Do you want to hit off the tee or replace long irons? Maybe you want to reach par 5s in two on your golf holiday? Whatever your reason, this should guide your purchase. When deciding which golf club number 3, 5, 7 etc to purchase, think of the following:. Attempting to correct any side-spin on the ball, weight has been placed inside the clubhead to help keep it square at impact.
There are three choices of head material to choose from, each with its own characteristics:. Making up the bulk of your set, irons are numbered like woods. With the lowest loft around 20 degrees , the 3 irons achieve a low and long hit with approximately yards.
In contrast, a Pitching Wedge 50 degrees loft or Sand Wedge 56 degrees loft produce a high flight but a low distance of approximately yards. Other irons such as the 7-iron sit between these two extremes, with around yards difference between each club. Essentially, the lower the golf club number is, the lower the flight, the further it will travel but the harder it is to control. Like woods and drivers, irons offer different models depending on your needs:. Golfers choose between two manufacturing processes when buying a new iron:.
Aimed at low handicappers, most irons are made by casting as this process allows manufacturers to design more creatively. Crucial to post a good score, choosing the right wedge can help improve your game dramatically. Visually, the bounce is the gap between the ground and the leading edge of the wedge when placed in the address position. As a general rule, most golfers are best with a bounce between 10 to 14 degrees. One of the most important clubs in your bag, yet one of the most neglected, putters can transform your game.
A cross between a wood and iron, hybrid clubs are slowly replacing traditional long irons. It's now all over the sole, with special steel on the crown in the front and at the rear, a composite carbon to distribute the weight in a way that gets the ball flying higher and further, easier.
The tech keeps coming, with Twist Face technology also implemented in this model as well. They have twisted the face a little to help compensate for off center hits, keeping the straighter and reducing dispersion left and right.
Cleveland are the kings of game improvement clubs but very sneaky. Not much fanfare out there, but a lot of golfers at club level jam Cleveland woods and irons. The 3 wood with 15 degrees is easy to launch but the 5 wood is where the game gets easy for the high handicappers. Cleveland have made a fairway wood that looks great - in fact so close to a PING, it's scary. The Hi-Bore crown is a proven design as it's been in the woods for the last 10 years.
Face-design is one of my bug-bears and the face on the Cleveland is as it always is, nice and simple. The face and hosel are created to be draw-biased to help eliminate that pesky slice. Now if you're slashing across the ball heavily, it's best to fix that swing, but if you're a light slicer, the offset can really rein that in.
I found it difficult to hit off the mats indoors and was just hitting hooks and big draws. I found it performed better on the grass and natural lies.
For this reason, I think it works better on normal turf but not hardpan. But then again, which fairway woods do well on hardpan? I've personally used Cleveland fairway woods even while I was a scratch handicapper, 13 years ago. Cobra golf clubs are always a hit with amateurs.
The F Max is a really classic-looking fairway wood with a plain black head but with a touch of offset to get rid of a slice. This is the fairway wood of choice for Brian from my channel. If you're a slower swinger, the Cobra F Max might be just what the doctor ordered. The lightweight head combined with a very lightweight shaft will help you get some more mph on the old swing.
And more swing speed means more distance. Brian was rockin these clubs when his swing was a bit slower. After a couple of lessons, he increased his swing speed to the range that these became unsuitable so he had to change shafts. A very wide club face gives you a long surface area to make contact with. With more sweet spot areas to hit the ball, you'll find more forgiveness and straighter shots. Combining a higher loft than normal fairway woods with light weight and the offset face means less slice and in turn tons more distance.
The Cobra Radspeed is the latest upgrade from Cobra from the Speedzone which was already a great club. Loft-wise, the There are rails on the bottom of the sole which help to guide the clubhead through the turf.
The weight plate in the back is not movable which in today's club climate is such a relief. As high handicappers, we don't need to be worrying whether we have the right settings or not. Cobra made great clubs that were easy to hit in the F9 and the Speedzone and the Radspeed continues to impress with the ease of use.
There are two options in the range, C and E The Tour Edge ranges of fairway woods is always top notch. If you like them, you should also check out the Exotics range once you level up your skills. The C has a traditional shape and less offset which is the effect that makes the clubface point left to negate a slice. Some adjustable hosels allow us to change loft angle without affecting the lie, which is worth considering when purchasing a club with adjustable hosel. In the end, adjustable hosels are designed to optimize your ball flight, trajectory, and distance.
Hitting several balls at each available setting with a launch monitor and a trained professional interpreting the numbers is the best way to determine which setting is best for you. Face angle, as the name suggests, is the angle of the face at address. Some fairway woods have soles that cause the club to naturally sit square behind the ball, which can help the golfer align the clubhead precisely. Having an adjustable weight feature has essentially become the norm in drivers to manipulate center of gravity positioning.
It is less prevalent in fairway woods, but some manufacturers do offer it. Manipulating the weight position will affect the center of gravity, which will, in turn, affect forgiveness, flight trajectory, and distance.
High handicappers should be looking for two traits in their fairway woods : high launch and maximum forgiveness. Those qualities can come in different forms, as different manufacturers have different approaches to achieve them. As a general rule, here are some features you should look for:.
Fairway woods for high handicappers come in relatively large head sizes. This is due to the fact that larger heads can accommodate bigger moment of inertia MOI , which will increase forgiveness. There are other technological approaches that can increase forgiveness, which will vary greatly between manufacturers.
Most of them will have similar principles: manipulating the center of gravity position or enabling the face to flex more for an even bigger sweet spot. Before purchasing your fairway wood, it is important to consider how forgiving it is on mis-hits. Every golfer wants to get as much yardage as possible out of their equipment. Different manufacturers can use different technologies to achieve more distance. A light clubhead with a springy clubface will provide the most distance to a high handicapper.
In fact, f airway woods are among the easiest clubs to use because they are light enough to generate good clubhead speed, and the size of the wood makes it more forgiving than an iron. The beginner often finds the low center of gravity very helpful in getting the ball airborne. A very difficult question, as there are many brands offering excellent fairway woods for beginners and high handicappers.
The right club will come down to personal preference; the club that feels the best and inspires confidence is usually the right one for you. That said, there are three particular brands we recommend:. TaylorMade is the most popular manufacturer of drivers and fairway woods.
Many of their top notch technologies and designs for their drivers are also implemented in their fairway woods. TaylorMade woods and drivers are known for their distance and forgiveness, two key qualities we are looking for.
Callaway is known for integrating modern technology into classic designs. Cobra is a fast-rising brand in the world of drivers and woods. Ultimately the composition of your bag is a personal choice. You should only have clubs in your bag that you feel confident about hitting, so if you have a 3-wood you almost never hit well, get rid of it! But traditionally, most golfers carry a 3-wood and a 5-wood to provide for the most options on par 5s and long par 4s.
High handicappers will often find themselves needing a good, long second shot to get to the green and having multiple fairway woods in your bag will provide you with those options. Once you start getting better, you may want to add a lob wedge or gap wedge to improve your scoring game close to the green.
At that point you may want to consider merging your 5-wood and 4-iron into, say, a 3-hybrid, or just carrying a 4-wood instead of both a 3 and 5 wood. But overall, my advice is to make sure you love every club in your bag. Updated November 10, This article was thoroughly audited by multiple golf experts and coaches for its accuracy.
You can read more about our rigorous testing protocol here. Editor's Choice. Best Value For Money. Premium Choice. TaylorMade M4 Fairway Wood. Callaway Mavrik Max Fairway Wood. Ping G Fairway Wood. Lifts the ball off the ground nicely. Pros 2. Incredible value for money at current pricepoint. The Ferrari of Fairway Woods. Check Price on Global Golf. How do I choose the right fairway wood for me?
What are the key benefits of fairway woods for high handicap golfers? With adjustability being the trend of golf club designs nowadays, what forms of adjustability should I look for in a fairway wood? Are there things to look for that differentiate fairway woods for high handicappers? Can a beginner golfer use fairway woods?
Are there any particular brands I should look for? How many fairway woods should I carry in my bag? Low spin and high launch The carbon-fiber material used in the crown allows TaylorMade to move the center of gravity low and forward, which provides the hitherto difficult-to-achieve combination of high launch and low spin.
Optimized Weighting The Max also features two weights that create the draw-bias that beginners and high handicappers need to center their shotmaking. Aerodynamic Design Along with its distance and accuracy, the Mavrik Max also features aerodynamics along the crown for reduced drag.
Increased Ball Spin for Distance For golfers that need more distance via their versatile fairway wood, the G Max is well suited to the task. Face Cup Technology for Forgiveness Accompanying the Flash Face feature is the Face Cup technology that assists with keeping your shots straight no matter where they find the club face.
Aerodynamic Crown The F9 Fairway also features an incredibly sleek aerodynamic crown for maximum club head speed. Shallow The Moon Woods have an extremely low profile. Forgiveness While Callaway has done everything it can to maximize distance, the forgiveness of the driver is a bit compromised. Is the trade-off worth it?
Value The TaylorMade M6 has a price tag to match its performance level, however. Offset hosel A feature you find more often in putters and irons is an offset, designed to help get the clubface closed or squared at impact. This will help correct a slice, but if you already hook the ball it will accentuate that. 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. Your swing speed will determine which shaft flex works best for you, which is another reason why a proper fitting is beneficial.
Over the last few years, adjustable fairway woods have become more commonplace, and is now the norm. Now any golfer can use a simple tool to adjust the loft, lie, and even face angle of the best fairway woods. The reasons behind adjustable fairway woods is similar to why you would carry fairway woods versus long irons or even hybrids.
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