4-Wood users????

[Dub]

In the process of replacing my woods at the moment.
My sig is updated below.

One thing that I'm considering is going with the G10 3 & 5 woods and pulling my lob wedge (club has been driving me crazy lately).

The other plan that I'm considering is to simply keep the wedge and replace my 3-Wood with a G10 4-wood. It is the same head size and shaft length as the 3 but has 1.5 degrees more loft the the 3wood (15.5). I'm a fairly low ball hitter so the added loft would be a good thing.

Going with the 4 wood as my only fairway wood would allow me to keep the lob wedge in the bag and hopefully get back to the way I used to hit hit.

Any thoughts on this strategy???

Would I be giving up too much yardage with the 4-wood vs 3-wood?

[pjsnyc]

Interesting - I've been thinking of doing something similar: Basically getting rid of my current driver and woods and replacing them with a lower lofted driver (maybe around 9 degrees...maybe less?), a 2 wood (similar to what mickelson used at the US Open), and a 4 wood. Just posting here to get updates and replies as they come.

[alf174]

I have a 4 wood (16.5 Adams BTY) and will frequently swap out my 3 or 5 with it depending on the course or how well I'm playing.

[Chris5573]

I carry a 4 wood instead of a 3 and 5 wood. For me, it's been a great move. Even though a 4 has only 1.5* more loft, it's much easier to hit that a 3...(for me anyway). Since I hit it so solidly, there is not much of a difference in distance.

[Dub]

  Chris5573 said:

I carry a 4 wood instead of a 3 and 5 wood. For me, it's been a great move. Even though a 4 has only 1.5* more loft, it's much easier to hit that a 3...(for me anyway). Since I hit it so solidly, there is not much of a difference in distance.

That sounds good. I was thinking that I could always grip down on the 4-wood and inch or so and take off enough to make it play a bit shorter. I think the extra loft on it would be nice.

[scooterguitar]

I have the Mizuno 4w, love it, but...wasn't hitting my driver too far, so I did miss that little extra yardage. I change clubs too much to truly know yardage differences for a solid response. Now, I have been hitting drives great and my new 3w (CGB max) I am just crushing and it has been too much frequently so I go with a 19* hybrid.
Now I am going to strat filling my bag with certain woods for specific courses I am playing.
The Mizuno F60 4w, I can use from 175-200, my new 3w I can use from 190-230'ish. So you see, big gap there between them. Now my old 3w I can use from 185-210 comfy.

That being said...I think it would be safe to assume, since you are getting the same spec club, it might be a 10-15 yard loss.

[Dub]

Thanks for all the replies. It's great to have a resource like this to bounce ideas off each other.

It's funny....played for years without a thought about set composition: driver, 3W, 5W, & 3-LW....it was like some unwritten law of the land. I must admit, though, I did dable with a Big Bertha Heavenwood for a short stint.

Now the advent of hybrids has added more options.


I'm going to mull it over for a while. I'm not into huge sweeping changes at once. I'll break in the new driver when it arrives for a few rounds and then make some decisions about fairway woods.

[shortgrass lover]

I own an Adams Ovation 21* 4 wood, but replaced it with a 3 iron hybrid recently. Still enjoy hitting it some though, just because of the high, but still long trajectory

[iWALK18]

I only carry driver and a 4-wood, and its a great strategy for me. I'm pretty long, but struggle with accuracy, so a 3 wood really is not that valuable for me.

You should keep that Lob wedge in the bag for sure.

[Dragonsrock]

I carry a 10.5 deg driver then a 4 wood (Callaway FT Fusion 17 deg) and I could not be happier, I actually hit the 4 wood further than the 3 wood, I think the added loft and slightly shorter shaft make it a little easier to hit.

I think your decision should be made on how you hit the club and secondly the course where you normally play, for me, the 4 wood (and the length I hit it) is great for several holes on my course.

I actually have a callaway FT Hybrid and I am going to replace this with a less lofted hybrid as I need a slightly longer club for two of the par threes on my course over 215 yds each.

Good luck.

[Dub]

  shortgrass lover said:

I own an Adams Ovation 21* 4 wood, but replaced it with a 3 iron hybrid recently. Still enjoy hitting it some though, just because of the high, but still long trajectory

The higher trajectory really is something I'd like.

  iWALK18 said:

I only carry driver and a 4-wood, and its a great strategy for me. I'm pretty long, but struggle with accuracy, so a 3 wood really is not that valuable for me.

This set-up is sounding better and better. I

do need to keep the wedge in the bag. What I need to do on my next casual solo round is stop on an open hole and work with all three wedges and dial in on my half, 3/4 and full swing distances. Funny thing is a guy I played with the other day asked why I'd only have the 4W. He said to get a 3W, 5W and keep the rest too. He responded to my confused look by making a swatting motion with his hand and said, "Fourteen club limit....forgettaboutit.....don't sweat it......play whatcha wanna play.....that's why I like big leather bags....hold all my clubs." I'm gonna have to watch this guy close if we ever play again. I think the rules to him are just suggestions. He was probably rolling it all day long and using the footwedge to great advantage.

[Ben]

I played a 4wood for a while, loved the thing. Just crushed on it. Only switched to a 3 wood because I did want some extra length for tee shots, or trying to reach par 5s. How about getting a 4wood and lengthening it an inch. That's how my 4 wood was supposed to come, but Mizuno jacked up my order. That way you can grip all the way up on it and the extra inch will give some extra length, of choke down for more control.

[Stacey_E]

If you are a low ball hitter, like myself, you will actually hit the 4 wood longer than the 3. It's just an issue of launch conditions. You are on the right track!

Check my club specs. I am THE mad scientist when it comes to club selection. But I can cover 60 yards to 210 yards (not counting driver) with nothing but full swings. My "4 wood" actually says "5+" or strong 5 wood. But it's 17*, and that's a 4. It's 42" as opposed to the standard 42.5" 4 wood. Either way, it is just as long as a 3 off the tee and longer off the deck as the launch conditions are much much better.

Why don't people realize that the real action is at the bottom of the set? If you get really brutaly honest, most people hit their 4 iron, 3 iron and 5 wood so near the same distances there is just a redundancy in distances. Over 150-175 yards, if you have less than 15 yards gap you are just wasting clubs. If you have to narrow these long distances to 10 yard gaps, you must be hitting those clubs dead solid perfect everytime. I love the 4 wood almost as much as I love playing against people with 2 wedges.

[Craig Mac]

My first set of clubs was a hand-me-down set from my father, and it had 1,3,4,5 woods(and I mean wooden), when the oversized steel drivers came out I got one and then added a lob wedge and a sand wedge and I debated which fairway wood to keep and tried different combos and finally kept the 4 wood. I hit that thing until the wood splintered and have bought 2 more since. I feel I can hit it almost as far as a 3 wood by teeing down a little and hit it just as high and a little further than the 5 wood by teeing it up a little. I am sold on the 4 wood for 12+ years.

[Dub]

I should have noted that the 3W and 4W Ping G10 that I'm gonna go with are the same size and have the same length shafts.

[Waku]

I´m doing exactly this... Ping G10 4 wood, look at my signature

[clemsontiger]

I love my 4 wood. I would not have anything else.

I definitely suggest it. I hit the ball long with it and I am much more accurate with it than I am with a 3 wood.

[Chilli Dipper]

Oddly enough, I'm planning on updating my bag over the next year, and have been thinking about adding a 4-wood in favor of both a 3 and 5. I'm glad to see I'm not the only one whom this has occured to.