UP, UP AND AWAY, EVEN OFF THE DECK

The metalwood innovations, which have made your Driver a much easier club to wield to good effect, have been passed on to the Fairway Woods. In addition you will have noticed adverts proclaiming “Improved turf interaction”, manufacturer speak for “we’ve made it more difficult for you to dig the club into the turf and we’ve reduced the impact the contact with the turf has on your club head speed, should you make contact between sole and turf before you strike the ball”.

But the innovation I most like, is the one that helps you get the ball airborne much more easily.

The ability to use different materials in the same head and to shave thickness off the head face and walls, has allowed the designers to reduce the weight in the crown and replace it into the sole. The result is a ball that launches higher (as it should), and, as a result of being drilled out of the sweet spot, the ball will travel much further.

I am not sure that many golfers have discovered these benefits. Most bags seem to carry modern Drivers and Hybrids, but remain burdened by older Fairway Woods the golfer rarely uses.

That’s a shame, because a modern Fairway Wood offers more shot options. One of those options is off the Tee, especially when accuracy is called for. The shorter shaft, together with the lower sweet spot and larger hitting, area means the #3 Wood offers a better alternative on these holes, than the Driver.

SIMPLE PROBLEM, RIGHT DIAGNOSIS, SIMPLE CURE

Heard of the chicken wing? Not a very ‘technical’ term but it describes a golfer whose left arm has collapsed, or started to collapse, at impact.

When you can stand far enough behind the line of one of the players in your four-ball as they take their shot, look for what appears first behind their body on the follow through. If it is the club head, then they have released their hands correctly through impact. Ask your partners to observe you, or better still, take a video with your phone and look at what you see first. Club head or left elbow?

Each magazine article I read tries to provide a simple cure based on a single ‘assumed fault’. But there are many different faults that cause this problem.

Some of you take the club back very much with the arms, with a very limited back and shoulder turn. The first action on the downswing? The hands get outside the line and you are then trying to steer the club back through the contact zone. Result: a poor release and a chicken wing.

Some of you swing very vertically and collapse the arm at impact to try and flatten the approach to the ball at the last moment. Result: a poor release and a chicken wing.

Others of you move your weight to the back foot at impact, again causing the left arm to collapse. While others move their sternum ahead of the ball at impact. In both cases the result: a poor release and a chicken wing.

Each of these faults are easy for us to identify and can be quickly fixed with the correct solution for the particular fault. My advice is to come and see us. Get yourself into the right position to release the club head through the golf ball and you will transform the enjoyment you get out of the game. In my opinion there is nothing better than hitting a soaring approach to a green. It feels good. It looks good.

So, if you think you are suffering from ‘the chicken wing’ or a poor release through impact, contact or call me to fix up an assessment and I’ll identify your fault and get you the right fix.