fairway woods, do high handicappers benefit.

My 3 wood is my favourite club I'd say, feel very confident off the tee or deck with it, I think there's a big trust issue for people and fairway woods, they need time to feel comfortable with them to be successful, not everyone, but most certainly me, I tried a Cleveland Classic and could control it at all it was a hook machine on the good days and Lord knows what on the bad ones!
 
I posted recently on the "What have you bought" thread about a charity shop 5 wood I picked up for £2.
I'm a long time hacker but it's transformed my game.
I duff the odd shot but when I connect it really flies. It's actually 21 degrees and I've seen some with this loft described as 7 woods.
I'm wondering now if I should try something around 17/18/19 degrees to see if that gives me a little more length but I don't want to jinx what's working pretty good at the moment.
I carded my best ever score yesterday on a shortish 67 par course I like. Which included my first ever par 4 birdie (foreshortened by tees placed forward)
I've also been helped by a lob wedge I bought a couple of days ago which has stopped the thins I was getting using my sand wedge.
 
Still can't hit a 3 wood to save my life.

Was going to try a 4 wood but I think its just the head shape that doesn't inspire me with any confidence. Have a ping g20 hybrid 20* which is great and is an iron like head shape so may try find a 2 hybrid and see how that goes.
 
Given up on 3 woods.

Too inconsistent and I can't be bothered practising. At my course wouldn't really use it much anyway, off the tee either iron short of bunkers or driver launched over them.

Recent convert to a 5 wood as can launch it miles in the air, much prefer it to hybrids.

Got a 2 iron aswell so plenty enough at the top end of the bag
 
It takes some practice to learn the correct technique but I do think higher handicappers can use them and that for many, a five wood or even a three wood off the tee would actually be more friendly and easier to hit. I have no qualms hitting a five wood on very tight driving holes or if I'm struggling off the tee
 
shewy said:
Just wondering as I see many higher handicappers struggle with them, driver off the tee, they kind of get away with it but put a smaller headed 3 wood in their hands and they mess it up, off the deck it's just a card wrecker, I wonder if they would be better going driver then say 19 degree hybrid.
Just an observation from the range yesterday.
Click to expand...

Hang on a minute ...

What is it the High Handicappers see when they're watching you :confused:
 
I struggle with a three wood off the deck, because I no longer carry a 3 iron( which I miss) iv been considering ditching the 15 degree 3 wood and adding a 17 hybrid and then changing the 19 hybrid I have for a 21. Mainly down to the fact that I find the 3 wood quite a high tariff shot, my success rate with it is quite poor tbh. In saying that my old man, who's 70 hits 3 woods all the time no problem.
 
I find the high handicappers play much better with 3 or 5 than driver off the tee and do ok on the deck.
I have been all the way from 28 to 10 and always looked forward to hitting my wood and had to use it a lot from the fw as I was always so short from the tee.
Now I use it about 3 times a round unless its gale force out there. Got 2 hybrids in the bag also.
 
I've always found that I don't have the ball striking ability or swing speed to make a 3 wood anything like worth taking from a fairway. Even a 5 is touch and go.

A 7 wood on the other hand is a thing of beauty. Shorter shaft and more loft. Decent enough distance and some useable height to get onto greens (including long par 3s).

I'm also in the sceptical about high 'cappers camp. If I were to make a suggestion it would be to start with a 7, and if that works progress down to a 5, then 3.

It sometimes seems to me that there are a lot of 20+ players whose best two clubs are the 3 wood and the lob wedge....
 
Spraying it about and struggling from high handicappers isn't a unique feature of a 3 wood - it happens with all the clubs. I don't think it is inherently worse, although the added distance can make it look worse. A short 5 iron often has a less bad outcome than a 3 wood.
 
To be honest unless the rewards outweighed the risks, I wouldn't consider hitting a three wood off the fairway. Going into a long par four or hitting a par five, I'd rather use my shots and play a more conservative approach and certainly on the par five make sure I made the par first rather than taking the glory shot on and ending up with bogey or worse
 
I think high handicappers reach for it without really thinking when on the fairway. I've seen it a million times when they are that far from the green even their Sunday best 3w is not going to get within 50 yards. But they hit it anyway, stick it in the crap, take a drop, chip it out and stick it on for 5. Something like a 4h and a wedge would be on in 3.

Loft is is your friend and hitting a 5w that flies properly will go further than a 3w for most.
 
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