Heavy Fairway Metals

[Hoganman1]

Is anyone out there using heavier fairway metals? I can't seem to find stock three and five metals with graphite shafts that I hit consistently. I keep going back to my 2004 Big Bertha steel shafted 3 and 5. I've put heavier shafts (65 grams) in my Callaway GBB fairways, but still have trouble. I'm planning to replace the two gram head weights with eight gram weights so they'll play more like the steel shafted clubs. I know a lot of you might say just go with the steel shafted 2004 Berthas, but when I do make solid contact with the graphite GBBs they do go farther. My iron play (steel shafted Mizunos) is really good and at 68 I can still play my 4 iron fairly well. I'm thinking heavier is better for me even though I'm getting older by the minute. Any thoughts will be greatly appreciated.

[Piz]

I do.  My irons and wedges are on the heavy side and "lightweight" longer clubs are difficult for me to control.  They lack presence...if that makes sense.  The raw weight of the shafts in my 3 wood, 5 wood, and hybrid, are 77, 77, and 80.  I've also replaced the 6 gram screw-in weights with 8 gram weights.  It is all about feel, for me, and little else.

[Mr. Desmond]

Use a heavier weight in the head if possible, and/or lead tape. Just remember the heavier weight will flex the shaft a bit more depending on the amount of added weight. I like a a D3 balance in fwys. My driver is set at D6. Would have never guessed that.

[Piz]

Might be a marketing opportunity here.  Heavy Metal fairway woods.  A Black Sabbatini?  How about Deep-faced Purple?  After all...it's a long way to the top (sometimes) if you want to make a par.

[Hoganman1]

11 hours ago, Piz said:

Might be a marketing opportunity here.  Heavy Metal fairway woods.  A Black Sabbatini?  How about Deep-faced Purple?  After all...it's a long way to the top (sometimes) if you want to make a par.

I like it. Although they're not really Heavy Metal, maybe "Steelhead Dan" and U2 featuring "The Wedge" would qualify.

[pganapathy]

I personally prefer heavier woods to lighter woods.  Makes it easier to control. Assuming I set up correctly a lot easier to hit the sweet spot more often.

[WUTiger]

About 2009, golfdom was in transition between drivers and woods with .350" hosels and the newer .335" hosels.

Manufacturers pursued more clubhead speed and better power transfer with the .335" hosels, but some early shafts in this move proved unstable.

Every so often, you will see one of the clubmakers go back to .350" shafts for a model of their long clubs.

TaylorMade used the .350 hosel in several of its standard (non-tour) long clubs. This includes the Superfast and Superfast 2.0, SLDR, R1 Black, Rocketballz and Aeroburner.

Callaway has a mix of .335" and .350" hosels in its long clubs until 2014. Since then, Callaway has use .350" hosels and slightly thicker shafts.

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A second finding: Golfers who are good ballstrikers get much better performance out of lightweight shafts (for woods and irons) than the average golfer. The mid-HDCP golfers need the extra weight so they can sebse the club at the top better, and feel it "drop into the slot."

[Hoganman1]

I've been told that by one of our golf pros. He also said old guys, like me, have been playing heavier clubs for so long we tend to swing lighter clubs back and through too quickly losing control. When I'm playing poorly my playing partners usually tell me to slow down my takeaway. I'm hoping I can add enough weight to my GBB fairways to duplicate the feel of the '04 steel shafted Berthas. If not, I'll just play the Berthas. 

Edited February 4, 2018 by Hoganman1
misspelling

[WUTiger]

18 hours ago, WUTiger said:

About 2009, golfdom was in transition between drivers and woods with .350" hosels and the newer .335" hosels.

Manufacturers pursued more clubhead speed and better power transfer with the .335" hosels, but some early shafts in this move proved unstable. ...

Callaway has a mix of .335" and .350" hosels in its long clubs until 2014. Since then, Callaway has use .350" hosels and slightly thicker shafts.

Oops, I made an error. Since 2014, Callaway has used .335" hosels and shafts in its long clubs.