Avoid this common mistake with your fairway woods, says top instructor

If you’re a high handicapper, a female player or a golfer who is just starting out, chances are, you’re hitting a lot of fairway woods. Unlike irons, fairway woods require a few different keys to execute a proper strike. But there’s also one other mistake players tend to make when using fairway woods, says top instructor Heather Angell.

“I always tell people, don’t hit your fairway wood unless you’re in the fairway with a really good lie,” Angell said at GOLF’s Top 100 Teacher Summit at Cabot Citrus Farms in Florida. “I have so many amateurs that come out and they’re like, ‘Well, I can’t reach the green. I’ve got to hit the longest club in my bag.’ And they’re standing in the rough or in a sunken lie in the fairway, and they’re pulling up that fairway wood and I’m like, what are you doing? Don’t hit that!”

Focus on these 3 overlooked keys to smoke your fairway woods

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According to Angell, just because the shot you’re facing necessitates the yardage your fairway wood is capable of traveling, it doesn’t mean you have to hit it. Instead, Angell says, if the lie isn’t great, don’t self-sabotage. Opt for a hybrid or iron instead to get back in the fairway and move on.

Angell also recommends using a center-forward ball position with a fairway wood.

“Most people want to either put it back in the middle of their stances, like an iron, or they put it up there with their driver. I think the key for amateurs is to make sure that they have their ball position forward of center so they get that ideal kind of sweeping up motion on it that they want to hit, and then making sure that you’re making a nice smooth swing.

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“Everybody wants to try to kill it,” she continued. “More often than not, when you’re hitting a fairway wood, you can’t reach the green with it. So why swing like you can? If your swing feels effortless, then you’ve made that smooth swing.”

Give Angell’s advice a try to start flushing more fairway woods in your next round. For more tips from Angell, who is the director of instruction at Heritage Palms Golf & Country Club in Fort Myers, Fla., click here.

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