Golf_Digest_USA_-_May_2019

ron barrett

26 golfdigest.com | may 2019 Photograph by Walter Iooss Jr.

Play Your Best The Leading Edge by Michael Breed

Flush Your Fairway Woods

To get more lift, stop trying to lift

T

he thing about hitting

fairway woods off the

turf is, most golfers feel

like they have to help them into

the air. They look down and

don’t see much loft on the

clubface, and they know they

want to launch the ball high,

so what do they do? The classic

mistakes are playing the ball

off the toe of the front foot and

hanging back on the down-

swing to try to lift the ball. Both

are killers.

Let’s get you a clear plan for

using these clubs. It starts with

ball position. Yes, you’ve got a

long club in your hands, so you

want to play the ball forward—

but not too far forward. Make

sure it’s at least a couple of

inches inside your front foot.

Next, to make a good strike,

we have to look at your back-

swing. Resist the urge to just

lift your arms straight up. You

need some width to your swing

arc, so focus on extending your

hands away from the target.

And not just your lead arm; feel

your trail arm stretching back.

This width will help you later.

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Finally, you have to trust

that you have enough loft to

produce the trajectory you

want—and you do! Keep your

chest pointing down toward the

ball through impact (above).

Don’t pull your chest up or tilt

it away from the target, or you

won’t hit the ball solidly. With

your chest down and the club

coming in nice and shallow,

you’ll catch the ball and brush

the ground after impact. That’s

how you flush a fairway wood.

—with peter morrice

michael breed is Golf Digest’s

Chief Digital Instructor.