When asked about the particulars of golf equipment these days, I often find it's easier to explain a facet of club design or fitting by drawing comparisons to my own set. So, just for fun, I'll take a few paragraphs and talk about why I play what I play, in the spirit of addressing a few of the fundamental and quirky facets of club equipment decision-making and fitting.
The fairway wood is, for me, the "go for it in 2" club. Sure I'll use it off the tee here and there, and I play a 16.5 degree 4-wood by the way, but more importantly, this club fills a spot in the bag for that all important, "I think I can get there in two and I'm dreaming about a tap in birdie" shot.
With that in mind, I had to consider a few very specific technical aspects in a fairway wood with this playing purpose in mind. First, distance, with a hint of control. The Tour Edge XCG head is packed with technology. 58 degree lie angle and 16.5 degrees of loft with a cup face designed 6-4 titanium face of variable thickness, brazed to a titanium body. A lot of pop for a small 165cc head. The COG is low, but not too far back that the shot will balloon or hook left. It sets up square with a face that's considered low profile (34mm deep) but deep enough to work well out of the rough and off the tee. The bulge and roll is 10" x 10", which means a lot of both bulge and roll to help offset gear effect. The sole has 4-way camber, which allows for smooth gliding through the rough, and a low leading edge at contact from the fairway and off of side hill lies. The leading edge is rounded for that additional help in cutting through thick stuff just off the fairway. The shaft I've chosen is the Aldila DVS 75, stiff flex. It's tip soft with 2.8 degrees of torque, translating into a shaft tip that bends a bit more at impact to add a bit more loft and hence, launch, but does so with out too much twisting around the shaft axis to maintain accuracy (squaring at impact). It's a mid kickpoint at 42.5" in length, D0 swing weight. All said and done, a mid trajectory, with a lot of distance and accuracy. Tough to move the ball, at least for me, but as far as hitting it where it needs to go, and in a hurry, tough to find a better wood...again, for me that is.
Ok, so with distance and control as the primary drivers, here's what's of prime importance in selecting a fairway wood:
Loft
Club Length
COG
Shaft Weight
Total Club Weight
Lie (sort of)
Face Angle
There are other factors but these are primary. I say "sort of" for lie because with clubs less than 20 degrees in loft, lie because significantly less important. Still, depending on swing speed and angle of attack, one must account for a phenomenon known as "shaft droop". It happens most with drivers and woods, where the head, at impact, will literally cause the shaft to droop downward. It's a product of the shaft weight, length, and head weight, along with the swing. The end result is a flattening of the lie angle at approach. Accounting for shaft droop can make all the difference between the accuracy effect of a fairway wood whose lie angle is 60 degrees and one that's 56. It may be minor but something to consider if perhaps the other variables are a fit but you're still having trouble hitting the sweetspot or getting your shots to go straight.
let's talk about the cup face and what that does for performance. You read it in the brochures and know that it's a big selling point. But what is it exactly? In short, the face of the wood or driver is made in one piece, where the ends of the face are wrapped around at a right angle. Flipped over and rested on a table, face down, a cup is formed. The ends are then welded to the body, but note that traditional bead welding and plasma welding cannot be used given the 90-degree angle created by the cup face edges. Brazing techniques are used instead, which is better for maintaining the proper COG location as designed.
A cup face can have variable face thickness, and ultimately will provide for a more forgiving face with mis-hits (less distance loss). The face DOES NOT have a larger sweet spot! No such thing can happen. Physics allow for one spot, the size of a pin point, to represent the line leading to the head's center of gravity (COG). That's it. What a cup face can do is lessen the effect on distance loss for mis-hits. Helpful, yes, but in no way do you maintain the same ball speed as when a shot hits the spot directly in front of the COG.
Now, you may be questioning the need for 6-4 titanium. Quite frankly, I wasn't concerned about the type of Ti in the face for a wood, or if it was Ti at all. But, I will say that if you're looking at a non-Ti fairway wood face, stay away from 17-4 stainless. You get MUCH more ball speed with carpenter steel faces such as 450 and 455. They're thinner, for steel, and stronger at the same time. A lot of pop for fairway woods. Maraging options are out there as the hardest of the steel face options, but don't be misled. Harder doesn't make better with respect to ball speed. As a matter of fact, 6-4 Ti is softer than Maraging Steel AND 450, 455 and 17-4 stainless according to the Rockwell Hardness Scale, but...has more elongation than all of them which in the end, will make all the difference in sound, feel and performance. Note too the size of the head the face is affixed to. I would stay away from fairway wood heads 190cc and bigger. The face gets too deep with the sweetspot starting to creep above the mid point of the golf ball. This means impact below the center of the face off of tight lies, where the ball hits low on the face and below the middle of the roll, where the loft is LESS than stated. You think you have trouble getting a 15 degree 3 wood off the ground? Try it when you hit is low on the face where the roll de-lofts the club to 9 degrees.
The last thing I'll mention is swing weight. A lot of points of view on this, but I've found that the closer the swing weight mirrors the hybrid and irons in the set, the better. It'll help as you transition from irons to woods, and back again, in maintaining a consistent tempo and feel throughout a round.
And the very last thing I'll say is pay attention to shaft weight. In my case, the DVS is 75g, which is 10g heavier than my driver. A nice progression as I go to the hybrid which is 108g. Beware of super light fairway wood shafts. A heavier shaft will do well absorbing the shock of the head hitting turf. It matters.
And the very, very last thing I'll say is beware of the shrinking loft disease with fairway woods. If it has a "3" on the bottom, it may be something LESS than the standard 15 degrees! If you have a swing speed over 115 MPH, give a 13 a try, and I'll look for you at the press conference after you finish your opening round at the Masters in April. If you're a mortal, consider shying away from a 15 degree option too. Ask yourself how often you truly get a 15 degree off the ground and you might find 16 or 17 degrees a better fit. I did and 250 yards off the deck is automatic (ok, 230 is automatic with 250 on those good swinging days). Remember, ball speed and launch angle my friends get the job done.
See you in the fairway, going for it in 2.
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