Is the 5 wood dead?

[WUTiger]

Samples of twin fairway woods on the PGA tour WITB:

John Rahm: TaylorMade M1 3W + 5W

Danny Lee: Calla GBB 3W + 5W

Jamie Lovemark: Nike Vapor Fly 13° 3W + 19° 5W

Marc Leishman: Calla XR16 16° 4W + 20° 7W

Kevin Chappell: Nike Vapor Speed 3W + 5W (a prior season)

[azgreg]

1 hour ago, Loose Cannon said:

Don't you have some golf to play before Arizona becomes hotter than Satan's home turf???  IOW, I thought you always read each and every word I ever typed on ST!!!! 

I've got a 1:00 tee time tomorrow at the Wigwam Patriot course tomorrow thank you very much.

[cooke119]

I use a 3W (200+ yards) and a 5W (185 or so yards). I also hit a hybrid when coming into a green and on shorter par 3s when I want a softer landing. Other than that I use irons.

[jbishop15]

I still use a 5W. It's 18.5 degrees, and it's one of my favorite clubs. I don't like hybrids, so I've never had a reason to switch.

[jamo]

I've never used a 5-wood. I've got at 2-hybrid that bridges the gap between my 3-wood and 3-iron.

[Patch]

I have carried a 5W for as long as I can remember. Then again, it's one of the least used clubs in my bag make up. Just never seem to be in my yardage range with it to use it. Plus, since I don't use it that much, it's a club where my confidence level suffers a little.

It does compliment my 7W, so that's something. 

Most of my use with my 5W,  is during 3 club tournaments, where it also doubles as my putter. 

I never really hopped on the hybrid train to replace it. I tried a few, but never really liked them. 

[jkelley9]

I use a 3w (15°), 2h (18°), 3h (20°).

I may have already posted in this thread but I can't understand going to a 5w for me personally. 

The way I see it, is if you have a crap drive OR you play on courses like I do that have a lot of crummy condition landing areas and rough... the hybrids save me. No way I'm hitting a wood out of a LOT of my lies.

Don't get me wrong, I love my 3w (now). But I'm loving my hybrids even more. I get ~210 3w, 190 2h, 180 3h. My 3h is very close to my 4i length but gets me out of a lot more trouble and I would rather swing my 4i from a tee off the box. I'll use the 3w pretty much only on the par 5's if I get a good lie and give myself a good spot to be close or maybe even a chance to be on in 2. I also have 2 holes where it's a much better choice off the tee box. So I get some good use out of that club.

[Gator Hazard]

Mine probably wishes it was from all the abuse it has taken at my hands. 

[rehmwa]

So gapping between D and 5i has changed for me.....

---  My normal "before" set up was:  D, 3W, 5W, 4i, 5i (on down)

--- ----------------Today my set up is:  D, 3W, 2H, 4H, 5i

5W vs 2H (220 to 235 range) - this was really hard .  That 5W is great and having it stay at home is difficult.  BUT....the 2H hits the same distance and out of more types of lies.  So easy choice - even if I do like how that 5W looks and feels.  The 2H just doesn't give me the same happy when I look down at address - but the results and flexibility say otherwise.

4i vs 4H (200 to 210) - no problems here - same distance, the 4H maybe a bit farther.  But my "good contact with irons" limit is about at the 4i or just short of it (even the 5i I have a bit of lower confidence in making pure contact).  The 4H is just easier to hit, better from the rough (for me), and loads more confidence.

I wouldn't bag a 4i normally, but I'd still like to have one for practice.  Cause when I practice with the 4i, all the lower irons seem easier to hit.

If I had the money now I'd love to get a pro fitting from D through hybrids and get new stuff.  But no.  Not yet.  A friend just did that and he really found a sweet match for Driver.

Edited March 31, 2017 by rehmwa

[mcanadiens]

Every golf club dies, but does every golf club truly live?

[Loose Cannon]

1 hour ago, mcanadiens said:

Every golf club dies, but does every golf club truly live?

Every golf club has a unique personality.  That personality/attitude is breathed into each club during the final assembly process by the Great God of Golf.  Depending on how much the old guy is wheezing after breathing life into a few hundred thousand golf clubs/day, decides the attitude instilled in that specific club.  I've had a few he must have done early in the day with full, pure grace and goodness.  Most of the hundreds of clubs I've owned over the years were undoubtedly done as he was running our of air and patience.  They have been sorta like buying a vehicle built on a Friday.

[Kalnoky]

I used to carry an 18.5* fairway wood but as my ball striking improved I find I can hit 3H better than 5W. I don't carry any fairway woods right now. 

[onthehunt526]

Thanks @WUTiger for the info on twin fairway wood set-ups. More or less what I was getting at with this thread was the decreasing number of 5-woods in amateurs bags. Hell, most starter sets that used to include a 5-wood don't anymore (the higher end ones do, I'm taking about the crap you'd by at blue light Special or Wally World). 

Most of the golfers at my home course don't have a 5 wood in their bag either. If they have two or more fairway woods it's usually 4w 7w, in some senior and ladies bags I've even seen the Driver, 4-wood, 7-wood, 11-wood combo. 

It seems to have lost it's place in a lot of bags. Some are playing hybrids, some are playing other fairway woods. It's a shame. Anyway continue to comment on this if you so may choose to.

[Dave2512]

When I was using a 5w it was more for keeping balls in play from the tee during rough rounds. My setup was driver 3-5-7. I changed because for me it's easier to hit a 4w than a 3w off the turf. I found the 4w offered the best of the 3 and 5 so I went to hybrids because for me I hit the ball more solid with an iron type club and that also offered more versatility from the hybrids. Now I use driver 4w 2h 3 hybrid iron.

[caniac6]

I am a low ball hitter. I carry a 3w and 5w, but the 3 is used for some tee shots. Off the turf, I am much more consistent with my 5. Also, since I can carry my 5 longer off the turf, the overall distance between my 3 & 5 is pretty close.

[Spooky]

As a guy in his early 40's who got his golfing start in the early 90's, this is a topic near and dear to me. I game a 3, 5, & 7 wood. The hybrid craze has caused alot of people to believe that they are somehow superior to fairway woods. What I have learned is that some people are better woods players (flatter, sweeping swing) and some are better hybrid players (steeper, more iron like angle of attack). My swing is short, flat, fast and bursting. So fairway woods seem to bring the best results for me. It's all individual...based on swing and body type. That all said, the 5 wood is probably the least used club in my bag; mainly because I don't often find myself in that specific range on thr course. My 7 wood, on the other hand, sees alot of action; as it covers 2 clubs worth of space in my bag. My 3 wood sees a bit too, on par 5's and tight par 4's.

 

[dbuck]

In my vintage bag, I carry a 3W and a 5W.  These are made of WOOD- usually laminated maple PINGs. The 5W is used both from the tee and deck and is one of the most reliable clubs I own.

In my more modern bag, I usually carry an old 16 degree Taylor Raylor as my only fairway; the next club being a 3H.

[Inthetrap]

I have read, on several occasions, that most players tend to hit a 5w more favorably than a 3w, and if it came down to choice in the bag, the choice should be a 5w.  Not sure if reading that makes me love my Callaway X2 Hot 5w even more, but I hit it quite well.