How To Hit Fairway Woods, And What Are The Benefits (Video) - by Pete Styles
How To Hit Fairway Woods, And What Are The Benefits (Video) - by Pete Styles

So you join me now and I’ve got a fairway wood in my hand one of those smaller woods in our bag. And the point of using a fairway wood; well it can cover quite a multitude of issues, a multitude of scenes really. And a fairway wood would be any wooden club, we call them wooden clubs but they’re metal, steel or titanium. But anything with a nice bulbous head on it isn't an iron; anything that we could use from a fairway. So it could be a two wood which have about 13,14 degrees of loft; three wood 15 degrees of loft; four wood, less common but still around occasionally 16, 17 degrees of loft.

Five wood about 18,19 degrees of loft, and then we tend to go seven wood, nine wood, occasionally 11 wood, and onwards from there. We don't tend to use the odd numbers -- sorry the even numbers very often, two and four was very rarely seen, but three and five is the basics that most people could get in their set driver, three wood, five wood. More lofted clubs, a seven wood, nine wood, and eleven wood; although more recently, those clubs are being curbed by hybrids which are a slightly different breed. So looking at a fairway wood, it does what it says in the term it’s a club that is generally going to be used from the fairway. And the benefits of using it from the fairway is it generates a lot of distance but from the deck. So we’re probably familiar with hitting a driver off the tee peg; that goes a long way. Hitting an iron from the fairway that goes up in the air but doesn't necessarily go a long way. So the fairway wood is a combination of the two, it goes a good a distance like a wood but it should be relatively easy to hit from the fairway. You can however use fairway woods off the tee peg. So if you decide that the driver isn't really the club of choice because it’s too narrow and we want to keep the ball straight; often a fairway wood would be a good choice from a tee peg. Put it on a tee but put it on a relatively low tee and hit it from the teeing ground. You might find it doesn't go as far as your driver but it does go a little bit straighter. Then if you’re on the fairway and you still got a long way to go, you might want to use that fairway wood again. What are the considerations you are going to take? Basically you got consider the lie because the golf club is quite long in its profile, to hit this from the fairway, we do need a decent lie that’s sitting up a little bit and is on top of the grass, that’s perfect. If it’s down and in the grass that’s a little bit more difficult. So if a ball is sitting up on the grass we can go ahead and play our fairway wood we play the ball slightly ahead of center just on this white line here slightly ahead of center. I can get my nice set up position and I just make my normal swing, I definitely don't want to be caught trying to wallop this thing. The club will do its business for me, the club will hit the ball a long way. So as long as I'm nice and smooth and committed, the fairway wood should work nicely. If you’re struggling with your three wood initially, try and use a five wood a little bit more; a bit more loft, a little bit short in the handle; that’s going to help. If you don't have a five wood, maybe you can investigate something like a seven wood; its not going to hit the ball the longest but it will pop ball up in the air nice and high, nice and straight. So if I take my three wood here, I've got the ball just a head of stance behind my left in step, nice set up and a smooth swing -- and the ball flies lovely there, it’s pitched up nice and high, little bit of draw and its actually flying quite a long way; not as far as my driver admittedly but a lot further than an iron would have worked from that lie. And that’s the benefit of having fairway woods in your game. 2014-11-05

So you join me now and I’ve got a fairway wood in my hand one of those smaller woods in our bag. And the point of using a fairway wood; well it can cover quite a multitude of issues, a multitude of scenes really. And a fairway wood would be any wooden club, we call them wooden clubs but they’re metal, steel or titanium. But anything with a nice bulbous head on it isn't an iron; anything that we could use from a fairway. So it could be a two wood which have about 13,14 degrees of loft; three wood 15 degrees of loft; four wood, less common but still around occasionally 16, 17 degrees of loft.

Five wood about 18,19 degrees of loft, and then we tend to go seven wood, nine wood, occasionally 11 wood, and onwards from there. We don't tend to use the odd numbers — sorry the even numbers very often, two and four was very rarely seen, but three and five is the basics that most people could get in their set driver, three wood, five wood. More lofted clubs, a seven wood, nine wood, and eleven wood; although more recently, those clubs are being curbed by hybrids which are a slightly different breed.

So looking at a fairway wood, it does what it says in the term it’s a club that is generally going to be used from the fairway. And the benefits of using it from the fairway is it generates a lot of distance but from the deck. So we’re probably familiar with hitting a driver off the tee peg; that goes a long way. Hitting an iron from the fairway that goes up in the air but doesn't necessarily go a long way.

So the fairway wood is a combination of the two, it goes a good a distance like a wood but it should be relatively easy to hit from the fairway. You can however use fairway woods off the tee peg. So if you decide that the driver isn't really the club of choice because it’s too narrow and we want to keep the ball straight; often a fairway wood would be a good choice from a tee peg. Put it on a tee but put it on a relatively low tee and hit it from the teeing ground. You might find it doesn't go as far as your driver but it does go a little bit straighter. Then if you’re on the fairway and you still got a long way to go, you might want to use that fairway wood again. What are the considerations you are going to take?

Basically you got consider the lie because the golf club is quite long in its profile, to hit this from the fairway, we do need a decent lie that’s sitting up a little bit and is on top of the grass, that’s perfect. If it’s down and in the grass that’s a little bit more difficult. So if a ball is sitting up on the grass we can go ahead and play our fairway wood we play the ball slightly ahead of center just on this white line here slightly ahead of center. I can get my nice set up position and I just make my normal swing, I definitely don't want to be caught trying to wallop this thing.

The club will do its business for me, the club will hit the ball a long way. So as long as I'm nice and smooth and committed, the fairway wood should work nicely. If you’re struggling with your three wood initially, try and use a five wood a little bit more; a bit more loft, a little bit short in the handle; that’s going to help. If you don't have a five wood, maybe you can investigate something like a seven wood; its not going to hit the ball the longest but it will pop ball up in the air nice and high, nice and straight.

So if I take my three wood here, I've got the ball just a head of stance behind my left in step, nice set up and a smooth swing — and the ball flies lovely there, it’s pitched up nice and high, little bit of draw and its actually flying quite a long way; not as far as my driver admittedly but a lot further than an iron would have worked from that lie. And that’s the benefit of having fairway woods in your game.