Fairway woods and hybrids..

I have been "duffing" - if that is the right term... hitting the fairway grass grass opposed to the ball. This is happending with my fairway woods and hybrids. I hit the grass, or the top of the ball and I seldom get a good result. I am about 6'2, and these clubs are much shorter than a driver. I may be hitting with too steep of an angle. I have tried standing further fron the ball, sticking my butt out more to lower me to the ground, slowing my swing speed down, and I cannot find anything that works.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated, and I will take them to the range immediately, if not sooner, to work this out!



Many thanks,


James

Hi James,

My tuppence worth would be to make sure your setup is correct i,e, ball position at heel. good grip, and make sure your hands and shaft are just ahead of the ball. I would also say that you should "think" sweep the ball away rather than hitting down. See what happens.

Cheers,
Robert

Many thanks - hands and shaft just ahead of the ball - I definitely was not doing that I will will give it a go!


james

two things that come to mind, one woulb be the ball is too far back and at times you may feel like you reverse pivot, do you ever feel like that?
another, loosing spine angle and that causes the rear knee to move up and down too much, and will lead to inconsistent angles of attack, topping, chunking

with all due respect robert, with a fairway wood having the hands in front of the ball might be a little too much forward, usully the majority of the players would have it even. I do agree about checking the set up though, always the first place to start

Shootin, no prob. I am sugessting what works for me. maybe A few different ideas might help James. Anyway, I suppose there is no such thing as a perfect swing. We are all searching for the illusive perfect game.!!

also when you start you backswing use a one piece takeaway sweeping backswing and sweeping at the downswing too that was the only way i really start to hit my 3 and 5 wood in a year may help you if not at least will not ingrain bad swing fault in you original swing...cheers and good luck

When you take a few practice swings do you look at where the club is sweeping the ground or where you take a divot? This will help determine where you should place the ball in your stance. You should be making contact with the ground in the left portion of your stance...left of center (assuming you are right handed). If you are making contact with the ground or ball right of center you probably are not getting your weight shifted to the left soon enough. Most of the very good players start their weight shift to the left even before they finish their backswing. That may be a key swing thought...start a lateral shift to the left before you reach the top of your backswing. Hope that is helpful to you.
Seeker

Most of the very good players start their weight shift to the left even before they finish their backswing. That may be a key swing thought...start a lateral shift to the left before you reach the top of your backswing. Hope that is helpful to you.
Seeker[/quote]

Many thanks, I will try all of your suggestions. I have been trying to work on a lateral shift towards the target just before the downswing - what is the point of the lateral shift?

I see it mentioned in a lot of books. I have been taking lessons and the instructor is not keen on a lateral shift - he thinks it will throw off your angles. I realize there is more than one way to play the game, and I am always looking for new ideas.

James

The reverse pivot and sway have been my nemeses I will try moving the ball – I have many utility/hybrids so the ball is moved about quite a bit; i.e., one of my utilities is the equivalent of a 5 iron, so I place the ball in the middle of my stance – with the 7 and 5 wood –hybrids I place the ball closer towards the target (I am a lefty).

Thanks for your suggestions much appreciated!

James

Many thanks, I will try all of your suggestions. I have been trying to work on a lateral shift towards the target just before the downswing - what is the point of the lateral shift?

I see it mentioned in a lot of books. I have been taking lessons and the instructor is not keen on a lateral shift - he thinks it will throw off your angles. I realize there is more than one way to play the game, and I am always looking for new ideas.

James[/quote]
i've mentioned this before in other posts....point your trailing knee inwards toward the ball this will stop you from swaying back. You have to transfer weight to your forward leg. If you don't do that you will hit the big ball first (the earth) before you hit the small ball (golf ball). That's not a good thing. If you can learn to play all shots from the same position you will be better off. Place the ball just inside your arm pit of your forward arm should work. Go to a range and try it out.

JamesH:

(Just noticed you are a lefty...just keep in mind my reply is for righties so reverse the terms to apply to your side of the ball....)

For what it is worth, you may want to take a look at a post I sent earlier today concerning "spine tilt" that is in the "maintaining spine angle thread" on this page. It should be the last post in that thread as it just was sent.

Your problem you describe hitting the fairway woods and hybrids fat and thin sounds just like what I was dealing with recently. I corrected it with a simple adjustment at set-up called spine tilt (created by the right shoulder being lower than the left because the right hand is lower than the left on the grip) that is critical to being able to get and stay behind the ball on full shots. This tilt allows you to do so without needing to move off the ball with a drastic weight shift. These shots are difficult anyway because they require a good deal of precision with the strike as well as speed and power. You want to be able to keep the body as steady as possible to accomplish this. The correct set-up including the spine tilt away from the target may help. Check it out next time you go to the range. With the tilt, your head will be a few inches behind the ball at set up. The ball should be roughly in line with your left heel if you are a right handed player.

Good luck

Hi,

Make sure you use the same swing speed as your 7 iron, fairway woods are long and don't need to be swung faster to get the ball going, a slower swing will be more controllable.

Place the ball in line with your right armpit (If you are left handed) and move your left foot back so that your sternum lies just behind the ball, try to sweep the ball away so that the clubs loft gets it into the air, don't try to help it!