Fairway Woods

The one club that can be used with equal effectiveness off the tee, from the fairway, in the rough and around the green.

TESTED: DRIVER V 3-WOOD OFF THE TEE

Many tour players are embracing a new driver. It’s smaller and has more loft than they’re used to. The ball doesn’t go as far, but it finds the fairway more often. To use this “driver” players don’t have to add a club. That’s because it’s already in the bag: It has “3” on the soleplate.

We wanted to know if average golfers should hit more 3-woods off the tee, too. So we tested high-speed swingers (105+ miles per hour) and average swingers (95mph) to find out how much distance they lose going from driver to 3-wood. High-speed swingers lost 28.1 yards (260.5 yards with a driver v 232.4 with a 3-wood).

Average swingers lost only 14.4 yards (219.3 vs. 204.9). For average swingers, extra loft often produces more carry distance. But high-swing speeds generate extra spin on 3-wood shots that robs them of distance.

So should average swingers use a 3-wood instead of a driver? Not exactly. If you hit it less than 220 yards off the tee, every yard counts. But long hitters can find the fairway more often with a 3-wood, and even though they’re losing distance, 230-plus works on most holes.