Resurrecting the 5 Wood

[azgreg]

Many moon ago i was the typical 3, 5, 7 wood guy. I then replaced the 3w and 5w for a 4w so I could ad a fourth wedge. lately I've decided to simplify my long game and dropped the 4w and 7w for a 5w. Now the top of the bag is D, 5w, 4h. 

[onthehunt526]

On 3/18/2022 at 2:49 PM, TourSpoon said:

So the age old search for the perfect club continues. I have been down this road before years ago when I would swap out my 2 iron (845) for the then new hybrid (Nickent, Adams), and even a 5 wood (Titleist PT).  As I matured in golf and equipment became better, I settled on a 2 hybrid and followed it up with a 3 iron and a 3 wedge set-up. As time went on that morphed to a 4 wedge set-up, 2 hybrid and bye to the 3 iron. Even more recently, I started with the utility or driving irons (3, 4) which kicked out the hybrid. The utilities are nice, they are cheat sticks when hit well, but is there maybe something better? Recently, my fitter buddy has been suggesting the 5 wood as the option to look at. He put one together and my marginal swings produced good results, much better than the hybrid and utilities, and great swings were fantastic and happened more often. The flight is great into a par 5, it fills the gap between 3 wood and 4 utility and aside from the high flight has very little downside. Finally, he got me to consider it and I just ordered one from Rock Bottom, and then found my current 3 wood shaft on eBay.  I will report back once I get it built and tested, but it will be swapped for the 3 utility except on windy days where you need to lower flight. The hybrid is out for me, it never was a strength and I doubt it ever will be. 

While talking about 5 woods and their new found popularity on the Tour (not that the Tour should influence amateur play) was the reason why they became popular (again). He deals with many pros on a few different tours (PGA but more so Korn Ferry, McKenzie, and Florida section PGA) and it is something that he says has come around again as more manufacturers are even coming out with 7 woods (remember old school Cally). 

So Trappers, is this a temporary trend? Why has it resurged? What are your thoughts about your set-up? I haven't seen any recent posts dedicated to this so I hope we get some great discussion. 

I don’t care for hybrids. I’ve only ever met one I got along with (my Exotics CBX in 2018). 
 

I didn’t want to go out and spend $270 on a brand new Srixon ZX 7-wood, so I purchased a Taylormade SLDR 5HL wood at 21°. I tuned the loft down to 20° (so it sets up a little open which I like). From 190-220 I’m money with it.

Like my RTX Zipcore 62° wedge, you can pry it out of my cold dead hands.

[pganapathy]

I have a 3 and 5 wood which I never seem to play these days.  I have pulled the 3, 4 and 5 irons out of my bag because I am not as consistent hitting them as I used to be.  I then have a 4 and 2 hybrid between the 6 iron and Driver.  I only play the 2 hybrid off the tee or extremely good lies.  My go-to club is the 4 hybrid which I can hit 200 yards almost every time from most lies.  For me, "loft is your friend".  Which probably explains why the 5 and 7 wood are making a comeback.  It also probably helps that modern woods get the ball airborne more easily and shaped thanks to shiftable weights 

[TourSpoon]

So for an update, I still love the 5W. It has reduced my par 5 average down to 5.1 from a 5.4. Yesterday, I birdied 2/3 par 5s by hitting 5 wood to front right - set up an easy pitch up/down for birdie and then a 4 iron to just off the green and chip up/down for birdie. I have the 3w which I only hit off the tee (or uphill lie off the turf) and the 5w off the fairway or rough. It has been a game changer for sure! 

[WUTiger]

During the persimmon era I played a 3W + 4W... many amateurs did, except for those single 'cappers who, a la Jack Nicklaus, sported a 1 iron in the bag, and a 3W only.

In 1994, I entered the new era of metal wood w/graphite shaft for long clubs. At the time, the dominant metal wood standard was 3W + 5W. The 5W had a bit more loft than a 4W, and better covered the 3W to 3i gap, as many golfers - and manufacturers - dropped the 2i. For one thing, it allowed room for a LW in the bag (pre GW era).

From 1994 to 2010 I was happy with different iterations of 3W + 5W for the most part. Then, one day I realized I just couldn't launch a 3W very well any more. So in 2011, I switched to TM RBZ 3HL + 5HL, the fairways of too light a shaft. (In other kingdoms, they were called 4W + 7W). Next season I switched to a Tour Edge 4W + 7W, and have played them since (except for a couple of model changes).

If you can hit a 3W, a 5W is often a good choice: 3W + 5W gapping works well in many cases.

As for hybrids vs. fairways, part of the story is preference. And, it's a question of yardage match-up. Depending on model mix, the 3H and 5W may duplicate distance. In my case, the 3H and 7W often seems to duplicate distance.

Among Ping players, single fairway metal players often take the 17.5* 5W, and down-loft it to 16.5* for more of a 4W. And, the down-loft opens the face slightly. This is similar to what oth did with the 5HL...

On 4/28/2022 at 10:51 PM, onthehunt526 said:

I purchased a Taylormade SLDR 5HL wood at 21°. I tuned the loft down to 20° (so it sets up a little open which I like).