Do I really need a fairway wood any more?

Gord's setup is pretty textbook and traditional :P I also have a +4 hybrid in the set, so it's 1W, 4W, +4H, 5i-9i, PW, SW and putter. It's the 1W to 5i range I think I need to do something about now... I know as one gets better one would probably look at the PW to putter range, right?

Depends on who you talk to . Lowpost will tell you to use 5 wedges. Up to this year I only had 3wedges. Wedges are very versitile clubs you can perform many types of shots with, but anything that strays from your standard shot requires significant amount of practice.

Make sure your wedge game is solid and when you determine that there is a club missing, then fill that need. Don't go out buying clubs because it's the cool thing to have or because everyone else has one. Make sure it fits your game and your skill level.

Go back 8 years ago when I worked at a golf course and I only had driver and 3i-pw. That's it. I determined where I was losing strokes and practiced that area of my game. When my 2nd shot on a par 5 was the problem, I added a fairway wood. When getting out of the sand wasn't strong, I got a SW and worked hard on that area. From there, hitting chips over a trap close to the pin were next to impossible, so I bought a LW. This fall I determined my weak area was 230 - 250 range, so I bought a 5 wood.

__________________
Gord

Quote of the month:
"It's easy to see golf not as a game at all but as some whey-faced, nineteenth-century Presbyterian minister's fever dream of exorcism achieved through ritual and self-mortification." ~Bruce McCall

I recently threw out my lob wedge and replaced it with an 8iron from my old set which is very light. I think around the greens unless ur handicap is under 5, then anything beyond a sandwedge is not going to be effective around the greens. Unless you have natural touch, which even then just an 8iron around the green would be fine. As for fairway woods I love mine. Its a callaway 5 wood steel headIII. On avg it goes 200mtrs fairly accuratley.

Good points there. As of now, I am relying on my SW and PW to cover anything up to 100yds. I don't play on the course that often though so I haven't encountered enough holes to determine if there's any specific gap I might need to plug in between. I have changed to a 2-ball putter and recently just upgraded my driver. As for fairway woods, yep still trying to determine if there's a gap between the +4H, 4W and driver.

Are you supposed to get the same distance with say the +4H off the tee and off the deck? With the hybrid off the deck I do still get a bit of the hitting down feeling (sweeping usually tops it), so should you expect different distances as compared to teeing it up half an inch and sweeping it away?

Peter - I am using exactly the same combination as you this year. Last year, I had a 21 deg hybrid instead of the 24 deg 4 . I used to grip down on it a bit when I needed more than a 5-iron.

My 2 & 4 hybrids have Irod hybrid graphite shafts - These seem to give me good length and nice high trajectory. The 2 is about same as 5-wood for me and the 4 is about same as 7-wood. But they are easier to hit!

Hybrids are good. They are easy to hit but I don't think they have the control of a iron. I don't know but can you draw a hybrid or can you fade the ball. If you can then I am wrong

Yes, you can fade or draw them if you have the skills, just like any other club.

I can do both - when I least expect it!

I haven't bought a hybrid yet, I'm learning to use the clubs I have, but after reading this thread I feel like I am missing something.

Only one guy I play with has a hybrid and he is lousy too so I haven't seen the upside to them.