How To Hit Fairway Woods, What Is The Perfect Set Up Golf (Video) - by Pete Styles
How To Hit Fairway Woods, What Is The Perfect Set Up Golf (Video) - by Pete Styles

Our setup for the Fairway Wood is going to be relatively similar than it is for some of your other shots, just with a couple of minor tweaks. And let me talk you through those little changes. One thing we've got to access for the fairway wood is the ball position. Now if the ball is lying on a decent lie on the fairway we're going to play the fairway wood just slightly behind the left in-step. If it was a very good lie or a tee peg we might even play it slightly forwards. And if it was a bad lie we might play it slightly backwards. If the ball is in a really bad lie, don’t keep moving it back you need to change clubs, you've probably got the wrong club.

So having it in a reasonable lie, we can have it in a good forward ball position. It's then important to take your body weight, keep your body weight relatively 50/50. Sometimes using a wood particularly a driver would consider leaning back setting up behind it and start to hit the ball high and launch it up into the air. Not relevant really for the 3-Wood or the Fairway Wood option. We want to try and keep the body weight more 50/50 more centered. The body weight is evenly balanced left and right. Also evenly balanced toe and heel, forwards and backwards. The angle of the shaft now becomes quite important. With a shorter iron we'd be angling the shaft in front and hitting down. With the Fairway Wood probably deloft the golf club a little bit too much. So try and keep the club head and club handle pretty level to each other. A good checkpoint there is pointing that towards your front hip. If that’s pointing towards your front hip everything should be nicely lined up at set up, and then that would return back to a good impact position as well. One other consideration for the setup with the bigger club like a Fairway Wood or a 3-Wood is the distance you're standing back away from the golf ball. You will feel quite a long way back. If you're used to playing your irons you've probably been a little nearer because the club head or the club handle should I say is a lot shorter, you're nearer to the club head. With a 3-Wood as I have here, it's important I step a good distance away. But also measure that distance so I'm not getting further and further back. What I would suggest here is we take the shaft and we lay it so it sits just onto that front thigh. If I measure that distance to my front thigh and it's nice and consistent and always lands just above my knee that’s a great position. Too near it's going to land to high up on my top pocket. Too far back and suddenly it's down here below my kneecap. So nice address position just sits above my kneecap there, good grip and I'm pretty much ready to pull the trigger with the perfect setup for a Fairway Wood shot. 2014-11-05

Our setup for the Fairway Wood is going to be relatively similar than it is for some of your other shots, just with a couple of minor tweaks. And let me talk you through those little changes. One thing we've got to access for the fairway wood is the ball position. Now if the ball is lying on a decent lie on the fairway we're going to play the fairway wood just slightly behind the left in-step. If it was a very good lie or a tee peg we might even play it slightly forwards. And if it was a bad lie we might play it slightly backwards. If the ball is in a really bad lie, don’t keep moving it back you need to change clubs, you've probably got the wrong club.

So having it in a reasonable lie, we can have it in a good forward ball position. It's then important to take your body weight, keep your body weight relatively 50/50. Sometimes using a wood particularly a driver would consider leaning back setting up behind it and start to hit the ball high and launch it up into the air. Not relevant really for the 3-Wood or the Fairway Wood option. We want to try and keep the body weight more 50/50 more centered. The body weight is evenly balanced left and right. Also evenly balanced toe and heel, forwards and backwards.

The angle of the shaft now becomes quite important. With a shorter iron we'd be angling the shaft in front and hitting down. With the Fairway Wood probably deloft the golf club a little bit too much. So try and keep the club head and club handle pretty level to each other. A good checkpoint there is pointing that towards your front hip. If that’s pointing towards your front hip everything should be nicely lined up at set up, and then that would return back to a good impact position as well.

One other consideration for the setup with the bigger club like a Fairway Wood or a 3-Wood is the distance you're standing back away from the golf ball. You will feel quite a long way back. If you're used to playing your irons you've probably been a little nearer because the club head or the club handle should I say is a lot shorter, you're nearer to the club head. With a 3-Wood as I have here, it's important I step a good distance away. But also measure that distance so I'm not getting further and further back. What I would suggest here is we take the shaft and we lay it so it sits just onto that front thigh. If I measure that distance to my front thigh and it's nice and consistent and always lands just above my knee that’s a great position.

Too near it's going to land to high up on my top pocket. Too far back and suddenly it's down here below my kneecap. So nice address position just sits above my kneecap there, good grip and I'm pretty much ready to pull the trigger with the perfect setup for a Fairway Wood shot.