A common problem for golfers is the correct use of the fairway wood. Many amateur players try to lift the ball into the air rather than let the loft of the club do it.

Tip one; let the club do it’s job. Engineers and very clever people design these clubs to perform a set of particular actions, getting the golf ball airborne is one of them.

Fairway woods are incredibly useful clubs performing a variety of tasks from the obvious like hitting the ball from the fairway to driving off the tee, from getting you out of the cabbage to chipping from the edge of the green.

Learn to swing your fairway wood and you will have a useful ally in your golf game.

For this article we shall concentrate on the most common aspect of the fairway wood and that is the second shot from the fairway into, and hopefully onto, the green.

Visualise this; the club will sweep the ball from the turf without taking a divot. A slight bruising of the grass is all that you want, the club face will connect with the ball at the bottom of its arc, the lofted face will cause the ball to rise into the air and fly down the fairway.

Set up to the ball in the manner of your driver with a stance slightly wider than your shoulders, this gives you a firm basis for your swing. Your spine will will be tilted slightly to the right to accomodate the fact that your right hand is lower down on the club.

The ball is played from just inside your left heel and so your sternum or breastbone will be behind the ball by a couple of inches.You can check this initial positioning in a mirror at home so it becomes natural on the course.

To begin the swing take the club back close to the ground. Practice the move by placing another ball a few inches behind your target ball and pushing it away with your club head. The swing arc is wide and fairly shallow and tempo is all important. Start practising at half speed to achieve the right technique.

The down swing will return low and wide, the club head will brush the grass and be fully at the bottom of its arc when it impacts the ball. Remember, no divots. If you are taking a divot it means the club is striking the ball on the downward direction, this will cause it to pop up violently losing forward momentum or you will scud it into the ground. Neither of which is desirable.

Develop a sense of hitting the ball down the fairway, not up into the air. After impact allow your arms to extend through the shot along the target line. This should help keep the club square at impact meaning a straighter, more accurate shot.

As mentioned earlier in the article tempo or timing is crucial to consistency with the fairway wood so practice sweeping the grass without the pressure of hitting a ball and even hum a little tune which helps you swing rythmically. It can become the most natural of movements. Good luck and good golf to you.



By: Norman Stanley

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Lack of distance off the tee is one of the major causes of much of the heartache of the handicap golfer. It doesn’t seem to what you do to your swing, the same lamentable result is always the same, a pathetically short dive.

All your golfing buddies are hitting their shots way past yours and are likely having a good laugh among themselves about your short drives. Understandably you are getting fed up of having to play you second shots first every hole.

It does not make any difference what elevation you have on your ball off the tee, if the ball does not have over spin it is not going to run very far once it hits the ground. It takes big hitting to carry your drives virtually the whole distance through the air before the it plops down then can barely manage another ten yards or so before coming to a halt.

So how do you hit those low drives off the tee, which never seem to stop rolling?

By flattening your back swing. Playing the driver means you have to swing the ball using a flatter swing plane so as to sweep it off the tee in as wide an arc as you can manage, without deliberately forcing the body in any way to do this. You have to take the club head back low to the ground as possible, keeping both arms outstretched.

Be sure to grip with the right hand far enough over the shaft, to enable you to swing flat. The grip needs to be correct at the address else you won’t be able swing the club around your body.

Try and practice with the driver from a side hill lie, feet below the ball, and you will find this is a great way to learn how to swing the club with a flatter swing arc.



By: Philip

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