes a wipe.

With inside speed, it becomes control.

The Danger

Here’s the sharp edge.

If I hit fades all the time,
I slowly shift my tendencies.

My inside properties start changing.

The motion reorganizes itself around that shape.

Maybe that’s why Nicklaus hit fades most of the time —
but trained his draw constantly.

You need the counter pattern.

Pattern Context

In the Big Arc Swinger pattern, the fade fits beautifully.

Large arc.
Clear exit.
Stable release.

But the fade is not a fix.

It’s a performance variation layered on top of a functioning motion.

If you use it to compensate, it becomes poison.

If you use it on top of structure, it becomes a weapon.

The Point

Fade it.

Use it for control.

Let it take the big miss left out of play.

But don’t let it rewrite your engine.

Because the fully released fade is powerful —
and sharp.

Check out the Forgotten Master Moves homepage here.

In the FMM Academy I teach differnt patterns and it’s all about fit – has it’s overview page here.