In this video, I break down the key differences in hitting your fairway woods off the tee versus off the ground. Whether you’re struggling with thin shots or just want more consistency, this high-level overview covers setup, ball position, and swing tips to help you build confidence with your fairway woods from any lie.
In this video, you’ll learn:
✅ How to set up for fairway woods off a tee
✅ The correct ball position for shots off the ground
✅ Key swing thoughts to avoid topping or chunking
✅ Common mistakes most golfers make (and how to fix them)
Perfect for beginners and mid-handicappers looking to take the fear out of fairway woods and start hitting more consistent, powerful shots.
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00:00 intro
00:31 Use your 3 wood
01:01 Hitting Off a Tee
03:19 Hitting Off the Ground
Do you struggle hitting your fairway woods? Whether it be off a tee or on the ground, are you just struggling to get the ball in the air and get it moving forward? If so, this might be the video for you. If you’re having a hard time hitting your fairway woods, whether it be off a tee or on the ground, I’m going to give you some tips today to show you some things that you can do to help improve on both of those. I know for some reason some people can hit it off a tee perfectly fine, but not on the ground. Vice versa, some people hit it great off the ground, but not off a tee. So, I want to make sure to talk about both of those. The easiest part to start with if you’re not hitting your fairway woods well is with the woods themselves. So, I’ve got my 3-wood and fivewood in hand. You will notice the 3-wood is a little bit longer. I’ve got my 3-wood currently set up at 14 1/2° of loft where my fivewood’s actually at 19. If you’re having a hard time getting the ball in the air or hitting it all together, take this 3-wood, toss it to the side, stick to a fivewood, make sure you’ve got that in the bag. the extra loft, the shorter shaft is all going to help you build that confidence you need to work back up to a 3-wood. To start with, we’ll go with a TE just because that is the easiest if you’re struggling. You know, getting it on a tee helps get the ball off the ground and in the air to begin with. Tee height right off the bat I like to show here because like you don’t want to tee it too high. I see so many golfers tee that thing an inch off the ground. The club head itself is only about an inch tall to start with. So, if it’s only an inch tall to start with and you tee it that high off the ground and then you hit it, you’re going to go straight under the ball, have one of those idiot marks on the top of your club, which we all have at some point, if you tee it just slightly off the ground here where you got where it’s square with the ball, you can go a hair bit higher with that. That’s going to help immensely. Now, when hitting it off a tee as well, ball position and your position away from the ball is going to be key. A lot of people sign up where it’s straight over the middle of them and they want it pinning extremely down on the ball. And like I said, that’s when you start crowning it, having issues of that nature. This one you want to treat a little more like a driver where you’ve got it set up a little more into your left side of your heel. You set it up so that way when you’re hitting on the ball, you’re hitting a little more up on it. This is one where you don’t necessarily need to get ground contact, but also don’t be afraid to hit the ground. Big part of hitting a fairway wood that people a lot of people don’t understand is this is one of the longer clubs in your bag. You have to be very aware of the arc of your swing. Should be a circle type motion where you’re getting the club at the ground at the ball. If you’re too close to yourself, it’s going to be easy to hit behind the ball. If you’re too far away from it, it’s easy to just top it because you’re not close enough to the ground. It’s something you’ve got to really work on, preferably at the range where you can hit 20, 30, 40 balls. Kind of figuring out exactly what position works best for you. Now, with a ball teed up in a fairway wood, you do want to set up more inside left heel. something where you’ve got it and you’re hitting a little more up on the ball. And after that, a lot of the same kind of principles apply. Just make sure you’re confident and steady over the ball. Make sure when you’re swinging, you’re not falling back or swaying too much within your swing. And just try to feel like you’re trying to get it picked right off the tee. Do not be afraid to hit the ground. It’s okay to get it a little fat. It’s when you top it and you thin it that you’re going to hit it 10 ft in front of you. Like I said, just as simple, set it up on the left heel. set up maybe with a slight bit of lean to the right kind of like you would with a driver and then just crush it out there. Now, I know what a lot of you are thinking. I’m great hitting it off the tea. That part’s easy. It’s already off the ground. It’s hitting it on the ground where I struggle, too. Let’s talk about that, too. Get that tee out of here. Let’s get a ball on the ground. The biggest thing I see people struggling with with hitting a ball on the ground is they are afraid of the ground. When you hit this, it’s something that you still want to come up and they either take it too much like an iron swing and they’re coming straight over the top of it, straight into the ground, which doesn’t work, or they’re just too afraid to hit the ground and they’re just flat and just topping it every time. Ball never goes anywhere and you struggle to do anything with that. And that’s where the practice and reps you’re going to get out on the range is going to help you the most. Similar thing when you’re out at the range and you’re hitting it off the ground. But now it is okay to set it up a little closer to center. If you have it too far out on your left, you’re going to top it just too often because you’re struggling to hit the ground. You’re struggling to get your arc of the swing at the point where the ball is. Now, with this, you don’t want to be afraid to hit the ground. And you’re going to have to hit the ground to do this successfully. That’s something where you’ve got to make sure you’ve got ball, a little bit of ground, and good. Some of the best players that I see that I play with on a personal level take nice divots with a three-wood and a fivewood. You don’t want to be afraid to hit the ground. You want to be able to do that as well. Similar thing here. Now, we’re just got a little more centered stance. And I’m going to take a nice big divot on this one just to show you more what this looks like. Now, if we come in here, we’ll see. Right now, that was great. The ball is nice and aligned with this one. So, I got ball, little bit of ground, nice tight draw on it, and don’t be afraid to get more than that. I know a couple players that hit very consistent 3-wood and fivewood shots that take nice big divots. If you have the power to take a divot and still get the ball out, don’t worry about it, but it’s better to hit the ball with a divot and hit the ground than it is just to top it. To show you more what I mean about that as well, same kind of concept here. This one, I’m going to try to fat intentionally. So when I thin it and top it, the ball’s barely going to go maybe 10, 40 feet in front of me. But at least when you hit it fat, if you get it with some good power, [Music] that was extra chunky. Granted, these dry Arizona grounds don’t necessarily show it, but the the ball still went out there for me. That still probably went about 220 to 230. I tugged it a hair in the process, but it’s well out there, unlike a top where you’re struggling just to get it to go that far. Now, if you are struggling strengthwise and the ground is stopping you and you’re still not getting that distance, that’s where I mentioned it before. Just get those reps in. Come out and hit ball after ball. Hit one where you’re reaching a little, maybe one where you’re a little closer, move it towards your left foot, move it towards your right foot. The other thing to play with, and you’ve seen me talk about it in other videos, would be strengthening your grip and weakening your grip. If you need more information on that, let me know in the comments below. And then just hitting ball after ball, trying to get that repetition in. I myself find myself hitting fairway woods every range session I go to, every time I’m warming up before a round, knowing exactly how important this club could be in my bag. This is the difference between eagle opportunities or birdie opportunities and struggling to break 90 or 100 in itself. Really hope this is a video you’ve enjoyed and these just general tips could help you out. There’s so much more technicality I could go into, but I just wanted to be a highle overview of things to practice and what to do. Let me know if this works for you in the comments below. Make sure you’re subscribed to my channel so you’re seeing all our content we have coming up in the future. So many fun things we have going on. Really appreciate your support. Make sure to like the video and we’ll see you in the next one.
