Young golfers need every bit of help they can get nowadays, since the industry is constantly looking towards junior golf for up-and-coming golf stars; the record-breaking professionals of the future. There's a lot of pressure on young golfers to perform during junior tournaments, so it's important they have the best golf kit available so they can reach and exceed expectations. To encourage the international growth of golf at junior levels, many manufacturers now furnish kids with seriously high-performance equipment, and the junior fairway wood is a great example of this.

This guide contains information about junior fairway woods.

Fairway Woods for Serious Kids

Fairway woods are a particularly useful instrument in a junior golfer's bag. The average adult golfer will strike the ball around 250 yards with a standard driver. The adult golfer averages 180-190 yards with a 3-iron. Therefore, another club is required to plug the 60 yard gap between the driver and the 3-iron, because the 1- and 2-irons are just so hard to hit. That's where the fairway wood comes in. The fairway wood allows a golfer the flexibility to play a short tee-shot and a long second shot from the fairway. And it's also why the fairway wood is so useful for junior golfers; a junior golfer struggling to master a driver or long 2-iron might be put off the game altogether. A fairway wood is easier to hit and a more practical solution to those long irons.

Even though junior golfers probably won't be hitting the same lengths as adults, it's good practice to start them using fairway woods as early as possible, so they can familiarise themselves with the physics of the swing and the way it differs from an iron. And there are several fairway woods available amongst the huge ranges of junior golf clubs.

Features of the Junior Fairway Wood

It's tempting to believe that a junior fairway wood is made simply by taking an adult fairway wood, chopping a foot and a half out of the shaft, gluing it back together and writing 'Junior' on it. But the truth is quite different. For a start, the process above would result in a grossly unbalanced club, which would inevitably lead to a promising junior golf player learning very bad habits to control the club, and perhaps ruining their swing before they've had the chance to flourish. It would also be unreliable and unpredictable.

That's why companies like U.S. Kids - who specialise in making high-technology junior golf clubs - manufacture child-specific ranges of fairway woods. One of U.S. Kids' junior clubs is called the Ultra-Light Composition Fairway Wood, and it's 25% lighter than its adult equivalent. It has been carefully scaled down, with the weight and performance of each of the club's components given special consideration. The clubhead, shaft, and even the grip have been finely and accurately shrunk to accommodate smaller hands and smaller applied forces.

Similarly, Jaxx offer junior fairway woods which present marvelous technological advantages to the junior golfer. Jaxx's 2007 and 2008 fairway woods are significantly smaller overall then their adult equivalents, but proportionally they're highly oversized. This oversizing, common to all the best junior golf clubs, makes the clubs accurate and forgiving. The oversized clubheads make cleaner contacts with golf balls, and the resultant drives are high and accurate. The large hitting area and bigger sweet spots help keep high shots straight and true, and the deep centres of gravity on most junior fairway woods get the golf balls airborne quickly.

A well weighted club can help your young golfer develop a strong, fluid, comfortable swing which can last a lifetime. Most junior fairway woods incorporate a very low kick point so that the energy of the golfer's swing is transferred low into ball, which is flung, spinning forwards thanks to the conservation of momentum, long down the fairway. The loft angles vary only slightly across the ranges of junior fairway woods, hovering at around 24 degrees. This amount of is perfect for throwing the ball high and long, matching adult's clubs in the amount of angle.

Sizing & Junior Fairway Woods

Children grow fast. It's not their fault, they can't help it, but it can be expensive for choosing junior golf equipment. There isn't really any way around it if your child is keen to play and develop as a golfer; for now at least you have to bite the bullet and keep your junior golfer's bag stocked with well-fitting clubs.

Each manufacturer uses a slightly different sizing system, but there are several themes which they all have in common; the sizes are based on age, and the clubs are usually colour-coded. Jaxx's sizing system is the same across most of its junior golf clubs, and it looks like this;

• Red: Ages 5-7
• Green: Ages 8-10
• Blue: Ages 11-14

U.S. Kids' sizing system is a little different. Because U.S. Kids specialises in children's golf clubs, they can afford to be a little more specific, and cater to a wider range of ages. In fact, U.S. Kids produce golf clubs for golfers as young as three! Here's a quick run down of their sizing system:

• Red for kids 3'0' to 3'8' (approx. ages 3-5)
• Blue for kids 3'8' to 4'4' (approx. ages 6-8)
• Green for kids 4'4' to 5'0' (approx. ages 9-11)
• Gold for kids 4'10' to 5'6' (approx. ages 11+)

Pricing

As you can imagine, since U.S. Kids is such a specialist in the field of junior golf clubs, their fairway woods are the most expensive. This is simply because they're produced with the most expertise, and only the finest materials are used. The price for the latest U.S. Kids fairway wood is around £30.00. If that's a little outside what you would comfortably pay, then Jaxx offer junior fairways beginning at around £10.

You might also want to consider buying a set. Most club manufacturers produce junior club sets, and most of these bags contain a junior fairway wood as standard. The one-off price for a full set is obviously far higher than for a single individual club, but buying a set will always save you money in the long run; you'll have to buy all the clubs individually eventually, and that will cost significantly more.