By Kim Jeong-kyoo
Korea Times Golf Columnist
As the 3-wood doesn't have much loft, recreational golfers tend to think they have to help the ball into the air. This mind-set causes them to swing up on the ball, flipping their hands.
However, that actually has the opposite effect, as they are highly likely to make contact on the upswing, topping the shot. For solid contact with a fairway wood off a tight fairway, it's essential to hit with a descending blow, scraping the grass or taking a divot.
For a downward blow, start to cock your wrists up at the end of the takeaway where your left hand is in front of the right thigh and start your downswing by shifting your bodyweight to the left. You need to slide your left hip toward the target before hitting down through the ball.
Also crucial here is to swing through the ball, and to attain this you need to focus on swinging to a full finish, not just hitting the ball. Crucial to power and accuracy is full extension down the target line, and a good way to attain this is to shake hands with the target.
Moe Norman, a Canadian professional golfer and one of the most accurate hitters of the modern era, emphasized the importance of extending hands toward, and shaking hands with the target as a critical key to hitting the ball farther and straighter.
Interestingly enough, Tiger Woods also tries to shake his hands with the target, allowing his head to turn to the target like Annika Sorenstam to further facilitate his hand-shaking with the target.
Simply trying to shake hands with the target enables you to be in the proper position before, at and after impact. Hockey players and bowlers all do the same and just imagining yourself playing hockey or bowling will help you a lot in hitting the ball far and straight on an accurate basis as it makes it easier to extend fully and properly.
A common way to get more clubhead speed leading to increased distance is to cross your right forearm over the left through impact, but failing to flip hands correctly can bring about negative consequences like inconsistency in distance as well as accuracy. Allowing the left wrist to break down or failing to cross the right hand over the left through impact thwarts both distance control and accuracy. That prevents you from extending down the line, also inhibiting you from releasing the club in a natural fashion.
Visualization is one of the most important factors in hitting the ball flush. Before selecting the club, you need to picture every shot including its trajectory and yourself executing it.
When hitting a 3-wood or a long- to mid-iron shot, visualize yourself hitting them so the ball travels under an imagined park bench a few inches in front of the ball. Recreational golfers tend to try to scoop the ball. Hitting fairway wood or iron shots with an upward motion causes you to lose everything you want to accomplish
To produce solid impact, you need to be in the proper impact position with the shaft leaning forward toward the target, which, in turn, ensures that your hands lead the clubhead through the ball, thus promoting a downward blow.
Nobody on the planet can produce a solid shot with the shaft leaning way backward away from the target or with a scooping motion.
So, to hit your 3-wood solidly with a correct downward blow, imagine a park bench or something like that ahead of you and yourself letting the ball travel under it instead of trying to get the ball in the air.
Also crucial to solid impact is to swing with 75- to 85-percent of your potential. That makes it easier to hit the ball farther and straighter on a more consistent basis as it enables you to swing in balance.
When you get out of balance, solid contact is impossible, which makes it hard for you to get what you want in your swing.
Swinging with some 80-percent effort provides you with the best chance of catching the ball flush on the sweet spot of the clubface. That also helps to reduce tension in your mind and body, encouraging all parts of your body to work in sync.