Fairway wood - Better to loft up or loft down??

[jmkorting]

Curious as to peoples thoughts on is it better to loft up a 3 wood or loft down a 5 wood?  I was fitted into my Ping G410 5 wood at 16.5* (-1.5* on the loft sleeve).  So essentially a 4 wood.  But I was wondering if lofting up a 3 wood (14.5* to 16* using the +1.5* on loft sleeve) is better and what would the effects be?  My miss is right.  So the lofting down of my 5 wood would open it some and the loft up of a 3 wood would close it some.  Would it be advantageous of me to go 3 wood and loft up to gain that little bit of face closure that I desire/need or to stay with the 5 wood with face just a tad open.  Goal is misses that are less right.  Has anyone gone this route and what were your results and/or experiences?

 

**EDIT**  My length would be 42" in either 3 or 5 wood.  That is my preferred length in the club.  So club length would be shorter than standard Ping specs.

Edited December 4, 2020 by jmkorting

[Golfrnut]

So this is merely my personal desires/wants when it comes to the whole loft up/down things with woods.  I would rather loft down than up.  Reason being, when I loft up, in order to square the face when I have the head soled on the ground, I have to fight the sole in order to re-square the head unless there is a lot of relief off the back of the head.  Turning the club head from open to closed goes towards the leading edge so the aft part of the sole is raised off the ground instead of being lowered as you open it up.

 

If you sole the club for alignment, you are probably better off favoring something that's going to gravitate towards the closed side though, unless optically it just looks off-putting to you, etc.  Still some 4 woods out there, some marketed as 3HL, etc now instead of 4W.  If you already have the heads though, guess it's worth the test to see if you get the results you want or not.

[Adam C]

If you are fighting the ball going right then lofting up seems like a good option since it will often give you a little more closed face. Be advised that not all clubs will show much change in face direction based on hosel adapter changes though. Club design specifically sole design and your personal set up can negate some of that face movement.

[cristphoto]

I replaced my Taylor Made M4 15 degree 3-wood with a TM M4 16.5 HL 3-wood.  I might give up a yard or two when using it to tee off on shorter par four's but it much more reliable from the fairway for me. Plus I think it goes as far or a bit farther from the fairway too.  Nevertheless its a confidence builder.  

[Alan Pllu]

For me personally I have found that when I loft a club up it lowers my strike on the face so I get slightly more spin and the same launch angles and the opposite when I loft down I seem to strike higher in the face so get lower spin and occasional flier type shots from it. 

 

You would need to check yourself what happens when you change loft because there is more than just the opening and closing for start line and shot shape for me. 

[RogerinNewZealand]

I think you made right choice,as golfnut says,loft down.I did this last xmas with Ping G 7wood..now found an old 20/7 v steel for that gap! I had 917 4 wood for 15.75 16.5 17.25 too try vs old T.E.E 4!.

Just gone back too ts3 15 awaiting delivery.Being comfy with sound,shaft,can you cut a lite fade if you need too..thats what i need! Try lite Draw setting.42 inch good idea!

Will flatter Lie setting assist?

[Gohigh]

I think just changing loft sleeve on most adjustable hosels affect face angle... There are some that also change the lie angle with loft adjustment (Mizuno being one of them) so you might want to check on that as well.

 

I could be wrong, but I thought the loft adjustment works when you manually readjust your face angle to square, once the face angle changes after loft adjustment.

 

For example, on most sleeves, delofting creates open face... which you square up again, which is whats causes the reduction of loft since you are essentially shutting the face down for less loft.

 

I think even without squaring the clubface again, opening and closing of face angle changes the dynamic loft by a bit, but I was told by a rep and clubfitter long ago about how to use the loft sleeve properly.

 

Am I mistaken on this?

 

 

[cadman88]

For me.. I game a TS2 16.5° set on B2  (standard loft and more draw setting) I don't typically slice it to the right, I got tired of my misses with any fairways I've tried being low fades to the right. With the 16.5° I gained launch / ball height, and the B2 setting is either straight or a soft draw now. I did try it set on A2 (standard loft and most draw setting) but that didn't work out well, I couldn't keep it from duck hooking left. I will add that although mine is a 16.5° (4 wood) the shaft length in it is a standard 3 wood length, which seems to work out well for me. I know it's not the same as lofting up / down, but it does serve it's purpose well.

[mgoblue83]

The loft settings on the adapters are not created equal. I would almost guarantee you will hit the 5w higher and with more spin than the 3w even if they are "set" to the same loft. The geometry and center of gravity of the head affects ball flight more than a sleeve setting.

 

If you want to hit the ball higher and be easier to hit off the ground go with the 5w. If you want to hit the ball lower and use it more off the tee then go with the 3w.

 

The adapter sleeve should be used for minor tweaks to achieve the ball flight you want AFTER you choose the club that fits your goals.

[ChipNRun]

Before you spend $$ on new fairways, check out your clubhead alignment at address.

 

Find some square floor tiles, and line up the clubhead to square. Does it look like the clubhead looks at address? Some people think they're lining up the clubhead properly, when they're really not.

 

Just something you can check quickly.

[Smokey227]

I will add one more variable that I haven’t seen discussed. Do you prefer a larger or smaller head. That matters more to me than anything. I have played clubs lofted up and down and neither tend to affect my ball flight.
 

I haven’t compared the 410 but in the 400 the 3 wood is significantly larger than the 5 wood.