For golfers of all levels, fairway woods are usually the toughest to hit consistently well. So, in the video and article below, Golf Monthly Top 50 Coach Alex Elliott shares three tips that will help you turn this weakness into a strength.
Don't lean back
First, you need to understand why you are struggling with your fairway woods. One of the big reasons is the intimidation factor. At address, it doesn’t look like there’s a lot of loft on the club. That causes golfers to feel like they need to help the ball into the air, which causes them to lean back and scoop it.
Leaning back is a recipe for disaster with fairway woods
This analogy will help you gain an understanding of what’s required. Think of the bottom of the club as the wheels of a plane. Now, you don’t want to abort the landing as that results in the scooping motion. I don’t want you to crash land and swing too steeply into the ball. Instead, I want you to feel like you’re getting the wheels just to touch down as you’re striking the ball away.
Gate drill
The second drill will help you keep the club lower for longer and increase your margin for error and the quality of strike. Simply create a gate by sticking two tees into the ground an inch or so ahead of your ball. Once you’ve done that, knock your ball out the way and address the bit of ground where it was sitting. Feel like you’re going to brush the ground through the gate and not lean back to avoid the gate. Doing this successfully will help you keep the clubhead lower for longer and improve your consistency.
Use this gate drill to improve your fairway wood ball-striking
The reason I want you to move the ball out the way is because, as you do this, you’ll feel like you need to transfer your weight and open your hips to start training the feeling of keeping the clubhead lower for longer. Start with some hip-height swings back and through to hone the feeling. When you feel comfortable, bring the ball back in and put what you’ve worked on to the test. Add this drill to your practice routine and you’ll quickly stabilise your swing for better fairway wood strikes.
Stabilising your legs
The final concept is all about stabilising your legs for a solid foundation. If you’re swaying, the bottom of your arc is constantly moving, meaning it’s harder to marry up the low point of the swing with the golf ball. Put your hands on your belt, one on your lead hip and one on your trail hip, and practise just turning your hips back and through rather than swaying.
Turning with your lower half rather than swaying will help you control the bottom of the arc
Then, make some practice swings trying to feel that same turn in your lower half, imagining there’s a wall behind you that you want to press your back-right pocket into on the backswing, and the left-back pocket into in the through swing. It’s a simple concept that will help stabilise the bottom of your arc.
