Why Am I Hitting The Ball Fat With My Fairway Woods?

If you have a fairway wood in your hands, you’re likely visualizing distance. But there’s nothing worse than taking a mighty swing, only to stick the club in the ground inches behind the ball. Oops. Not far. Fat! These mishits cost you strokes and chip away at your confidence when using fairway woods. If you want to stop hitting the ball fat with your fairway woods, here are some common reasons why it happens—and a few quick tricks to fix it.

Ball too far forward

Placing the ball too far forward in your stance (as far as you have the driver) is one of the most likely causes for hitting behind the ball. You’ll find that the bottom of the swing arc for the fairway wood is not as far forward as inside the lead heel.

Try moving the ball back slightly so it is just forward of center. You’ll strike the ball cleanly at the bottom of your arc without making additional changes.

Standing too close to the ball

Have you ever held your fairway wood up alongside your 7-iron? It’s a few inches longer. If you don’t adjust for this extra length in the fairway wood, you can hit your shot fat.

The next time you go to the driving range, experiment with how far you are standing from the ball to create a flatter swing arc that matches your fairway wood. Use tees and alignment sticks on the ground to reinforce the perfect ball position.

Lack of body rotation

If you are using your arms too much in your golf swing instead of rotating your body it can create issues with your angle of attack and swing plane. Although you may get a good shot here and there (when your timing is perfect), it’s hard to be consistent.

Learn to start your swing with some lower body rotation. Starting with a little bit of lower body rotation also helps you avoid hanging back on the trail leg as you swing through impact.

Not adjusting your spine angle

When setting up to hit a driver, it’s best to have your head set behind the ball with a bit of spine tilt towards the trail side. This position encourages a more upward strike.

With the fairway wood, that’s not the case. You’ll want to have your head more over the ball at setup. This will promote a downward strike in which you’ll the golf ball first and make your divot after the ball.

Take some video of a fairway wood shot versus a driver shot and see if this could be the root cause of your issue. In addition to sometimes hitting the ground before the ball, you’ll also probably top some shots if you don’t adjust your spine angle.

Excessive knee flex

Amateur golfers like to talk about bending their knees as they set up to hit a golf shot. If you look at the professionals, do you ever see them bend their knees before a shot?

The best players have perfect posture where they are not hunched over and they have a slight bend in the hips.

If you struggle with inconsistent contact, ensure you are not flexing your knees excessively.

Swing tempo problems

If your swing tempo is too quick, it can make it harder to hit good fairway woods shots. Focus on reducing excessive grip pressure and tension and keep a smooth backswing and controlled downswing. Here are a few great swing tempo drills to try.