It’s happened too many times to count: you go for a par-5 in two, only to top your fairway wood a few feet in front of you. Nothing is more frustrating, especially when you’ve spent the better half of the hole waiting for the green to clear. 

But before you bench your fairway wood, try this clever tee drill from instructor Natalie Sheehan that’s designed to boost your contact and consistency.

The directions are simple. Place a golf tee on the ground horizontally, top end facing your club and then swing, trying to clip the tee at impact.

“Practice sweeping the tee as you go through,” Sheehan says. “This will allow you to make nice ground contact without hitting down or up too much.”

Ground contact is key for fairway woods. Many golfers think that they shouldn’t be hitting the ground when they hit their fairway wood, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. This drill will help you understand exactly how much you should be hitting the ground when wielding these handy clubs.

And to make this drill a little more fun, see how many times you can clip the tee in a row. First try to get to 10, then 20, then 30 and so on. This challenge will create a little pressure so you can be sure you’ll find the center of the face no matter the circumstance once you get out on the course.

This drill is also great because it gives you a clear visual of where your club is naturally bottoming out in your swing. Golfers often struggle to make consistent contact with their fairway woods because their ball position doesn’t line up with their low point. If you notice that your swing bottoms out after the tee, move the ball back in your stance and try again.

Use Sheehans clever tee drill on the range, at home or even on the tee between holes to dial in your fairway woods and catch them clean every time. 

PING G430 SFT Custom Fairway Wood

$269

The SFT’s larger draw-biased head produces right-to-left shot correction, and it generates more speed, higher launch and longer carries benefiting from a new weight-saving Carbonfly Wrap composite crown that lowers the CG and elevates MOI so shots find the green. Available in 3W, 5W, 7W. 

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