Sure, drivers are cool. We all like buying the latest and greatest driver to add a couple of yards to our tee shots.
What about a fairway wood though? I don’t know about you, but I’ve used the same fairway wood for about 6 years now. Is it time for an upgrade for you too?
We’re in this together. I had to find the best fairway wood that I could buy in 2019, so you might as well come with me for the ride. Here’s how I decided.
- I tried tons of clubs. Yep, you should have guessed that. I’m a tinker-er. I try a club out and see how I feel about it. How consistent was I? Were my mishits still playable? How far was I hitting the ball? You know, the basics.
- I looked at the price tag. Yep, believe it or not I always look at the price tags. I won’t be buying the latest three woods, because they are too expensive for my tastes. You might be in a different situation, though (a situation in which you actually have money).
- I categorized everything. I think putting (not like the golf term) things into categories is great. For example, I put a few clubs into the “this club kinda sucks” category. That category is not listed on this article, because those clubs kinda suck. Other categories include “undervalued”, “best for distance”, “best for forgiveness”, etc.
- I made my selection. At the end of the day, I decided to stick with my gamer. Yep, I decided to keep my money instead. For you, though, I’ll complete the article and help you find the one best suited for your needs.
Well, here we go. Hold on: it’s going to kind of a boring ride. Oh, and all links/pictures that you click will take you to Callaway Golf Pre-Owned (just wanted to let you know)!
The Best Overall Fairway Woods: Callaway Rogue
The Callaway Rogue Fairway woods are exactly what I was looking for. They’re the perfect combination of distance, feel, and forgiveness. I’ve always felt like Callaway’s fairway woods have been the easiest to hit. The soles are a little wider, allowing you to miss the sweet spot by a significant amount and still get a decent result. I don’t know about you, but I don’t have the time to practice everyday like I used to, so I need some forgiveness, especially off of the deck.
Forgiveness is nice, but you probably care a little more about distance, don’t you? Yeah, I do too.
The Rogue family is famous for being long… super long. I don’t care what makes it long. Is it the jailbreak technology? Not sure, but the ball flies far and that’s what I like. Compared to my current gamer (Callaway Xtreme), the rogue is about 5-8 yards longer. That’s nice, especially if your gap between your 3 wood and your driver is pretty significant like mine is.
Anyway, enough blabbering. The Callaway Rogue fairway wood performs incredibly well. Don’t believe me? Try it out yourself! Global Golf allows you to try the club out before you commit to buying it.
The Best Value Fairway Woods: Callaway Epic
I’m all about saving money when it comes to clubs. Here’s the important factor that you’ll need to take into consideration.
Would you rather…
- Spend $200 on a brand new, top of the line club that will perform a LITTLE bit better, or
- Spend $50 and buy an older, slightly used club that will perform NEARLY just as good?
That’s up for you to decide. Me personally? I’m going with #2.
If you are like me, check out the Callaway Epic fairway woods. They are one generation older than the Rogue, but they perform nearly identically. The Epic wood doesn’t have the jailbreak technology, but it’s not a major difference. Speed and forgiveness across the entire face are still incredible.
Hitting the Epic off the deck is a breeze. Like the Rogue, there is a very wide sole, unlike many other brands. Balls seem to launch high and far off the face.
Price-wise, you’ll save tons of money by going with the slightly older model. That’s how you can beat the system: these companies release a new model for $400, causing the one year old models to fall in price considerably. That’s where you come in.
The Most Forgiving (Easiest to Hit) Fairway Wood: Ping G400 SFT
To be honest, most golfers should really be buying equipment that is more forgiving. We all want to believe that we are above-average ball strikers, but my research shows that roughly 50% of us are below average (you can check my math, I might be a little off). That means that 50% of us should probably be buying clubs that will perform well even on mishits and bad swings.
You want to score better, right? Well, consider a more forgiving fairway wood like the Ping G400 SFT. The SFT stands for Shutup Freaking Trevor, I can definitely hit this green from 260 yards out. Wait no, I mean straight flight technology. This is basically a club for those that slice the ball or have trouble getting the ball in the air.
The weight it based more in the heel of the club, meaning that you don’t have to actively turn the club face over to square the face at impact. This is great for those that hit lots of pushes or slices. The weight is also distributed low and behind the face, resulting in higher launch angles. I used to struggle with getting my three woods more than a few feet above the ground, so this would have been a great club for me back then.
The Best Feel/Sound at Impact: Ping G410
I’ve tried all of Ping’s new releases… and I’ve become a big fan of the G410 series! Does that mean they are worth the extra price compared to the G400? No, not for me. You may be able to justify spending the extra money, though!
The Ping G410 fairway wood felt incredible at impact. It’s like the ball just got in the way of my practice swing, which I can’t say for many clubs. Distance wise, I felt like I was killing this club on the range. Can’t say for sure about any distance increase. But I will say that I felt super confident over the ball with this club. I guess I like the look of the crown, too.
If you want to save some money, take a look at some of the older Ping models. But if you want the latest and greatest release, the G410 is a club that you definitely need to AT LEAST try out.
Quick tip: Get the SFT (straight flight technology) and a higher lofted head (16+ degrees) if you struggle with your fairway woods.
I’ll update this post throughout the year to include the new releases. Let me know in the comments below which bad joke in this article was your favorite!
