Fairway woods off tee

[OhioBuckeye]

I'm curious what is the best approach. Keep in mind I'm a beginner and my goal is stop using my driver for a while and concentrate on using my fairway woods off the tee. I seem to be able hit them straighter.

To date I've tee'd these up very close to the ground and have been hitting them with the club going downward to the ball. Unlike how I would hit my driver which is tee'd high and and upswing into the ball.

My question is I do hear it commonly suggested to use a 3 wood. But do most still tee it high as opposed to a more fairway type tee setting? What are the pros/cons of each?

I seem to have good control with the low tee method.

OB

[ChiChiIsMe]

I use my 3w off 1, 3, 10, 12, & 13 @ my regular course. You CAN hit driver on all of them, but there's definately more trouble if you miss w/ driver so I choose the safe route. I normally tee it up 3/4-1" when using the 3 or 5w off the tee.

[DavidFehertysBike]

I often use my 3 wood off of the tee box, and i dont tee it up very high at all. Just enough to give myself a perfect lie.

[Chief Broom]

When I hit a fairway wood or hybrid off the tee (which happens quite regularly) I tee the ball pretty low. Those clubs all have pretty low profiles so if you tee the ball too high you run the risk of whiffing it completely underneath if you hit it even a little fat. I tee the ball with about 1/4 to 1/2 of the ball above the crown with the club grounded in front of it. This way even if I take a little more turf than what I want I should be able to make good contact. I also tend to sweep the ball as opposed to hitting down on it (even with irons off the tee). I like to sweep any ball that I've teed up off the deck. I just seem to get more consistant contact hitting it like that rather than playing it like an iron shot off the deck (with the ball played farther back in my stance and a slight forward press at address and at impact). Occassionally I still get a divot doing this, but if my contact is clean the divot will be about an inch or so in front of where the ball was teed up.

[Eeryck]

Driver tee height ~1-3/4 to 2 inches

3W, 5W and 3H tee height ~1/4 inch

Everything else ~tee so ball is sitting just touching grass

For the 3W I just want to give myself a slight advantage / margin for error compared to hitting off the deck. Loft of the club takes care of the rest.

Regards,
-E

[JetFan1983]

Technically, I should be hitting my 5-wood off every par 4 that I play around here. It's a reliable club, and the tee boxes I play aren't that long. I just can't help but use my driver though, I guess because I only get to play 18 holes every seven days or so, and well, I don't work all week long to be hitting fairway woods off the freakin' tee!! Driver or busto is my motto hehe.

I don't own a 3-wood yet, but that's obviously something I'm going to look into at some point this summer.

[goblue107501]

Anytime I use a fairway wood off the tee I will tee it up 1/4 - 1/2 inch off the ground and try and hit the ball on the upswing like I would a driver.

[GaijinGolfer]

With a 3-wood you wouldnt want to tee it as high as you would if you are hitting driver because the head of a 3-wood is smaller and it would be easy to hit a pop-up.
Beyond that, I play it pretty much like a 3-wood shot off the deck. I play it slightly foreward of the center of my stance and try to sweep it off the ground.

[TomDonS]

Tee off with whatever you can hit the most SOLID consistently. Doesnt matter if it is a 5 wood. You will get better distance and control out of that than you will anything else you have. Plus when you hit it solid off the tee it will build your confidence and allow you to work on your driver, irons, etc.... Finding pure contact is your first hurdle. I had a day so bad that I started teeing off with a 6 iron just so I could feel solid contact.

[Fourputt]

  OhioBuckeye said:

I'm curious what is the best approach. Keep in mind I'm a beginner and my goal is stop using my driver for a while and concentrate on using my fairway woods off the tee. I seem to be able hit them straighter.

I tee it low with a FW wood, only slightly higher than I would with an iron. With an iron I tee so the top of the tee is flush with the top of the grass, and with the FW wood I tee about 1/4" higher. It's too easy to hit a pop up when the ball is teed high with a shallower faced club.

[mdvaldosta]

Tee it low, maybe 1/4 inch. Hit it like you would on the fairway, but maybe an inch farther foward in your stance. Works well for me.

[sc52]

  OhioBuckeye said:

I'm curious what is the best approach. Keep in mind I'm a beginner and my goal is stop using my driver for a while and concentrate on using my fairway woods off the tee. I seem to be able hit them straighter.

low tee is perfect , but you dont want to hit down on the ball, just sweep through it...i actually find it easier to keep the ball down by teeing it up higher and picking the ball off the tee....

[Crey23]

I have read in of the instructional books by Golf Magazine, I think. And try to use this guideline as much as possible.

Their recommendation is to tee of for the drive with the bottom of the ball, just right above the crosn of the driver. For Woods, to tee it at 1/2 - 3/4". Hybrids 1/4", and Irons on the ground (on the tee).

I don't tee up too tall for fairway woods normaly, but htis weekend I teed ot on the small rubber tee at the range, it about an inch off the ground, and found that I was hitting the ball better at that hight thatat the 3/4" setup. I din''t get to hit many balls with my 3w, but It's something that I will have explore further.

I think someone mentioned it before. jsut tee it up were it feel comfortable for you to hit a solid shot. I mainly tee off on feel. Even though I think those Stinger tees are pretty neat with the "depth guages", I don't want to get there and start measuring the tee depth....this is one that I really am not anal about.

[CarlSpackler]

This may sound weird, but I tend to have better control with my driver than my 3w. I think it's a mental thing or perhaps that my 3w is regular not stiff shaft. If I want a little better control on a tight hole, I just grip down a bit. I always try to make an easy, yet full swing to promote a center hit.

[Cody]

You know, I'm pretty much in the same situation as you. I can hit my 3w much better than I can hit my driver, but I use my driver as much as I can. I want to be able to fix my problem while I'm on the course. Most of the time I can feel what I'm doing wrong and start to fix it. If i'm struggling beyond all belief, I'll use the 3w.