Learning to hit fairway woods can be a bit of a challenge at first. Unlike using the driver on the driving box where one is allowed to tee the ball up off the ground, the real challenge in hitting fairway woods is to be able to make solid contact with the ball while resting directly on the ground. The lie, or the amount of the ball that is exposed while resting on the ground, is the first order of business to review when considering hitting fairway woods. The smaller the amount of ball that is exposed, the higher the loft of the fairway wood that should be used is a generally accepted rule.
The most popular fairway woods that people carry in their bags are the 3 wood, the 4 wood, and/or the 5 wood. For those that are new to golf, the loft on a 3 wood is smaller than the loft on a 4 wood, and a 4 wood loft is less than that of a 5 wood, etc. The clubs also are slightly shorter as the loft of the club increase and these two factors, loft and club length greatly impact the overall distance that one can hit the ball with each given club. Generally speaking, one will hit a 3 wood farther than a 4 wood with the expected distance to drop as the loft of the club increases and the length of the club decreases.
While again making a general comparison, the distance that one will hit a 5 wood is approximately the same distance that one would hit a 2 iron. The key difference in club selection between electing to use a 5 wood over a 2 iron are lie and wind conditions as the flight of the ball will be different between the two clubs. When hitting fairway woods, the higher the loft (or the larger the number on the club) the higher the flight of the ball. A 5 wood will hit a ball considerably higher into the air than a 3 wood, and a 2 iron for that matter, hence the reason for considering wind conditions when making club selections.
With the lie of the ball in the fairway, or in the rough, as a major determining factor in club selection, let’s try to discern which club should be used in which circumstance. For those shots where one has a “good lie” where the ball is sitting up nicely without a lot of grass exposed behind the ball, one can consider using a 2 iron if conditions are windy. For those occasions where one has a much “tighter lie”, i.e. the ball is nestled into the grass more deeply, one should consider using the 5 wood over the 2 iron as the higher loft of the 5 wood, for roughly the same expected total distance hit, will allow you to get the ball into flight much easier. The potential of hitting a really poor shot with a tight lie with a 2 iron will often demand the use of its alternative the 5 wood.
There are those that for one reason or another learn to really love hitting fairway woods as they tend to be a little more forgiving than the long irons. Some people have become so infatuated with hitting fairway woods that they have taken to replacing a number of their longer irons by carrying 7, 9, 11, 13 woods instead of a 2 iron, 3 iron, 4 iron, etc. Some of these clubs have been promoted by club manufacturers as “trouble woods” where their performance, even in deep rough, is exceptional. These clubs follow the same rules as discussed earlier, the higher the number on the fairway wood, the higher the loft and the shorter the shaft.
The last area to discuss pertaining to the lie of the ball is whether you have an uphill lie or a downhill lie. As an uphill lie will tend to increase the effective loft of the club and a downhill lie will effectively decrease the loft of the club, one should seriously consider hitting fairway woods when confronted with a downhill lie. Using a higher lofted fairway wood, whose loft is effectively negated by the downhill lie, will dramatically improve the probability of getting the shot up into the air. For those that are not professional or highly competitive golfers…you know the general weekend warrior…you might just want to look into exchanging some of your long irons for some higher lofted fairway woods.