Fairway Woods Instead of Irons for Seniors

[Big Lex]

Not for me...I don't like the look and feel of hitting high lofted wood clubs. I've tried them and I think I make better contact with irons, even longer irons like a 4. I carry a hybrid and a Mizuno Fli Hi 4 iron, which is I gues a hybrid, but very iron-like. 

 

[WUTiger]

Some 18 months ago I had a different bag mix: Only 3 wedges, 4W + 7W, 4H and 4i (refit with hybrid shaft, used as driving iron).

Now I have current bag mix.

I am in Season 12 of 4W + 7W. Started having trouble launching 3W, and shift really helped. The 7W was especially useful.

With MAX irons the 5i flies a club longer longer than with old set, and the 4H fills between 7W and 5i. Also, I've learned to hit stinger with 4H.

I'm just speaking for me. For many, the question is high-loft fairways or hybrids. I can hit fairways or hybrids OK as long as I swing decently. I can still handle a 5i, especially since I've gone to graphite shafts. Those really higher lofted fairways and hybrids, well, just go higher.

Big secret on fairways: Don't overswing on takeaway. They work better when golfer stays on balance.

Five years ago I got a brace of used Callaway Hawkeye titanium-head fairway woods (made with tungsten sole weight). Got 3-5-7-9, and found a 2W "Deuce" at a neighboring store. // Have tried out the 9W a couple of times. Would be OK for distance, unless the day was windy.

 

[chop]

On 10/7/2022 at 6:37 PM, mohearn said:

You're playing 15 year old FWs? More power to you!   I had a 7 FW TM SLDR-S with a R shaft, liked it, but seemed to overlap with other clubs and I gave it away. I sorta regret it, but then again I always felt that the dispersion was bigger then an equivalent iron.  Funny as I type this I'm thinking I need another one!

I agree, dispersion is wider with most players with woods. In my situation I am a somewhat short hitter hitting my 4 iron 160. So my 9 wood goes 160, 7 wood 170, 5w 180, 4w 190-210. Having around an 85-90 swing speed with Mitsubishi Diamana shafts in S flex keeps my shots tighter than the average player with hdcp the same as mine. I really like the taller faced, more narrow face of the Cobra SZ. They are very accurate.

[phan52]

I am a senior player and my longest iron was a 6 until recently. I had a 4 and 5 Titleist hybrid and a 3 and 5 Titleist wood. I need the longer clubs due to my general lack of length off the tee and hit them often. But I recently swapped out the 5 hybrid for a 5 iron because it turns out I needed it for low punch shots. The 6 would get too high and the hybrids are not good for low punch shots. It was a good move scoring wise. And it turns out that I don't hit a bad full shot 5 iron. 😎

Edited October 17, 2022 by phan52

[Esox]

63 yr a old....I was playing a 9 and 7 wood last weekend. On a par 5 that started poorly my 189 yard 9 wood approach stopped 3' from its pitch mark, well within 10" from the pin.  Shot of the round. Lovey 7 &9 woods.

Edited October 18, 2022 by Esox

[David L Yskes]

I as of this weekend i ditched all of my 3 woods forever!!!!!!      

I picked up a 3 hybrid ( cleveland hybrid xl launcher ) a couple weeks ago and wow it's so easy to hit, 

this past weekend i picked up a 4 hybrid ( cleveland hybrid xl launcher ) and it's like the 3 hybrid it's easy to hit..  

why i've been so stubborn all these years is beyond me.    I can hit these off the deck easier than a 3 or 5 wood and they go just as far, and without the extreme misses.   

 

[mohearn]

20 minutes ago, David L Yskes said:

why i've been so stubborn all these years is beyond me.    I can hit these off the deck easier than a 3 or 5 wood and they go just as far, and without the extreme misses.   

Pleased for your success. Puzzles me though, the different choices people make.  Sometimes I feel like there must be one correct answer, and everything else is just clubmakers trying to sell us more clubs.  Golf is a funny game sometimes.

[Bob M]

On 8/12/2022 at 8:36 AM, Bob M said:

@michawelcome to TST. I turned 66 this year and use 5w, 9w, 6H and 7H which cover 2i, 4i, 5i and 6i spots, respectively. My irons are Ping G710s, the first one of which is a 7i. 

I have a slow swing speed and find that I am much more consistent with lofted fairway woods and hybrids than with their counterpart irons. 

By way of update, after reviewing each club pretty much shot by shot for 2022 (ShotScope data) I am quickly coming to the conclusion that I am more consistent with fairway woods than with hybrids, which I also tend to hit too low.  It is likely that the top end of my 2023 bag (after driver) will be made up of fairway woods, including a 3HL (16.5* so more like a 4W), Heavenwood (basically a 7W with 20* loft and 4W length), 9W, and 11W. At this point, I am viewing the 3HL as an alternate to my Driver in certain situations off the tee, rather than as a fairway club. The 9W and 11W great for approach shots as I hit them high and they stop quickly on the green, more so than the equivalent hybrids. 

Edited December 14, 2022 by Bob M
clarity

[onthehunt526]

I’m not a senior and I carry 3w, 7w and am considering a 9w AND 11w.

I don’t get along with hybrids, even the pro models. I haven’t found an adjustable hybrid that would fit my gaps well. However the fairway woods would in preliminary tests. The 9 and 11 wood would be shorter than standard length but longer than a hybrid length.

I am able to hit 3, 4, and 5 iron, but my yardage gaps, are getting to be closer together so it’s time to make a change. Which was why I added the 5HL “7-wood” earlier this year to replace the 3-iron. My longest iron, in the spring will likely be a 6-iron, or a 5 driving iron. It depends I may start only carrying 6 or 7 clubs depending on how much I decide to walk.

[ChetlovesMer]

21 hours ago, Bob M said:

By way of update, after reviewing each club pretty much shot by shot for 2022 (ShotScope data) I am quickly coming to the conclusion that I am more consistent with fairway woods than with hybrids, 

I'm curious how you got there.

Not doubting you at all. Just curious because I use ShotScope too. Was the distance control better, the accuracy, did it fill the gaps better? What part of the ShotScope data brought you to this conclusion? Did you look at proximity by club? Personally, I'd like to have Strokes Gained by club as a stat, but I don't think that's a thing... Somebody correct me if I'm wrong. 

[Bob M]

2 hours ago, ChetlovesMer said:

I'm curious how you got there.

Not doubting you at all. Just curious because I use ShotScope too. Was the distance control better, the accuracy, did it fill the gaps better? What part of the ShotScope data brought you to this conclusion? Did you look at proximity by club? Personally, I'd like to have Strokes Gained by club as a stat, but I don't think that's a thing... Somebody correct me if I'm wrong. 

 

Good question. ShotScope performance by "Club" showed that I hit my 11W and 6H the same distance and my 7i and 7H more or less the same distance (Average and PAverage), I went through each shot for each club for the year logging the distance and spot checking direction. What I learned, among other things, is that longitudinal distance control on full shots (I used the 7i for punch outs on several occasions which I excluded) was better with 11W and 7i than with the 6H and 7H respectively. Please note that I did not calculate the standard deviations, but eyeballed the data. 

Also, the 11W stops quicker on the green than the 6H because I hit it much higher (on course experience, rather than ShotScope).  Frankly, I don't hit either hybrid particularly high and they tend to run. 

I plan to A/B these clubs on Trackman some time in the next few weeks as an additional data point. I have only hit the 7i previously on Trackman, which showed a reasonably tight dispersion in both directions of about 20 yds by 20yds. 

I did look a proximity by club and the hybrids were both actually a bit better, however I'm not sure its comparing apples to apples and need to dig a bit deeper. 

I agree that strokes gained by club would be really interesting to know. 

[Bob M]

12 hours ago, ChetlovesMer said:

Personally, I'd like to have Strokes Gained by club as a stat, but I don't think that's a thing... Somebody correct me if I'm wrong. 

Interestingly, yesterday ShotScope released a new iteration which kind of does this, giving club by club shots gained on a hole by hole basis.

[onthehunt526]

12 hours ago, Bob M said:

Good question. ShotScope performance by "Club" showed that I hit my 11W and 6H the same distance and my 7i and 7H more or less the same distance (Average and PAverage), I went through each shot for each club for the year logging the distance and spot checking direction. What I learned, among other things, is that longitudinal distance control on full shots (I used the 7i for punch outs on several occasions which I excluded) was better with 11W and 7i than with the 6H and 7H respectively. Please note that I did not calculate the standard deviations, but eyeballed the data. 

Also, the 11W stops quicker on the green than the 6H because I hit it much higher (on course experience, rather than ShotScope).  Frankly, I don't hit either hybrid particularly high and they tend to run. 

I plan to A/B these clubs on Trackman some time in the next few weeks as an additional data point. I have only hit the 7i previously on Trackman, which showed a reasonably tight dispersion in both directions of about 20 yds by 20yds. 

I did look a proximity by club and the hybrids were both actually a bit better, however I'm not sure its comparing apples to apples and need to dig a bit deeper. 

I agree that strokes gained by club would be really interesting to know. 

I’d be interested to know what the lofts of your 7i, 7H, 6H and 11W are. Is your 11W 25°? 
 

I’m looking at 9 and/or 11 wood for 180-200 yards instead of 4 and 5 iron. Like I said I’m not really a fan of hybrids.

What sort of equivalent iron are you using the 11W for? In my experience 11-wood would be similar carry to a 5-iron but would stop quicker.

[Bob M]

Just now, onthehunt526 said:

I’d be interested to know what the lofts of your 7i, 7H, 6H and 11W are. Is your 11W 25°? 
 

I’m looking at 9 and/or 11 wood for 180-200 yards instead of 4 and 5 iron. Like I said I’m not really a fan of hybrids.

What sort of equivalent iron are you using the 11W for? In my experience 11-wood would be similar carry to a 5-iron but would stop quicker.

Lofts are as follows:

7i  - 29.5*

7H - 30*

6H - 27*

11W - 25*

Typically the 11W is considered a 5i replacement, 9W a 4i replacement, etc., which matches my experience. I have also found that the 11W is great out of the rough. 

[onthehunt526]

3 hours ago, Bob M said:

Lofts are as follows:

7i  - 29.5*

7H - 30*

6H - 27*

11W - 25*

Typically the 11W is considered a 5i replacement, 9W a 4i replacement, etc., which matches my experience. I have also found that the 11W is great out of the rough. 

Is the dispersion tighter with the iron over the wood? Does it really feel like cheating?

I know Callaway made a 13 wood back in the day… Thomas makes a SW replacement wood. I’ll probably go something like D, 3w, 7w, 9w, 11w or 5UI, 6i- Down to 62°, Putter, I’m not old or anything, I can still hit a 3i, or 2UI off the ground. I’m trying to make that part of the bag easier to hit. Though I hit more wedges than anything into Greens for GIR and nGIR. 
 

Just knowing when I have like 180-195 yards on a par-3 or I need to lay up on a short par-4, something I feel confident with will make it easier.
 

[Bob M]

I'll know more after I hit Trackman (hopefully next week) particularly about the 11W, however in a 3/1/22 Trackman session, dispersion (total yardage, rather than carry) for my 7-iron was a tilted oval about 30 yards wide and 20 yards deep versus that for my 9W which a less tilted oval of about 40 yards wide and 20 yards deep.  First of all, as a high capper, inconsistent swings are what I do really well () but it strikes me that most of the dispersion difference between the two relates to the average distance of the 9W being 25 yards longer than that of the 7i. 

Because I ended the 2022 season striking the ball better than I started it, I'll be interested to see what Trackman shows this time. 

6 hours ago, onthehunt526 said:

Does it really feel like cheating?

Not for me. I started playing golf again when I retired in 2019 after a hiatus of about 10-years. Between not playing and aging, I probably lost 10+ mph in driver club head speed and as much as 40 yards in distance. In many ways it has felt like starting over. 

Edited December 16, 2022 by Bob M

[Loose Cannon]

An odd duck, but no fairway woods in the bag.  When either set of my Pings are in the bag, I carry 3-SW.  (Eye 2 SST or Eye 2+ BeCu) When bagging the T300's, 4-GW, SW.  Frustrated over this past year with a plethora of fairways.  Went to two Callaway Super Hybrids, 3h and 4h.  So far, they've been stellar!!  (Oh. I'm 76.)  

[Sandhills Golfer]

Try a Cleveland XL Halo hy-wood. Great substitute for the 5 wood.