Golf is supposed to be a relaxing and enjoyable warm-weather activity, something to look forward to during those long winters and weekdays spent cooped up in cubicles. And it can be, if you can execute the basics. If you can’t, golf can be endlessly frustrating. Balls get lost, profanities get uttered and clubs get tossed. If that sounds familiar, professional help is needed.

Scott Mayer, the teaching pro at Nonesuch River Golf Club in Scarborough, gave Current Publishing sports reporter and golfing dilettante Tom Minervino a series of lessons this summer on how to improve as a beginning golfer. Mayer’s tips on various aspects of golf, along with Minervino’s take on the lessons, will run over the next several weeks. This week, Mayer gives tips about fairway shots.

Scott Mayer’s Tips on Fairway Shots:

We’ve now worked our way through putting, chipping and approach shots with short irons to the green. This brings us to the all-important long irons, hybrids and fairway woods, which are used to advance the ball a good distance from off the ground.

These are different from your scoring shots, as they are intended to get you into position so that you can score. These shots come into play after poor tee shots, second shots on long par fours, and on par fives.

1. To produce a good fairway shot, you must first keep in mind that your main goal is to move the ball a fair distance towards the green, within the confines of the golf course. You are not going to make your best round happen with these shots, but you can limit your success with them if you hit them poorly.

Often, I find individuals are attempting to achieve too much with these shots. You must play within your own ability and means. If you don’t have the ability to hit a 3-wood from a poor lie 250 yards around the corner of the dogleg, and to carry it over the pond to the green where the pin is tucked on the front edge, then don’t try to. You would most certainly be better off laying up further back, where you can approach the pin on your next shot with a high-lofted iron.

2. I always ask myself: Are my chances of gaining a shot equally as good a losing a shot by trying to hit this particular shot? If you really take a look at what you are trying to pull off with some of the long fairway shots you attempt, you’d realize that by dividing the distance up into two shots, you would save yourself many shots throughout the year.

3. If I feel I can’t easily reach the green – or my lay up with a real long iron, hybrid or wood would be difficult – I will try to identify my yardage to a comfortable distance that I can shoot for. I personally like to be around 100 yards for my approach shots. This is a perfect 56-degree sand wedge for me. Most of the time if you think about going for the green, versus laying up to the comfortable 100-yard marker, you may be talking about the difference of hitting a 3-wood or a 5-,6- or 7-iron. If you miss the green with the long iron or wood, you will often end up in a more difficult position than if you hit shorter with a mid iron.

4. One of the most helpful pieces of new technology in the golf world is the development of hybrid clubs. They have forever changed these fairway shots. The hybrid, also known as the utility club, has eliminated the need for most long irons, and even some of the fairway woods. They are much easier to hit solidly, which allows individuals an opportunity to produce a nice, high, straight ball flight from the ground, which is ideal for the fairway shot. The hybrid is also very versatile in regards to the kind of lies or conditions it can be used in. With companies making full sets of these utility clubs with options ranging from the No. 1 all the way through the lob wedge, there is a hybrid that will get the job done.

5. When it comes to the actual technique of creating a good fairway shot with a long iron, hybrid or fairway wood you must keep a couple of things in mind: First, if you want a long iron, such as a 4-iron, to go like you think a 4-iron should go, you must swing it with the tempo of a 7-iron. If you swing it like you think a 4-iron should go, often times it won’t even go like a 7-iron. So tempo, tempo, tempo is the key. Also, pay close attention to maintaining good balance, and focus on making good contact.

6. I swing these clubs long, low and slow on the way back to create a long wide fluid arc, so that I sweep the ball of the ground. You don’t want to swing real steep and take big divots with these shot. I also stand a little farther away with these clubs to help flatten out the arc to assist with this process.

So when it comes to the long irons, hybrids and fairway woods, stand a little farther away from the ball, take them back low and slow and focus on good rhythm, balance and contact.

Tom’s Take:

Every golfer has been there. The flag is off in the distance; perhaps some obstacles stand between the ball and the hole. It’s your second shot. Do you reach for a long iron or fairway wood and try to land your ball on the green? Or do you play it safe, hit a mid iron, and set up an easy approach shot?

I know what I should do, and that is the latter option. But there’s always that temptation to drill one long. And, as Mayer explained, that ends up costing most beginning (and more advanced) golfers a good number of strokes in the long run. For me, it’s because I nearly always end up hitting that fairway shot off the fairway and into the rough, woods, sand, pond or whatever else might be off to the right. That sets up a much more difficult third shot than if I had simply used a mid iron to set up an approach shot.

At the range, Mayer explained why my fairway shots with long irons never ended up where I wanted them: I was turning my wrists too soon (hence the ball sailing off to the right) and I was swinging too hard (hence the inconsistent contact that frequently resulted in hard grounders toward the imaginary second baseman).

Mayer told me that there is no need to swing harder when using a long iron. Let the club do the work. To demonstrate his point, he gripped his club lightly with the tips of his thumbs and first two fingers, struck the ball with a full but slow arcing swing, and sent it sailing high, straight and far. Meanwhile, my fierce hacks produced little in the way of flight.

So I settled down, pretended I was hitting a mid iron and took an easier stroke. On the shots where I remembered to keep my head down, this resulted in solid contact. The ball was getting off the ground nicely. But it was still sailing right. That’s where the wrists came in.

Mayer instructed me to stand up straight and hold the club out in front. He then had me swing the club in an arc, keeping it parallel to the ground. That was the same motion I should be making during my swing, just with my back at an angle facing the ground. He told me to listen for the “swoosh” of the club head. It was right in front of me, where it should be. Then he had me turn my wrists before the club head was straight ahead of me. That caused an earlier swoosh, which results in the ball veering right, as the club head is striking the ball at an angle, not straight on.

I hit a few more balls with my new knowledge, but still I seemed to be turning my wrists prematurely as my shots tended to head right – not as grossly as before, but to the right nonetheless. That’s when Mayer instructed me to hit one to the left. Not straight. He wanted me to shank one to the left. It proved harder than it sounded, and my first couple attempts failed. Finally, I turned my wrists late, and hit a nice, solid shot sailing well to the left of where, under normal circumstances, I would want it to go. Finally, I was able to control the direction of the ball. Sure, it was a minor victory. But it was a necessary one if I’m ever going to hit a long iron properly.

Scott Mayer is the teaching pro at Nonesuch River Golf Club in Scarborough. He was named Maine PGA Golf Teacher of the Year in 2004. He runs Mayer’s School of Golf, which offers individual and group lessons to all ages and abilities. For more information, visit www.mayersschoolofgolf.com.

Golf tips: Chipping your way to success