I was at the driving range the other day and a buddy of mine was sort of rummaging through my bag to check out my new-ish clubs. He noticed my fairway wood is still very much in mint condition, which led him to ask a simple question: “Dude, have you ever used this club before?”
My response: “Nah, not really. I’m just afraid to hit it,” I embarrassingly replied.
To be fair, the clubs I got from Truespec are only eight months old, with a lot of that time overlapping with winter — meaning I haven’t gotten to use them much. Still, the fact that my friend noticed there has yet to be a single ball mark on my fairway wood sort of opened up my eyes.
That’s when I began digging for some instructional tips to help me finally get over my fear of using the club.
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Try this headcover hack for better fairway wood shots
Like most amateurs, I find that using a fairway wood is…tricky, to say the least. Not only is it the second-longest club in the bag after the driver, but it requires the right technique in order to make center-face contact.
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You’ve got to use great posture, the proper angle of attack, understand how to engage with the turf to make a slight divot, and finish in balance — all of which aren’t easy to do for mid-to-high handicappers.
Thankfully, during my rabbit hole search for tips, I came across some guidance from GOLF Top 100 Teacher Cameron McCormick, who offered a simple hack to experience better results.
Using a fairway wood headcover, McCormick breaks down an easy drill in the video above.
“These types of clubs with headcovers on them [when struck off the ground] can be round-wreckers,” he says. “I’m going to teach you what to do to make sure you they’re not.”
First, McCormick says to simply remove the fairway wood headcover and fill it with three or four golf balls. Next, place the weighted part of the headcover [where the balls are] on the ground, creating somewhat of a barrier.
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The objective of this is to help keep the clubhead beneath the headcover as you take your shots.
“Let [the headcover] hover right over your golf ball. This is going to ensure that you return the clubhead low to the ground so you’re not topping or thinning the shot into the long grass in front of you,” he says. “Let’s play limbo with the clubhead, making sure that we’re missing directly under the headcover.”
It’s a tricky, yet effective, swing drill that can help you learn how to create the proper angle of attack with your fairway wood, leading to better contact and flusher shots.
