Tips Special - Take control of your Fairway woods with Peter Hanson

2011 NEW PRODUCTS

TA K E C O N T R O L O F YO U R

FAIRWAY WOODS

BY PETER H A NSON FOCUS ON QUALITY-OF-STRIKE AND YOU WILL ADD CONSISTENCY AND CONTROL. PHOTOGRAPHY BY HOWARD BOYLAN

The Tour professional has a very different approach to hitting fairway woods than the amateur. In my experience, when the club golfer picks up a fairway wood he is concerned with length and height. Because of this, he tries to hit the ball too hard, and too high. The level of precision demanded by hitting a wood off the ground dooms these intentions to failure.

For tour pros, fairway woods are all about controlling the ball flight – and that means controlling angle of attack. Our goal is to create a shallow angle of attack, which has an element of compressing the ball. This enables us to use the wide, flat sole of the club to protect us against heavy contact, while applying maximum pressure into the ball. This extra pressure means we can afford to make a more compact, controlled swing without losing any distance.

Here, we will go through the tour pro’s approach; adopt it and you can’t help but add consistency and control to your fairway wood play.

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I M PA C T

LET US START BY FORGING A BETTER UNDERSTANDING OF WHERE WE WANT TO BE AT IMPACT WITH A FAIRWAY WOOD – AND WHAT WE WANT TO MOVE AWAY FROM.

LEANING BACK

✘ STRAIGHTER LEFT SIDE Seventeen or 18 degrees of face loft may not look like much, but believe me, it is plenty to send the ball upwards. Even with a slight downward angle of attack, you can still send the ball out on a decent trajectory. Try to find this more left-sided position at impact, with the left shoulder much more over the top of the left foot.

Remember, the bottom of the arc is underneath the left shoulder; with this impact, the clubface is yet to reach it; perfect for the slightly compressing strike you are looking to make. Now we know what we are looking to achieve. As always, finding the right impact position begins with the fundamentals.

The fairway wood seems like it has limited loft, so club golfers often feel the need to assist the ball’s launch. They get themselves into this position, the right shoulder dropping down behind the ball as they try to send the ball upwards. This moves the bottom of the club’s arc – pretty much under the left shoulder – behind the ball, meaning the clubhead rises sharply through the impact zone. When you ally this to the overaggressive hit so many club players make with fairway woods, the chances of a controlled, effective strike are minimal.

BALL POSITION The perfect ball position for fairway woods is further back than many amateurs realise; play it a little forward of centre, closer to a mid-iron than the driver. This ball position sets up an impact with a level or slightly downward angle of attack. Amateurs are often tempted to let the ball position sneak forwards, believing it will help them sweep the ball airborne. In fact it is just the opposite; with the club further into its upward arc at impact, a thin or top is more likely.

FEEL SLIGHTLY OPEN

On fairway wood shots, I will always look for a feeling of my hips, feet and shoulders being slightly open at address, or aiming a touch left.

Here, I’ve just withdrawn my left toe slightly from the inner, footline cane, which aims parallel to the second target line cane. To be honest, this is a personal thing for me; I get problems when my body aims across the line, to the right. But it is a good rule for anyone. It is an easy trap to aim your hips and shoulders at the target, which actually forces you to close the clubface slightly to aim it at the target. This can lead to a hook or block.

It is a good idea to practise with a cane aiming at the target, and just inside the heel of the fairway wood. Drop that right shoulder down to scoop the ball up and your fairway woods will catch the cane before impact; miss the cane and you’ll find it easier to make a more level-shouldered pass at the ball, as you turn over your left hip.

www.golf-world.co.uk // JUNE 2011

2011 NEW PRODUCTS

HALFWAY DOWN At this point of the swing I am looking for a key sensation – to apply pressure on to the ball from my upper body, which I feel running down through my left thigh. To repeat – I’m applying pressure on the ball through the body. This feeling gives me two benefits: n It helps me rotate over the ball, not tilt down behind it. If I was trying to tilt back to launch the ball up, I would feel this pressure in my right thigh. n It enables me to find the compressing angle of attack which fires maximum pressure into the ball.

TIGHT AT THE TOP The fairway wood is built for distance, so make use of the power in the club’s design; don’t feel you have to generate it all yourself. Aim to gain your yards by finding the club’s sweetspot and applying the correct pressure on the ball, not by trying to beat seven bells out of it!

You will find this a lot easier if you hit your fairway wood with the same rhythm you reserve for your 7-iron. Here, at the top, my backswing is full but still compact; there’s been no overturning of the hips, and no excessive weight shift.

You may have a long way to go, but don’t panic; try to hit the ball 20 yards shorter and you will be amazed to see how, with extra control, you end up hitting it 20 yards further.

STRAIGHT LEFT SIDE AT IMPACT A lot of guys are tilted behind it at impact, but as you can see, I have quite a straight left side. This allows me to maintain the pressure on the ball down through the body. It’s important to realise though that while the clubhead is putting pressure on the ball, I am still delivering the club from a shallow angle. I am still getting the bounce to work.

JUNE 2011 // www.golf-world.co.uk

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T E C H NOL O GY

PHOTO FINISH: MAKE USE OF YOUR PRACTICE SWING When you have a long way to go to the green, the hit impulse can kick in and ruin the rhythm and control in your swing.

But there is a simple way you can help yourself. Make a “real time” practice swing to set the tempo and finish of the swing you want to make. Then, simply mimic it on the actual shot. Do this and it becomes much easier to find this poised position at the finish – a true hallmark of a controlled action.

HIGH-TECH TURF GLIDER Peter uses TaylorMade’s adjustable R11 fairway woods. By adapting Flight Control Technology for loft, and its Adjustable Sole Plate for face angle, the golfer can make use of a 60-yard side-to-side range, with up to 1,000rpm of spin added or removed. “I like to set the face open,” says Hanson. “To me a square face looks a little shut; positioning the face in an open position sets up well to my eye.”

The R11 fairway comes in 14°, 15.5°, 17°, 19° and 22° lofts, and is powered by a Fujikura Blur 70 shaft.

AIM SMALL, MISS SMALL Some fairway wood shots are simply a question of punting the ball further up the hole – but don’t let that fool you into thinking you can take less care over the shot. A high percentage of fairway wood shots fail because the golfer has got sloppy in his preparation. So be extra precise at set-up. Go behind the ball, pick an exact target; adopt the mantra of ‘Aim small, miss small’. These details are as important with this club as any other.

IN PETER’S BAG Driver: TaylorMade Burner SuperFast 2.0, 8.5 degrees.

Fairway woods: TaylorMade Burner SuperFast 2.0 3-wood, 13.5 degrees; TaylorMade R11 4-wood, 17 degrees.

3-PW: TaylorMade MB Forged 2011.

Sand wedge: Titleist BV Spin Milled, 53 degrees.

Lob wedge: Titleist BV Spin Milled, 60 degrees.

Putter: TaylorMade Rossa Ghost TM-770 Tour.

Ball: TaylorMade Penta TP.

www.golf-world.co.uk // JUNE 2011