The Killer 3 Wood

[A.Short]

So I started playing golf last summer and have made ridiculous strides of improvement with all clubs...except in one department, the 3 wood. I sport a 3 and 4 hyrbid with one fairway wood. It's outdated and I'm looking to get a new one. I was originally thinking a Burner 2.0 but I have a problem of control with my 3 wood and I know the Burner is longer than most 3 woods. I tend to hit it inconsistent and with a deep fade, not quite a slice but a big fade, and it doesn't travel as far as it should. So to help with my consistency while getting some distance I was thinking a Rocketballz because its a little bit shorter. I'm a low to mid teens handicap, I hit my 3 hybrid 200-225, and my driver 265+, with the capability of cranking it out further. Any club suggestions or any suggestions of what I should do when it comes to deciding? Thanks!

[JohnBarry]

Love my Titliest 909 F, I hit it great and I seem to have total control over it, hard to say that about my driver though!

[RoverRick]

My experience with all three woods is that they are all killers. Great round killers that is. Most of this is mental, because I am trying to reach the green from 240+ so I try to kill it. I hit the green and have a long eagle putt 1% of the time. And usually miss it. But more often than not I am by the green where all the trouble is, bunkers and other hazards. I find it best to lay up and do not even carry my 3 wood anymore. Often I overswing and fail to make solid contact and advance the ball 50 yards. I would rather have that 50 (ideally 75-120) yards left at the end of the hole to wedge it close. Last Friday during a round I played Driver/Wedge/Wedge (or D/7/W) on all the par 5's and had 4 birdies. I did not do that this weekend and did not birdie all the par 5's either.

 

My advise on a killer 3 wood is an additional wedge for higher handicappers. The higher your handicap the more wedges you need. I used to carry 5 wedges and had 3 swings with 5 wedges and alternated for every 5 yards from the flag from 20 yards to 100 yards. However, I can get it as close NOW with one club because I have the feel and practice. If you can not then the Dave Pelz clock method with wedges and higher lofted irons is much better than a 3 wood.

 

I would also say that a hybrid off the tee is better than a wood for most people. The shorter shaft often means a shorter distance from the center of the fairway.

 

Having said this if you look at signature here you will see that I actually use a 14* hybrid instead, but the same principle applies. I have this club but use it mainly as an alternate off the tee and it is awesome for partial and punch shots out of the trees. I find that I am much better at the hybrids than fairway woods, but I do not recommended to use a hybrid with such little loft as they are not for everyone.

 

A few years ago, I used a 17* fairway wood and had best results with that. I also like the 909F2 15.5* which is my 3 wood that now sits in the "Stay at home" bag.

[Flv02]

I had an outdated 3 wood as well and then received a Cobra S2 with a Fujikura Max shaft last year. I can really attack the ball with it. You can get it for under $100 now which is great. It would also match your driver which doesn't hurt haha. Just make sure you test it out first to see if you need one of the offset versions of the club.

[RoverRick]

Also I see that you currently have a 13* 3 wood. These things are very difficult to hit off the fairway. I had a 13* and a 17* Titleist 980F for years (still do but they are shaftless right now) and the 17 was only 7 yards less and much more dependable.

 

But if I were to get a 3 Wood, I would probably go with a 16-17 degrees, this may be a 4 wood, and get fitted for the right shaft. Brand is not important, shaft is.

[RookieBlue7]

Well, the ball speed record for drivers was recently broken with a fairway wood. The fairway? Tour Edge Exotics. Might want to look there too. I hated the RBZ because it's such a closed face. It was a dead left club for me. I ended up with an R11s (played the R11 last year) fairway because I can adjust it. Course I also have an original Sasquatch 13* strong 3 and an SQ2 Monorail 5 wood I swap in at times.

[bandwagon]

Check out the Mashie FW 14 degree. Ridiculously easy to hit. Comes with a great shaft, and has plenty of distance

[JBones]

Do you have a shaft that you like already or are you looking for a complete club? I'm a big fan of Wishons FW offerings. I have a Wishon account, let me know if you want any pricing or additional info.

[Kanoito]

Just like you, the 3W is the weakest part of my game. I honestly don't know why I still carry that thing.

There is only one Par 3 at my home course that plays about 230 yards and that's the only time I can hit it with the ball teed up.

 

Off the fairway is usually a slice or a topped ball. I'm beginning to think it serves more as a decoration for my bag

[A.Short]

Thanks for the help! And quick too which is nice. Too add on to the subject, I have different "feelings" when i swing my hybrids/irons compared to my driver. Should my 3 wood swing feel more like my driver or more like my hybrid?

[Kanoito]

Thanks for the help! And quick too which is nice. Too add on to the subject, I have different "feelings" when i swing my hybrids/irons compared to my driver. Should my 3 wood swing feel more like my driver or more like my hybrid?

 

They always said play the ball between the middle and the driver. That didn't work for me, I would always top the ball.

 

So I decided to play the ball in the middle or 1 ball to the left of the middle, just like my hybrid... taking a small divot. Not the best distance for a 3W, but better than those 20 yard rolls

[Matt Saternus]

I'll second the Tour Edge Exotics recommendation, though I've hit some long shots with the Rocketballz, too. And the Adams XTD. Really, we're spoiled for choices this year.

[ninjacobra]

TM v steel if u can get ur hands on one. its one of the best fairways in history i reckon

[RookieBlue7]

To answer the question, play it more toward the front of your stance like a driver. The swing should be flatter like a driver swing as well.

[RoverRick]

There should be three different feels with the clubs and this is accomplished with ball position. The golf club travels in an arc. The driver is hit just on the up swing of the club, actually this it just after the lowest point. It is not up enough that you can tell this.

 

The irons are hit on the down swing, The ball is positioned, and there may be some arguement here, in different parts of the swing based on club length, but the ball is trapped between the club face and ground, causing the grooves in the club to interact with the cover of the ball, causing it to spin. The higher lofted the club the farther back in the stance it goes so that you can trap it better. By the time you get to the long irons, since you do not need as much spin, you move the ball farther up in your stance. The long irons are more of a sweeping hit, however you are still hitting while the club is headed downward. All divots, should be after the ball. Contrary to what most people think, a ball with more spin on it will not start higher than one with out. The energy that cause the ball to start high is transfered into spin. So a wedge with a lot of spin on it, may be much lower than one with out spin.

 

(As an aside, I am a high spin player and my wedges are noticably lower than most of the others I play with. When I play with someone new there is alway a wedge shot where they say, "I thought that ball was going to go clear over the green and it checked up as soon as it hit the green.")

 

Fairway woods are in between, and you hit those as the club travels parallel with the ground, not on the up slope. You can hit the hybrid or even a fairway wood as the club is going down and it will do the same thing an iron will do. It will cause it to spin. This will rob you of distance, however, hitting it on the down swing is much much better than trying to hit it on the up swing. If you even think about hitting a fairway wood up in the air, you will top it and get the 20 yard ball flight that Steven talks about.

 

I stated in the earlier post that i hit a low lofted hybrid rather than a 3 wood, and while I tend to overswing, the real reason for the switch was that I spin the ball too much and switched to a steel KBS Hybrid shaft and this did not fit into my 3 wood so I put it in the hybrid. This is working out much better for me and I get more distance and more workablitiy from the hybrid but this is because the shaft not the club. But this is not for everyone. I also love the 4 iron but most of the people I play with are much better off hitting fairway woods than my clubs. I do recommend higher lofted hybrids and fairway woods. But I am a mechanical engineer not a golf instructor so what do I know.

 

You really should not think about "hitting up" with the driver. This will lead to pop ups. You do hit with a slightly accending blow but do not think about hitting up on it.

 

This is all based on where your natural bottom of the swing is. You can find that with any club by taking a few practice swings and brush the grass. Where ever you are striking the ground tells you where the ball should go. If you are not hitting the ground in the same place on two swings with the same club, then focus on keeping your head still, making a better pivot, and do not sway. These are the reasons for not hitting the ground properly. If you can not hit the earth in the same spot than you have no hope of hitting the ball in the right spot.

 

"Let all ye who have an opinion on this draw near and ye shall be heard!"

[RoverRick]

I had an outdated 3 wood as well and then received a Cobra S2 with a Fujikura Max shaft last year. I can really attack the ball with it. You can get it for under $100 now which is great. It would also match your driver which doesn't hurt haha. Just make sure you test it out first to see if you need one of the offset versions of the club.

 

 

I know what you meant but I did get quite a mental image of a "banzai" charge at the ball with the 3 wood.

 

"Die ball! Die!"

[Flv02]

I know what you meant but I did get quite a mental image of a "banzai" charge at the ball with the 3 wood.

 

"Die ball! Die!"

 

Hahaha I just pictured it and am cracking up Hahahaha

[Shambles]

I know what you meant but I did get quite a mental image of a "banzai" charge at the ball with the 3 wood.

 

"Die ball! Die!"

 

That's actually one of the reasons a 3 wood becomes difficult to use on a fairway. I love the idea but it's only the fortunate few that can go to a ball with a 3 wood and right off do a banzai swing and get performance. The rest of us need to learn and then build up to the banzai. In the beginning, you need to sneak up on the ball as carefully as you sneak up on your girlfriend's tit.

 

 

Shambles

[JMiller]

Just to touch on what Rover Rick was talking about in feel and ball positions.

 

I have a stock ball position for all clubs except wedges the wedges play slightly different. I have my ball position at my left ear in every club with exception of Driver and wedges / specialty shots, the wedges play at about my left eye roughly, I play the driver just a little bit more ahead in my stance about inside left heel to inside left big toe (my left foot is angled a little)

 

Now if I want a higher trajectory I finish with my hands super high and ball maybe 1/2 to 1 size ball more forward, If I want a normal trajectory left ear position and normal finish (about a medium trajectory for me), If I want a low trajectory I play the ball about left eye (1/2 to 1 ball size back of my left ear) and finish low around my ribs. That is the basics for me on trajectory control. Shot shape is done with the left wrist, cupped wrist = cut, flay = natural shot, bowed = draw... release and length of swing can control distance and also change how much shot shape you get. Holding off the release = cut, allowing the club to pass over more fast before the ball = draw... bowed wrist and early release = big hook. So for me my feel is mechanical based but after getting the mechanics part of it in your swing it becomes a feel thing.

 

Speed over power, the body working really hard might feel powerful but actually hurts speed a lot. Proper sequence and generating kinetic energy to whip the club through impact generates more speed, "Effortless Power" as some have named it.

[Matt Saternus]

"Feel" is an individual thing...How a 3M feels to me is probably totally different than how it feels to RR or Matt...Swing plane, ball placement, grip, etc. are all such an individual thing that I would say to find a good pro/teacher to work with..Being "young" in the game, you can build a swing that is fundamentally sound & make adjustments as needed off of that swing..To try to "piecemeal" a swing based on individual "tips," while I guess it could be done, I think that you will find it very frustrating if you do not have a fundamentally sound swing to fall back on...Unfortunately, "inserting" a "tip" into your swing will effect other parts of your swing & if not accounted for this can lead to a swing that is, as Moecat so elequently stated in another thread, FUBAR'd.. Based on your description of your game, you obviously have some ability, so working with a pro/teacher will do much more for you than trying to "blindly" figure it out..I've found that trying to do that is like trying to put a 1000 piece puzzle together w/out the box picture..It can be done, but damn is it frustrating..The best to ya...Fairways & Greens 4ever...

 

This. Seriously. This.

[RoverRick]

No matter what you end up with the importance of getting fit can not be understated. It is often counterintuitive. Logic says that a 14 degree club will go farther than a 17 degree. However, this is not necessarily the case. I assembled a 14* hybrid and put in the bag. I also assembled a 17* hybrid. Both with the same shaft. The plan was to have either the 14 and 18 in the bag or the 17 and 21 in the bag. Since I have all these heads plus a 24 degree already I am only out a ferrule and some glue. By my calculations the 14* should be 6 more yards than the 17* with the same shaft.

 

In reality I did got 5 more yards out of the 14* one time. However, the 17* went the same distance + or - a couple of yards every time. The 14* was much harder to hit, and was sometimes 30 or 40 yards less than the 17 sometimes it went high and sometimes it went low. The 17* was very consistance thoughout the day. Likewise a 21* is easier to hit than an 18* degree, and with the same length shaft (ignoring things like spin and angles you can only get with a monitor) and only about 4 to 6 yards less.

 

So it looks like I am going to end up with a 17* and 21* hybrid. I would much rather have the more consistant preformers. I must say that this may be the design of the hybrids also. The 14 and 19 are Hogan CFT ti (2003), and the others, 17, 21, & 24 are CFT (2004) designs. The 2003 are slightly larger front to back while the 2004 are slighly smaller. The Nike VR Pros are very simular to the 2004's. I have always (since 2004 when they were new) found the 2004's to be the top preforming hybrids ever. I have tried TItleist, Adams, Taylormade, and Nike and while some of the newer ones are as good, none are better, or at least fit my swing better. I suspected this, which was why I did this test. I have wanted to fall in love with the 2003 versions since I bought them almost 10 years ago but they are not as good a fit for me.

 

So my advise, just to reiterate, is to not necessarily get the lower loft because you are wanting more distance. Great contact trumps theoritical distance everytime.

[Wet Doggg]

I just replaced my 3 wood with an Adams XTD 15 degree Super Hydrid. 1" shorter shaft and about 15 yards carry longer. Easier to control and a dream to hit off the deck.

[A.Short]

Do you know what the difference is between the Super Hybrid and the Super Hybrid XTD?

[GolfSpy WD]

Do you know what the difference is between the Super Hybrid and the Super Hybrid XTD?

 

Super Hybrid has a maraging steel face, something similar to the RBZ. Super Hybrid XTD has a titanium face. The Ti face will have a higher COR and therefore be a bit longer.

 

According to Adams, the Super Hybrid has 20% higher COR (aka CT) than a 17-4 steel face. The XTD has a 36% higher COR than 17-4.