Anyone drop fairway woods in favor of Hybrids?

[RoyalMustang]

I am contemplating an experiment: I have a 917 D2 4-wood that I hit quite well, but it can be an unforgiving club at times.  On a solid strike, I am at 265-280 with this club, but I can be all over the place with it.  

 

I have a D6 swingweight Srixon 85 hybrid that measures 41.5" with the shaft at 19 degrees:  I find it to be easier to hit (with the extra weight-added last week at the recommendation of some here) and have been using it off the tee over the past 2 rounds with great results (great targeting and distance of 240-265 as it plays to a draw and can roll out forever on hard winter fairways).  I am thinking of getting a 16 or 17 degree hybrid and dropping the 4-wood for more forgiveness; I can probably play it out of the rough better and have more consistent results.  

 

However; I rarely see people skipping fairway woods outright and going all hybrid.  Are there any drawbacks to such a setup?   It would probably be set up as more of a 4-5 wood in length and distance, but more forgiving.  

[Ripken08]

Search is your friend

[ChipNRun]

11 hours ago, RoyalMustang said:

However; I rarely see people skipping fairway woods outright and going all hybrid.  Are there any drawbacks to such a setup?   It would probably be set up as more of a 4-5 wood in length and distance, but more forgiving.

Main drawback would be if you can't hit the 16°-17° hybrid.

 

What is the shaft length of your 4W? See if a chokedown of a half inch would help on control.

 

Just things to think about. See what works.

[Huntingchris0000]

I only play hybrids, no fairway woods here.  I play an 18 degree hybrid and I can hit it about 230 where as the 4 wood I was using a couple years ago would go 235-240 however I was not nearly as accurate 

[RoyalMustang]

10 hours ago, ChipNRun said:

Main drawback would be if you can't hit the 16°-17° hybrid.

 

What is the shaft length of your 4W? See if a chokedown of a half inch would help on control.

 

Just things to think about. See what works.

 

8 hours ago, Huntingchris0000 said:

I only play hybrids, no fairway woods here.  I play an 18 degree hybrid and I can hit it about 230 where as the 4 wood I was using a couple years ago would go 235-240 however I was not nearly as accurate 

 

 

Thanks.  43.25": My driver is 44.5" (Srixon 785 w/CK Pro 70TX shaft).  It may be playing a bit long for a 4 wood!  I will try playing with the shorter length and add some weight to the head to offset the change. 

 

My SS with that club is probably not far off of my driver, yet the club has a much smaller sweet spot, making it harder to hit.  Perhaps a 42.5" would be a bit more normal length for a 4-wood?  

[ChipNRun]

1 hour ago, RoyalMustang said:

Perhaps a 42.5" would be a bit more normal length for a 4-wood?  

That's probably the average.

 

And, before you cut shaft, you might try choking down a half inch. This has done wonders for me on shots off the fairway. (I sometimes hold full length on tee shots, if I want a draw...)

 

A note on shorter shafts: A common GolfWorks Academy test for long clubs is to put a face decal on the wood and hit maybe 10 shots. If the impacts are scattered around the face, likely the shaft is a bit too long.  

[RoyalMustang]

43 minutes ago, ChipNRun said:

That's probably the average.

 

And, before you cut shaft, you might try choking down a half inch. This has done wonders for me on shots off the fairway. (I sometimes hold full length on tee shots, if I want a draw...)

 

A note on shorter shafts: A common GolfWorks Academy test for long clubs is to put a face decal on the wood and hit maybe 10 shots. If the impacts are scattered around the face, likely the shaft is a bit too long.  

 

Great idea!  I will try that next week when it warms up a bit. 

[stevopagolf]

I am planning to give it a try.  I rarely use a 3 wood anyway and can't launch it high enough to use it to reach a par 5.  Planning on a 16-17 degree hybrid and an 19-20 degree hybrid this year.

 

Didn't play much last year because Covid made tee times as rare as a vaccination clinic in PA....

 

Hopeful for more golf or I am going to go all in on Bass Fishing!

[hagimihale]

I dont have any fairway woods in the bag.  Driver, 16* driving iron (Mizuno MP18 Fli-Hi) and 19* hybrid (Titleist 818H2)

 

Driving iron gives me an alternate club off the tee on tight/short holes.  Hybrid carries  around 225 off the deck.  I typically lay up on anything outside 240.  

 

Made this change several years ago, don't miss the 3W.   

[RoyalMustang]

7 hours ago, hagimihale said:

I dont have any fairway woods in the bag.  Driver, 16* driving iron (Mizuno MP18 Fli-Hi) and 19* hybrid (Titleist 818H2)

 

Driving iron gives me an alternate club off the tee on tight/short holes.  Hybrid carries  around 225 off the deck.  I typically lay up on anything outside 240.  

 

Made this change several years ago, don't miss the 3W.   

 

What is the difference in distance and accuracy between the Fli-Hi and 818 H2?  Are irons shorter yet more accurate? 

[MikeW2]

I couldn’t hit fairways anymore and decided to try the hybrid route. Driver 17* then 20* and I couldn’t be happier. The on course results are considerably better.

[pinestreetgolf]

Everyone hits hybrids better. They’re shorter with more loft. Most people score better with a three wood because ugly and long is almost always lower score than pretty and short.

 

not everyone, just most. So it can work but make sure your score is going down, not just that you hit prettier balls.

[bogeypro]

I actually got tied of hybrids and put a 5 wood in play.

[Gohigh]

Fairway woods will almost always fly higher and usually carry a bit more than comparable lofted equivalent.

 

If you only use it off the tee, then I think it negates any benefit to having a 4W over Hybrid.

 

If you have firm, fast greens on long par 4s and 5s, then I think FW might help but thats maybe 1 or 2 shots in a round at most.

 

 

[hagimihale]

4 hours ago, RoyalMustang said:

 

What is the difference in distance and accuracy between the Fli-Hi and 818 H2?  Are irons shorter yet more accurate? 

 

The Fli-Hi is more accurate on tee shots.  It has a longer but heavier shaft (KBS C-Taper Light 115X vs Tensei Pro White 90X in the 818) which likely helps.  Its primarily used when driver won't work - shorter or tighter holes.  And I can hit nice low bullets into the wind, which we get a lot of this time of year in FL.  It gives me a dependable, pretty straight 240-250 off the tee.  

 

The distance with the 818 is similar and flights higher, but I can miss left with this club if I really stand on it (or don't get my hips open on the downswing).  I use this as a rescue club, on long approach shots, or off the tee on dogleg left holes where I can take advantage of the right-to-left tendency.

 

 

 

[Bridges]

I dropped my 3 wood at the end of 2019 and went with three hybrids. I put a 4 iron back in the bag at the end of the year but the fairway woods are not returning anytime soon. I go driver, 17 and 20 Super Hybrid then 4 iron. 

[Tree Levino]

[596]

I change between Fairway woods and hybrids.  I play either 3, 5, 7 fairway woods or 4 wood, 3 hybrid so I can add a wedge.  I find the 3 hybrid a tad more accurate then the fairways.  It will not go as high but will easily stop on a green.  The fairways are a tad longer and higher but not as accurate.

[RoyalMustang]

11 hours ago, hagimihale said:

 

The Fli-Hi is more accurate on tee shots.  It has a longer but heavier shaft (KBS C-Taper Light 115X vs Tensei Pro White 90X in the 818) which likely helps.  Its primarily used when driver won't work - shorter or tighter holes.  And I can hit nice low bullets into the wind, which we get a lot of this time of year in FL.  It gives me a dependable, pretty straight 240-250 off the tee.  

 

The distance with the 818 is similar and flights higher, but I can miss left with this club if I really stand on it (or don't get my hips open on the downswing).  I use this as a rescue club, on long approach shots, or off the tee on dogleg left holes where I can take advantage of the right-to-left tendency.

 

 

 

 

Yeah; my hybrid miss is ALWAYS left as well.   Even well hit I am looking at a draw; it would be nice to be able to hit a straight "safe" tee shot from time to time.  But yeah, that right to left action is real.  

 

My struggle isn't so much with the 4-wood off of the tee: looking at my stats when I use it, normally I am in pretty good shape.  I am wild with it off the deck however.  Ditching it altogether probably won't make a huge difference: it is a club that "theoretically" I can reach a long par 5 with from 260-270, but in the past 4 months, that has happened exactly twice.  The trouble with that approach is that if the green is guarded by bunkers and I don't hit a perfect shot, I would have been better off hitting a shorter club.  With the hybrid 2, my thoughts were that perhaps I would give up 10-20 yards in distance but trade it for accuracy.  For every "great" shot off the deck I hit with that 4-wood, I probably hit 4 or 5 with the hybrid.  

 

I am probably over-thinking it anyways.  Really, if I just had that 3-hybrid in my bag (and no 4-wood) and could hit learn to hit it straight and not a full-time draw, I am only giving up 20 yards off the tee.  In that context, perhaps getting a "straight" Fli-hi 17 degree makes a lot of sense (or learn to make a fairway swing with my driver: every time I "try" to swing easy it is a disaster).  

[hagimihale]

@RoyalMustang, I don't think you are overthinking it - I think you are analyzing it correctly. 

 

For some people, they'd rather be hitting 3 from a bunker than hitting wedge from down the fairway.  If the courses around me didnt have other trouble around the greens (water, woods, etc) that cause the miss to lead to a big #, I might think the same thing.   But they do, so I'd rather lay up, and thus I don't miss the 3W.  

 

I'd be looking at it like this: How often do you hit these clubs?  What is your typical shot?  How bad is your mishit?  How often would you really miss the club if you took it out of the bag.  Don't rely on the every-once-in-a-while amazing shot.  Play to your tendencies, but balance that with whatever maximizes your enjoyment out of this maddening but amazing game we play.  So if you love going for it in two and aren't bothered by the OB shot when you miss, keep at it.  :)

 

 

[luckypolk]

I dropped 3W at the beginning of last year and put a 2H at 17º into play. I won't be going back. I was great with the 3W off the tee but it rarely helped me anywhere else. I can go 2H off the tee, middle of the fairway, out of the rough. My distance and direction is far more consistent. If I could do a strokes gained calculation between the two clubs, the 2H is far superior for me. Just got fit into the SIM2 Rescue and really looking forward to putting it into play.

[RoyalMustang]

2 hours ago, hagimihale said:

@RoyalMustang, I don't think you are overthinking it - I think you are analyzing it correctly. 

 

For some people, they'd rather be hitting 3 from a bunker than hitting wedge from down the fairway.  If the courses around me didnt have other trouble around the greens (water, woods, etc) that cause the miss to lead to a big #, I might think the same thing.   But they do, so I'd rather lay up, and thus I don't miss the 3W.  

 

I'd be looking at it like this: How often do you hit these clubs?  What is your typical shot?  How bad is your mishit?  How often would you really miss the club if you took it out of the bag.  Don't rely on the every-once-in-a-while amazing shot.  Play to your tendencies, but balance that with whatever maximizes your enjoyment out of this maddening but amazing game we play.  So if you love going for it in two and aren't bothered by the OB shot when you miss, keep at it.  🙂

 

 

 

Yeah, the OB/hazard while going for it in 2 can be an issue!  Luckily my drives have gotten to a point where I can hit a open 520-540 yard par 5 approach with the 3H or 4/5 iron:  there are 2 par 5's on this course though that require a 250-260 tee shot (3H for me) when I then pull out the fairway wood for the approach (and am all over the place).  

 

Strokes lost on that fairway wood is probably pretty high vs my hybrid!  It is decent off the tee but I really need a smooth swing elsewhere.  Of course, when you are trying to hit a perfect 270 yard 4-wood off the fairway, the thing I don't usually produce is a "smooth swing". 

 

I saw a CBX used on Rock bottom w/85g 6.5 HZRDUS black for $70; probably worth a flier to try it!