A draw is a type of shot in golf where the ball curves from the player’s right to the player’s left. Most often, this shot is used out of the tee box. Many players have used a draw to their advantage. In fact, there are plenty of PGA players that use a draw regularly in their game. I did some digging to find out if there are any PGA players who play a draw.
PGA Tour Players Who Play A Draw
- Rory McIlroy
- Zach Johnson
- Rocco Mediate
- Patrick Reed
- Adam Scott
1. Rory McIlroy’s Draw
Although Rory has recently switched over to hitting a fade/cut, he built most of his legacy off of his powerful draw. Traditionally, Rory has used a draw to get himself out of the tee box, and it was arguably his most consistent shot. In fact, it was the draw that has won him practically all of his tournaments.
It is likely that we won’t be seeing him hit many draws in the future, however, for most of his time on the PGA tour, he exclusively played a draw.
2. Zach Johnson
Unlike some of the other players on this list, who have dabbled in both playing a draw and a fade, Zach Johnson is known to exclusively play a draw during his matches. Funnily enough, on the few occasions where he was seen hitting a fade, he stated that it was not on purpose.
Through this, it is easy to see that Zach Johnson will never intentionally hit a fade when playing. The main reason why he hits a draw is because he knows exactly where the ball will go with a draw. In other words, he doesn’t trust a fade nearly as much as he does a draw.
3. Rocco Mediate
Another famous pro golfer who is notorious for playing a draw is Rocco Mediate. Ever since he started playing, he has stuck to a draw. He claims that it is a part of his natural swing. According to an interview, Rocco will only really use a fade if there is a tree or some other obstacle right in front of his path. This really does say something about how much he trusts his draw.
With such a long professional career, you’d expect him to have at least tried to incorporate a fade into his game play, but that never really happened. He has stuck to the draw practically his whole career.
4. Patrick Reed
He claims that playing a draw is natural for him. Unlike many of the others on this list, Patrick Reed does switch his shot up from time to time. He does play a draw for the most part, but he doesn’t shy away from hitting a fade.
One part of his drive that he is notorious for is the helicopter finish. While it is a very flamboyant finish, it is actually a natural end to his swing. Essentially, this finish is just a natural path that the club follows when he plays a draw. There are really no other golfers on this list that have such a unique swing when playing a draw.
5. Adam Scott
Probably the most unique case of a player who hits a draw is Adam Scott. Like most of the other golfers on this list, his natural swing path lets him draw the ball. Despite being such a natural at drawing the ball, Adam Scott says that it has become a big issue for him.
There have been many instances where he draws the ball too hard and ends up in the rough. So, he draws to incorporate some fade mechanics to straighten out his natural draw-inducing swing.
PGA Pros Who Play A Draw: Final Thoughts
While researching this article, I realized that there are very few golfers nowadays that actually play a draw. In other words, it is much rarer to see a professional golfer play a draw. While there are many reasons for this there is one factor that really seems to play into this ‘draw rarity’.
Rory McIlroy says it the best. He states that the drivers nowadays are much harder to turn over when swinging, making it much more difficult to hit a draw. Rather than fight these equipment changes, it seems to be much easier to just alter the swing.
This is the main reason why I believe you don’t see as many pros playing a draw.