Me And My Golf Tips: Rip Your Fairway Woods

Piers Ward and Andy Proudman of Me and My Golf share some simple tips on how to hit your fairway woods better

Me and My Golf tips: How to hit a fairway wood

The main reason golfers struggle with fairway woods, especially from the turf, is that the club bottoms out too early, meaning the low part of the swing occurs before the ball. This is down to a lack of understanding as much as it is poor technique.

Golfers often use a fairway wood like a driver, which may work off the tee, but from the ground, having the ball forward and hitting up on it is likely to cause a succession of thin or heavy contacts.

Related: Most forgiving fairway woods

You want to level out the attack angle compared to the driver and if anything, impart a slightly downward blow. And in order to do this, you'll need to make a couple of adjustments to your set-up.

First, move the ball position back a couple of inches so it's inside the left heel rather than in line. It's not a huge amount so be careful not to overdo it.

And second, instead of feeling like the weight is more on your trail side to encourage an upward strike as is the goal with the driver, try to keep it fairly central at address and trust that the loft on the club will do its job.

From here, just make your normal swing and see how you get on. You should start to notice pretty quickly that the consistency of strike improves and that you're able to hit your fairway woods further.

Related: Best fairway woods for mid-handicappers

As always, getting on top of the basics is half the battle and the correct set-up is key to getting the most out of this versatile club.

Once you've done that you'll be able to use the loft to launch it high and long, making it a great alternative when you're struggling with the driver.

While it's undoubtedly one of the most daunting clubs to hit in the bag, from a more efficient address position, you'll be able to strike the ball better and turn this into a real strength of your game.