Start Flushing Your Fairway Woods With 3 Super Simple Tips From PGA Pro Peter Finch

Flushing your fairway woods can take your game to the next level, but many amateurs struggle. Peter Finch has three simple tips to utilise these useful clubs

Peter Finch centrally demonstrating the correct posture and position to hit a fairway wood, flanked by Wyndham Clark and Scottie Scheffler hitting fairway woods
These three fairway wood tips, from expert coach Peter Finch, will transform your long game...
(Image credit: Getty Images/Future)

The ability to consistently hit fairway woods well is something that often sets amateur golfers apart, but you don't have to be left behind just because you aren't confident with these clubs in your hand.

Utilising your woods can help you to bridge the gap between your driver and irons, and often provides a great option on par-5 and long par-4 holes.

As one of the leading coaches in the sport, Peter Finch has helped a huge number of golfers to improve their game, and in this article he shares three simple tips to assist you in flushing your fairway woods more consistently...

Start Flushing Your Fairway Woods With 3 Super Simple Tips

1. Addressing Misconceptions

The biggest problem many people have is the thought process that, because it’s a wood, it has to be helped up in the air. But even though it has a low loft, it’s still enough to get the ball up, even if you hit it with a slightly descending strike.

If you’re topping your fairway woods it’s most likely that, as you’re coming through impact, your body is backing up and away from the target with the clubhead overtaking the hands. This means the club is ascending through impact and that’s why you’re catching the top of the ball and not hitting it flush.

Peter Finch demonstrating

(Image credit: Howard Boylan)

2. Imagine The Circle

To remedy this, think of an imaginary circle that the club takes around the body. It’s not a circle as it moves into different shapes but, for our purposes here, picture a circle.

The bottom of the circle is right in line with your sternum. As you move through the ball, keep your sternum over the ball. If your sternum stays on top of the ball, you cannot move back and away from it.

Peter Finch demonstrating

(Image credit: Howard Boylan)

3. Control The Low Point

As you move through impact you want a fairway wood to be hitting the ball then just bruising the turf – just a little caress as it goes through. You don’t want a big, deep divot even though you can still hit successful shots like that.

To achieve this, your need to control the low point. Set up to a tee-peg just inside your left heel and take half a swing back. As you move through, you want the feeling of just clipping that tee. It’s only a little bit out of the ground so you just want to clip it.

Peter Finch demonstrating how to control your low point in the swing

(Image credit: Howard Boylan)

Is A Fairway Wood And A 3-Wood The Same Thing?

GM says:

The simple answer is yes! There are many different types of fairway wood, and a 3-wood is one example. The loft on the club will differ depending on which fairway woods you use or have in your bag, and the level of forgiveness offered can also fluctuate.

Having the right woods in your bag can make a huge difference to your score, so invest some time finding the best fairway woods for you.

Peter Finch
Top 50 Coach

Delivering online free lessons to golfers across the globe with a combined social following of almost one million people, Peter is one of the most recognisable PGA professionals in the game. 

Teaching philosophy:

I believe that golfers need to stop looking at other players and wishing they had 'that swing' and focus on trying to develop their own unique and trusted action. This comes from lessons based around enhancing their ability and understanding that perfection does not exist in golf. 

Advice for practice:

Don’t just go to a driving range and beat balls thinking you will improve. If you simply use the amount of balls hit and time spent as a measure of practice, you won’t progress as quickly as you might like. True improvement comes from making your practice as realistic to the golf course as possible - uneven lies, different targets, different flights. You will almost never, ever get a flat lie in golf and yet where do most people in the UK pour their practice time? A flat range mat with the same repeated technique. 

Most common problem:

A lack of attention to the club face and aim. Golfers should dedicate a large amount of practice time to gripping the club correctly and aiming it in harmony with their body.

With contributions from