Sweep your 3-wood

I'm not a big fan of target golf, but the typical U.S. Open setup forces you to use a strategy based more on accuracy than power. That often means keeping the driver in the bag and hitting 3-wood.

With fairway woods, you need a shallow angle of attack that lets you sweep the ball. Many players get too steep on the backswing, which usually makes the club bottom out behind the ball. That means fat or thin shots.

I rehearse a more rounded backswing and follow-through, which helps me attack the ball from the inside and swing around my body. On this shot, my arms stayed in sync with my body turn—notice the triangle formed by my forearms and chest. The clubface is parallel to my left forearm, in perfect position to swing around into the ball.

Mark Soltau is a contributing editor to Golf Digest and the editor of TigerWoods.com.