5 Wood or Hybrid

[micha]

i only carry a 7 wood as my longest fairway wood 1 am 72 years old. should i use a 5 wood or a 3 hybrid? looking for your ideas.

[iacas]

Tough to say without knowing your gapping, your swing speed… etc.

Have you done a fitting recently?

[Typhoon92]

Do you favor one over the other?  Generally, a hybrid will fly lower and be more workable.  A fairway wood will fly higher and straighter.

[saevel25]

12 hours ago, micha said:

i only carry a 7 wood as my longest fairway wood 1 am 72 years old. should i use a 5 wood or a 3 hybrid? looking for your ideas.

100% go get fitted. If your ball speed and spin is too low, you will need clubs to compensate for you. 

Most set ups are like Driver, 3-wood, 5-wood, irons, wedges or Driver, 3-wood, hybrid, irons, wedges. For people who struggle with distance, I would say something like Driver, 3-wood, 5-wood, 7-wood or hybrid, hybrid, irons, wedges are good because woods and hybrids really help get good gaps. I think people with higher swing speeds like long irons more. That could be more personal preference. 

I like woods and hybrids over long irons. I have never been a good long iron player. I have been thinking of revamping my bag to be more like... Driver, 3-wood, 5-wood, 7-wood (maybe hybrid) and make 5 iron my longest iron. It has been the longest iron I hit the most consistent. When I was using Game Golf years ago, my 4 iron average distance was about my 5 iron distance because of all the mishits. 

There is that as well, just tracking which clubs you like to use. My dad has like 2 fairway woods and 2 hybrids. They are designed to help get the ball in the air and land softly. 

 

[WUTiger]

On 5/7/2025 at 9:10 PM, micha said:

i only carry a 7 wood as my longest fairway wood 1 am 72 years old. should i use a 5 wood or a 3 hybrid? looking for your ideas.

Like others have said, get fitted.

Since 2011, I have played some combination of 4W + 7W. I had a Cobra 3H and 4H a couple of years back, and would swap out the 7W for a 3H in cold months (keep out of cold wind, and rough thinner for wayward drives.)

The 7W matched up with yardage often with 3H; the current 4H goes almost as long as 7W, but has a lower trajectory. 4H also bumped out 4i in last bag redo; I learned to hit stinger with 4H so that's my driving iron on tight holes with shallow landing area.

Again, a side-by-side test will tell you which way to go. If 5W or 3H is meh, keep the 7W.

Also, are you looking to replace the 7W with a 5W or 3H, or add a second bridge club (5W or 3H) to your bag?