Many touring professionals and better amateurs have long carried a Titleist fairway wood. The Titleist PT (Pro Trajectory) 970 was highly regarded as one of the best fairway woods ever made. In fact, until Tiger Woods recently put the Nike T-60 fairway wood in his bag, he "had been using a modified version of the steel-shafted, small-headed Titleist PT 970 3-wood for several years."

Titleist attempted to follow up on the success of the PT with the 980F. The 980F held true to Titleist's heralded design theme - pear-shaped woods that inspire silent confidence at address. Unfortunately, the 980F failed when it came to more than looks and many pros kept the PT in their bag. The 980 - a solid club in its own right - simply could not overcome its predecessor.

Now we have Titleist's next offering, the 904F fairway woods. The 904F builds on the same traditional look while offering updated technology and a more refined function. This has resulted in superb handling and playability.

If you're not a fan of long reviews, I'll let you stop reading now: the Titleist 904F is the best fairway wood Titleist has ever made and is perhaps the best available from any manufacturer. If you haven't tried a 904F, you're doing your game - and your scorecard - a disservice.

New Technology
The 904F is built with steel, as most fairway woods (metals) are these days. Fairway metals, unlike their 400+ cc big brothers the drivers, don't need to conserve nearly as weight for later adjustments, and their smaller heads allow for less expensive manufacturing techniques and less exotic materials. For fairway woods, steel is still "in."

The 904F is built from 355 Carpenter steel. A 275 Carpenter steel face insert provides the properties Titleist desires in a fairway metal (namely, a hotter, forgiving face with the proper acoustics). More on Carpenter Steel is can be found in this PDF.

The slightly larger head in the 904F has enough room for a tungsten sole weight and increased heel-toe weighting inside the cavity of the club. These enhancements moved center of gravity towards the center of the club, resulting in a livelier ball speed on well-struck shots, and a bit lower and towards the face, resulting in higher shots with less spin. The result: the 904F launches a degree higher and with about 400 RPM less spin than the 980F that preceded it, allowing for a high launch with a flat trajectory. Paired with the proper Pro V1 model for a player's swing speed, the 904F is one long fairway wood.

The 904F (right) has a flatter sole, a raised, silver crown marking, and white scorelines.

Looks and Setup
The 904F offers a dramatic change in performance without a substantial shift in esthetics. I've always been a fan of the pear-shaped wood/metal profile, from drivers right on through to my fairway woods, and the 904F continues Titleist's tradition of solid-performing pear-shaped woods.

From the top, the 904F looks almost exactly like the 980F except for the triangular alignment aid. The typical Titleist triangle is painted silver and raised slightly in this year's model and the change, though subtle, inspires confidence and aids alignment. The sole loses the two black indentations on each side side and gains a tungsten sole plug. The face is slightly deeper and the sole far flatter, which aids in getting the ball into the air from the fairway.

The scoring lines have been painted white instead of black, which marginally increases their visibility. Combined with the crown triangle and the slightly modified center markings on the face, the 904F does all it can to help you set up to the sweet spot.

Sound and Feel
Studies have shown that auditory response is strongly tied to a player's sense of "feel," and the 904F satisfies both the auditory and the tactile requirements. The 980F had a somewhat higher-pitched sound than the 904F, which I find to be more "belly flop into a pool" than "wind chime on a breezy day." In other words, the 904F produces a pleasant and very solid "smack" sound that matches the club's hot face, solid construction, and forgiveness.

Mis-hits are well forgiven, but enough feel is relayed to the shaft and ultimately the player's hands to let him know exactly where the shot was struck on the clubface. The club reacts well to mis-hits, sending the ball a good distance and only marginally offline, and the 904F sets up nicely to shots played off the tee or the fairway. This is a workable fairway wood - high, low, left, and right - so better players are welcomed, but shots don't get away from you, easing the pain for higher handicappers.

The 904F (left) lost the black indentations, opting instead for internal weighting and a tungsten sole weight.

Performance
I've played the 980F for years, and it's served me well. To say that I was eager to get my hands on a 904F is a bit of an understatement. My 980 had a True Temper Dyanamic Gold S300 shaft - I'd always felt that a steel shaft really let me go after my fairway woods without losing them, and previous tests with the 980F bore that out.

Things changed with the 904F, however. The deeper, flatter sole and shifted center of gravity resulted in a club that took a graphite shaft without sacrificing playability at any swing speed. No club is duck-hook proof, but the 904F comes close.

My 980F was adequate from the fairway, but the 904F is tremendous. What's more, I can hit any shot imaginable - high cuts, low stingers, draws, fades, slices. The 904F never let a shot get away from me, and that's particularly important when you're going for a long par five in two. The ball comes off the clubface on a trajectory that simply bores through any wind, resulting in minimal distance loss into headwinds and minimal deflection in a sideways breeze.

Perhaps most impressively, the 904F is miles longer than my 980F. I hit 20 balls with a DG S300-shafted 904F and compared them to 20 hit with my 980F. All but two of the balls struck with the 904F were further than even the best of my 980F shots, and the average increase in distance was 16 yards. I routinely hit the graphite-shafted (YS-6+ FW) 904F instead of my driver for the added control, and I never feel as though I'm giving up much distance. For a 15° 3-wood, the 904F is simply a bomber.

Extras and Options
The 904F comes with a Titleist 2005-themed headcover. It's slightly larger than 2004's and features the silver theme Titleist introduced earlier this year with the 503.H headcover. It's attractive, stylish, and matches the other headcovers in my bag.

The 904F is available with three stock shafts: the True Temper Dynamic Gold in Steel and two graphite models, the Titleist Speeder Fairway by Fujikura and the YS-6 Fairway by Graphite Design. Several custom shafts are also available. It's shipping now for lefties and righties in several lofts: 13°, 15°, 17°, 19°, and 22°. Consider the 22° model a 7-wood.

The 904F MSRPs at $200 in steel and $290 for graphite, though you'll be able to find them for quite a bit less. I picked up a 904F with a steel shaft for my tests for $149.

Conclusion
The hype is real, and the 904F is arguably the best fairway wood on the market. These clubs are long. They sound great. They look great. You can hit them from the fairway or tee with impunity. They're workable yet forgiving.

I'll quote myself earlier in the review: If you haven't tried a 904F, you're doing your game - and your scorecard - a disservice.

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