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Here's the thing: I am hitting my driver beautifully right now. Dead solid, straight with a slight hook at times. The irons are working great, too. However, whenever I use a fairway wood off the tee, I hit very weird shots...like almost shanks where the ball squirts at a ridiculous angle to the right. I hardly ever even try a fairway wood from the fairway, because I just have no confidence with it. I know that without a video of my swing the tips available are limited, but does anyone have some general swings thoughts and tips to help me hit fairway woods from the tee and fairway?

Five buckets at the driving range should cure you...if you are hitting the ball well otherwise, I think your problem is confidence and between the ears...go to the range and hit some off a tee until you find the ideal set up and then groove it...then start hitting off the deck with the ball a little back of where you were hitting when it was teed...

I get like that at times, It usually always comes down to me putting my ball too far foward in my stance and coming in too steep on the ball. I also noticed at the Wachovia a few weeks ago that players were taking divots with woods off the deck. I always thought you wanted to avoid that so maybe I get a bitt too sweepy with it. Now I take small divots and my fairway shots have been great, I hope I finally have the curse fixed. LOL.

Always take a divot with a fw...only way to get the ball up unless it is teed or in a fluffy lie...playing it too far forward is a fault, but not because of a steep swing (that is from having the ball too far back) but rather the swing bottoms behind the ball and you either skid the club into the ball after hitting ground, catch the ball thin on the upswing topping it, or both....

Take some swings making a small divot then put the ball behind where the divot is...ball first contact is a good starting point...

b-n-r, be very careful with absolutes in this game. Always and the only way just aren't true. Nicklaus had an awfully long and successful career without taking any divots at all -- not just with the fairway woods, but the the long, middle, and short irons, and even wedges!

In his own words "I don't like deep divots. When I was younger, I could practice for a long time using a space smaller than a shoe box. The idea is to catch the ball at the lowest point of the club's apex, where the arc of the swing is widest. If
you're taking a big divot, the club obviously is still moving downward."

You need to preface these statements with "I always take a divot with a fw..." or "I've found it's the only way to get the ball up..."

I do like the suggestion of going to the range, because it does sound more mental than anything. Just remember c_s, that the swing is really the same as your other swings. It is just a tiny bit flatter, but that is it. The mechanics of the hands, hips, shoulders, etc. are the same.

On issues that a lot of people have, because it is a longer and lighter-feeling club, is that people tend to try to ovesrwing them. If anything, you want to err on the side of being a little slower with them. The longer length of the club will naturally add speed, so I like the phrase "low and slow" when swinging my fw wood.

Bignose...

I'M NO NICKALUS!!!

The only way that I have found consistency is to hit down and take a divot...that is an absolute for me every time...I do not presume to speak for all golfers, golf instruction or place mine above others...I assume that the reader will understand that I could only possibly be speaking from my own personal experiences that I have practical experience with...and I absolutely take a divot...

...and if anyone here either is as talented or practices as much as Nickalus, then excuse my lack of hyphenation! I beleive this to be an easier and more repeatable technique that gets the ball up like mad from the deck with good distance and ought to be considered...so consider this BnRs advice, as anything coming from me ought to be...

That's fine, and I am glad it works for you. I never wanted to say that it was wrong.

My whole point is that every person's swing is different, and using absolute words like one has to take a divot with a fairway wood can confuse people because maybe their swing just doesn't work that way. I think that every person should try lots of different ways and see what works for them. People should try to see if taking a divot with their fairway woods works better for them, and they should also see if they can sweep it off the turf. But, there is no one way that it has to be done.

And I think that telling people that there is only one way to do things is a disservice, because of the wide variety of swings that have been so successful.

This is one of the major reasons golf instruction can be so notoriously difficult. If there was one right way, then everything else would be wrong, and everyone could learn the same one right way. The job of instruction would be supremely easier -- here's a video of you, and here's a video of the one right way -- make yourself do it the one right way.

But, we all know, that there isn't one right way. That's why the magazines can publish perfectly good tips in their pages that contradict one another. One tip helps on group of players and another helps helps a different group.

So, all I was asking was to be very careful about using absolute language when giving golf swing tips. Because there are precious few absolutes in the swing. One of the few that I can think of quickly is you want your hands ahead of the ball at impact with all normal shots except the driver. All of the best ball strikers are on plane at impact. The best players usually don't have much hump or curve in their back -- the spines are straight though the angle they are bent at if widely variable. Ummm, most people do better if they don't let their back knee flex too much or rotate too much during the backswing. That's all I can think of after about 10 mins of sitting here.

Compare that with the long, long list of things that can be changed. Large things like whether you want an around the body, rotary swing (a.k.a. one-plane) or an arms up and down, karate-chop impact swing (a.k.a. two-plane), or little things like whether to let the heel of your front foot come off the ground at the top of the backswing.

If you need further proof of the wide, wide variety of successful means of swinging a golf club well, I'd suggest you check out a pretty new book called The Negotiable Golf Swing by Laurentino. He writes quite a lot about all various things in a golf swing that can happen and still not ruin a swing -- what he calls the negotiable elements and the things that are absolutes (agian, what few there are). Look at this list of negotiable elements (section titles in the book): The Right Elbow, The Left Arm Position at the Top, Backswing Plane, Posture, Alignment, Grip, Ball Position, Lateral Backswing Movement, Amount of Pivot, Stace, The Head and Eyes, The Wrist Set, Left Arm Bend, Power Source, Tempo. All of these things can vary over quite a range among the touring pros, and yet each pro makes their own individual style work for them.

So, I hope you see why I bristle when someone uses words in an absolute way. Like I said, just put a little ownership on the advice, and I don't have a problem. E.g. "I've found that I hit my woods better if I take a divot every time." But, not everyone has to take a divot with their fairway woods to hit them well. That is an element of style, and everyone has to find their own personal style.

My first thought is that if you are hitting the drvier well and irons well, that you likely have one of 2 problems ...

You are adressing the ball wrong ... either too close to you or too far away, too far forward, or too far back.

Or it's just mental and since you think you can't hit fairway woods, you have a swing fault just with the fairway woods that is messing you up.

A tip I always hear when someone is having problems with the fairway woods is that your are trying to help the ball into the air. You pull off the ball, hit a couple of bad shots, get frustrated, then start swinging too hard. So now you are tensing up each time you get over the ball with a fairway wood. Get the proper ball position and make a relaxed swing like you do with your other clubs. Take a shallow divot if you normally take a divot with your irons.

I am the same with my fairway woods. Hopefully the tips that you have all given will help me as well. Normally I hit a hibrid from the fairway. It seems to help me some, but I am still inconsistent.