Unless you’re one of those rare golfers who has dedicated a lot of practice time to hitting your driver off the deck, your 3-metal is likely the longest club in your bag that you’ll use when your golf ball is lying directly on the turf. The 3-metal’s long shaft (43 inches is standard) places you considerably farther away from the ball than you are with an iron, resulting in a flatter swing plane that can make clean contact a challenge.

Fortunately, Titleist staff members Cameron McCormick and Corey Lundberg have distilled a few simple keys that will improve your consistency and quality of strike when you need to go for it on par-5s and long par-4s. As Cameron and Corey explain, there are two important fundamentals to keep in mind when hitting your fairway metals off the turf.

1. Control the body. You need to turn around your spine and keep your spine stable throughout the swing, without excessive body movement up, back or away, further from the ball.

2. Control the radius of the swing. Developing a wide, low arc will help you to create extension and width through impact, crucial for center-face contact and maximum speed. Give Cameron and Corey’s drills a try and see how they can help you to hit, solid, true shots with your fairway metals.

OK, you got the new TSI. 

Three wood right? 

OK, that’s at least half the battle. 

Yeah right club. 

Yeah, good, but from what I’ve observed, I I imagine you’re the same way. 

Even the best players in the world when they grab a 3 wood out. 

It’s not like they have this Uber confidence that they’re going to hit really, really well. 

That contact is we’re going to be really good, right? 

Thousands. 

So even the club golfer. 

Now they grab the three way. 

But then it’s like tops. 

It’s chunks. 

There’s a lot of contacting anything. 

Much higher level of concern, yes. 

Yeah, so, So what is the biggest concept? 

Or what are the biggest cons? 

Steps that a recreational player even good player needs to understand about managing that contact for three. 

Uh huh. 

It’s a great starting frame. 

Biggest concept or concepts that are two that come to mind. 

The first is controlling the body is the body stable yet turning and the 2nd is how wide you create the swing radio. 

So the circle of the swing. 

This being what you’re trying to create the circle with, but clearly that’s only through your connection to the club, so I’m describing those starting with the first one. 

The first thing that I’m looking for people to understand is yes, we want your body mobile, but we don’t want it up and down, nor in and out. 

So two ways to create some feedback around improving your body stability and the first is with the helper, so I would ask you to just take the top of your grip and rested on my head when I’m at address. 

So I’m addressing my 3 Wood bowl sitting off the ground. 

We’re trying to create a higher level of certainty that I’m gonna be able to make solid contact and so at that point of contact group above. 

The head as I’m turning then creates a reference for me. 

My body is really, really stable as I’m turning I see so many golfers make the mistake when they miss contact of turning and elevating or turning and moving away. 

You can get away with a little bit of downward and forward motion. 

But it’s really hard to get away with any backward an upward motion. 

So if you’re moving to the Sky, or if you’re moving away from the golf ball, that’s a bad thing. 

I talk about the top of your body like it’s the sun. 

And if the sun moves further away from the earth, we get really cold here on planet Earth, don’t we? 

Yeah, and called ice, called the results. 

You’re going to get in terms of contact when your son moves away from the Earth too much. 

Contact 

Now if you don’t have a helper, you can use your shadow in a golf ball as the helper. 

So what I’m going to do is take a stance, move this golf ball just a little bit. 

And take a stance where my shadow just out of the corner of my eye is right. 

On top of that golf ball. 

So it’s part of that Golf Bowl is lit with sun and then part of it is the head my head shadowcasting over it. 

I’m going to make a backswing. 

Feeling like my shadow stays right on top of that golf bowl. It’s about 45 degrees to my right at this point. And then I’m going to turn. 

I’m going to face it, same thing. 

I’m costing half a shadow over the bowl now watching the bowl. 

And I maintain that shadow the body stability. 

I do it slowly 1st and then I can start to whine a bit more, speed into it. 

Most importantly, it’s the stability, backswing and downswing that we’re really concerned about. 

So using the shadow both at 12:00 o’clock. 

An at about 2:30 will give you feedback on the upwards, downwards, leftwards rightwards motion, or lack thereof. To produce a whole lot more stability. So that’s cool concept. I want to follow up number one. Yeah, far away. 

I want to follow up on mine because as I am putting myself in the viewer’s shoes, I want to be careful to clarify that you’re not talking bout saying still, right? It’s not like you’re rigid, and still there’s a lot of dynamic motion that’s going into creating that more centered motion, right? For extending that right side, left side, tilting down, and while it appears like his mass isn’t moving a whole lot towards me or away. 

Indeed. 

Left or right towards or away from the target. 

It’s nice centered in stable, yeah? 

Whole spinal column, which extends all the way up to the top of the head, at least visually, is really stable as I’m rotating around it. 

Yeah, and then that creates a pure foundation for striking the longest of clubs. 

The flattest of planes off the ground really really solid. 

OK, at least it’s a starting point. 

So once we’re stable or we know how to create that more centered stable motion with our body, we’ve got to control the radius. 

So what are the things that we need to keep in mind to controlling this? 

Radius yeah, a long low arc is where to go. 

And so I’ve got two alignment rods. 

You could use two shafts sitting about 18 inches apart. 

I’m going to start with the club dead center of that 18 inch will call Lowpoint window and I’m going to do is I’m going to start with the club at the back stick. 

I’m going to move the club along the ground the entire time so the club spending a lot of time along the ground. 

What I’m feeling as they do that is my. 

Arms have to stay really long or wide or extended as I’m doing that, then I’m going to add a bit spin speed to it or a little bit of motion to it feeling stable. 

Extending my arms because what are most common mistakes? 

Could I see amateurs making is they’ll get to impact in their arms are actually pulling in away from, let’s say the ground. 

Maybe it’s a an avoidance mechanism, right? 

They’re trying to avoid striking too much gravel. 

The beauty of this club is the longer it spends along the ground, the more solid contact you’re about to make. 

And so it’s taking that feeling. 

Of ARM extension, adding it to the body stability and you’ll ultimately end up with far more solid Fairy Woods. 

If you’d like me. 

To demonstrate, OK, but I’ve got more questions for him, by the way. 

So if I’ve got I’m I’m trying to work on this really shallow delivery. 

Uh huh. 

Cooper really low. 

So what happens? 

And maybe the first concept covers this when that delivers some heavy contact to where I’m actually bottoming out before the ball. 

Uh huh. 

Is that when I need to go back to concept one and making sure that there’s not a whole lot of this movement off the ball so that I can manage that low point better. 

Without doubt, the first stopping place is always concept one. 

It’s managing the movement of your body, the stability of it in that dynamic rotation to land the club precisely. 

Yeah cool alright. 

Yeah, alright, let me go. 

You gotta demonstrate that. 

Oh my gosh. 

Nice OK, so we’ve got again half. 

The battle is covered. 

We’ve got good equipment now that we understand some concepts around how we can manage that low point managing the body motion right? 

Maybe? 

We’re not tipping forward. 

We’re not drifting away. 

Dressing the white back. 

We’re not sure. 

Yeah exactly. 

And then we’re managing that radius. 

If you can do those two things. 

If you have the right equipment, you’re sure to hit. 

A few more solid three ways, yeah? 

A whole lot more solid treatments.