Fairway Woods

The shot that strikes fear into every amateur golfers’ eyes. You have 250 yards into a par 5, and you’re not here to lay up. 3 wood is pulled out, you’re waiting for the green to clear so you can flush it to 10 ft and drain the eagle putt… you top it 50 yards. These tips though, may just help you to live out your dream next time you have that shot:

Strike down – one of the great ball strikers, Sergio Garcia, would take small divots when hitting woods of the deck. Now, whilst you’re not as good as Sergio what this does do is teach you something. If he is taking a divot it means he is hitting down on the ball. A lot of amateurs try to force the ball in the air by hitting up on it, which will lead to those tops. Practice getting your weight onto your lead foot and hitting down on it. 

Tempo – the worst thing you can do when hitting a wood off the deck is to swing harder and faster. Yes, it might be a long way to the green but swinging faster isn’t going to help, all its going to do is cause bad strikes and lost balls. Keep your tempo smooth, a good way to do this is practice feeling like you pause at the top of the swing. 

Commit to it – this shot can be very intimidating, and a lot of amateurs will not fully commit to it. This leads to you trying to ‘guide’ the ball rather than committing to your swing. All this will do is cause poorly struck shots. If you are going to take on this shot, trust it and commit to it. 

Give these tips a go next time you have a shot into the green on a long par 5, and impress your mates when you send a rocket 3 wood into the middle of the green.