Anyone completely ditched fairway woods in their bags?

[Jeremy26]

This was timely! I saw this feed in my email this morning, as I was heading to my pro shop to pick up a King Tec 2 Hybrid. Traded my Stealth2 5W. This will be the first time in my life that my bag doesn't have a fairway wood in it. Playing tomorrow, so we'll see how it goes! 

[Jeremy26]

This was timely! I saw this feed in my email this morning, as I was heading to my pro shop to pick up a King Tec 2 Hybrid. Traded my Stealth2 5W. This will be the first time in my life that my bag doesn't have a fairway wood in it. Playing tomorrow, so we'll see how it goes! 

[Badgermc76]

4 hours ago, RwsGolf1 said:

Used to love mine too, now it does not like me.

I had a m5 3w. and it broke. So I got fitted again... it was freaking expensive for a 3w. As I really liked the Graphics design shaft $350 for that alone...best part of using it is driving the greens on short par4s. 

[sl1111]

Hope this makes sense since everyone’s game is different, but this worked for me. I recently ditched my fairway woods after a deep dive into my game by keeping stats and noting what clubs or shots were costing me strokes. I have always struggled with a left (hook) miss as a right-handed player. My miss was worse with fairway woods and hybrids and as I became a better player, I found myself avoiding those clubs, trying to manufacture a shot with a different club, or the worst, not putting a confident swing on the ball due to not trusting the shot. Stats revealed that I ruined multiple level to sub-par rounds by choosing to hit a hybrid or fairway wood when I should have laid up. The last straw for me was when I was 2 under through 16 and hooked a 230-yard shot into the drink on a par 5 going for the green in two. I made a six, but it was a blemish on a otherwise really good round of golf. It made me start keeping stats and revealed those clubs were my biggest weakness and usually cost me shots. I was blinded by the previous 1 out of 10 good shots I had hit in the past.

 

This all lead to me revamping my bag and that took a while as well. I’m not long or high speed, so the low lofted driving irons didn’t really help and just caused similar distances from multiple clubs at the long end of the bag. I then found the supposed unicorn of the Callaway UW. I played the 17 and 21 in my wood/hybrid spots and found the 21 to be great, but I couldn’t elevate the 17 even with multiple shaft options. I recently ditched the UW and am currently playing the Cobra King Tech hybrid in 17 and 21 and things are going well so far. They are the only hybrids that I have ever found that can mitigate (not correct or fix) my hook miss. I am giving up yardage from a 3 or 4 wood, but accuracy is increased, and it is minimizing big misses and numbers. Also, I have found I “go for it” less because I just don’t have the yardage to get there. This leads to more safe play and lay ups that have helped my scores.

Keeping stats, being honest with myself, and eliminating clubs that cost you strokes is key.

[skyryder]

I did a full bag fitting about a year ago and was advised to ditch the 3 wood in favor of a 3 hybrid and I am glad I did.  It turned out that I got better overall results from a 21 and 24 degree hybrid instead of using a 5 and 7 wood.  The hybrids for me are much more versatile for my game than the fairway woods.

[redyeti]

I currently don't have any fairway woods in my bag.  The only downside I've seen is that in really long rough irons can be hard to get through, and my longest club other than my driver is a 5 iron, so it can launch pretty high when I'm in the trees.

[HikingMike]

No, actually I just started hitting my 3w much more consistently well. I could always hit it really good sometimes, but now it's more consistent. Thank goodness, because I would get some huge snap hooks with it, more than any other club. Also good thing because it is my newest club and I bought it after a Golf Galaxy fitting (where I also fitted for irons handed down to me). 

Like others, I also don't hit it very often - the odd par 5 where I'll have enough distance remaining, and occasionally off the tee if I need to hit a shorter distance. But it feels great when I hit a good one.

I did bump the adjustable loft from 14.5 degrees +1.5 to 16 degrees, so it's kind of like a 4 wood I guess. For some reason I've always hit it low and I was hoping to get over some big trees on a double dogleg par 5 at my usual course - 2nd screenshot below... still didn't work as I was too close to the far trees to aim at the green. No luck, I can still hit my driver higher. I do tee it higher and hit up on it a little.

I'm mostly replying since it's fun posting screenshots of my shots now, lol. Embarrassingly, it looks like some of my good recent 3 woods come after duffed drives. But I'll own it. The driver is streaky and has streaked negatively lately.
 

          

[Kenny B]

No, I actually replace my 2H and 4H with fairway woods.  Now playing 3W, Heavenwood, and 9 Wood... all Callaway Epic Max.

[The Mad Bomber]

I’ve gone back to my old 909, 15.5° 3 wood. It goes maybe 10 yards further than my iCrossover, just in a completely different window. I keep both because my gapping at the lower end is good, so it just means I have more options off the tee. I think I’m hitting that DI well, I wouldn’t see any real difference in my scoring, so dropping my fairway wood wouldn’t be the end of the world

[Hacker60521]

Actually, I took out my 3H in place of a 3W. So the top of my bag is D, 3W, 4H, 4I

I couldn’t hit my 3H well or confidently, so it was swapped out for my 3W. What I will emphasize is that for me the 3W is my least favorite club. So now I’m spending more time working on it at the range — both from turf and on the tee. I’m much more intentional about practicing with this club, and I’m starting to see it pay off. 

[Phil Sykes]

Like many, I was obsessing over this until I had a realization.  Watching a pro golf tournament and noticing most of them don't hit their 3 wood well.  I decided to do a little test on the course.  I hit 3 different clubs from 200 - 225 yards.  With my driver I choked down and hit some 3 quarter type shots.  Hit a 3 wood and a 2 hybrid.  Did this on 9 different holes and hit 2 ith each club.  The results kind of blew me away.  My sawed off Driver was by far the most consistent and accurate.  I could hit high cut shots or higher straight shots.   On 3 different par 3's (190, 205 and 215 yds) I was on with my driver and birdied 2.  I have taken the 3 wood out entirely and couldn't be happier.  I kept trying to find the perfect 3 wood but realized they are super hard to hit and you use them so rarely anyway. Once I took my ego out of it, the answer came to me.   My new set up is kind of weird but it has worked so well for me.  I go:

Driver - Titleist TSI 3 - 8.5

2 Ping G425 hybrid - turned to 16 degrees

3 Callaway Apex UW - 19 degrees

4 New Level driving iron - 24 degrees

6-9 New Level 902 Pd irons

Pw, Uw Ping I210

54 and 58 Cleveland RTX 4

Odyssey Two Ball OG

Titlest Pro V1 Yellow

[RwsGolf1]

I too took my 3 wood out months ago.  It was dead weight as I may of only hit it once in 20+ rounds.  My hybrid I do not hit as far but is much more useful.  I hit hybrid yesterday on par 5 about 230 but only average about 205.  I hit my 4 iron off the tee on shorter tight par 4s with better accuracy and consistency.

[ZackS]

I had completely removed woods as well for the same reasons. Always had a 3 wood and almost never used it as I was not any more accurate off the tee and didn’t hit it very well off the ground either. I recently add a low spin 5 wood and so far I am liking it. I am more accurate since it’s shorter and can still hit it high enough to be used into a par 5 if needed. 

[TylorJudd]

I in fact have almost removed my driver in favour of my 3 and now recent 5 wood. Both are much more accurate for me, as I found my hybrids to be unpredictable as well. Before I got the stealth 2+ though, I was terrified of 3 woods and couldn’t hit them

[TJ Hall]

I had a Ping G25 3 wood that I never hit, then decided to make an effort to learn to hit a 3 wood, swapped to a TaylorMade M6 and now a Stealth and love the 3 wood again.

[Golf Dawg]

A 3W is the only one still standing, and I go between a BB and an Adams. The BB is in now with a shorter shaft, but the Adams is in reserve. I hit a 3H nearly as far as the 3W, there may be an empty spot soon.

[GolfSpy_APH]

I'm the opposite and I have added more over time.

[Fongle]

I have a Cobra Big Tour 3 wood I absolutely love and will not give up until it falls apart, and a Cobra 5w I need to sell at some point because I use a driving iron instead.

[Hans...not Franz]

I prefer both hybrids and fairway wood . At 15 hdcp maybe another wedge may allow for overall score decrease . IMO hybrids can be used for chipping and full swing easier than an iron. 

[Dave73nl]

+1 i hate the thing!

[PJVicary]

My 3 and 5 woods are still key pieces of my arsenal. I have taken my 4 iron out of play and count on my 19 degree hybrid to fill the gap. If my yardages were close to what you are getting I might think differently. 

[JAYER38]

I just added my 3w back to my bag. I was using a 4h and a 3 iron all summer but they were so close in distance it came down to how good I hit it on that day. So I ditched the 3i and added a 3w to close the gap on the top end. BUT I do not have a great long game as far as total distance so...

[Joe Blue]

On 8/17/2023 at 3:43 PM, jbsap said:

As the title would suggest, I am toying with the idea of ditching my 3 wood and adding an additional long iron.  Distance is one of my strengths, and I play my 3 hybrid 19.5 deg. to 240 carry.  My next iron is a P770 4 iron that I play to about 210 carry.  I am horrendous with my fairway wood, but when it does stay remotely straight it is a 270 club and is rarely used for one reason or another.  Thinking about getting a p790 3 iron and adjusting my hybrid to 18 degrees in the hopes of filling that 225 range and having the hybrid jump a few more yards.

Anyone else done something similar?  My gapping towards the bottom of the bag is pretty good so an additional wedge wouldn't help me.  

I am the opposite, my long Irons are poor where my woods and Hybrid's save me, I am thinking of adding more woods and hybrid 's to my bag and take out my long Irons .. 

[Svengineer]

I took out my TSi2 3@13,5 wood last year because I have always been too steep so hybrids have always suited me better. When struck perfectly or off a tiny tee the length was insane, but mostly it was too low and occasionally topped. After Dechambyfing my swing with the sound advice from Kirk Junge, my driver is so straight that I don't need the 3 wood for accuracy purposes and I never need 250 m in to any hole as a 2nd shot so I have a Ping°G430 22° set to 20,5° and a 17° set to 15,5 and those are so good that I can get 230+ m relatively bulletproof with the 2 hybrid and the 4 hybrid is 200+ m, according to Trackman data, since I live in Iceland and the season is still a good 3-4 months away.

But I could imagine that those who have a shallow attack angle already built into their swing, that 3 woods could be very good weapons, but for someone who started too late and still has to murder the ball every time, which in my case makes me too steep in the downswing, then 3 woods are only useful on a tee and that is only as a shorter driver and who needs that.

Statistically, most people are slicers, i.e. too steep so I would imagine that the tendency overall is that most people would fare beeter with a hybrid as a safe option, and then a 2 hybrid, i.e. 15-18° would be much easier than a 3-wood at 13-15°.

BTW: I am a 1 handicap player, but I always have to fight the old slicer in me. Kirk Junge's method totally worked for me to take it out and speed training absolutely works to get solid length off the tee.

[pwace]

For several years I had no fairway woods in my bag, carrying #1 thru #5 Cleveland Mashie hybrids instead. They were all as easy to swing as each other so the transition between long shots and #5 approaches was seamless. 
I do use a 4 wood now, but #3 thru #5 Mashies are still in my bag.

[gingerbeast87]

Don't think I ever could. My 3-wood is ideal for shots where I can't quite trust the aggressive fade from the driver.

It's also really helpful on par 5's

[MsGolf]

I have a 3, 5 and 7 wood. It depends on  what course I am playing. 7 always stays in my bag. I also use hybrids  too. 

Edited January 8 by MsGolf

[Zebhead]

My 3+ is my go to club when driver is in timeout. Never had a problem with hitting fairway woods because I have a sweeping stroke. Know others that couldn’t hit a fairway wood if their life depended on it. There is no right answer to this question. Play the club that fits your game. There is no one size fits all, including having a bag full of the same manufacturer. 

[Willie T]

On 8/17/2023 at 10:43 AM, jbsap said:

As the title would suggest, I am toying with the idea of ditching my 3 wood and adding an additional long iron.  Distance is one of my strengths, and I play my 3 hybrid 19.5 deg. to 240 carry.  My next iron is a P770 4 iron that I play to about 210 carry.  I am horrendous with my fairway wood, but when it does stay remotely straight it is a 270 club and is rarely used for one reason or another.  Thinking about getting a p790 3 iron and adjusting my hybrid to 18 degrees in the hopes of filling that 225 range and having the hybrid jump a few more yards.

Anyone else done something similar?  My gapping towards the bottom of the bag is pretty good so an additional wedge wouldn't help me.  

I’ve been all over the place in terms of use of fairways.  Not very long on distance, so there is a variety of fairways/hybrids in the reserve arsenal.  One of my faves is the SLDR S 3HL (17*) - a good all around fairway.  Even have a SLDR 5w and 4h if I’m in a TM mood.  Right now it’s all Ping - G400 driver, G410 3w (set to 15.5), G400 3h, 4h and soon to be 5h.  Have toyed with the thoughts of long irons, but am more comfortable in the world of hybrids and fairways.  The best part of this thread - variety!  It’s what gets your there in the fewest strokes and you are most confident in playing…..

[Dead Solid Bogey]

I have had to go 180° in the other direction. Whether because of age or the diminishing of my already minimal skill set; I have lost significant distance in the last year. It has gotten much, much  worse over the last few months. Actually adding more woods and hybrids to the bag and retiring all the long irons.
    As one person, if not multiple people have stated;  your golf game is usually in some state of flux and you just have to attempt to find the varied remedies.