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Golf Question: What Is The Perfect Set Up For A Golf Fairway Wood?As the golf swing is a dynamic motion, the set up doesnt have to be bang on perfect, but somewhere close to being fundamentally sound is highly recommended.


By setting up to the golf ball in a fundamentally sound way gives the player a blueprint to help them swing the golf club in an efficient manner. When you address the ball incorrectly whether it is with your ball position, or body alignments, etc, you are encouraging the body to swing the club in an incorrect manner.

In the ideal set up for a fairway wood, you want to have all your body alignments parallel to each other and also running parallel to the target, if you intend to hit a straight ball flight. The ball position should be just inside your left (right handed golfer) heel and also just back from the crease in your armpit to encourage a level attack. The handle of the club should be level with the club face and your weight should be split evenly between your right and left foot. Your back should be neutrally straight having bent, with the inclination to the ground coming from tilting forward from the hips. Your knees should be slightly flexed so the front of the knee cap sits over the ball of the foot. The upper centre (sternum) should be just a hair back from the centre of your pelvis to create a slightly tilted spine angle at address.

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If you address the ball with your shoulders aiming left you are encouraging a swing which will be in that direction. This leftward swing would likely result in pull and slices for a right handed golfer. If your ball position is positioned in the back of your stance this will encourage a steep angle of attack on the ball which is not desirable when hitting a fairway wood shot.

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If you set up to the golf ball with your weight favouring your rear leg, you are encouraging a low point of the swing to be behind the golf ball and will also struggle to swing the club on the desired swing plane. Your weight should be split evenly between your left and right side at set up. Even weight distribution will encourage a level attack and also allow the golf club to begin the back swing correctly.

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By setting up to the golf ball with your hip centre situated behind your upper centre (sternum), you will be encouraging a downward strike on the ball. You will also find that this incorrect set up dictates an incorrect initial move away from the ball in the takeaway. We want to encourage the lower centre to shift in front of the upper centre to achieve a nice, level attack angle and sweep the ball off the turf.