Golf is an intense game, and regardless of your skill level, you need a fairway wood you can totally rely on. Apart from finding a good fairway wood, a big challenge golf players have is getting too attached to one even after technology and manufacturers improve designs. Thus, you must look for the best fairway wood.
Updating or changing your fairway wood occasionally helps you improve your game. Newer models of fairway woods are designed with new technology that guarantees better control, forgiveness, and distance.
This article will discuss the 5 best fairway woods you can purchase and some questions you should be able to answer before buying a fairway wood.
TOP PICK
This Fairway Wood is an exceptional product from TaylorMade, coming with all the features that guarantee a professional game.
The term SIM means Shape In Motion. This fairway wood is made with strong and durable materials such as V steel, Composite Carbon, and Titanium. This multi-material construction and the impressive V shape plus a Twist Face and a Thru-slot Speed pocket improves turf interaction, launch, performance, speed, and even enables straight shots on miss-hits.
If you are a relatively new player, this is a light club with a low center of gravity to improve your game. If you are a skilled player, the club has superb craftsmanship you can manipulate to improve your game.
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PREMIUM OPTION
- Callaway Epic Flash Fairway Woods are designed to help all golfers get more ball...
- Flash Face creates a new fairway wood face design that promotes increased ball...
- A Forged 455 Carpenter steel construction combines with Face Cup technology to...
- Jailbreak Technology incorporates two internal bars that stiffen the body,...
- New OptiFit Hostel is shorter and lighter, and the saved weight is used to...
Callaway is a well-known leader in manufacturing golf products, and they did not disappoint with this fairways wood. Belonging in the Epic Flash series, the wood has all the features you can expect in a premium golf set.
The wood features the company's groundbreaking Flash Face Technology integrated into their products to aid in speed and distance. It also features the company's Jailbreak Technology, which helps place more load on the face for maximum speed when you hit the ball.
Your speed and distance on on-center and off-center hits are well taken care of by this club through its impressive Forged 455 Carpenter steel construction combined with the Face Cup technology.
Callaway redesigned their hosel system on clubs for easy and fast launching, as evident in this fairway wood. The redesigning makes shorter, and lighter Opti lift hosels that direct more strength to position the center of gravity for easier launching and high carrying flight.
This premium fairway wood also features a graphite shaft material and is offered in two orientations for left-handed players and right-handed players. The woods are offered in different configurations for different sized players; from 15-degree 3 wood, 18-degree 5 wood, 20-degree HeavenWood, 21-degree 7 wood, 13.5-degree 3+ wood, 23-degree 9 wood, and 25-degree 11 wood.
You can also pick your ideal flex; from ladies, stiff, right, and regular flex.
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BEST FOR BEGINNERS
Another from TaylorMade is a multi-material construction fairway wood, including C300 steel and a Composite Carbon, and a V Steel sole design. It has a Twist Face feature that allows you to take straighter shots, so you don't have to worry about mis-hits.
The best fairway wood for beginners, this TaylorMade wood is heavier than other fair woods making it more powerful and forgiving. It also allows faster clubhead speeds, versatility, and no ballooning.
You can pick your ideal configuration as the set contains 15 through to 24-degree club lofts. The woods have left hand and right-hand orientations ideal for all players. You can also pick from two different shaft materials; Fujikura Ventus Blue FW 5 and Fujikura Ventus Blue FW 6. You can choose between regular, senior, and stiff flex.
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LONGEST
- MAVRIK is the longest fairway wood that Callaway has ever made.
- The new A.I.-optimized Flash Face SS20 is forged from exotic materials, which...
- We’ve combined our industry-leading technologies to deliver distance,...
- A unique leading edge geometry in every model for easy launch.
- MAVRIK provides numerous weighting options to provide different launch angles,...
The longest fairway wood from the company, the Callaway Mavrik Fairway Wood uses technology to better your performance but still retains a traditional distinctive look the brand is known for. If you want a fairway wood to enhance your speed and distance, look no further.
The Callaway Mavrik family has three models you can pick from; the Mavrik standard, the Mavrik max, and the Mavrik Sub Zero. The three woods are different in function, so you can purchase depending on the type of performance you need. The Mavrik Standard is their fastest fairway wood that fits all player profiles. The Mavrik Max is the largest model that is ideal for you if you are looking for maximum launch and forgiveness. The Mavrik Sub Zero features a compact head, a face shape, and has a leading-edge construction that makes it ideal for experienced players.
For each model, you can pick any of these three stock shaft offerings;
The Project X Evenflow Riptide is designed for players looking for the best feel and great distance. It is available in two weights, the 50g, and 60g, for mid-launch and mid-spin players. The Aldila Rogue White 130 MS is a heavier weight shaft offering designed to offer consistency for better players. The UST Helium Black shaft offering is built with premium lightweight materials that guarantee power and stability. It is the most ideal for players seeking forgiveness.
This Callaway Mavrik family of fairway woods is all you need for optimized performance, speed, forgiveness, good distance, and accuracy.
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BEST FORGIVENESS
- Ping G410
- A high-density tungsten weight at the extreme perimeter of the head increase...
- Trajectory Tuning 2.0 utilizes a new, patented lightweight and aerodynamic...
One of the best fairway woods from Ping, it is designed to reposition the center of gravity to deliver high ball speeds.
The Ping G410 has 3 different models that come with adjustable, lightweight, and aerodynamic hosels with 8 different settings that allow you to change your loft and lie settings for better stability, forgiveness, and accuracy.
The fairway wood has different configurations; 3 wood, 5 wood, 7 wood, and 9 wood.
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What You Need To Know Before Buying The Best Fairway Wood
a). Why you need a fairway wood.
You need a fairway wood every time you play a serious golf game. You use a fairway wood on the fairway, and for a good lie on the rough. You can also use it to hit off the tee on tight or short par-4s, fairway bunkers, or long shots on par-5s and long par-4s if you struggle with the driver.
b). Fairway wood configurations
You can decide which fairway wood to get guided by the following distance preferences;
- Get a 3-wood to hit 125 to 240 yards.
- Get a 4 wood to hit 110 to 220 yards.
- Get a 5 wood to hit 105 to 215 yards.
- Get a 7 wood to hit 90 to 170 yards.
c). Fairway wood head design.
When buying a fairway wood, you need to know how its clubhead affects your game. Considering it is the only part that touches the ball as you hit it, you must get a club that suits your intended hit.
It would be best if you had fairway woods that are; broad-faced to launch smoothly or shallow-faced for when you want to hit from the rough or fairway.
d). Materials used to make fairway woods.
You might be confused because they are called woods. Years back, these clubs were actually made of woods. However, as new golf innovations came by, the materials also changed to suit modern play. Fairway woods are made of the following materials;
- Steel. Steel is mostly used by manufacturers to make smaller, stronger, and more forgiving heads. Most fairway woods you find in the market are made with steel as it is inexpensive, therefore making relatively affordable clubs.
- Aluminum. The best fairway woods heads for beginners are made aluminum as it is affordable. However, you should note that aluminum, since more of this material is used in manufacturing to create thicker walls, may interfere with your launch and ball speed.
- Composite. This material is formed from combining two or more materials, like carbon and steel, or Titanium with steel. Combining materials such as these when making club heads brings out ultra-lightweight and durable fairway woods. Woods made with composite material are ideal for better players since manufacturers place most of the weight in the head's perimeter, enabling better off-center hits. Also, composite fairway woods are more expensive than other materials.
- Titanium. Titanium is another material popularly used to make fairway wood heads. It is especially ideal for making large clubheads. All clubs made of Titanium are highly durable, the kind you want to buy if you are after a fairway wood to last you a long time. As expected, titanium clubs are quite costly, lightweight, and strong.
e). The grip
It is vital to buy a fairway wood with your correct grip size, as with all gold clubs. The wrong grip size will affect your game tremendously; a grip too big will leave your hands full of blisters, while a smaller grip will not let you play correctly.
Another critical thing to consider when picking the correct is its quality. The grip is one area of your fairway wood that will wear off very fast. To know which grip quality is best for you, think of how you hold it, how often you play, and under which weather conditions.
f). Cost
You need to know how expensive the fairway wood you are buying is. The fairway woods in the market today come with more advanced features as well as improvements, therefore costing a fortune.
If you are a new golfer, you might even need to consider buying second-hand fairway wood and only spend a lot of money once you know everything about the game, as well as your ideal clubs.
If on a budget, you can save on your wood by buying previous ranges as these get their prices reduced with every update. You can also decide to purchase your best fairway wood during special buying periods, such as during the festive season or flash sales.
Summary
Buying fairway woods is only stressful when you don't know the best in the market or don't understand all about using them in a game.
When you understand how influential a fairway wood improves your tee shots and longer approach shots, you will be prompted to purchase the best you can find in the market.
The top 5 fairway clubs in this article will guide you to one with the best features such as loft, material, and shafts. Also, keep your grip size in mind as it dictates how successful your games will be.