What fairway wood should i use

Sometimes a 3 wood in the right hands can easily travel as far and the extra loft makes it more forgiving and easier to hit the fairway. If you plan to use a fairway wood more from the fairway then you need to decide if its main job is just for distance or for approach shots into the green.

If it is for the latter, then more than one fairway with higher lofts would be better so that it lands and stops quicker. Many people would rather hit a high-lofted wood into a green than a 2, 3 or 4-iron.

The larger club head of a fairway wood compared to an iron makes it easier to achieve more distance without over-swinging. As a rough rule of thumb, a 4 wood would replace a 2-iron, a 5 wood the 3-iron, a 7 wood the 4-iron and a 9 wood the 5 iron. If you want to go for glory, there are some holes which are just too long to reach with a drive and a long iron so you will require a fairway wood. If you expect predominately to use the club from the fairway, look for one where the head is fairly shallow.

This will depend on the individual player and what they want from their set. In the main, most people will suit having a driver, then 1 or 2 fairways then 1 or 2 hybrids. The larger heads of the fairways will be more forgiving and send the ball higher as they create more backspin. Fairways are better from the fairway and the tee.

The hybrids will be better from the rough as the smaller heads will get the ball out of uneven and bad lies more easily. Look at the courses you play and the distances you need to reach and pick a combination of lofts and club to meet those needs. Although not as popular as in drivers some manufacturers are now offering adjusability in fairway woods to allow players the ability to customise the club to fit their swing and conditions.

Most of the adjustability contained within these fairway woods can be broken down into three aspects. Players are able to adjust the loft of their fairway wood using an adjustable hosel. Loft adjustments are made by removing a screw in the heel, connecting the shaft to the clubhead, and replacing it to a predetermined setting.

Since fairway woods are designed for high initial launch, controlling them in the wind can be must more difficult than with long irons. Since golf course conditions can vary, an easy rule-of-thumb to follow would be to always carry a 3-wood for tee shots and par-5 approaches, and have at least a 5-wood handy depending on the weather or which course you are playing.

For decades, steel has been the most common metal used in fairway woods, and many golf club manufacturers used steel to this day. Steel provides stability to the entire body and is easy to build smaller club heads compared to drivers.

Lighter than steel, titanium is a great material for the face of the fairway wood. Thinner faces provide more spring-like affect, which produces more distance than a standard steel clubface. Also, less weight in the clubface allows the manufacturer to place that weight lower and behind the face, which increases stability and forgiveness on off-center hits.

While composite materials cannot be used on the clubface or sole of the fairway wood, they produce the lightest crown on modern fairway woods. As is the case with Titanium fairway woods, the lighter a golf club can be in the crown, the more weight that can be placed towards the sole, which lowers the center-of-gravity.

The key elements of having a low center-of-gravity is increasing initial launch with minimal spin. The easiest way for golf club manufacturers to achieve a low center-of-gravity is by moving as much weight as possible from the crown and clubface to the rear section of the sole. For more information on COG or center-of-gravity, this article from ThoughtCo provides a plethora of useful points. Having the proper fairway wood length is essential to producing the best possible balance of trajectory, distance, and feel.

Those who carry a 5-wood and a 7-wood should be around 41 and 40 inches, respectively. Getting properly fitted is essential to knowing how long your fairway wood shafts should be. For the majority of the 20 th century, golfers used steel shafts in all of their golf clubs, including fairway woods. Over the last 20 years, however, most fairway woods are sold with graphite shafts. The most important reason why fairway woods utilize graphite vs steel shafts is that lighter shafts are easier to swing faster.

Since the average steel shaft weighs grams or more, and graphite shafts range between grams, you will gain more distance with a graphite shafts without compromising feel or consistency. The modern-day club set goes something like this: driver, fairway wood, hybrid, 3-iron through pitching wedge, sand wedge, lob wedge and a putter. Your bag may look exactly like that mine almost does , or maybe you carry one more hybrid instead of a 3-iron, or an extra wedge, etc.

Same goes for your irons and wedges — they too have distinct characteristics and purposes. When it comes to fairway woods and hybrids, though, things can get complicated — fast. Woods and hybrids sometimes overlap one another in terms of how they are designed to perform.

Should you opt for a high-lofted fairway wood or a low-to-mid loft hybrid? Or, with so many golfers struggling with fairway woods in the first place, and with hybrids seemingly easier to hit — should you even bother carrying woods at all?

To help sort through the clutter, here are a few tips to dial in the perfect fairway wood-hybrid combination for your golf bag. CG weights will allow you to add, remove, and move weight, from one area of the club head to another. Plus, many CG weights come with a special tool, which usually disappears within about a month , to take them in and out.

Like CG weighting, an adjustable hosel will let you customize your club to fit your swing. The adjustable lie will let you raise or lower the clubs shaft at address. The adjustable loft lets you raise or lower shot trajectory based on your swing. Usually, this means either a standard three or four wood, depending on whether the club has an adjustable hosel. Also look for the most forgiving 3 wood that offers high launch and low spin, as this combination will get you the most distance and accuracy.

Last but not least, look for a more driver-like wood with a more substantial head, deeper face, and rounder profile. Woods with shallow faces have a lower center of gravity and will launch higher with more spin than those with deeper rounder faces.

Also, a longer heel-to-toe profile inspires confidence and makes them perfect for beginners. If hitting a 3 wood off the deck scares you to death, read our tips to crushing your 3 wood next. The average golfer feels more comfortable swinging a hybrid than a fairway wood. The hybrid has a shorter shaft which makes good contact an easier chore. Also, the denser head and lower center of gravity that hybrids typically have, make them more forgiving on mishits and helps get the ball in the air.

Most fairway woods have longer and broader soles and require cleaner contact and a more shallow approach to the ball than hybrids. The longer shaft and larger heads that fairway woods feature give them a considerable edge in distance over their same numbered counterpart. Fairway woods also work better out of short rough. Plus, nothing beats a three wood at stinging a low line drive down the fairway into the wind or sliding one under a low hanging tree branch.

They both excel in the all-important categories of distance, forgiveness, launch, and spin as well.