Aim Left. Hit It Pure.

Jim Yeager Golf Academy

You’re a good player. You don’t need tips. Or lessons. You swing it fast and hit it hard. But those small misses at impact? They cause bigger problems than they should.

Here’s the truth: the harder you hit it, the more amplified the miss. If you swing it at 110 mph with a square face and a 3° in-to-out path, that’s a 20-yard draw—60 feet offline. That misses most fairways. Add a slightly closed face and you might not even find the ball. Your buddy swinging at 90 mph with the same numbers? That’s a cool little 5-yard draw—right in the short grass.

If this sounds like you, read on. Want to fix it without rebuilding your swing? Read on.

It’s all about the setup

I’m not talking about a wild slice stance. I’m talking about a confident, athletic setup—feet, hips, and shoulders just a few degrees left of the target line. Enough to free you up. Slightly open. Slightly athletic. Just enough to let your body work the way it wants to.

Here’s where the magic happens.

You can’t just set up left and hit it. Set up left, yes—but keep your clubface aimed at your target. Then, simply swing the club to the target. That’s it. No manipulation, no overthinking. Let your body align left, your face stay square, and your swing will go where your eyes are looking.

This small tweak unlocks a lot of good.

First, it helps you clear. When you’re square—or worse, closed—your trail side can get in the way. Your hips stall. Your chest doesn’t rotate. You flip or hang on. An open setup gives your body space. More rotation. More compression. Better ball flight.

Second, it matches the path you actually swing on. Let’s use some numbers. Say you’ve got a +3° in-to-out path with a square face. That gives you a -3° face-to-path. At 110 mph club head speed, that’s a 15–20 yard draw. For most better players, that’s too much curve. Now open your setup by 3°. Don’t change your swing. Your path drops to +1.5°. Face stays at 0°, now only 1.5° left of the path. Result? A tight 5–7 yard baby draw. Same swing. Better geometry. Way better shot shape.

And, as if you needed another reason, consider this: reducing your face-to-path from -3° to -1° (without changing swing speed or face angle) cuts your side spin by roughly 60–70%. That means a similar drop in curvature. It’s why so many better players use setup to nudge their path closer to neutral—it dramatically tightens dispersion, even when the swing stays exactly the same.

Third, it helps you cover the ball. That open setup lets your lead side move naturally—down and around. You stay on top of it. No early extension. Just clean contact and a strong exit.

Fourth, it takes the hands out of it. A shut stance invites a timing-based, handsy release. An open stance lets the body lead by rotation. The face stabilizes. You can swing hard without fearing the left miss.

Fifth—and this is a big one—it makes the miss more playable. Better players don’t fear a little fade. They fear the block, or worse, the double-cross. Either one is a BIG miss. An open setup shifts your miss window slightly left. Worst case? A soft pull. And you can play that all day long.

Know your Numbers

Here’s the key to making it work: you’ve got to know your numbers. This isn’t guesswork—it’s precision. If your path is +3° in-to-out and you want to reduce curve, try setting up 3° left. That’ll nudge your path closer to neutral, reduce side spin, and give you a much tighter dispersion pattern.

Not sure what 2° looks like? Try moving your lead side—foot, hip, and shoulder—about 1 inch farther left. That’s your frame of reference. Tinker with it. Test it. See what neutral feels like for you. I’ll tell uni this, though. You can go more. Your margins for error is fairly wide here. Look at a tour player (any of them) – they all look like they are aimed at the highway on the left side of the fairway. You need to find your sweet spot, though.

This is how better players get better. They know their face and path. They match setup to swing. And they use launch monitor data to fine-tune, not guess.

Want to take it further? Let’s talk about the coveted power fade.

Set up just a bit more left. Face still aimed at the target. This gives you a leftward club path—say, -2° to -3°. Now keep the face just slightly right of that path—around -1°—and boom: positive face-to-path. The ball starts left, fades gently back, and finishes right on the flag.

And no, you don’t hold the face open. You release it. The toe rotates. The face squares to the arc. This isn’t a wipe—it’s a strong, high, aggressive fade. That’s the difference between a bail-out and a go-to. And once again, it starts with setup.

Final Thoughts

Remember, this isn’t about aiming left for the sake of it. It’s about freeing up your motion—giving your swing the space to do what it’s already built to do.

You don’t need a new swing – You just need a setup that works with the one you’ve already got.