[fladan]

O.B.:

You are right of course. There are many ways to curve the ball; the fact remains that the face and path must be at odds for the ball to curve. The "hot" curve is great on drives and situations when distance is advantageous. Hitting the "open face draw" is advantageous when accuracy and spin are required.

If the ball is forward of low point, and the goal was to take the "fade", the curve, off the ball, you would have to match up path and club face.

You could do any of the following:

Rotate the plane line closed by adjusting the stance - this would counter the "up and in" path of the club past low point.

You could shift the plane during the swing - this would require a huge lateral shift of the hips and, obviously force the right shoulder under the plane on the downswing. This "in to out" would again counter the "up and in". (not my first choice!)

You could rotate the grip to the right to insure a more closed clubface at separation, or

Finally, you could close the face slightly (matching the face and the path) and play an intentional pull.

Having said all that, I would play the ball slightly behind the low point with the driver - better compression and less adjustments.

Mac O'Grady used to tell us the best swing has "the maximum time to make the minimum adjustments"...words to live by.

I hope I got all the adjustments right, it's really hot in Florida!!