3 wood troubles? You are not alone

[Hacker James]

Case in point...Jason Day.   Although he has demonstrated he is able to hit his three wood a considerable distance (300 yards or more), he is not comfortable with it. On those days, he opts to use a 2 iron which he can stripe out about 250 Yards, where his 3 wood would normally go 285.  I like his railroad track analogy when he speaks of driver, where he visualizes his hands and club head are going back along parallel tracks. I do not know if he hits his fairway woods any differently or not.  I have had problems in the past with a 3W and am currently using an older Big Bertha with Gem Shaft. This has a woman's flex, but I feel a bit more comfortable with it and less anxiety. The sound at contact is a bit disconcerting though and does not feel solid, but the results are fine.

[Kalnoky]

Do you hit your 3W off the deck, or from the tee? Reason I ask is (it seems) most 3W are optimized for one or the other.

 

[Hacker James]

24 minutes ago, Kalnoky said:

Do you hit your 3W off the deck, or from the tee? Reason I ask is (it seems) most 3W are optimized for one or the other.

 

Off the deck from fairway, but will use short tee (or not) if "teeing off". Slight downward strike. Also, I should point out that I prefer the smaller head sizes from the early 2000's era or before. My current driver is an Orlimar 340cc hip Ti.

Edited September 9, 2016 by Hacker James

[No Mulligans]

From reading Lowest Score Wins and from experience, it's all about catching the ball in the sweet spot for the higher handicapper.  Or put another way, master keys 1 thru 3 of 5sk to consistently find the sweet spot.  A HI like mine is prima facie evidence that I have not mastered keys 1 thru 3.

My 4w Callaway xr (I don't have a 3w) is the longest shafted club I have that is not the driver.  It has a relatively small club head especially compared to my driver and unlike the driver I'm mostly hitting it off the deck.  It just makes sense that this is my hardest club to use and to find the sweet spot consistently.

[Hacker James]

Lots to be said for the last post. The proverbial sweet spot is quite small on all clubs, even on the modern behemoth drivers. The large driver heads do however, offer a lot of forgiveness. I look at it a bit differently in that I find with the smaller head size,while there is a smaller margin for error, there is also an increased chance of hitting center face as if you are off by much, you are just as likely to toe it,  miss the ball altogether, or hit a thank. (I refuse to use the "s" word). Therefore you learn quickly how to hit it squarely nearly every time. Shaft length is only a minor concern as I can always grip it a little lower, 1/2 inch or so.  In the Jason Day article, he just says that particular club simply does not feel right and that nearly every player has a certain club that he/she can not hit as well. ('course, their misses are "our" stellars).

Edited September 9, 2016 by Hacker James

[Jameson]

It rings a bell...

I am not comfortable with the 5 nor 3 wood. Don´t know why, I find the driver easier, and the irons too, 4i included. I am still looking for a great combination of clubs, and how to fit the gap between my driver 12,5 and my 4 iron of 21 degrees.

 

[arturo28mx]

I have troubles with the 3 wood all the time. A 4 wood with 16.5 degrees of loft seems to be the answer. Same length shaft but 1.5 degrees more loft makes it a bit more forgiving.

[WUTiger]

On 9/12/2016 at 9:36 AM, arturo28mx said:

I have troubles with the 3 wood all the time. A 4 wood with 16.5 degrees of loft seems to be the answer. Same length shaft but 1.5 degrees more loft makes it a bit more forgiving.

Definitely consider a Four Wood, which many golfers find easier to hit than a 3W.

 

[Hacker James]

a lot of is mental I suppose. I had trouble with a modern 3 wood, but could hit an older orlimar 3 wood reasonably well. Now I carry an older ladies Big Bertha 3 wood. I think it has something to do with how it looks at address.  I do have a Ben Hogan Speed Slot four wood, but not really comfortable with it either. OTOH, the Hogan 5 wood, is easier and usually longer than my 3w or 4H.

[Kalnoky]

1 hour ago, WUTiger said:

Definitely consider a Four Wood, which many golfers find easier to hit than a 3W.

 

^^^Yes agreed, I have an old 909F 18.5*, absolutely love that thing. Best club in my bag. It's old too, I think those came out in 2008. Wouldn't dare think of replacing it. 

I read somewhere you should never hit a 3W off the deck anyway unless you have a chance to make the green. Make sense to me. 

[WUTiger]

2 hours ago, Kalnoky said:

I read somewhere you should never hit a 3W off the deck anyway unless you have a chance to make the green ...

That depends. On a long open hole, a 3W can run out toward green a lot longer than other clubs (provided you can hit it halfway decent). This is especially true of downhill shots. The lower loft gives a flatter descent angle that runs more, assuming reasonable height on launch.

This involves comparison with your hybrids. If the H launches the ball high and it doesn't run much, a hot FW might give  you significantly more total distance. You'd just have to do a side-by-side and see what happens.

If a par 5 is super tight, I might go with 4H for approach just for the safety factor.

One trick for hitting a FW off the deck: choke down a half inch, and you will get more control with minimal loss of distance.

[natureboy]

On 9/9/2016 at 5:31 PM, Hacker James said:

Case in point...Jason Day.   Although he has demonstrated he is able to hit his three wood a considerable distance (300 yards or more), he is not comfortable with it. On those days, he opts to use a 2 iron which he can stripe out about 250 Yards, where his 3 wood would normally go 285.

He plays with a fair amount of curve on his shots (more face to path differential) than a lot of tour pros and an off-center hit with a wood will cause gear effects where an iron has virtually none, so he'll have a tighter shot zone with the iron both due to raw distance and on mis-hits, which with his distance can lead to some unwelcome lies.

Edited September 15, 2016 by natureboy

[Hacker James]

a bit anecdotal, but on the recent TST outing, my daughter was using a three wood and on several occasions outdrove me. I said "Hey, let me see that thing"  It was a Cobra "Baffler" 3 wood and is her GO TO club.   'course she is some twenty years younger than I. That's my excuse, and I am sticking to it.