If you’re new to the game of golf, you may not know just how difficult it is to hit a fairway wood. Many experts believe that the hardest club to hit in the bag is the 3-wood because of its long shaft length and low amount of loft. While this may be true, there are some steps you can take to start feeling more confident with all your fairway woods.
Wouldn’t it be great if you could learn just a few tips that would help you start hitting all of your fairway woods with more power and precision? Our goal with this article is to help you do just that. Here are 5 tips to hitting better fairway wood shots.
1. Learn the Correct Stance
The PGA professional instructors at Bird Golf Academy constantly stress to their golf students the importance of taking the proper stance. A fundamentally sound golf swing starts with a good setup posture. This is especially true when hitting your fairway woods.
It’s vitally important that you keep your weight balanced throughout the entirety of the swing. To ensure this, it helps to have your feet spread out just a little bit further than the width of your shoulders. This will keep your weight from shifting too much during a fairway wood shot.
2. Pay Attention to Ball Position
This one comes down to personal preference. Some experts say to position the ball just inside the left heel for all fairway wood shots. This ball position would be similar to how a golfer would hit their driver off the tee.
Other teaching pros advise their pupils to position the ball more towards the center of their stance. The idea is that this ball position will help ensure that the golfer will hit the ball first and not the ground.
So, which ball position should you choose for your fairway wood shots? It’s impossible to say without seeing your swing and where the bottom of the arc is in it.
The best course of action is to put in lots of practice time on the range to see which ball position works better for your swing. Go to the practice range with only your fairway woods.
Hit 10 shots with each fairway wood from each of the two ball positions. Remember to hit these shots off the ground and not off the tee. Make notes about which ball position gave you the most consistent results.
3. Choke Down If Struggling With Accuracy
Do your 3-wood and 5-wood shots often go wayward on you? If so, change your grip by choking down an inch or two on the shaft. This will give you considerably more control of the clubhead and will help you hit the ball straighter.
You will lose a little bit of distance, but it is well worth the sacrifice if it helps you stay out of the thick rough. Lots of golfers have claimed that choking down on the club has helped transform their fairway wood shots.
4. Train Yourself to Swing Easy
A common mistake that most golfers make is simply swinging the club too hard. This is especially true with longer clubs like the driver and fairway woods.
Too many folks give in to the temptation to try to kill the golf ball when they get a big club in their hands. This usually results in a herky-jerky swing motion, poor contact with the golf ball, and way too much frustration.
To make better contact with your fairway woods, train yourself to swing easily with them. In your mind, pretend that you are holding a 7-iron. This different mental approach will help you make a much smoother golf swing.
Remember, a nice and easy tempo makes it much easier to hit the golf ball off the sweet spot of the clubhead. When you hit the ball flush with a fairway wood, it always flies longer and straighter. If you can do that consistently, you’ll be well on your way to shooting lower scores.
5. When Starting Out, Use a Higher Lofted Fairway Wood
Most golfers are obsessed with distance, so when it comes time to hit a fairway wood shot they automatically pull out their 3-wood. Leave your ego in the golf cart and try a different approach. If you’re new to the game, learn how to hit a 5-wood or even a 7-wood before moving on to a 3-wood.
The extra loft from the 5-wood and 7-wood makes it much easier for golfers to get the ball in the air. This keeps folks from developing the bad habit of trying to lift the ball off the ground with their swings. When hitting a fairway wood, it’s best to attack the ball with a smooth, sweeping swing.
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