Do I really need a fairway wood any more?

Just wondering if anyone else is like me and not using their fairway woods any more. I've been using my hybrid club now for a year and really haven't gotten back to even picking my the fairway woods anymore. I can get good distance and more accuracy with my hybrid than fairway woods. So is this the death of the fairway woods...

I agree with you ... I used to use a 5-wood quite a bit until I started using hybrids instead of long irons. I now carry a driver & 3-wood but I hardly ever use the 3-wood these days either.

I wonder ... I think you might be right.

I find it tough to have room in my bag for a FW.

That said, I also carry 5 wedges (PW, GW, SW, LW, ULW).

Add to that a driver, putter, and 7 irons or hybrids, and there's no room for a FW.

I had the idea that the 5, 7 and 9 woods could be replaced (in a sense) by the hybrids, but how about the 3 wood? What hybrids do you guys use to fill in that gap?

You could use a 1 iron hybrid to replace the 3 wood.

I still prefer to use my 3-wood than my 1-iron hybrid off of the tee. With my 3-wood I gain an extra 20-30 yards. I must admit that off of the fairway I am now more inclined to use a hybrid than a 3-wood.

The courses I play have an average of 370 to 430 yard par 4s. If I was to drop a club, it would be my driver, not my 3 wood. I find that driver will put me inside a full swing distance (<100 yards to the pin) too many times. I'd rather hit a full wedge than a 3/4 shot any day. My 3 wood gets 270, so rarely would I ever have to worry about not making par 5s in regulation. I just added a 5 wood for the first time ever to cover the gap between my 3w and 3i.

__________________
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 use my fairway woods for punching out beneath tree limbs. If I break the shaft on a limb, no big loss to me. My course is short enough I don't really worry about fairway woods to reach the green. Usually a driver puts me inside of short iron range. The gap between my 3 iron and my 3 wood isn't that big anymore after I had to have my 3 wood re-shafted about 2 years ago.

definitely do not have the right shaft for your 3 wood in if the difference between your 3w and 3i are not significant.

Good point. So what's the average gap between the 5i and the driver, and what (and how many) clubs do you use in between? Interesting to know...

You use about 4 clubs in between the 5I and the 1W, traditionally 4I, 3I, 2I/5W and 3W.

Myself, I took out 3 clubs (4I, 7W, 5W) and replaced with 2 hybrids (2 and +4)* and a LW. Now my set is comprised of 1W, 3W, 2H, +4H, 5I-9I, PW, GW, SW, LW and putter.

*A +4 is a club with a loft between a 3 and a 4, i.e a "strong 4".

I have Driver, 3w, 5w, 3i, 4i, 5i, 6i, 7i, 8i, 9i, PW, GW, SW, LW and putter. Obviously 15 clubs, but the clubs I use depend on the course I am playing. If the course is long I will drop a wedge and if the course is on the short side I will drop either my 5w or driver. There are also occasions where I may drop my 6 iron (185 yard club) because 1.) I am rarely at that distance and 2.) I can choke up on my 5i and get the same distance if I am in 6 iron range.

__________________
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 used to think that I was better off being close to 100 yards (full SW for me), so I would have a full swing. Almost all of my golf friends have a preferred yardage and I've noticed most tour pros also have a preferred yardage. However, one day at the course I thought I would do a little experiment. I hit 10 balls from different spots/lies around 60 yards and 10 balls from differents spots/lies at around 100 yards. In a rather unscientific way I calculated the average distance from the hole, and to my surprise, on average, I was actually closer from 60 yards out. Since then I've changed my philosiphy and now try and hit it as close to the hole as possible. I've noticed that there are several tour pros who also claim they would also rather be closer to the hole than from a preferred yardage, although this group is probably a minority. I guess I'm bringing this up because I would be curious to know what others think about this.

Matt

Back when I worked at a gofl course and I had time to practice every day and I spent over an hour/day (on average) at the range, I always tried to get as close to the hole as I could because I had a 43 yard swing, or a 57 or any other number you can come up with, I had a swing for that and I was always very close. I just don't have time to practice that much anymore, so if I was, let's say 51 yards from the pin, I know I could hit the green but whether I was at the front, middle or back is anyone's guess.

__________________
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

That's basically what I have done. I've tried to develop a swing for all situations 40-90 yards. Playing by feel in that range in nearly impossible for me.

Matt