Equipment

3 tips for hitting your fairways


Robert Daw

09 October 2023

three-golfers-teeing-off-watching-the-fairway

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

a-golfer-teeing-off-with-his-ball-teed-too-high

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

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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 Cobra golf clubs are full of hardworking tech. The fairway woods in the Cobra Aerojet range have a weight positioned in the rear of the sole to promote consistent turf interaction to help you breeze through the grass and soil. Finding a club that compliments your game will see you seriously cut your scores.

The Aerojet fairway wood will give you easy, long distance while offering tons of forgiveness too. The tech in the bridge and face makes the club feel flexible and pleasing on impact, and will give you faster ball speeds for more distance down the fairway.

If you’re looking for forgiving wood that will give you plenty of launch, the Aerojet Max fairway wood will be right up your street. This club has a low center of gravity to help you pop the ball up in the air. It also has a build in draw bias to help keep your shots central and on the fairway should you suffer from slicing the ball.

The Aerojet LS fairway wood is a low spin variation in the Aerojet range and will give you plenty of workability. You’ll get on well with this club if you have a faster swing speed, the forward weighting will allow you to produce lower, more customizable trajectories. The lightweight carbon crown saves weight for a more playable clubhead.

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.

Contact us today