I can't hit my 3 wood off the deck :(

[Free Ballin]

i have the same problem and I am just swinging too hard. I have to make myself slow down otherwise I will hit a banana 2 feet off the ground. Good Luck I wouldn't go out and buy new equipment just yet. work on your swing first. Good Luck

[keb]

Looking for advice on hitting 3 wood off the fairway and found this thread with great thoughts. I was considering going to 5 wood, but now plan on sticking with 3 and working hard on coming up with swing which works consistently. Any new thouthts to update thread?

[Vance87]

Try putting the ball a bit back in your stance, see what happens.

[jschen]

As a new golfer, I initially found all longer clubs (irons and woods) to be impossible to hit. But one thing that I find helps a lot at the range is to take a few short punch shots with the club. Barely take the club back at all, and just make sure to make nice solid contact on the way through. That way, I get a feel for what good contact feels like before going for bigger swings. It's what I try with any club that I happen to be having trouble hitting. 3 wood is now one of my more confident shots, both off the tee and from the deck. That's probably because I use it so much on course since I still don't have much confidence in driver (it's getting there, though) and my distances aren't all that long yet (so I often need to hit 3 wood more than once on longer holes).

[Zeph]

Strike the ball first at the bottom of the swing, or, as I prefer, slightly descending.

Ball first takes away the fat shot.
Descending clubhead takes away the thin shot.

Also, let the club do the work, don't try to kill the poor ball.

[Nickynoodles]

When you tee a 3 wood up you tee it and put it inside your left foot correct? When its on the deck you goota move the ball back farther in your stance and hit it on your down swing almost like you hit a iron. The 3 wood must hit the ball right when it flattens out, it will compress the ball, hit the perfect loft of the wood, get airbourne and go straight. When you set the ball on the deck in the same spot as where you hit it off a tee your already comming up at impact and hitting the middle of the ball therefore not getting airbourne. The thought in your head of not being able to get it airbourne is most likely causing you to swing to hard therefore also pulling it or hooking it left. Most common mistake of amature golfers is singing to hard and not teeing or setting your ball in the right posistion. If you go to a pro and he watches you hit your 3 wood off the deck or video tapes you doing so. Im 99% sure that hes going to tell you to move the ball back a few inches and take a smoother swing. Hopefully this helps. Let me know how you make out. Dont listen to people that tell you its the club. A pro can grab any golf club off the shelf and after a couple swings blast any wood or iron right down the middle. The only thing that will change is the distance. To many amatures think when they cant hit a club that it must be the club. Its in your mechanics or in your head, ITS NOT THE CLUB. Believe me.

[Nickynoodles]

Strike the ball first at the bottom of the swing, or, as I prefer, slightly descending.

Ahhh, didnt read this before i posted. 100% correct

[sean_miller]

Its in your mechanics or in your head, ITS NOT THE CLUB. Believe me.

. . . or it's the club.

[Nickynoodles]

. . . or it's the club.

Or you are giving bad advice..... Has nothing to do with his 3 wood that he cant hit it off the deck. Ask any pro what the problem is when you cant hit your 3 wood off the deck, the result will NEVER be its the club.

[RIduffer]

It seems to me that the folks chiming in are low-handicap golfers giving advice on equipment replacement, swing tips, etc. But I'm going to touch on something else.

Agreed, I think those of us who struggle with a steep swing will do alot better hitting hybrids than a 3-wood off the fairway. My 19* hybrid goes almost as far as my 3-wood, and it's so much more consistent.

[SQ Bimmer]

Strike the ball first at the bottom of the swing, or, as I prefer, slightly descending.

This is how I try to hit woods (the clubs, not the forest...). I would much rather have a slightly thin miss that goes out 100-125 yards than a fat miss that goes 10 yards and takes a gigantic divot, or bounces above the ball. If I did that all the time, I would just play a long par 5 with my 7 iron and get a lower score.

[ks8829]

The key to getting a 3 wood hit up in the air from the fairway is picking up the club as soon as possible on the backswing and if necessary slightly open the club face at address, if you do this aim slightly left of the target, other trick are to lower your front shoulder slightly and have a forward press just before you begin your backswing.

[Lovgoel]

I had this same problem for a while, but one thing that helped in the interim, rather than changing 3 woods, was to simply hit my 3 wood as though it were my hybrid. Choke down on it about an inch and put it in the middle (maybe slightly forward) and take a normal hybrid swing. This will obviously decrease the distance you're getting for a little while, but it will build your confidence in your ability to hit the club. Hope that helps!

[pendlebg]

I had the same problem and did 2 things. The first , and most important was fixing my overall swing. Many of my flaws were present in my irons, but I got away with it because they are easier to hit (instead of a snap hook on bad swings it might be a pull). However, out of all of those, the #1 thing that I had to change to hit my 3 wood was to stop being overactive with my hands. Relative to where I was it felt like my fix came once I felt I was doing nothing at all with my hands on the swing. Once that was done I hit my 3 wood much better (as well as having my other clubs improve as well).

The second thing was I bought a 5 wood when I was struggling with my 3 wood. I still use the 5 wood over the 3 wood. It is straighter and I tend to find I only might have maximum one or two shots a round that the added distance of the 3 wood might help, and even then, it would be marginal help at best given the extra risk. So, even though I feel I can hit either my 5 wood or my 3 wood now, I keep the 5 wood in the bag and carry an extra wedge instead of the 3 wood.

[Golf_Gal]

I haven't been able to hit with my 3-wood either until yesterday!! Its a great club once you get the hang of it :) Yesterday, I was able to hit it off the tee and off the fairway, so exciting It just takes a LOT of practice!!

[iammpspeer]

I'm not sure where you play your 3 wood in your stance, but try to go a little more forward. You may also want to try slowing down your swing until you get the hang of it.

[tm22721]

I can hit longer clubs well when I stretch at the top, ie better width/windup by using extensor action to stretch the left arm. Actually you are trying to extend the right arm in order to stretch the left. This trick pulls the left shoulder further around for a tighter windup. This is what Slice teaches, ie a tighter windup helps produce better sequencing of the kinetic chain from the ground up. Before this I would hold back my right shoulder but this crutch was timing intensive therefore inconsistent. TGM defines extensor action, IMO the best method.

[stebed]

I have only scaned through quickly but don't think anyone has mentioned this. I went for a fitting with Titleist as I to was having no luck with 3 wood of the deck. The problem was my burner 3 wood shaft was too light, about 65 grams I think and couldn't get into the bottom of the ball. They told me that your 3 wood shaft should be about 20-25 grams heavier than your driver shaft, changed to the 909F2 with a diamana blue 75 gram shaft in it. Still not saying it is my go to club but use it a lot more than the burner.