The surprising key to striping your fairway woods

[Photos: James Farrell]

When you need to get a tee shot in play, send one down the fairway on a par 5 or even navigate a long par 4, fairway woods can do the job very well.

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The common mistake with these clubs, however, is trying to help them do their job. I see a lot of players spinning out with their lead foot in an attempt to lift the ball off the turf with some ‘body english’. The lead foot is often turned towards the target before the club reaches the ball, and that leads to poor contact. When you finish your swing, just have a look at your front foot and you’ll know if you spun out [below].

How do you fix this spinout move? It starts with trusting that if you make solid contact, the ball will fly plenty high – there’s no need to add any lifting action at impact. You also should put in some practice time to work on improving your footwork with these longer clubs. My favourite drill to prevent the spinout is to grab a fairway wood and address a ball with another ball resting next to the heel of the lead foot [below].

With this drill, the goal is to hit the shot as solidly as possible without moving the ball next to the lead heel. Here I’m demonstrating a good downswing [below 1] versus a bad one [below 2]. In fact, you get an A+ if your heel moves a little further away from the ball than it was at address. That means your weight is moving in the right direction – towards the target. When you spin out, the opposite is happening, which would cause you to nudge the ball that’s against your heel and send it backwards.

On the course, imagine that ball against your heel when you play these shots. Once you hit some good ones, you’ll learn to trust that you don’t have to help the shot get airborne. Remember, spinouts almost always lead to poor contact, so this is a good place to look when you’re seeing erratic strikes.

Ryan Hager, one of Golf Digest’s Best Young Teachers in America, is director of instruction at Plainfield Country Club in Edison, New Jersey.