Can’t Hit a Fairway Wood Cleanly? Fleetwood’s Setup Might Be All You Need

Tommy Fleetwood might be the best player on the PGA Tour without a win. Since joining the Tour in 2018, he’s earned over $27 million, made 130 cuts in 153 events and posted 25 top-five finishes. While his trophy case may be missing a PGA Tour title, Fleetwood’s game is elite. If he’s offering tips, we are all ears.

Tommy Fleetwood’s fairway wood setup

Fairway woods can be one of the hardest clubs to hit cleanly. The longer shaft, lower loft and larger clubhead make it easy to hit behind the ball, top it or catch it thin.

Here’s what Fleetwood does to be more successful with fairway woods.

Grip down slightly

Fleetwood grips down on every club including his fairway woods. This shortens the club just enough to give more control without sacrificing too much distance.

Ball position towards front foot (lead heel)

For a stock shot, he plays the ball just inside his front heel. Not as far up as the driver but certainly forward of center. This encourages a sweeping strike.

Main focus is to brush the grass – don’t dig

With a fairway wood, Fleetwood isn’t trying to take a divot. He focuses on brushing the turf. Just a clean strike through the ball. This is a great swing thought for amateur golfers when playing these fairway wood shots.

Maintain your levels

A key thought for Fleetwood is keeping his posture steady through impact. Losing height or “popping up” can ruin your strike. Choking down on the fairway wood can stop you from feeling like you have to stand up through impact. Having a square clubface as you move into the impact position also helps with maintaining levels.

Big hip turn on the backswing

He emphasizes a big hip turn going back to generate enough speed and stay behind the ball. This is pretty standard with the longer club (and the need for extra distance). The key is not to sway off the ball. You’ll see in the video that he takes a big turn while staying centered.

Final thought

Fleetwood keeps it simple and that’s something all golfers can learn from. There’s no secret move, just a repeatable setup, the correct ball position, a good turn and a brush of the grass. Try to simplify things a bit the next time you struggle with your fairway wood and see if it helps with consistency.