Hitting fairway woods of the ground is perhaps the hardest shot when you're first learning. Typically I'll always encourage people to hit their favourite iron when first learning which is normally a 7 iron followed by then graduating to a 5 iron or hybrid and ultimately moving to a fairway wood. The goal here is that you want to establish a very good tempo to your swing s0 that when you ultimately choose a longer club, you can swing it the same way.
The first priority when hitting a fairway wood is making sure you set-up correctly. This means moving the ball position around two ball widths further forward than where you put your iron (which is just forward of middle). You would also have the stance a little wider as you would need greater balance when swinging a longer club. Lastly just make sure you have around 55% on the back foot versus 45 % on the front foot. Also when setting up, ensure you identify the correct lie of the wood. The biggest mistake I see is that people tend to push their hands way too far forward which causes de-lofting of the face. The correct position is where the hands are just forward of the club head.
Once you have the ideal set-up, you would then try and swing the club with the same tempo as your favorite club (which is usually a 7 iron). You want to almost feel like you're hitting the ball very softly with great balance as with any other club. I always say to students try and only do half swings when first using a wood and then once your swing is more established, you can then add more length to the swing.
The divots for the fairway woods will be fairly shallow because the ball position is further forward in the stance. You're still aiming to hit grass like any other shot which means a slightly downward strike through impact however as mentioned the strike will be a lot cleaner.
If you'd like any further help when using fairway woods, you can contact me to book a lesson.
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