"Feel and control" fairway wood over "distance"

I will be in the market for a new 4 wood (17 loft or something else ben to to a 4 wood loft seeing as many of the manufacturers are now don't do one). Having recently changed my irons I now have a 2 iron in the bag and the 4wood seems to be a beter gap club between that and the driver. Considering also that I don't often use my 3 wood off the fairway and wouldn't mind have a slight bit extra loft while I don't mind sacrificing a few yards.

It would appear to me that most of the manufacturers are focused on that dreaded word "distance" even in the fairway wood department, with much talk of "hot faces" "extra light for more distance" and many of them seem to have rather large heads with a shallow but long face and plenty of "booty" out the back!! It would appear from hitting a few as well as reading reviews that you it's hard to find something these days with plenty of feel.

I am looking for something that has a smaller more compact head, with a more solid feel as opposed to the thin "hot" feel of many of today's options. Optimum being placed on control feel and workability over distance.

Anyone share my experience/thoughts on fairway woods? Any suggestions towards a club aimed at this end of the spectrum welcome.

Thanks

Does it have to be a wood?

I use a 16 deg Rescue/Hybrid and it's honestly the best club in my bag. Reliable shape, long and accurate. Don't carry any traditional woods at all.

Obviously horses for courses but suits me fine.

Gone through exactly the same thing as you recently, and looked at filling the gap between my 3-wood and a 16* utility club, as i was seeing a gap of some 20-yards. I looked high and low at all sorts of kit, but went for a Wishon 949MC 5-wood. Quality build and had an Accra shaft fitted, but feel is great, loft is true and perfect, but better players will easily be able to work it both in and out. The price was also great, so money well spent on a club that is like fairway heads used to be.

SR- doesn't necessarily have to be a wood and for me anyway there would appear to be very few woods/metals in what I would consider to be traditional. As I said many of them now are so oversized and "hot " off the face, sacrificing feel and workability. Good suggestion. Do you mind me asking what your rescue is?

Doc, what gap would that be? A 3 wood is usually 15 degree, and your utility is 16!! If you're finding a difference of twenty yards between two clubs that close then I think one of the shafts doesn't suit you very well.

Doc wrote:Gone through exactly the same thing as you recently, and looked at filling the gap between my 3-wood and a 16* utility club, as i was seeing a gap of some 20-yards. I looked high and low at all sorts of kit, but went for a Wishon 949MC 5-wood. Quality build and had an Accra shaft fitted, but feel is great, loft is true and perfect, but better players will easily be able to work it both in and out. The price was also great, so money well spent on a club that is like fairway heads used to be.

Cheers Doc. Never seen their stuff in Ireland but looking at the pics I see exactly what you mean. That for me is a "proper" fairway wood!!!

super_realist wrote:Doc, what gap would that be? A 3 wood is usually 15 degree, and your utility is 16!! If you're finding a difference of twenty yards between two clubs that close then I think one of the shafts doesn't suit you very well.

Sorry SR my U-Irons are 22* and 26*, I guess my saying a 16* was because I looked at one at the time but found it impossible to use. Sorry for the confusion. You will remember that I had my clubs built by my fitter and the longest iron being 5-iron left a huge gap to the 3-wood, which is where the 2 U-Irons drop in, but the 20 yard gap I'm left with forced me into reviewing things recently. You will aslo remember that I use KZG, but found this Wishon to be cheaper, build quality as good, but a fantastic feeling club.

Thought there was something odd in that Doc.
3 wood to 22 U iron was indeed a chasm like gap.

super_realist wrote:Thought there was something odd in that Doc.
3 wood to 22 U iron was indeed a chasm like gap.

At the time my fitter said there'd be no problem, so took his word for it. In fairness, at the time it didn't seem too bad, but really came home to roost back in March this year in Portugal. saturated courses after persistant rain which turned march into Portugals wetest on record. I found that I was trying too hard to crack the 22* because of lack of roll, which obviously meant I was swinging too fast, which meant the shaft was wrong for the fast swing. So the gap was/seemed huge and needing fixing

I have an excellent Titleist 909 4 wood, love it, and would highly recommend

Some of the new Titleist fairways look pretty good. I like a shallow face on a fairway too. I have Taylormade V-steel II 3 and 5 woods. Nice compact heads and I love the feeling off the face. You can get them pretty cheap 2nd hand then stick a good shaft in it?

super_realist wrote:Does it have to be a wood?

I use a 16 deg Rescue/Hybrid and it's honestly the best club in my bag. Reliable shape, long and accurate. Don't carry any traditional woods at all.

Obviously horses for courses but suits me fine.

Definitely go with this as an option. After years of fighting against them I recently got hold of an Adams Pro Black 16° hybrid with a VooDoo shaft at a great price and it's an exceptional club. Long enough if I go after it but very accurate if used sensibly. Much easier to hit than my old Ping 1-iron as well! Easily work it both ways. High, low, chipping etc. Not tried a greenside splash shot yet but wouldn't be surprised if it did OK with that too (even if it trashed the black PVD finish).

I hate the obsession with distance and, I'd argue, in a fairway wood (or equivalent) it should be all about accuracy rather than out-and-out distance. When do you use it? Off the tee on tight holes, maybe cutting at a par 5 green in two and other long distance shots requiring accuracy.

Never been a hybrid or rescue person and have tended to go from 3 wood straight to long irons. However, I have recently put an offset King Cobra SS 5 wood in the bag and it has very quickly become a firm favourite, to the point that I am looking for a 3 wood match for it and might even look at the driver version.

I do not disagree with anything that anyone has said before, but for me, this 5 wood fills any gap I might want. Off the deck it will comfortably do 210/220 yards(straight as well, now I've learnt how to line it up) and if I really go for it, it has flown 240yards. I'm hoping that the 3 wood will move that on a little, to be fair it might not go too much further, but realistically, how far do you want a fairway wood to travel, I would suggest that 250 yards is probably a maximum.

Oh and Jeff - it has the small head you are after. Not only does it hit the ball like a scalded cat, but it looks good as well! A bit like me really!

oldshanker wrote:
Oh and Jeff - it has the small head you are after. Not only does it hit the ball like a scalded cat, but it looks good as well! A bit like me really!

Modesty as well as being able to whack a little white ball a fair distance!

Thanks to all for sharing your thoughts. You have given me much to mull over.

navyblueshorts wrote:
I hate the obsession with distance and, I'd argue, in a fairway wood (or equivalent) it should be all about accuracy rather than out-and-out distance. When do you use it? Off the tee on tight holes, maybe cutting at a par 5 green in two and other long distance shots requiring accuracy.

I couldn't agree more. A beatiful looking club that Adams pro black 16 degree and would appear to tick the boxes. From initial research would also appear to be quite elusive in Ireland! I’ll source from the UK if I decide to give it a go, looks like a good option.

Adams are quite hard to come by anywhere Jeff,

super_realist wrote:Adams are quite hard to come by anywhere Jeff,

Thanks super, I would have thought I might have a bit more luck in the UK. Off to the land of the stars and stripes perhaps!!

They've got that inbuilt exclusivity then Jeff.
Most pro's could probably arder them in for you easily enough, there undoubtedly will be a UK/IRE distributor.

Indeed a good strategy, somewhat the opposite of the stack em high sell em cheap (well not so cheap actually it's still gonna cost you an arm and a leg!) philosophy of the big brands. I will update if I decide to go this route. Thanks again for the advice.

jeff

I know you are also a fan of MD stuff, checkout their range of fairway woods and hybrids. I've got the 3 wood, quality shaft and really pretty little compact head. They also do a 5 wood, not sure what options they have in the hybrid range but might be something there to take your fancy.

jeffkenna wrote:

super_realist wrote:Adams are quite hard to come by anywhere Jeff,

Thanks super, I would have thought I might have a bit more luck in the UK. Off to the land of the stars and stripes perhaps!!

UK Distributor at reasonable price here you go...

http://www.direct-golf.co.uk/golf_hybrids/

Just come back from their Tonbridge Store myself, and opened my wallet whilst in there. Something i've been looking at for a while is the Adams Speedline F11 Driver and 3 wood, went down to their store and had a fitting on Trackman machinery got a fitting done on the clubs.

Have walked away with one of Each Driver and 3 wood with Voodoo Xstiff shafts. Absolutley lovely, now just need to eBay my Machspeed Black driver. Looked at he hybrids whilst in there am sorely tempted to give them a go. I have the Puglieli wedges ands Adams really are becoming a thorn n the big boys side producing quality gear but without the aggressive TM style faff and marketing

Maverick wrote:

jeffkenna wrote:

super_realist wrote:Adams are quite hard to come by anywhere Jeff,

Thanks super, I would have thought I might have a bit more luck in the UK. Off to the land of the stars and stripes perhaps!!

UK Distributor at reasonable price here you go...

http://www.direct-golf.co.uk/golf_hybrids/

Just come back from their Tonbridge Store myself, and opened my wallet whilst in there. Something i've been looking at for a while is the Adams Speedline F11 Driver and 3 wood, went down to their store and had a fitting on Trackman machinery got a fitting done on the clubs.

Have walked away with one of Each Driver and 3 wood with Voodoo Xstiff shafts. Absolutley lovely, now just need to eBay my Machspeed Black driver. Looked at he hybrids whilst in there am sorely tempted to give them a go. I have the Puglieli wedges ands Adams really are becoming a thorn n the big boys side producing quality gear but without the aggressive TM style faff and marketing

Mav, let me know how you get on with the driver. It's one of a few on my horizon.

SR Will do, i'd been toying with the idea of it for a while but took a trip down there and after going on the launch monitor and hitting it that was me sold.

Have to say the new John Letters driver (can't remember the name of it) completely black sleek lines is also an attractive club.

But taking the New bats to the range shortly so will give you an idea of how they are and then onto the course tomorrow

This may sound terribly fuddy duddy but I have never found the feel of a metal fairway wood has come anywhere close to that of a wooden fairway wood.
I had an old Ben Hogan wooden 4 wood that felt like it was magic.

Doon

A very good point, I wonder what an old wooden wood fitted with a shorter modern shafe would fell like. Like a modern/vintage hybrid.

jeffkenna wrote:

navyblueshorts wrote:
I hate the obsession with distance and, I'd argue, in a fairway wood (or equivalent) it should be all about accuracy rather than out-and-out distance. When do you use it? Off the tee on tight holes, maybe cutting at a par 5 green in two and other long distance shots requiring accuracy.

I couldn't agree more. A beatiful looking club that Adams pro black 16 degree and would appear to tick the boxes. From initial research would also appear to be quite elusive in Ireland! I’ll source from the UK if I decide to give it a go, looks like a good option.

Picked mine up via eBay for a good price (~£50) from a UK address with my sort of spec shaft and it even had a mid-size grip. In really decent nick too w/ original head cover. Not many from UK sellers (loads from U.S.) but there are some - I just had to wait a bit to get one. Definitely worth the money and been a bit surprised at the Aldila VooDoo shaft in it - really smooth.

super_realist wrote:

Maverick wrote:

jeffkenna wrote:

super_realist wrote:Adams are quite hard to come by anywhere Jeff,

Thanks super, I would have thought I might have a bit more luck in the UK. Off to the land of the stars and stripes perhaps!!

UK Distributor at reasonable price here you go...

http://www.direct-golf.co.uk/golf_hybrids/

Just come back from their Tonbridge Store myself, and opened my wallet whilst in there. Something i've been looking at for a while is the Adams Speedline F11 Driver and 3 wood, went down to their store and had a fitting on Trackman machinery got a fitting done on the clubs.

Have walked away with one of Each Driver and 3 wood with Voodoo Xstiff shafts. Absolutley lovely, now just need to eBay my Machspeed Black driver. Looked at he hybrids whilst in there am sorely tempted to give them a go. I have the Puglieli wedges ands Adams really are becoming a thorn n the big boys side producing quality gear but without the aggressive TM style faff and marketing

Mav, let me know how you get on with the driver. It's one of a few on my horizon.

SR

Spent 90 minutes on the range, after the intiial warm up, hit every shot I could with Driver, high and low draws, high fade, low cut and the regular straight shot. Initial signs are fantastic not the usual loud noise off the face of other drivers, but you could feel the hit and where it came off the face. Very long and more importantly IMO extremely workable and consistent. You can literally see the club pass the hands on the way through such is the increase in clubhead speed. The proof will be in the pudding tomorrow, am playing in a charity day for Movember (bit late this year usually play it on last day of november but we couldn't get the course). It's at one of the local Muni's this year but they are letting us have the course for they da free of charge so there'll be 70 of us teeing it up there to raise money, play golf then get tipsy.

The 3 wood felt fantastic from the first ball to the last, it has a slight cut out slot on both the sole and crown (imagine nike VR sole and add the compression chamber to top as well) so takes a bit of getting used to but again a very workable club so far.

Great stuff, Mav, sounds like it might be worth a look in. Although what's good for you etc....
Considering the Bridgestone j40 driver as a potential too, Golf Spy were very complimentary in a recent review

The Bridgestone was something that was on my Radar but finding a stockist to go and try one is a nightmare in my area.

Like the look of the new bridgestone gear, the irons look like they could be worth a go as well

Mav, I'm going to get a shot on a trackman at the weekend so I'm interested to get any opinions on it right now. What kind of swing speed do you have and what loft etc did you go with to get the flight, spin etc you wanted? I see the voodoo is mid-ish kick point. Did you get a heavier shaft in the 3 wood?

Lairdy definately worth doing to see accurate swing speeds, launch angle and rpm you put on the ball. Its also good using different ball types as well as you can see the change in rpm off the face.

Was quite surprised with the results I got to be honest, I had an idea of my swing speed and launch angle from my last fitting but results had changed a little due to changing ball and from working out more getting that bit stronger.

Results I got with the Nike (Xstiff Rip shaft 9.5 degree) I was using were:

Launch angle 14degrees
Swing speed 112mph
RPM's were averaging around 2800 (quite high)
Was getting on average 269yards carry and hardly any roll due to high spin

The driver I went for Adams Speedline F11 (Voodoo Xstiff 8.5degree)
Launch Angle 14degrees
Swing Speed 116mph
RPMs came rigth down to 1800-1950 average
Was getting average carry of 278yards with a fair bit of roll due to reducing the spin

Fantastic results

Heavier shaft in the 3 wood yes

Mav

Have you ever thought about spending some more time on your game and having a shot at turning pro?

I ask because both your scoring stats and swing stats are pretty much as good as the top players in the world so you would only need minor improvements. I think you also said you had sold your business so if money is not an issue you should make a go of it. Just a few more hours a week on the range and you could do it.

McLaren wrote:Mav

Have you ever thought about spending some more time on your game and having a shot at turning pro?

I ask because both your scoring stats and swing stats are pretty much as good as the top players in the world so you would only need minor improvements. I think you also said you had sold your business so if money is not an issue you should make a go of it. Just a few more hours a week on the range and you could do it.

Mac the last couple of years I've put an average of about 30hours a week into my game in one way or another to get to a +handicap. Since we sold one of the business' I'm now down to working about 16 weeks a year and Mrs mav and I have discussed the possibility of me turning pro and trying to play full time.

After Christmas is out of the way I'm looking spending something like 50hours working on golf and have written to the Euro Pro to seek advice on getting sponsors invites to 2 events one local to me. Also look at Jamega tour and Alps tour.

Provided my winter work, and gym work goes to plan if I can remain injury free I'm hoping to play a few events next year that I can work around my remaining business and if it goes well, will look at selling off my clients base and set 2013 as a goal for actually playing properly full time

Mav, thanks for the response. Cant wait to go this weekend, trying not to get too excited so that I don't get carried away trying to reach any sort of values on the monitor.

The spin seems pretty low for the F11? That what you wanted? You're course is links eh? How did you like the RIP shaft? I hit a 8.5 D3 with a Stiff RIP 60 in it last week. Was surprised that I wasnt hitting it super low. Bit higher launching than I thought it would be. It wasnt the X version though.

I was suprised at the low spin on the F11, but way it was explained to me its more to do with my swing path and the way I turn my left hand down at impact. Not quite sure I really got what the fitter was on about but the results were excellent, and when getting a bit more weight on the right side at impact was able to get the RPM upto about 2200 so its very workable.

Rip shaft I was like you surprised at the flight it produced as I wanted a more penetrating flight when I bought it. But the X was that bit better for ball flight still relatively high for what you would expect though!

Got the results I want now and hugely surprised that the Voodoo was so good.

Anyway walking onto first tee now for my charity round see you on the otherside guys

Maverick wrote:Mac the last couple of years I've put an average of about 30hours a week into my game in one way or another

26.5 hours a week on 606v2 doesn't count Mav

Mav

Honestly I was taking the urine but actually glad I asked as that was a very interesting response. I would be keen to hear more about the work you have carried out so far and what you plan to do next. Maybe a new topic is needed where you can provide some more details?

26.5 hours a week on 606v2 doesn't count Mav

If I included the amount of time I spend on here from home, work(when i'm there) and using my mobile for a fix i'd be admitted to a psyche ward for an adictive personality trait.

Mav

Honestly I was taking the urine but actually glad I asked as that was a very interesting response. I would be keen to hear more about the work you have carried out so far and what you plan to do next. Maybe a new topic is needed where you can provide some more details?.

I know yo was Mac, but in jest you asked a question about somthing I have seriously been considering and discussed at length with my good lady especially during my lay off.

What work have I done, you name it, i've addressed it, starting with a complete remodel/rebuild of my swing from the ground up literally; it's completely different to what it was 2 years ago. The biggest aid in doing this was having the software to review indepth the parts of the swing. The before and after is quite drastically different.

Changed my putting stroke back to the way I learnt to as a kid which feels more natural now than what I had been putting like.

I've changed literally everything. One of the biggest impact areas that has help is a lot more time in the gym all aided at building golf specific muscles. which has help not only my health (which aided in a fst recovery from kne surgery) but has increased my hand speed (clubhead speed) exponentially .

Bur as for a new thread specific to this, if you want to create it, i'm happy to answer any questions but I wouldn't create it myself would seem a little vain.