Loft for Fairway Wood

Can some kind soul explain how the loft for fairway wood differ?

I understand for Driver the faster a person swing , the lower the loft he shd take am i right ?

How about Fairway wood? How does a person determine which loft is needed for himself ?

Paiseh I am a noob so asking this question now

Personally, I think it is down to a matter of preference and distance gap between clubs

e.g. not everyone is comfortable playing a 13/13.5* tour spoon. For many, a 15* is easier to hit. Also, there are many people who play a 10.5* driver, and having a gap that goes from 10.5* to 13.5* might be a little pointless, esp if the distance gap is only between 280 yds and 240 yds. In my case, I play an 8.5* driver, and choose between a 13* tour spoon and a 15* 3w depending on the course I play. If I expect to be playing a course that has long and wide fairways, I will probably use the 13* tour spoon. If the course does not require me to play a long 2nd shot and I can hit the par 5s in 3 using a driver, 3i and 8i, then I usually just bring the 15* as a just-in-case.

Now, when I was starting out, I used to carry 3 woods - a driver, a 15* and a 19* fairway wood, and complement that with 4 to PW (7 irons), 3 wedges (52/56/60) and a putter. There have also been times where I would only play 5 to PW and use a 21* hybrid in place of a 4i.

One way to see what you need is to get yourself set up on a launch monitor - hit 20 balls with each club, measure the yardage with each club. For each club, discard the top and bottom 5 yardages, and average out the remaining 10. This gives you your average yardage for that club. Do this for each of your clubs from driver to 60* wedge, and from there, you can see where you have a distance gap.

Most people are not able to hit their 3i as far as a hybrid of the same loft (19* ?), hence swap out their 3i for a hybrid, but that also means that they end up with a larger gap between their 3i hybrid and their 4i.

There is no hard and fast rule, so the best way is to find out your yardages on the launch monitor

Thanks Ghoonk it has been useful !

Ghook, do your 13* carry longer than your 15*? I find that 13* carry less but roll more than a 15*.

For Consistency, Confidence and Accuracy, the 4 to 5 wood is a better choice for most golfers. those who are hitting their 7 iron in the 125 meter range should consider leaving their 13 to 15 degrees fairway wood out of the bag as they will probably get about the same distance with less accuracy then their 4 or 5 woods.

i know we are talking about fairway wood. Now if you have 190 metres to the green with water and bunker in play, what do you pull out...

1. a 3 wood with less 20% chance of making the green or

2. a 9 iron and a sand wedge that has 80% chance of making the green in 2.

the only person who remember how you arrive is yourself, your flight mates only remember your score...and remember why are you left with 190 meters to the green in the first place. if you can't drive consistently with a tee up wood, what are you chance of hitting it off the fairway? of course there are exceptions and my opinion is only generalised to give golfers a better understanding of course management.

DGman

And that is why I carry only one fairway wood (specifically Steelhead III , 4+ wood) .....just to balance my bag so as to be more stable when its on the buggy

Duval_S wrote:

And that is why I carry only one fairway wood (specifically Steelhead III , 4+ wood) .....just to balance my bag so as to be more stable when its on the buggy

Now we can both share the same title "season beginner" as I have a similar Steelhead Plus 2 no. 4. Just love that wood. Its so easy to hit it off the deck.

jimmychoo wrote:

Ghook, do your 13* carry longer than your 15*? I find that 13* carry less but roll more than a 15*.

My 13* gives me around 245 yds, while the 15* does around 225 yds. Good point about carry - since I typically play on links-type courses, roll hasn't been a problem for me

DGman wrote:

For Consistency, Confidence and Accuracy, the 4 to 5 wood is a better choice for most golfers. those who are hitting their 7 iron in the 125 meter range should consider leaving their 13 to 15 degrees fairway wood out of the bag as they will probably get about the same distance with less accuracy then their 4 or 5 woods.

i know we are talking about fairway wood. Now if you have 190 metres to the green with water and bunker in play, what do you pull out...

1. a 3 wood with less 20% chance of making the green or

2. a 9 iron and a sand wedge that has 80% chance of making the green in 2.

the only person who remember how you arrive is yourself, your flight mates only remember your score...and remember why are you left with 190 meters to the green in the first place. if you can't drive consistently with a tee up wood, what are you chance of hitting it off the fairway? of course there are exceptions and my opinion is only generalised to give golfers a better understanding of course management.

DGman

WTB 4 wood!

ghoonk wrote:

Personally, I think it is down to a matter of preference and distance gap between clubs

e.g. not everyone is comfortable playing a 13/13.5* tour spoon. For many, a 15* is easier to hit. Also, there are many people who play a 10.5* driver, and having a gap that goes from 10.5* to 13.5* might be a little pointless, esp if the distance gap is only between 280 yds and 240 yds. In my case, I play an 8.5* driver, and choose between a 13* tour spoon and a 15* 3w depending on the course I play. If I expect to be playing a course that has long and wide fairways, I will probably use the 13* tour spoon. If the course does not require me to play a long 2nd shot and I can hit the par 5s in 3 using a driver, 3i and 8i, then I usually just bring the 15* as a just-in-case.

Now, when I was starting out, I used to carry 3 woods - a driver, a 15* and a 19* fairway wood, and complement that with 4 to PW (7 irons), 3 wedges (52/56/60) and a putter. There have also been times where I would only play 5 to PW and use a 21* hybrid in place of a 4i.

One way to see what you need is to get yourself set up on a launch monitor - hit 20 balls with each club, measure the yardage with each club. For each club, discard the top and bottom 5 yardages, and average out the remaining 10. This gives you your average yardage for that club. Do this for each of your clubs from driver to 60* wedge, and from there, you can see where you have a distance gap.

Most people are not able to hit their 3i as far as a hybrid of the same loft (19* ?), hence swap out their 3i for a hybrid, but that also means that they end up with a larger gap between their 3i hybrid and their 4i.

There is no hard and fast rule, so the best way is to find out your yardages on the launch monitor

very insightful pts... actually, w.r.t. the 4i vs 3i hybrid gap, i use a 4i hybrid to replace the 3iron instead as it's been proven (both on golf mags and my use) that amatuers hit their hybrids significantly further than the corresponding iron.

just my 2 cents worth...