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Fairway preference

It's the firm part I prefer. Just coming out of a wet winter. I played many a round on squishy fairways. That makes footwork more difficult and creates a degree of unpredictability for how much your swing bottoms out.
 
no preference I am just happy to be in the fairway at all.
 
MWard said:
Firm, tight, and fast. Fluffy fairways just make me catch everything higher on the face and not quite as compressed.
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here again another compression analogy. I don't quite get it. I mean if one (and probably many of us) are catching the ball higher on the face with a fluffy lie, this imo means we are coming in on the fat side and the fluffy lie is allowing the club to move under the ball more allowing the higher portion of the face to strike it . The same swing (if on firm fw) would then be hitting ground first (or just prior) to ball. When that happens we are imo actually losing speed due to the ground impact a split second before the ball. Im thinking with the fat sided strike we are actually then compressing the ball less on the firm vs the fluffy simply due to loss of head speed via that premature ground impact.

Not to confuse a fluffier fw lie with a soggy fw as that is two different things. Nor with a fluffy lie in the rough. That's different than FW because the thick grass itself can grab and slow the club even more and also can twist it.

Remember the ball doesn't compress against the ground, so as long as we strike ball first and our club speed is not hindered the ball is still going to compress. It may compress less the further we miss the sweat spot (like hitting higher on the face) and also if the more our timing is off. But the firm ground on the fat sided strike should be reducing speed and therefore result less compression. The higher face strike on the bit fluffier lie may actually have more compression on the ball vs the lower face one in which the ground slowed the club. It just depends how much its been slowed by the ground vs just how far from the sweat spot we might hit via the fluffier lie.

Using tee (from tee box) for irons imo is in part what this does. Even if teed very low it sits the ball up just enough and limits the potential for a fat sided ground strike. Because its better to be a tad high on the face than it is to hit the ground first. Its the lessor evil of the two misses. If that wasn't the case or if the ground better helped them to compress the ball we would never see a pro use a tee with an iron.

Im not trying to argue here but only has sparked some my curiosity and interest is all.
 
I prefer something in the middle. Not too perky and not too tight, but if I had to choose I'd say I prefer the ball sitting up a little. Just makes those 5 or 6 irons so much more comfortable to hit.
 
ArmyGolf said:
I prefer something in the middle. Not too perky and not too tight, but if I had to choose I'd say I prefer the ball sitting up a little. Just makes those 5 or 6 irons so much more comfortable to hit.
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I'll delete my original comment as potentially not THP friendly but if we were having a beer together...
 
rollin said:
here again another compression analogy. I don't quite get it. I mean if one (and probably many of us) are catching the ball higher on the face with a fluffy lie, this imo means we are coming in on the fat side and the fluffy lie is allowing the club to move under the ball more allowing the higher portion of the face to strike it
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Not necessarily. It's the same as teeing the ball up slightly too high with an iron and it hitting a groove or two too high.
 
MWard said:
Not necessarily. It's the same as teeing the ball up slightly too high with an iron and it hitting a groove or two too high.
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isnt that sort of the same thing as what i mentioned? If one tees the ball a bit too high then they would have to adjust the bottom of their arc, otherwise if they dont they are coming in fat sided. The only way to hit the ball higher on the iron face is to have the room under the ball for the leading edge and lower grooves to pass the ball contact point before the higher portion strikes it. BTW,...Thanks for indulging the conversation. But Im fairly certain that would be a fat sided strike. Ground in the way or not it would still be that the club head got a bit too low too soon and the higher grooves are now striking the ball. If the ground was in the way it would likely chunk unless the ground is really that hard and if so we would probably blade it as the club bounces off the cement. If the ball is teed enough the head may not strike the ground and chunk the ground before hitting the ball but its still a fat sided strike. And as for the compression? This is imo where when the ground doesnt cause a chunk to slow the head down that we may then see the higher speed and more compression related to that higher speed even though hit a tad higher on the face. So im still not seeing where better compression is made via the tight firm fw lie vs a bit fluffier fw lie.

True a firm fw like a range mat can help mask the situation and we can generally still move forward much like that masked range shot. But its not usually any real good shot and is often lower and with less spin. And also imo not compressing well and probably not as much as a ball that was sitting up just enough and where as we didnt smash the mat or ground before striking the ball even though we may have hit it a bit higher on the face. The club is hitting the ball with more speed and delivering more of a blow even though a couple grooves higher than the sweat spot.
 
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What is a fairway?
 
rollin said:
isnt that sort of the same thing as what i mentioned? If one tees the ball a bit too high then they would have to adjust the bottom of their arc, otherwise if they dont they are coming in fat sided. The only way to hit the ball higher on the iron face is to have the room under the ball for the leading edge and lower grooves to pass the ball contact point before the higher portion strikes it. BTW,...Thanks for indulging the conversation. But Im fairly certain that would be a fat sided strike. Ground in the way or not it would still be that the club head got a bit too low too soon and the higher grooves are now striking the ball. If the ground was in the way it would likely chunk unless the ground is really that hard and if so we would probably blade it as the club bounces off the cement. If the ball is teed enough the head may not strike the ground and chunk the ground before hitting the ball but its still a fat sided strike. And as for the compression? This is imo where when the ground doesnt cause a chunk to slow the head down that we may then see the higher speed and more compression related to that higher speed even though hit a tad higher on the face. So im still not seeing where better compression is made via the tight firm fw lie vs a bit fluffier fw lie.

True a firm fw like a range mat can help mask the situation and we can generally still move forward much like that masked range shot. But its not usually any real good shot and is often lower and with less spin. And also imo not compressing well and probably not as much as a ball that was sitting up just enough and where as we didnt smash the mat or ground before striking the ball even though we may have hit it a bit higher on the face. The club is hitting the ball with more speed and delivering more of a blow even though a couple grooves higher than the sweat spot.
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:banghead:
 
OLDPRO46 said:
:banghead:
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wel, isnt that just genius and productive.

I mean Im just trying to analyze whats taking place at/near swing contact in the different lie and points of contact scenarios mentioned. Why? because (to me) its interesting discussion to try to know whats happening. Apparently this must annoy you and Im not seeing what Ive written as being anything so head pounding that you felt the need to display it towards me. But i really dont give a crap. You can bang till your unconscious if you like.
 
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rollin said:
wel, isnt that just genius and productive.

I mean Im just trying to analyze whats taking place at/near swing contact in the different lie and points of contact scenarios mentioned. Why? because (to me) its interesting discussion to try to know whats happening. Apparently this must annoy you. But i really dont give a crap.
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TOPIC: Fairway preference! Need I say more. I'm far from annoyed. As a matter of fact I think it's a great discussion, just not what the topic was about. IMO
It was not meant to be offensive in any way and if you took it that way, well OK.
 
I’m usually good an whatever the conditions are. I’m not a big divot taker and I’ve gotten used to the tighter/firmer lies I typically see around here.

I will say I did enjoy playing in Branson and taking some divots I normally don’t see.
 
I prefer a little fluffier fairway. I'm not great at compressing the ball and picking it clean so having the ball a little teed up helps me out a bit. Ruth tight fairways I can start hitting irons a little thin.
 
OLDPRO46 said:
TOPIC: Fairway preference! Need I say more. I'm far from annoyed. As a matter of fact I think it's a great discussion, just not what the topic was about. IMO
It was not meant to be offensive in any way and if you took it that way, well OK.
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Ok thats fair. But when one quotes another post and offers nothing but a head pounding, I think most anyone would see that as offensive and directed at the poster. Unless of course its being done in a friendly sarcastic humor kind of way.
You could have just simply said you felt it was off topic. Or simply asked..."is this really on topic?" But no worries :) . You say what you meant by it and ok.

As for off topic? Imo not really because a couple have mentioned why they prefer a given lie. And that then opens the door and imo allows for further discussion of the reasons. That imo is all part of what makes one prefer a given lie vs another. Thats very much topic related imo. There is a lot more to be gained on a forum by discussing the why's that pertain to the topic at hand.
 
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I think I perform best on firm fairways, but a little fluff isn't too bad for me.
 
Softer the better...one, it's more like the rough, which I'm used to hitting out of, and two, it's easier on my hands and wrists.
 
Being in the midwest almost everything is Bermuda. Have played a handful of times on Zoysia and loved it. But we played down around Austin last year with some Bermuda TIF fairways and greens and I have to say it quickly became my favorite
 
M2Giles said:
When playing, do you have a preference for how the fairways play. Tight, firm lies or softer, fluffy lies or something else?
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What is this "fairway" thing of which you speak?
 
I'd rather play to tight firm fairways, but hit my approach from more of a fluffy lie than tight one. I don't mind hitting from the first cut at all. I guess the only exception would be if I'm trying to knock the ball down, easier for me to do that from a tighter lie.
 
What's a fairway?
 
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