Rory McIlroy suggests to amateurs the one thing he always thinks about when hitting a fairway wood off the deck

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While the likes of Rory McIlroy and Bryson DeChambeau can make it look so easy, it can be such a game-changer for amateurs if they can turn their approach game from around 200 yards into a strength.

If a player is able to reach those par fives or long par fours in two, their scores are inevitably going to come down. It is arguably one of the most crucial parts of the game which gets overlooked – that ability to find a green from so far out.

For many, that requires a shot with one of their fairway woods.

Hitting a fairway wood off the ground is definitely a real skill. You cannot really replicate either your driver or iron swing to catch the shot perfectly. This particular writer will often look up to find the ball immediately skidding along the fairway 50 yards in front of him after deciding to try and reach the green with a three wood.

Rory McIlroy explains the fundamentals to hitting a fairway wood off the deck

So what are some of the most important factors when it comes to hitting a wood well from the fairway?

Speaking to Chris Como on Golf Pass, Rory McIlroy explained what advice he would give an amateur looking to get better at using their fairway woods.

“Notoriously hard to hit from the deck. Even us pros, we’ll do it when we need to. It’s certainly not our favourite shot to hit,” he said.

“For me, off the deck with the fairway wood, the one thing that I always think about is trying to keep my head level the same. I think people, they go down, they go up and I think there’s so little margin for error hitting a fairway wood off the deck that, for me, if I just feel like I keep the level of my head consistent through my swing, that’s the easiest way for me to ensure that I make decent contact.

“[Ball position] definitely not back. I would say with a three wood, the more back it goes, the more down you’re going to want to hit it. An iron is designed to go through the turf, a fairway wood is meant to sweep it off the top of the grass. So I would say more to the front of your stance than back. You wouldn’t want it all the way off the front, but a couple of inches inside your left heel.

“I think a lot of people, because there’s not a lot of loft on a fairway wood, try to help it and then they’ll scoop it and they’ll hit behind it, so trying to stay pretty centred and pretty level. That would be my tip to hit a fairway wood.”

One of the greatest fairway wood shots of Rory McIlroy’s career

One of the most iconic fairway wood shots of McIlroy’s career came at the 2014 PGA Championship. In the final round, the Northern Irishman made an eagle on the 10th hole to move to 14 under par having trailed to the likes of Phil Mickelson and Rickie Fowler up until that stage.

McIlroy would find the putting surface from 283 yards. As shown in the video below, Sir Nick Faldo assumed that he had mishit the shot initially before it became apparent that he had executed it perfectly.

Two more birdies on the back nine would ensure that McIlroy had his fourth major title – with that approach just after the turn proving the catalyst for his charge.