For beginner golfers, there are differing opinions about when they should begin to practice hitting a fairway wood. One school of thought holds that beginners shouldn’t try hitting a fairway wood until after they’ve become skilled at hitting mid- and short-irons. The theory here is that the shorter shafts and higher lofts of the irons are easier to learn with and are more forgiving.

Another school of thought holds that the larger club heads and wider sole plates of the fairway woods make them more forgiving of imprecise hitting. Fairway woods can play better off of grass and dirt than irons, which can be very helpful to beginner golfers.

Get the Astonishingly Simple Secret to a Powerful, Precision Golf Swing. Click Here Now!

Forgiveness is a good thing. Let’s look at how the fairway woods compare to the irons.

What’s Different About Woods and Irons?
The broad term “fairway woods” also includes the utility woods. In common terminology, fairway woods are the 3-wood and 5-wood. Utility woods are the 7-wood, 9-wood and 11-wood. In case you’re wondering, there is a 1-wood. It’s more commonly known as a driver. As a beginner, it’s too early for you to be using a driver.

Many golfers carry only the “true” fairway woods: the 3-wood and 5-wood. For beginner golfers, carrying those two is a great strategy. As a beginner, you might also consider carrying a 7-wood. For more about that, see our recommendations for the best golf clubs for beginners.

Generally speaking, fairway woods have less loft than do the irons. This allows the ball to fly lower in the air and gain good distance.

Woods have longer shafts, larger club heads and wider sole plates than the irons. Because of that, the stance and the swing arc are different than for irons.

Irons are hit with a short swing arc and actually impact the ball on the upswing. They take a somewhat large divot as they loft the ball into the air. Hitting a fairway wood is done with a longer, flatter swing arc that impacts the ball at the bottom of the downswing. The club sweeps the ball into the air off the grass (or sand, when played in a bunker), taking little to no divot.

The most common error made by beginner golfers when hitting a fairway wood is to try to scoop the ball up off the ground. Let the loft of the club do that for you. (To learn more about these clubs, see our article: “Irons and Woods — A Brief Comparison for Beginner Golfers.”)

Keys to Hitting a Fairway Wood

When hitting a fairway wood, place the ball forward in your stance, a couple of inches inside your lead foot (left for righties and right for lefties). This placement allows for the wider arc and sweeping motion as you swing through. If the ball is too far back, the swing arc won’t be long or flat enough, causing a large divot. If your divot is too deep, that’s a sign that your ball isn’t forward enough or that your swing is too steep. (See also Hitting the Ball Fat.)

When you address the ball, flex your knees a bit and keep your back flat, not arched. A good guideline is to keep your spine perpendicular to the club shaft. No slouching!

On the backswing and downswing, maintain your arm extension, keeping your forward arm as straight as possible. Turn your hips as you go through the backswing and downswing to generate power. Don’t try to force the power by smacking the ball with all your arm strength. And as always, keep your head down and your eyes on the ball.

Most important, sweep the ball off the ground at the bottom of a long, flat downswing. Don’t try to flick or scoop it up with the club head. Hit the ball cleanly and squarely, and let the club do the rest.

TIP: If you’re playing out of the rough, tap the club head behind the ball (without touching the ball) to tamp down some of the grass between the head and the ball. This is legal as long as you don’t make contact with the ball itself. BUT (and, as you can see, it’s a big one) don’t do that when hitting out of a sand trap. Grounding the club in a bunker is a penalty. Tamp grass = yes, sand = no no no.

Another advantage of the fairway woods is that beginner golfers can (and should) use them in place of a driver off the tee.

The only way to understand the fairway woods is to take them to the practice range and hit balls with them. You need to know what distance you can get from each one and become proficient in striking the ball cleanly. Practice is the only way to achieve this.

Also, when practicing, compare the results you get when hitting a fairway wood and an iron. Compare lofts and distances. Find out which of all of the clubs performs better for you in which situations. Remember that you can only carry 14 clubs in your bag (and as a beginner player, you don’t even need that many). You want them to be the ones that serve you the best. You can reward them by putting those little golf club hats on them.

Now that you’ve learned about hitting a fairway wood, check out the instructional program at PurePoint Golf. PurePoint GUARANTEES that their Full Swing eBook and BONUSES will help you gain greater distance, achieve better control, cut your handicap and have you playing the best golf you have ever played in just 2 weeks or your money back!