i cant my 3 fairway wood

dball

I have a 3 wood in the bad and it stays in the bag for weeks at a time, I dont have the confidence to take it out unless im having a terrible round and have nothing to loose.
Then its a 50/50 if i connect with it.

ive tried hybrids and other similar clubs and also seem to have a mental block when it comes to hitting them well (at all)

the only thing left to do (after researching online) is possibly take 1 or 2 centimeters off the shaft and see if it helps. there is a 7.5cm difference between my driver and 3 wood - Is this about the same for most people?

GCW

dball wrote: »

I have a 3 wood in the bad and it stays in the bag for weeks at a time, I dont have the confidence to take it out unless im having a terrible round and have nothing to loose.
Then its a 50/50 if i connect with it.

ive tried hybrids and other similar clubs and also seem to have a mental block when it comes to hitting them well (at all)

the only thing left to do (after researching online) is possibly take 1 or 2 centimeters off the shaft and see if it helps. there is a 7.5cm difference between my driver and 3 wood - Is this about the same for most people?

Hard to know without knowing what model or exactly how 'can't connect' manifests itself or where you struggle (tee or off deck). However... fwiw:

Grip it lightly, swing very easily, use the bounce of the sole a little (try hitting down on the ball more as opposed to trying to pick/sweep the ball.

Based on that you can either tee it higher or lower, depending on the depth of the face of the club at address.

Personally I am more confident striking down on a fairway lie with my 3 wood than hitting it elevated slightly from a tee.

Chopping the club seems drastic. Get one that suits your eye depending on how you wish to use it.

TheDoc

I feel your pain, the last 3 wood I hit with confidence was my TM V-Steel back in the day, and unfortunately I stupidly decided to change and have never found a 3 wood since I could hit with confidence.

I've gone through about 6 models at this stage, all with the same issues of lack of confidence and less then desirable ball striking and flight. At this point I am settled with using a 4 iron as a substitute. I don't actually have a dire need of a 3 wood, in reality there is only a few holes to use it on, but its a nice option to take off the tee for placement on certain holes.

I was toying with the idea of getting a 17* Hybrid as I've a 21* I hit well. I'll probably take a look at the club account come end of year to see what € is knocking about, and if I want to buy a 3 wood.

I think with me its a confidence thing. And it also doesnt help the 3 wood I've had the last year was a model designed to be hit off a tee, and not fairway, and I only copped it a few months back.

I've kinda tunnel visioned in on TM or Titleist brands since it is what I have used previously in other club varients with good success. Might need to broaden my horizons a bit.

Would love to go somewhere that has a rake of 3 wood demos and just smash a load of them to see what one works

rrpc

GCW wrote: »

Hard to know without knowing what model or exactly how 'can't connect' manifests itself or where you struggle (tee or off deck). However... fwiw:

Grip it lightly, swing very easily, use the bounce of the sole a little (try hitting down on the ball more as opposed to trying to pick/sweep the ball.

Based on that you can either tee it higher or lower, depending on the depth of the face of the club at address.

Personally I am more confident striking down on a fairway lie with my 3 wood than hitting it elevated slightly from a tee.

Chopping the club seems drastic. Get one that suits your eye depending on how you wish to use it.

+1 - no chopping needed

Some things that may help with hitting fairway woods.

1. Try positioning the ball more centrally in your stance.
2. Reduce your backswing to about three quarters and slow your swing down a bit. Once you get confident you can speed/lengthen things up gradually.
3. As GCW says, hit down a bit more (not too much) than you would a driver.
4. With rescue clubs, play them like you would an iron.

rollotomasi

Its more likely that a 3 wood off the deck will fade rather then draw so aim to the left and look for the fade instead of aiming directly at the target where it might slice.

Practice with the 3 wood off a tee until you get a bit more confidence.

Swing with soft hands at 80% power - let the club do the work and don't try to hit it hard.

Experiment with ball position.

Kimbot

When you do connect with the ball cleanly are you slicing it?

I find that when i am having trouble hitting a club if I slow down my swing little by little until i hit it better generally works.

A New earth

TheDoc wrote: »

I feel your pain, the last 3 wood I hit with confidence was my TM V-Steel back in the day, and unfortunately I stupidly decided to change and have never found a 3 wood since I could hit with confidence.

I've gone through about 6 models at this stage, all with the same issues of lack of confidence and less then desirable ball striking and flight. At this point I am settled with using a 4 iron as a substitute. I don't actually have a dire need of a 3 wood, in reality there is only a few holes to use it on, but its a nice option to take off the tee for placement on certain holes.

I was toying with the idea of getting a 17* Hybrid as I've a 21* I hit well. I'll probably take a look at the club account come end of year to see what € is knocking about, and if I want to buy a 3 wood.

I think with me its a confidence thing. And it also doesnt help the 3 wood I've had the last year was a model designed to be hit off a tee, and not fairway, and I only copped it a few months back.

I've kinda tunnel visioned in on TM or Titleist brands since it is what I have used previously in other club varients with good success. Might need to broaden my horizons a bit.

Would love to go somewhere that has a rake of 3 wood demos and just smash a load of them to see what one works

I play a 15 degree Cleveland rescue which is the same loft as a three wood but easier to hit. Keeps the ball nice and low too. One Iron equivalent is written on it. Normal distance is about 200 yards but I'm not a big hitter.

golfwallah

dball wrote: »

I have a 3 wood in the bad and it stays in the bag for weeks at a time, I dont have the confidence to take it out unless im having a terrible round and have nothing to loose.
Then its a 50/50 if i connect with it.

ive tried hybrids and other similar clubs and also seem to have a mental block when it comes to hitting them well (at all)

the only thing left to do (after researching online) is possibly take 1 or 2 centimeters off the shaft and see if it helps. there is a 7.5cm difference between my driver and 3 wood - Is this about the same for most people?

Have a word with your club golf pro.

Worked for me. He took one look at my new 3 wood and told me I'd never be able to hit it consistently - shaft was too stiff and not enough loft. Disgusted - the guy in the golf outlet gave me the big sell on it!

I tried our pro's 3 wood - a Callaway Hawkeye, regular shaft with 15 degress of loft - worked like a dream. So I bought one second hand on the internet. It's an older type club but solved the problem for me!

PARlance

Same as Golfwallah here in that a regular shaft worked* for me whereas I had stiff in everything else.

When I say "worked". It didn't work very well and my 3h was far easier to hit and way more realiable.
So I just took the 3 wood out of the bag.

IMO, if the 3 wood doesn't act as a "go-to safe club" off the tee then there's little point carrying one.
If you can't find a fairway with it consistently off the tee then there's no point leaving the temptation in the bag for when you've a 220+ shot from the deck into a smaller target (green).

There are enough clubs in the bag to try to master/hit well. Having one less to worry about/work on isn't a bad thing for me anyway.

dball

i appreciate all the advice, i spoke to a pro shop and they are going to measure me up and see if its an issue - ill do it in the coming weeks,
I guess it is 1 less club to worry about
My real