3 wood query

[Franco]

I have been playing golf for just a few months and the club with which I have least success, is my 3 wood. Yesterday, I noticed that the club face is slightly convex, rather than flat like my driver and hybrids. Is this the correct shape for 3 wood?

 

[duncan mackie]

I have been playing golf for just a few months and the club with which I have least success, is my 3 wood. Yesterday, I noticed that the club face is slightly convex, rather than flat like my driver and hybrids. Is this the correct shape for 3 wood?

the faces of most woods are convex - it's your driver that's unusual!

you may find both flat and convex in hybrids because of the different weighting; mostly pretty flat though. Some are flat in the horizonal plane and convex in the vertical.

 

[Maninblack4612]

The driver is also slightly convex. The reason is that if, say, you hit a shot out of the heel it will have slice spin on it. The convex nature of the face starts the ball out slightly to the left t​​o help compensate for the slice, and vice versa with a toe hit. Not completely effective, but it helps. The 3 wood is difficult to hit off the fairway because it's longer than the others & requires quite a precise strike. Unlike the driver you're not hitting the 3 wood off a tee, giving you a much larger margin of error. Generally, the longer the club, the harder it is to hit.

 

[Franco]

Thank you for your clear explanations. I haven't mastered the 3 wood off the tee yet, as I usually use my driver and after mostly failed hits on the fairway, I was thinking about taking it out of the bag.

 

[vkurup]

1) what make & model of 3W are you using and what kind of shaft?
2) Did you have any lessons
3) What is your ball position for the 3W

I have had a love-hate relationship with my 3W. Been playing for 4 years. When I started off, i was good with my Taylormade Burner Superfast with a regular shaft. As my game improved (atleast in my view), I realised it was getting more difficult for me to hit the 3W. This is partly due to the really whippy shaft in the TM. So right now going thru a change.
(assuming they are decent sticks) If you can hit the driver, you will be fine with the 3W off the tee ... Hitting off the fairway is a completely different ball game. I cant hit it at all, happier to hit my hybrid and then chip/pitch in..

 

[Hacker Khan]

Thank you for your clear explanations. I haven't mastered the 3 wood off the tee yet, as I usually use my driver and after mostly failed hits on the fairway, I was thinking about taking it out of the bag.

3 woods off the fairway are very difficult shots if you have been playing for only a few months (or even several years such as I have). I never try hitting a 3 wood off the fairway now, a 19.5 degree Wilson fybrid is as low as I dare go so I have confidence I will connect with the ball sweetly, as whilst I may get 1 in 4 or 5 sweet off the fairway with a 3 wood, the majority of the time it won't happen.

Having said that I think it's still worth keeping in the bag if you can master the drive with it. As there is not a huge amount of difference in the distance between a 3 wood and driver plus a 3 wood is technically will be easier to control. Also don't feel you should be hitting a driver off the tee just because others do it, use whatever you can to get it in play.