How to Hit Fairway Woods from Any Lie

Tommy Fleetwood shares his thought process for hitting great shots with his Qi35 fairway woods alongside Johnson Wagner. He walks you through three different lies, including downhill lies and shots from the rough, offering insights into how he approaches each scenario.

Later, Tommy discusses the importance of having the Qi35 fairway in his bag and how it has elevated his game.

Tommy is known for having a unique equipment setup, highlighted by several high-lofted fairway woods. In this video, he explains why he sometimes has a 9-wood in the bag, and even equates it to a pitching wedge.

Learn more about our Qi35 Fairway Wood lineup and find out which model might be best for your game here: https://tmgolf.co/YTQi35Fairway

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Oh, baby. [Music] Come on. Come on. That’s a good golf shot. I I I know it’s not going to get on the green, but I love that shot. Cheers. And I can get that up and down. Oh, that came out so nice. That may get that back to the blue flag. Came out so good. Did it go in? Did it go in? Hi, I’m Johnson Wagner. I’m down here with Tommy Fleetwood and we’ve got some great tips for you coming. We are going to talk fairway woods. We’re going to hit some shots off flat lies, downhill lie, and may even get into the rough a little bit. All right, Tommy, we got 248 yards to that white flag on the right side of this par five green. We got a couple other ones out there. I We got the new Qi35 fairway woods. What What’s in your bag right now? So, uh I have quite a lot of options at the top end. So, um I guess I don’t know what you would call a mini driver, but that’s like the longest. And then I have fivewood. And then very often I’ll have a ninewood in there as well these days. I think um the way the courses play, like ninewood’s been a really good club. What would be a factor for you to put the ninewood in play? Um certain distance of shots that might be reoccurring. Um firmness of a golf course. I actually think a lot of the time I think people get on really firm golf courses and think like a two iron is great whereas really the course is so fast you actually might want to slow the ball down a lot. So a 9wood and a fivewood can be great clubs for really fast golf courses. Um if you’re going to play in a lot of wind, ninewoods um might not be versatile enough when you get into the wind and things like that, but um it’s still got a lot of good to it. It’s great out of rough. Um gives you options. So it’s been um I think it’s been a really great club. All right. What are you thinking? 248 yards center of the green. And I know it’s 3-wood for me. It’ll be uh fivewood for me. There is a bit of breeze into um but I’ I’d say my fivewood is it’s almost like a really good stock yardage for it. My fivewood’s probably like ranging like 255. Okay. Uh like anywhere between 250 and sometimes 260. So like 248 I’d be um I’d be quite happy with um depending on furnace of greens where you’re going to land it and then what shot shape you’re going to hit. So all right. All right. So, what are some keys? You’re standing over the shot, nice flat line in the fairway. Are are you looking at the right pin or you just taking it at the center of the green from this distance? It’s going to depend on um I mean, in general, you’re you’re always better at hitting it on the green. Um but at the same time, you know, you’re still 250 yards away. Um and just because you’re aiming at the middle of the green doesn’t mean you’re going to hit the green. So, sometimes, you know, if the miss is okay on on the right on the right side, you I might take it more aggressive at the pin. Um, and then yard yardage will play a factor. Like if if I have, you know, for instance, if I had 260 now, then the pins on the right, I can’t start fading into that pin. I can’t reach. Um, so then, you know, but as in 248, maybe 240, I can start hitting a fade. So then I might feel like I can be a bit more aggressive because I’m starting it on that left side and working it in. Uh, so that white pin on the right, it’s 248. There is there is actually some breeze. I mean, it’s it’s not a particularly windy day, but there’s enough breeze to make an impact. So, I think I could go pretty much stock. I would love, you know, if that bunker was fine, like may and and long isn’t good, maybe I’d be start thinking about fading it and taking a bit off it. But, um, I’ll hit a stock shot, try and hit it just left of the pin. See how we do. And what what are some keys for you when hitting a fairway wood off of nice tight fairway lies? How do you approach going? Do you hit down on it? What what what are your thoughts? Um definitely on a a 9wood, fivewood, I’m just trying to swing it like the rest of my irions really. Um just that continuation um like up through the bag. So you know, seven, six, five, four iron. Soon as you move into a wood, I would love things to be as constant as possible. So I would have very similar thoughts. Okay, let’s see what you got. right at it. Good thing we didn’t place a wager on close to the pen. It was a fraction bottom me. I was kind of expecting to see you take a divot. Do you ever do you ever take divots with uh with fairway woods? I kind I I mean I’m not I’m not the steepest golfer by any means. So as soon as um you know I I get to I mean occasionally I’ll practice taking divots just so I get cover in the ball, right? Um but yeah, I’m I’m not like a steep swinger. Right. So like when you’re would you do you know an angle of attack that you would have on a fivewood? Are you My fairway woods would be where I start to get around zero. Okay. And then once you get higher like my driver will be up and the rest you know my iron. So like fairway woods I always find is like the point where I would find myself getting to zero. Okay. Well I’m going to try to knock this on the green. I’m going to go with the white flag as well. Uh really I just hope to make good contact, but I’m going to try to treat it like an iron like you said. Oh healed it a bit. Just a little bit drifty, but and a little short. Well, we got to get one of these on the green. Let’s see. Let’s get you another one. You want to hit my 3-wood? No, I I just have to rip it. Should we take it at the red flag? We can go red flag. Well, I mean, no, I’m going white flag again. Okay. All right. I’m just going to have to This will have to be, you know, a nice flush one. Get it a bit higher up the face. Oh, baby. Is that drifting? Go. It’s the drift. It covered it. It’s close. Have to go. I mean, that would be a really nice one if you’re being aggressive to the pin, like if you felt comfortable. I mean, that’s just off the green. I Well, it might be on the green. I don’t know where the edge of the green is. The first three would I hit that that Qi35. I couldn’t believe I’ve never seen a 3-wood get up like that. Have you noticed anything with this new equipment? Yeah, I just think I just think that’s such a an important aspect of a fairway wood. Uh for me, as like some of my tendencies are I I get I you know, I get behind it, I get some side bend as soon as I’m trying to lift something up in the air, I get into all kinds of issues. It brings in a two-way miss for starters. Um, so the the easier it is to, you know, these fairway woods, they they what I found, especially in a fivewood, um, it gets in the air very easy, but it’s going forward as well. It’s not like a spinny floaty up in the air, which is the worst, which is the worst. So, you’re getting the number that you want out of it, but you’re just watching it in like a high window straight away. Even though I’ve got three wood and you’ve got fivewood, I’d still like to hit this closer than you, Tommy. I’d love you to. Little drop kick. We love a drop kick though. It’s got to go. It’s short of the bunker. It was good. It was good line. We like direction. It was a very good line. All right, let’s take us over here and we’ll hit some shots off the downs slope. [Music] All right, Tommy, we have moved to a downhill lie ball below our feet. It’s pretty severe right here. What What are some keys when hitting this shot off a downhill lie? Um, never fight the shot that the ground is giving you is something that um I always try and live by. So down slope balls below your feet, the ball’s always going to curve left to right. Um so there’s no reason why I would try and fight the slope. Um I would I would let you know I would give myself some room on the left. Um let it move. And then I think on this one in particular, um, it’s not that much of a down slope, but if it was, I would I would try and, you know, shift my weight to match the slope, but then when it’s going away from you, you’re going to get pushed onto your toes. So, I would try and focus on having a bit more weight in my heels at the start, and that should like even me out a little bit. Okay. Um, and then, yeah, we won’t fight the SL. We’ll go to that red. So, so heels weight more. I would just Yeah, I would just have a bit more focus in being in my heels because I’m I’m obviously the the ground’s pushing me that way all the time. So, I’m going to try and counteract that a little bit. Okay. Just as a as an even weight thing. Um, red flag. Red flag. Going to give myself some room to the left. So, I actually don’t mind. There’s there’s the there’s the big trunks that stand out which are like three four yards left of the green. Yep. Um, and let it and let it work its way off that. Oh, I started it a bit left. Yeah, but that’s working right on. I mean, that’s the that’s the proper miss right there. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. I mean, I wasn’t I wouldn’t be that disappointed. Um, it’s not it’s not the shot I want. Um, but we very rarely hit those. So, I I I find on these sort of lies as a draw of the golf ball. I can tend when I try to hit a fade, I can double cross it. You got anything to Is it Do you think the weight being back in my heels will help? I I mean I mean maybe. I think um like I Yeah. So, as a drawer, I always felt like because you you think as a drawer, I think sometimes a lot of the stuff I would used to do, I would think, well, this is going to make me hit it straight, like it’ll just counteract. But then if you’re not giving yourself enough room that way, I think maybe you fight it a little bit. The more room you give yourself, it’s like playing in wind. The more room you give yourself to allow the wind to come, you very rarely double cross it because you’re so far that way already, you’re only really going to work it the, you know, the way that’s coming into the pin. That’s what I always found. Okay, I like that. I’m going to take it at that those big trunks just like Give yourself some nice bit of room to the left over. Feet open with this or Yeah. I mean, you just Yeah, you’re aiming up that left side. Giving it plenty of room out to the left. Weight back in the heels. And I’m just going to embrace it like you said and don’t fight what it wants to do. Come on. Come on. Good golf shot. I I I know it’s not going to get on the green, but I love that shot. It’s right there next to yours, and I can get that up and down. Cool. All right. I want another go. Let’s Let’s get one close. Yeah. We need We need an eagle putt. Okay. It’s playing long actually. The wind’s just picked up. Are you making any adjustments on this? Um, do you know what? I actually might move this back a little bit and try and just like compress it a little bit more, but everything about the shot’s still the same. The slope’s still going to work for me and I’m going to give myself plenty of room to the left. But yeah, that wind’s picked up. And the thing we were talking about how easy it is to get the ball up with these clubs. I think the greatest thing about the Qi35 is that you can keep it down, too. It’s very workable. It is. It’s very workable. Here we go. Let’s show just how workable it is. Oh, baby. Oh, Johnson, stop it. Oh, that was so close. That was a good swing. That was a good swing. There’s my divot that you That’s exactly what I wanted to see. That means you really compressed it and flighted it. All right, let’s go see that ninewood out of the rock. Okay. [Music] All right, Tommy. Now we’ve moved to the rough. You’ve got this utility club, Ninewood. Such a A lot of players are playing it. Back in the day, I don’t think a lot of PGA Tour pros would feel confident enough with it, but tell me why you like this club. You can hit a lot of shots with it. Um, I like the height of it. at the at the distance that you’re hitting it. Um you’re obviously getting to that point where you are at the long end of the irons. Um and the ninewood’s a completely different shot to a four iron or a three iron. So uh my ninewood actually carries like say it carries 10 yards further than my four iron, maybe 15 when you know I’d hit a good one, but it’s it’s such a different golf shot. It’s high, it’s soft. I always feel I always feel like it’s like a 235 yard pitching wedge at times. Um and then you get into stuff like this. So like when you know we come into the rough you’ve actually hit a good driver on on a par five. You’ve missed the fair by two yards. I mean you’re devastated if you’ve got to try and hit a three iron out of this. Like you can’t do it. So you’re laying up. So like ninewood is just a great option um for that. So like you know you look at this here it’s sat down and then uh one of the things I took so um in the last one of the segments we did last year uh it was Tiger teaching us his shots with a fivewood out the me and Scotty and and I’ve always kept it cuz he had this shot and he was and and you know he set us up to hit this punch cut with a wood and he said just hit like a punch seven iron and I was like that’s good. Best example would be like if you were going to hit like a punch seven iron through the trees. Yeah. Okay. Okay. How you’d play it. Okay. And just let the the meat of the club and all the size and the weight and the loft do all the work for you. So, punch seven on. Yeah. Just chop straight down on top of it. It’s awesome. See? Yeah. Nice. So, you’re hitting more down. Exactly. You’re going to hit more down. You’re going to get steep and like, you know, it’s it’s like a choppy shot really out the rough. It’s still a choppy shot, but the the way the ninewood works, it just pops it out really nicely. So, um, like that red flag there is 225, 226, I think. Um, so in here I I I would get in again. I’d be a little bit open stance and then I’d just think punch seven iron. So, I mean, the lie looks like that. The lie actually looks a little bit hot. So, I think I can get to that back blue flag, which is like 250. Yeah, we’ll get it. We’ll get it back there. Oh, that came out so nice. I that may get that back to the blue flag. Came out so good. Oh, we got one on the green. Finally going. Oh, go shot. Whoa. Good thing we were going to the blue. Did it go in? Did it go in? I think it may have gone in. Oh my god. That’s incredible. Well, I think that’s going in the bag now. Well, I mean there I mean there you go. So that um that obviously came out perfect. I don’t really know what to say, but um I mean we were just talking before you’ve never hit an ar I mean let get it in your hands. Well I shot one out of the This is quite an honor to be able to hit a club that you just hold out. This might change your life. All right, I’m going to give myself a nice little sitting down lie again. And so it’s simply a punt shot with a seven iron. That’s That’s exactly I mean that’s what Tiger Woods actually taught me. So like I’m I’m going to stick with that. He seems to know what he’s doing. All right. I can do I can do that maybe. Oh, it came out hot like run. Well, I’m not It’s not in the hole, but I’m not sad about that. And you can’t do that with a four iron or a five iron or a three. Like you just don’t have that shot. Uh I’ll be coming home with one of these. Yes, you will. Tommy, thank you. And guys, thanks for watching this how-to with Tommy Fleetwood. Some great stuff on how to hit fairway woods.