Golf tips | Utilize your three wood
Seven tips to help you hit your three wood better
Aside from the driver, the three wood may be one of the toughest clubs in your bag to figure out. Also along with the driver, it can be one of the most helpful if you can just figure it out. Whether it be trying to reach a Par-5 in two, maneuvering around a tough dog-leg or keeping a drive down a narrow fairway, a good three-wood game can help save some strokes. Let’s go over some great tips to help you utilize the club to your advantage.
Golf Tips | Focus on the little things
Don’t scoop or divot
The three-wood shot is one of the toughest shots in golf from the fairway. Many times, golfers like to swing it like they would a long iron and take a divot. Taking a divot with a three wood will cause a major slice and is very uncontrollable. Golfers will also try to scoop the ball off of the fairway like they would when hitting a short iron. Instead, you should sweep the ball off of the turf, leaving little to no divot. To master this, tee the ball up like you are teeing it up for a driver and hit shots with your three wood. Hit a few shots and learn your swing path. Then hit some shots from the ground using the same swing. You will find yourself sweeping the ball off of the ground and seeing longer distance with the club. – adapted from Bill Kroen's Golf Tip-A-Day Calendar
Golf Tips | Master the bunker shots
Stop the tops
It is the most common result with a three wood. You wait until the group ahead of you is off of the green before taking your shot because you can easily reach the green with a three wood. Then you grip the club tight and swing with everything you have. The result: a topped worm-burner fifty yards down the fairway. Stop the tops by keeping a loose grip and swinging at about 80 percent. You will find that the club does the majority of the work and reaching the green in two becomes a lot easier than trying to muscle it to the green.
Golf Tips | Figure out that pesky driver
Tee it up
No, you can’t tee up your ball from the fairway, but you can on the tee box. Do not be afraid to use your three wood off of the tee. Tight fairways and tough dog-legs can be easily bypassed by using your three wood off of the tee. Normally, you can control the three wood off of the tee a lot easier than a driver. The chances of slicing and mis-hitting the three wood compared to the driver are a lot lower. So make the smart play when it comes to your game and use the three wood if you lack confidence in your driver on certain holes. It may leave you with a longer second shot, but it is a lot better than losing a ball and taking a penalty stroke all in one swing.
Hybrids not woods
Since the hybrid or rescue club came to be, many golfers have made the mistake of using the hybrid as a substitute to the three wood. What they were doing caused them to hit hybrids wrong and decrease their ability at an eagle on a Par-5. Hybrids were introduced to make hitting long irons easier, not to replace the three wood. Play the hybrids like you would your four iron instead of your three wood. And for goodness sake, keep the three wood in your bag. – adapted from Bill Kroen's Golf Tip-A-Day Calendar
Golf Tips: Take putting seriously
No more doglegs
Dogleg holes were designed to tap into a golfer’s mental instability. Sure, it would be simple to go over the trees and cut the curve and possibly drive the green on a par-4. But seriously, how often does that work? Instead, play it smart by using your three wood off of the tee and aiming for the center of the fairway. Keeping the ball in play should be your no. 1 priority on doglegs. If you hit it in the right spot, you are still just a wedge away and have a very good possibility of making birdie or par at the worst. So, instead of bringing out the big dog and smacking it into the trees, use the three wood and play it smart.
Golf Tips: Work on your mental game
Choke down
Choking down on the club can be used one any shot, not just the three wood. But since the three wood is already hard enough to control, try choking down about an inch on it to gain more control. Once you figure out how to control it with the choke down, try lessening the choke down more and more until you are holding the club normal and still controlling the shot well. Get a small bucket of balls at the range and use all of them trying to learn your three wood.
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Bad shots will happen
The name of the game is golf. It means frustration and difficulty. OK, well, maybe it doesn’t, but it should. When playing your round, just remember that you will hit bad shots, especially with your three wood. Don’t let those failures detour you from using the club again. It can be one of the most useful clubs in your bag even if you want to snap it in half and throw it in the pond more often than not. Just keep in mind, you will hit a bad shot, even the pros do.
Jake Furr is the sports reporter for the Bucyrus Telegraph-Forum, an avid golf fan and a 7-handicap. Let him know how these tips have helped you by emailing him at jfurr@gannett.comor connecting with him on Twitter or Instagram @JakeFurr11.