3 tips for hitting your fairways

Depending on how you approach the ball, getting a 3-wood out of the bag either fills you with confidence or dread. Some players find the 3-wood to be a reliable club while others just can’t hit them.

It’s quite commonplace nowadays for players on tour to have 5 and 7 woods in the bag to help them get out of scrapes easily. These clubs can be a real godsend if you need to punch your ball out of the rough, but the 3 wood has a notoriously love-hate reputation.

We want you to be smiling each time you head to the tee knowing you’ll be knocking a drive squarely down the middle, so here’s three tips to help you make amazing shots with a fairway wood.

Off the tee

With fairway woods being half the size of a driver, many golfers struggle to have the confidence to smash one down the fairway — they’re just a lot harder to hit and less forgiving.

One mistake you may be making if you usually hit a driver off the tee is teeing the ball up too high for your 3-wood. While you might initially think this will make the ball easier to hit, you’re actually shifting your weight onto your foot furthest from the tee, causing you to scoop the ball upwards.

To hit a 3-wood you need to tee the ball much lower down. Imagine you’ve found the perfect lie on the fairway for reference, that would be an ideal length. Instead of hitting up on the ball as you would with a driver, you need to approach the ball with a slight descending blow to make a good connection.

When teeing up a shot with the driver, we place the ball near our foot closest to the fairway. To pull off a great drive with a 3-wood, you’ll want the ball towards your front foot but a touch more central in your stance. This will help you flush through the ball rather than scoop it.

Off the deck

Being able to hit a 3-wood off the deck is a skill that you might not need for every single round of golf. But when you’re approaching a par-5 or a long par-4 and you feel like going for the green, it helps to have the right technique in mind.

When you approach the ball on the fairway, position yourself so that the ball is central in your stance. As you swing, keep turning your body through the ball and let the club’s loft get the ball airborne rather than your hands. It can be tempting to shy away from what may feel like an unnatural strike.

As your club makes contact with the ball, be sure to swing through the ball and not take any divots, you’re not hitting down on the ball like with an iron. If you make good contact you’ll be able to sail the ball down the fairway to find your target.

Finding the right club for you

Technology can give you an edge on the golf course, and PING golf clubs are full of hardworking tech. Thanks to PING’s FaceWrap Technology, the steel face wraps into the sole and crown, creating a solid clubhead that will glide through turf with ease. Finding a club that compliments your game will see you seriously cut your scores.

For example, the PING G430 SFT fairway wood has a built-in draw bias to help you keep the ball straight and on the fairway if you suffer from a natural slice in your shot shape.

The PING G430 LST model will help you gain more speed on impact so you hit the ball further. The most forgiving club in the range, the PING G430 Max, has a tungsten sole weight that will help you make a great strike even if you don’t hit the ball cleanly out of the center of the face.

If you have a slow swing speed, the PING G430 High Launch is a lightweight easy-to-swing club that that will help you pick up more distance.

However you approach the ball and whatever your ability, we’ll have a fairway wood in the shop to suit your specific needs. We’re open and available to help you out, just get in touch.