Judging The Lie For A Golf Fairway Wood (Video) - by Pete Styles
Judging The Lie For A Golf Fairway Wood (Video) - by Pete Styles

When we look at fairway woods we really got to consider the fact that we're not just talking about one club. Although I only actually carry one fairway wood my three wood I teach a lot of golf and I would encourage a lot of other club golfers, amateur golfers to have a couple more fairway woods. Be it a five wood or even a seven wood, some carry and nine wood, even 11 wood particularly golfers that don't really like the hybrid clubs, the fairway woods kind of do the same job as the hybrid clubs if you prefer the look of a wood. Now when you've got so many clubs in your bag it stands to reason that you can use these clubs in a lot of different scenarios.

One of the favorite places to use the fairway wood is going to be from a small tee peg. Now I stress the small tee peg, we don't use a big tee peg like a driver we want a nice small tee peg because the center of gravity is low on the club face. These clubs are designed to have the ball hit from the fairway so the center of gravity is low, so the tee peg should reflect that. Now about 80 percent of PGA Tour players are hitting their fairway woods from the tee peg and not actually from the fairway because they hit the ball such a long way. So on a small tee take a nice line, and then sweep that ball into the air trying to not take a divot. Now the next shot you might hit your fairway woods from it sounds obvious is to hit it from the fairway. So when you found yourself on the fairway but a long way from the hole, pick the right club that's going to go the relevant distance and go ahead and hit it down there. Another shot you might use your fairway woods for is when your ball is in the rough. Now a lot of people are going to get scared by that concept, they're going to walk up to see a ball in the rough and immediately start reaching for the shorter irons in their bag and that's no bad thing. But actually when you get to your ball in the rough you might consider the lie first. Get in there have a good look at the lie see how it's sitting. And if the ball’s sitting up in some decent turf then maybe you could get one of your more lofted fairway woods to dig that ball out. Just making sure you consider that the more loft you have as in the higher numbered loft or the higher numbered club you have, the easy this shot is going to be. The last opportunity to use a fairway wood might actually be from a fairway bunker. So a fairway bunker is generally bigger, flatter bunkers a lot further back away from the green than a normal greenside bunker might be. And again a fairway bunker we want to hit the ball as far as we can up towards the green as long as we clear the lip. So if it's a big wide flat bunker, not much angle to clear the lip, maybe one of your more lofted fairway woods would work. And again you play the ball as if it's on the fairway, you don't really hit down and strike the sand and take a divot like you would do if you're playing the ball from a green side normal sand bunker. You pretty much play the ball nice and cleanly off the surface just try and skim the ball out to the grass as long as you've got enough loft to clear out that leading edge. The fairway woods are very useful clubs and can be used in a variety of different situations including the fairway bunker. 2016-08-24

When we look at fairway woods we really got to consider the fact that we're not just talking about one club. Although I only actually carry one fairway wood my three wood I teach a lot of golf and I would encourage a lot of other club golfers, amateur golfers to have a couple more fairway woods. Be it a five wood or even a seven wood, some carry and nine wood, even 11 wood particularly golfers that don't really like the hybrid clubs, the fairway woods kind of do the same job as the hybrid clubs if you prefer the look of a wood. Now when you've got so many clubs in your bag it stands to reason that you can use these clubs in a lot of different scenarios.

One of the favorite places to use the fairway wood is going to be from a small tee peg. Now I stress the small tee peg, we don't use a big tee peg like a driver we want a nice small tee peg because the center of gravity is low on the club face. These clubs are designed to have the ball hit from the fairway so the center of gravity is low, so the tee peg should reflect that. Now about 80 percent of PGA Tour players are hitting their fairway woods from the tee peg and not actually from the fairway because they hit the ball such a long way. So on a small tee take a nice line, and then sweep that ball into the air trying to not take a divot. Now the next shot you might hit your fairway woods from it sounds obvious is to hit it from the fairway.

So when you found yourself on the fairway but a long way from the hole, pick the right club that's going to go the relevant distance and go ahead and hit it down there. Another shot you might use your fairway woods for is when your ball is in the rough. Now a lot of people are going to get scared by that concept, they're going to walk up to see a ball in the rough and immediately start reaching for the shorter irons in their bag and that's no bad thing. But actually when you get to your ball in the rough you might consider the lie first. Get in there have a good look at the lie see how it's sitting. And if the ball’s sitting up in some decent turf then maybe you could get one of your more lofted fairway woods to dig that ball out.

Just making sure you consider that the more loft you have as in the higher numbered loft or the higher numbered club you have, the easy this shot is going to be. The last opportunity to use a fairway wood might actually be from a fairway bunker. So a fairway bunker is generally bigger, flatter bunkers a lot further back away from the green than a normal greenside bunker might be. And again a fairway bunker we want to hit the ball as far as we can up towards the green as long as we clear the lip. So if it's a big wide flat bunker, not much angle to clear the lip, maybe one of your more lofted fairway woods would work.

And again you play the ball as if it's on the fairway, you don't really hit down and strike the sand and take a divot like you would do if you're playing the ball from a green side normal sand bunker. You pretty much play the ball nice and cleanly off the surface just try and skim the ball out to the grass as long as you've got enough loft to clear out that leading edge. The fairway woods are very useful clubs and can be used in a variety of different situations including the fairway bunker.