Fairway woods are a very forgiving golf club that allow the player to hit the ball confidently with power and at a high swing speed. Similar to the golf driver many golfers opt for fairway woods to tee off because of their ability to send the ball over long distances. They’re also used to cover distances over the fairways, hence the name, or to extract the ball from the rough.

If you’re using your fairway wood to tee off, then naturally you need this game-opening swing to be a good one, so we’re going to impart our best advice for how to hit a fairway wood. You want to be hitting down on the golf ball, using the natural loft privy to fairway woods. For this, you’ll need to position the ball between your driver position and mid-iron position. Square your shoulders so even though you’re hitting down on the ball, you can still strike the ball at a flatter angle. This means your downswing won’t be too steep. Keep your swing confident and fluid, powerful but controlled. When hitting down on the ball, you might make a shallow divot. This isn’t a bad thing, however, as a shallow divot tells the player that you completed a downward swing but you still connected with the ball at a flat angle. This means your fairway wood can be used to tee off, combining distance and power, or to use its loft to free you from the rough.

The best fairway woods are fitted to the player. For players who are just starting out on their golf journey, then a 3-wood fairway makes for an extremely forgiving club to tee off with because of its extra loft. For approach shots on the green, then the best fairway woods here would be between a 3-wood and a 5-wood. For our more seasoned golfers though, and for those who are avid or on an elite level, you might be using this club away from the fairway. In this case, a club with a shallower head will help keep a tighter line on your shot so you don’t need to sacrifice control. Players who don’t necessarily need the forgiveness but are instead playing a more detail-orientated game would benefit from these woods. Because choosing the best fairway woods is an entirely personal experience, we would always recommend finding your nearest American Golf using our store locator so a member of our team can fit you for the perfect clubs.

No one enjoys it when we slice the ball and its even worse when you don't know how to fix it. The problem is knowing what you are doing wrong, it could be your stance, your grip or even your equipment but if you want to understand a bit more have a read of our how to fix a slice blog