FW wood suggestions

Long_Left · February 11, 2021

I'm a golf junkie so I watch a ton of reviews and look at testing and all that, I think I'm pretty "up to speed" on what the major players bring to the table but I have a problem to solve and I'm not sure how to solve it...

Getting demo clubs as a lefty in a smaller town in New Mexico isn't really an option and getting launch monitor time is challenging.

My issue is that I'm not 100% sure of what "type" of 3w I'm looking for, I find that I use it off the tee most often on the main course I play but when I play elsewhere I need something I can hit into par 5s. I played a TM R11 for years until it failed, replaced with a Cobra F8 set to 13.5 that is still in the bag but I find that I don't get consistent spin out of it so it sometimes goes 30+ yards shorter than expected on a reasonable strike and it has gone 30+ yards too far on random occasions as well.

I don't need a ton of help getting the ball in the air but I do have a tendency to turn it over more than I like to. I'm looking for "middle ground" between a Max model and a tour type 3w without having to order a bunch of them blind to test... any suggestions would be welcome.

JFM628 · February 11, 2021

You will get a ton of responses as a lot of heads fit your criteria. Two that come to mind and that I have hit are the TS2 and the Mizuno fairways. ST series (190 & 200)...the new STZ fairways also look fantastic and are getting stellar reviews. Slightly deeper face than many others but no issue getting it in the air.

JFM628 · February 11, 2021

This may be interesting if you haven't seen it...left too.

ChrisLC40 · February 11, 2021

As a fellow lefty and sometime over-turner of the club, I would suggest the Ping G425 fairways. Even with the stock Alta CB shaft they seem to lean towards a rather neutral flight and not difficult to get up in the air. As far as demo'ing, look at Global Golf's U-Try program.

dlygrisse · February 11, 2021

10 minutes ago, ChrisLC40 said:

As a fellow lefty and sometime over-turner of the club, I would suggest the Ping G425 fairways. Even with the stock Alta CB shaft they seem to lean towards a rather neutral flight and not difficult to get up in the air. As far as demo'ing, look at Global Golf's U-Try program.

Agreed. I play the 410’s while these may not be the absolute longest, I generally know where they are headed.

Hack Daddy · February 11, 2021

17 minutes ago, ChrisLC40 said:

As a fellow lefty and sometime over-turner of the club, I would suggest the Ping G425 fairways. Even with the stock Alta CB shaft they seem to lean towards a rather neutral flight and not difficult to get up in the air. As far as demo'ing, look at Global Golf's U-Try program.

4 minutes ago, dlygrisse said:

Agreed. I play the 410’s while these may not be the absolute longest, I generally know where they are headed.

Thrice a lefty, I agree w/ above. Also, if you want to test this cheap, the older Adams fairways are almost identical to Pings. You can find the heads on eBay for $20-30.

Edit: specifically, the Tightlies line

Edited February 11, 2021 by Hack Daddy

Long_Left · February 23, 2021

On 2/11/2021 at 9:16 AM, ChrisLC40 said:

As a fellow lefty and sometime over-turner of the club, I would suggest the Ping G425 fairways. Even with the stock Alta CB shaft they seem to lean towards a rather neutral flight and not difficult to get up in the air. As far as demo'ing, look at Global Golf's U-Try program.

I'm struggling to get over the "look" of the Ping fairways. They look, to me, like someone stepped on them 😂

I'll 100% check out the Global Golf program, thank you!

It's only gone from bad to worse the last coupe weeks, I'm getting more out of my utility 3 iron than I am from my 3w. I've inspected it, doesn't appear to be anything physically wrong with it but I hit one Saturday that was struck cleanly and failed to clear a bunker that was a 218 carry. No significant wind... it was odd.

ChrisLC40 · February 23, 2021

The Ping FW's do have a squashed look, but I like that over a taller and more compact head. And the shallower look helps with my confidence.

Your 3U will have generally 4+ degrees on a 3wd, plus if you have the swing speed to get a 3U up in the air it's not surprising it's working well. Instead of a 3w look at a 5w lofted down. I worked with a 3hcap over the weekend and fit him into a G425 5w (turned down to 16*) with a 3w length shaft. Launch obviously was up a few degrees, sweet little 3yd draw, and still carried his "required" 265yds. His miss is an overdraw so the delofted 5w worked great for him. The G425 line is pretty darn solid.

mcounci2 · February 23, 2021

If you like the F8, it might be too much of a an incremental change, but the F9 tour is a smaller/not tiny head that's very easy to hit off the deck, and is available fairly reasonably. It will be a while before they get kicked out of my bag.

Ping i25 was also a standout for me, still not entirely sure why I ever stopped hitting them.

If I was going to buy something new the Mizuno stuff would be at the top of my list.

monkeyboy · February 23, 2021

Lefty here as well - just got on launch monitor with Cobra Rad, Titleist TSi and Ping 425 max.

General lack of stuff to test due to being lefty and golf is so hot, hard for stores to stock everything

Highlights =

*consider I am still working on which shaft profile is best for me...

Cobra was good but not standout for me.

Titleist TSi2 was very forgiving and felt the best all around to me, tried all low/low shafts so results were 2nd best. I like Titleist stuff, had a driver, 3 and 5 wood in the past. Felt and sounded great. They did not have TSi3 heads in stock. I will be trying other shafts in this to see if I get better results.

Ping 425 max. Never used Ping before. Excellent dispersion and out of the box stats. Easy to hit. Sound was a bit different. Used a stock Alta CB 65 stiff shaft. They don't offer many other shafts without a $$ upcharge. The thing that stood out to me was how neutral and flat is sat at address - very different from other Mfgs...I think Mizuno is similar - but no stock yet and they only make a 3 wood in lefty. Ping 3 wood is 14.5 loft vs Titleist at 15 degrees

End of day, I could bag the Ping right now. But I prefer the Titleist if I can get comparable numbers.

Good luck