Can't hit fairway woods or hybrids

[tatertot]

I got down to .2 last year, and this year I'm hovering around a 4 ... but I can't hit fairway woods or hybrids. Low duck hooks at best, total tops or new whiffs at worst. This season I've just quit ... I got a 16.5 iron, and it will be my only club between driver and my 20 degree 2 iron.

 

Does anybody else play without fairway woods and hybrids?

[3puttking14]

Have you experimented with shafts? I went an awhile hooking my woods and almost gave up with them then started trying different shafts and that helped a lot. I also spent a lot of time forcing myself to use the woods and become good with them. Why not try a mini driver and utility irons for replacements?

[Mobert19]

You can’t not know how to hit these if you’ve got down to a .2 or even at a 4. You obviously have talent. Spend a few days practicing. 
 

shafts make a huge difference in this part of the bag for me. 

Edited July 14 by Mobert19

[tatertot]

Currently have 15, 16.5 and 18 fairway woods with regular and stiff flexes ... all kinds of flex points and weights ... have 17 and 18 degree hybrids, steel and graphite shafts ... It's mostly likely a mental thing.

[tatertot]

20 minutes ago, 3puttking14 said:

Have you experimented with shafts? I went an awhile hooking my woods and almost gave up with them then started trying different shafts and that helped a lot. I also spent a lot of time forcing myself to use the woods and become good with them. Why not try a mini driver and utility irons for replacements?

My 16.5 is a utility ... I currently carry 2 drivers - a 9.5 at standard length, and a 10.5 at 3-wood length.

[ChipNRun]

1 hour ago, tatertot said:

 ...but I can't hit fairway woods or hybrids. Low duck hooks at best, total tops or new whiffs at worst.

A couple of things to consider:

 

Try a 4W... about 16.5*, and has a shorter shaft than a 3W for better control.

 

Since 2012, I've been playing some combination of 4W and 7W (this year is exception as I recover from hip injury, going with solo 5W)

 

You might get a lesson just on FWs to see what the problem is. At a 4 HDCP, you could probably sort things out with just one lesson. There's probably something you don't do quite right.

 

Also, move up a set of tees and play a couple of rounds in which you use 4W or 5W off the tee. If you go out and hit the FW 20 times a round, you'll get the hang of it. The second time, play ball down on tee shots to really get the feel of the FW.

----------------

(Although I'm 12 years into 4+7, I normally play a spring round each year using just the 4W off the tee - it helps me get my timing down for the club)

[Bye]

Presumably last year you could hit them? 
 

Unless you have changed your swing or been injured, it’s likely not to be the clubs. Check your ball position, it’s probably too far forward with both. Play them like you are hitting a 4 iron. 

Edited July 14 by Bye

[Urb]

For hybrids, use your iron shafts and don't play them long.  Helps keep things consistent.

[jvincent]

12 hours ago, tatertot said:

I got down to .2 last year, and this year I'm hovering around a 4 ... but I can't hit fairway woods or hybrids. Low duck hooks at best, total tops or new whiffs at worst. This season I've just quit ... I got a 16.5 iron, and it will be my only club between driver and my 20 degree 2 iron.

 

Does anybody else play without fairway woods and hybrids?

 

Just added a 4H to the bag.

 

Most people who struggle with hybrids have ones that are either too long or too light (or both). Try an iron shaft in a hybrid and double check the total weight / swingweight vs your longest iron.

[tatertot]

5 minutes ago, jvincent said:

 

Just added a 4H to the bag.

 

Most people who struggle with hybrids have ones that are either too long or too light (or both). Try an iron shaft in a hybrid and double check the total weight / swingweight vs your longest iron.

I've tried it. Currently have an Adams with an Elevate shaft in the basement.

[azgreg]

12 hours ago, tatertot said:

Does anybody else play without fairway woods and hybrids?

 

I've seen a few guys who play driver and irons. Modern utility irons in 2 thru 4 are a decent option.

 

Edited July 14 by azgreg

[93tilInfinity]

I hate:
- long irons
- fairway woods
- hybrids

I love this:
https://www.callawaygolf.com/golf-clubs/woods/fwoods-2024-apex-utility.html

Have it in 17 and 21 👍

Edited July 14 by 93tilInfinity

[tatertot]

8 minutes ago, 93tilInfinity said:

I hate:
- long irons
- fairway woods
- hybrids

I love this:
https://www.callawaygolf.com/golf-clubs/woods/fwoods-2024-apex-utility.html

Have it in 17 and 21 👍

I actually really enjoy hitting long irons.

[Valtiel]

1 hour ago, tatertot said:

It's mostly likely a mental thing.

Granted i'm definitely biased because i'll always tend to look at things in terms of swing mechanics...but IMO no one tops/whiffs shots for purely mental reasons, not without some mechanical issues. Every golfer manages swing flaws/tendencies, even the pros, so odds are there is just an extra wrinkle that the longer hybrids/fairway woods that is making it harder to manage whatever you have going on mechanically. 

[Ri_Redneck]

21 minutes ago, tatertot said:

I actually really enjoy hitting long irons.

Take your 4i and the 18° FW you have. Hit 5 balls with the 4i. Toss it aside and grab the FW and hit a ball using the same swing and ball placement that you used with the 4i. Report back what happens.

 

BT

[alexc93]

What distance are you usually playing? Getting down to a single digit HC but not being able to hit a fairway wood or a hybrid is pretty impressive...

[hammergolf]

17 hours ago, tatertot said:

I got down to .2 last year, and this year I'm hovering around a 4 ... but I can't hit fairway woods or hybrids. Low duck hooks at best, total tops or new whiffs at worst. This season I've just quit ... I got a 16.5 iron, and it will be my only club between driver and my 20 degree 2 iron.

 

Does anybody else play without fairway woods and hybrids?

Obviously just a mental thing. Don’t fight it, just use utility irons to fit your distance gaps and carry on.

[dsmil]

Do you struggle on 2nd shots into par 5's where the 16.5* or 20* isn't landing softly enough? That's the largest area for improvement with fairway woods and hybrids (less so).

 

If not, I don't know how much you'll gain with a fairway wood or hybrid because your tee shot setup looks covered with the two drivers and two strong irons. I like this approach and do something similar because the short driver and long irons are straighter clubs than hybrid and fairway woods for me, and that's what I'm going for off the tee.

 

 

 

 

[Drivingrangehero]

I was much the same although I found a hybrid I could hit back in 05/06’ (Adams Idea Pro) that stayed in my bag for 10/11 years until the 2016 Callaway Apex came along. 
 

I had some success with a couple 3 woods and 5 woods (Titleist 906f2 and 904f) stupidly I replaced them with newer models thinking newer meant better, but never were for me, so I ditched them altogether and went Driver, 2h, 2i-SW for years. 
 

I played my Driver with a 78g shaft at 45” back then, and I found that the Fairway woods I did well with both had heavy shafts (90g) and were shorter playing length as well, also at the time I was playing DG X100’s which are heavy, so the drop down in weight to modern hybrids and fairway woods was too much, and the playing length is too long on them to me as well

 

What weight shafts are you playing in your irons?
 

After applying the same principles in Howard’s DIY driver tune up, I play a 18° 5w at 41.5” and a 22° 7W at 41” and it’s been a game changer (my 5w and 7w are some of my favorite clubs to hit off the deck now, with much more confidence that I probably should give them 😝) 

 

You may have an issue with total weight, swingweight, and playing length, if that’s the case, this is worth considering 👇 

 

 

 

.

Edited July 14 by Drivingrangehero
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[Pepperturbo]

3 hours ago, Ri_Redneck said:

Take your 4i and the 18° FW you have. Hit 5 balls with the 4i. Toss it aside and grab the FW and hit a ball using the same swing and ball placement that you used with the 4i. Report back what happens.

 

BT

Funny, I didn't that this past weekend, using a 3 hybrid replacement against my 3 iron.  They were damn near the same distance only hybrid was higher.  

[MidwestHacker]

6 hours ago, Bye said:

Check your ball position, it’s probably too far forward with both.

This is also my guess. Any time Im hooking the fairways or hybrids its because my ball position has crept too far forward and now Im keeping the same face closure rate but the club has another inch to continue closing and its too closed by the time it hits the ball. Could also explain the tops/whiffs with the low point being too far behind where the ball is at. 

[grochol17]

18 hours ago, tatertot said:

I got down to .2 last year, and this year I'm hovering around a 4 ... but I can't hit fairway woods or hybrids. Low duck hooks at best, total tops or new whiffs at worst. This season I've just quit ... I got a 16.5 iron, and it will be my only club between driver and my 20 degree 2 iron.

 

Does anybody else play without fairway woods and hybrids?

 

Two thoughts...

 

One, it could be that your woods and hybrids are just a terrible fit for you and you're not able to make a consistent swing because the feel of those clubs is all wrong.  You could do Howard's DIY fitting to see if changing your specs might be the answer.

 

Two, you've got a swing issue and those are the clubs where something about your set up causes that swing flaw to really show up.  I've been having trouble with hanging back on my right side and the effects of it get worse as the clubs get longer.  When I hang back it's a two way miss with pulls or pull draws, big push slices, and the occasional thin (almost topped) shot.  In my case it also is a problem with my driver, so the fact that you hit your driver well makes me think that it might be a club spec issue or a combination of a bit of swing issue and a bit of lack of confidence with the woods/hybrids that is causing problems. 

[phizzy30]

12 hours ago, Bye said:

Presumably last year you could hit them? 
 

Unless you have changed your swing or been injured, it’s likely not to be the clubs. Check your ball position, it’s probably too far forward with both. Play them like you are hitting a 4 iron. 

Excellent point in regards to injury.  As a personal trainer, I've had conversations with my pro/high level am clients in different sports that all say the same thing about injury affecting performance negatively.  Your body naturally compensates to try and execute the motion slightly differently in order to avoid pain from an injury.  It's both mental/physical.  As we all know, even a miniscule change in the swing can greatly affect the outcome.  

Edited July 15 by phizzy30