This is easily my favorite fairway wood for 2025

The Srixon ZXi Fairway Wood is one of the easiest yet powerful woods of 2025, and it has made my job to review it as easy as possible. You have to try it in 2025

Claiming something is the best fairway wood of 2025 is a bold statement, I know, but with the Srixon ZXi Fairway Wood, I genuinely think it may be true.

It’s hard to make a fairway wood. They require a different design from a driver, you can’t just copy over all the same methods and technologies because fairways need to be hit differently. A driver is built for one thing – a teed-up golf ball that needs to be sent as high and as far as possible, with as little spin as possible (let’s generalize, to keep things simple).

Fairway Woods need to to be struck from the tee when we need controlled distance; they need to be hit off tight fairway lies where we might take a little bit of a divot; they need to be playable from the rough without falling out the air too soon from the lower-spin conditions that thick grass produces.

They see much more varied uses and therefore need to be able to handle all these different situations well, not just suit one.

Srixon’s new ZXi Fairway Wood looks to offer something for everyone in all those on-course challenges without compromising on another, but it still needs to do the first thing we all need our clubs to do before we trust them enough to play with them – it has to look good.

Looks/Feel – 5/5

And look good, it does! Just like with the rest of the ZXi Woods, Srixon has taken great care to make the fairway wood appeal to multiple levels of golfer. It features the ZXi family’s trademark matte black crown, which frames the ball in such a fantastic way for me.

I don’t typically go in for a matte finish over gloss but with Srixon, I’m really being won over. The slightly raised look of the color highlights the shape of the crown and, just like with the drivers, isn’t distracting when you’re addressing the ball. I appreciate the care taken here. As there is just a single model of fairway wood, Srixon needs to make sure it looks inviting to both Tour Professionals as well as the higher handicaps that will be considering this option.

I can happily say that the Srixon ZXi Fairway Wood has succeeded. As a mid-single figure handicap, it’s doing exactly what I want it to. It doesn’t take away from my concentration on the golf ball but when I do look at the head, the overall shape sits uber clean on the ground giving me the thought that the club will get down to the ball easily in difficult lies.

Finally, the Srixon ZXi Fairway has a good concession to offset. It’s not strong but there is enough there to make more golfers feel more comfortable with where the face is pointing. If you don’t like it though, turning the loft down a notch or two will immediately open the face-up to give that ‘Tour-inspired’ look.

Alternatively, you can add loft and look down at something a lot more closed if you’re trying to fight a fade.

Technology – 4/5

The big new tech story with ZXi (and the reason for the ‘i’ being added to the name) is the i-Flex Face design. The patterning behind the face has gone through a complete reiteration, with the center of the face being made thinner than before to increase the ball speed from your good strikes. This is supported by a slightly thicker section in the heel and toe that will allow more efficient flexing to occur.

Protecting your mishits, where you aren’t finding the center, is the returning Rebound Frame. A core piece of engineering in all of Srixon’s Woods, Rebound Frame sits just a bit further back in the head than the face and works as a supporting structure for the edges of the face. This allows those areas to benefit from two flexing zones instead of just one, helping to improve energy transfer to the outer areas.

Srixon has also added a loft sleeve for the first time. It’s been designed specifically for the Srixon ZXi Fairway Wood, but you can adjust the loft to the same extent as the drivers by moving the loft up to 1.5º either way. What I like is that it also offers a flatter lie setting. Most adjustable sleeves have an alternative upright setting to help out with golfers who might slice the ball or come in more steeply and need to avoid striking with the toe first.

The ‘Flat’ setting is something often asked for by lower-handicaps so it’s great to see Srixon listening to feedback requests.

You’ll also find, on the 3-wood and 3+-wood, a carbon fiber crown. This seems like an odd inclusion for the Srixon ZXi, considering Srixon has shunned carbon fiber in their ZXi Drivers, but it’s got more logic behind it than seems the case.

With Titanium, there isn’t enough of a weight difference to justify the change but fairway woods are different. They’re made of steel, which has a higher density, so the switch to carbon fiber justifies itself this time to make the 3-woods easier to launch due to lower CG (Center of Gravity). It’s not included in the 5-wood or 7-wood though, because Srixon is targeting slightly higher CG in those lofts for a higher spin to give you control into greens with greater height and stopping power.

Performance – 5/5

While the technology isn’t drastically different from the previous model, it didn’t need to be. Srixon has a philosophy that looks to consistent, incremental gains over massive performance jumps. At times that can make them seem like they’re lagging behind with some trends, but when they create a product as good as the ZXi Fairway Wood, it means they’ve built it on years of trusted and reliable testing.

I think it shows as soon as you make the first swing with ZXi. I have had zero issues sending the ball down my target line with this club, and it could easily be my new gamer fairway wood. The flight is strong from clean lies, but hitting out of thicker grass doesn’t cause it to drop at all. It’s a slightly deeper head, but that just gives me more trust when the ball is sitting up on a layer of grass that I’ll make decent contact even if I don’t catch it perfectly.

That deeper head also means that I can tee the ball up a little more without thinking about hitting the ball too high on the head and putting a sky mark in, something I’ve worried about with shallow heads, like the TaylorMade Qi35 Max.

Off-center strikes, like the high or low ones I might see based on the lie I’ve found, see very little drop-off for me on the course, and I feel like I can hit the same flight on repeat, which can’t always be said of every fairway wood I hit.

I also really enjoyed fiddling with the loft sleeve. There wasn’t a massive change in height, honestly, but I definitely noticed the direction changes. Face angle changes at rough 2º for every 1º of loft change, so taking 1.5º off the head opens the face by 3º, and vice-versa for adding loft – that closes the face.

With the loft down at 13.5º, I saw my shots turn into blocks that went about 15 yards left (I’m left-handed) of the target, but at 16.5º fully lofted up I was watching pulls to the right to about the same dispersion. So if you look down at this and feel it doesn’t quite suit you, you’ll absolutely see the difference by messing around or working with a good fitter.

The one downside to the Srixon ZXi fairway is that, if you aren’t naturally hitting down (and only a little down) on the ball with a wood, the deeper face may not work as well for you.

Overall – 4.5/5

The best way I can describe the Srixon ZXi Fairway Wood is that it’s easy to trust. When you find a fairway wood you trust, it’s inevitably one that you’ll stick with for a long time. And if that’s our agreed measuring stick, I can see many golfers having many happy years with Srixon’s fantastic 2025 entry.

Why say more than that?

• Srixon ZXi Irons – Everything you need to know

About the author

Lewis Daff

Lewis joined the Today’s Golfer digital team in 2024, having spent more than a decade in both big-box golf retail and independent stores working as a club fitter and builder.

Experienced with every level of golfer, from beginner to professional, he has achieved Master Fitter and Builder status with most major manufacturers, including Mizuno, Taylormade, and Callaway, helping him to cement both a wide and deep knowledge base, ideal for helping guide golfers towards the correct equipment for them. Lewis specializes in Clubs, Shafts, Training Aids, Launch Monitors and Grips.

In Lewis’ bag is Titleist GT3 Driver (9º) with Fujikura Ventus Black, TaylorMade SIM Max Fairway Woods (15º and 18º), Wilson Staff D9 Forged 3-iron, Srixon ZX7 MKii Irons (4-PW), Titleist SM9 Wedges (52º, 60º), Toulon San Diego Putter, and the Titleist ProV1X Left Dash.

Talk to Lewis about why steel shafts are now dead and graphite is the only way forward, or any other equipment you’d like to debate, via his email, Instagram, or Bluesky.

RRP: £329.00 / $329.99

Lofts: 3+-13.5º (RH Only), 3-15° / 5-18° (RH/LH), 7-21º (RH Only)

Head Size: 187cc / 187cc / 155cc / 142cc

Lie: 58º / 58º / 58.5º / 59º

Standard Shaft Length: 43.25" / 43.25" / 42.75" / 42.25"

Stock Shaft Options: Fujikura Ventus TR Blue 60g + 50g

Stock Grip: Golf Pride Tour Velvet 360