Anyone playing driver & 5w with no 3w?

[WestCoastGolf]

I go driver, 17* hybrid, 3i. I like the distance gapping for my game, and hit the hybrid as good as any FW I was playing.

[mosesgolf]

I swear I make more bogeys going for par 5s in two with a 3 wood rather than laying up to a good yardage that almost always guarantees a par and often times birds.  Hmmmmm

[acemandrake]

3W is unnecessary for most.  Today, drivers are so forgiving & 5W's go far enough that the 3W has been relegated to some sort of super specialty club.

 

Better to have a club that will see more use.

[Bob M]

For me its Driver, 5 wood, 7 wood and 11 wood. I cannot hit a 3 wood off the deck and am pretty accurate with my driver, so why bother.

[dlygrisse]

I’ve done it. Sometimes delofting the club a tick.  
 

a good choice might be 5 wood for fairway shots and a strong 3 wood for controlled tee shots or perfect uphill lies from the turf.  The key with a 3 wood is to only hit it off the tee or perfect lies. Don’t ever hit one from a marginal or downhill lie. 

[Jmccas]

13 hours ago, bvanlieu said:

 

Lengths the same? I would expect the 5w to be at least 1/2 shorter depending on brand. I also trimmed my 4w a bit, added some more weight to head to get SW back. I grew up with 43.5" drivers so don't mind a 'shorter' FW 🙂 

 

Yeah it’s maybe ½” short of the 4W. The Mizuno 5W seems just as long as the 4W. 

[dlygrisse]

23 minutes ago, Jmccas said:

Yeah it’s maybe ½” short of the 4W. The Mizuno 5W seems just as long as the 4W. 

Get a   Callaway Heavenwod. It’s a 4 wood with 20* loft.   Very easy to elevate with the head speed of a 4 wood. Great off of if lies and many carry the ball farther than most other woods on average.  

[mantan]

1 hour ago, acemandrake said:

3W is unnecessary for most.  Today, drivers are so forgiving & 5W's go far enough that the 3W has been relegated to some sort of super specialty club.

 

Better to have a club that will see more use.

 

Yep. I would bet 1 in 50 guys on here can hit a 3 wood off the deck consistently.  In the days before 460cc drivers, a 3W was a safe 'driving club.'  But I bet the accuracy off the tee between a driver and 3 wood is the same for most guys. Buying a 3 and 5 wood was a habit for a lot of golfers for a long time. But with new FW woods costing over $300, that's a big investment for a club that only gets used once in a blue moon and creates more problems than solutions.

Edited October 29, 2021 by mantan

[nicelife]

Driver, 5w, 7w, 9w, 5-P. The high lofted woods have made the top of my bag super functional. I refer to them as my long wedges. 

[BabyCarrot]

After driver its a 19 degree 5 wood. It has restored my faith and confidence in fairway woods.

[RogerinNewZealand]

10.5,17.5,23 🙂this is an interesting combo,i need 10.5, have had the tm before..its a classic from 2007,this one has a Purple Ice so its a good FairwayFinder.The G410 is 22 set at 23, flat and was bought to not hook on uphill tight approaches to greens and today it has done that.Thats my happy story.MP62 are Nice too.58FF Clevo Zipcore good too.

[liamw]

I've just gone 4W 7W to replace 3W 19* Hybrid.

[dhen9]

As an average golfer with 97-101 driver SS driver, 5 wood makes perfect sense. Most of us at this speed can't generate enough speed to effectively hit 13-15° fairway woods. Many modern 5 woods have similar CC to just a few years ago 3 woods so forgiveness is moot. I personally feel confident with 5 wood, lofted down slightly and playing length of 3 wood. For golfers like me, I think this club is meant to advance the ball between 220-235 total distance if you catch it on the screws. Of really honest most average golfers will find that a 3-5 wood combo is a waste of a club no different than have a 3-4 iron as these clubs likely travel identical distances. Now, this is regarding the average male golfer and not the average WRXer. 

[PuffyC]

I’m driver and 5W then irons everywhere else. When PGA Tour pros complain that a 3W is too hard to hit off the deck why would I mess with one? With a 5W, what you gain in consistency far outweighs the few yards of distance the 3 might give you.

[azgreg]

My full bag goes D/4W/7W/4H. When I walk I swap out the 4W and 7W with a 5W and drop the 5I, 7I, and LW. 

[Schulzmc]

I carry Driver (240 carry) and 5 wood (220 carry off the tee, 210 off the fairway). I might carry a 3 wood a little farther off the tee, but actually carry the 5 wood farther off the deck.

[scooterhd2]

Driver, 5W, hybrid, 5 iron.

 

I'm terrible with a 3W off the deck. 5W is absolute money off the turf. Also, I see little advantage of 3W off the tee. I'm not any more accurate than I am with my driver, whereas the 5W is point and shoot. Surely giving up some yards and I do have a big gap, but you are either laying up off the tee or not. Your either hitting for distance, or hitting for precision. Driver or 5W. 

[R5Two]

5w cranked down a degree. 

 

Simply put: 

 

Sim2 Ti 3 - 170cc

Sim2 Ti 5w - 140cc

 

5w cuts turf like butter allowing me to hit down on the ball confidently. Also carry a 2i

Edited October 30, 2021 by R5Two

[cadman88]

Ping G400 Max 9° driver and Ping G400 5/17.5° (with ALTA CB 65s 3 wood length shaft).. it works for me..

[CoachCraigie]

Erm... so yeah. I think I need to look at a 5w to fill the gap. Appreciate all the replies! Definitely time to get some things to test over winter!

[PhilWhitUK]

I went to a Cobra fitting last year (about a month before lockdowns started) and was fitted for a Cobra 5 wood but with a 3 wood shaft.  It gave me good launch and accuracy and I gripped down a little if I needed to hit “regular” 5 wood distance.  I used that as my only fairway wood.
 

Currently playing a Mavrik 4 wood but that is more because I prefer the feel off the face.  The Cobra worked well for me.

[brutus27]

Driver - Sim 2

5 wood - Sim Max

3 utility iron - Titleist U510

4 utility iron - Titleist U510

 

7 HC 95mph driver SS. Inconsistent with 3W off the deck. Even most low index guys I play with are at best 50/50 with 3W off the turf. IMHO 3W is best left to scratch and + players.

 

[philly2kuk]

I played driver five wood for probably ten years. Then tried the 3hl in my bag now and loved it, so now play driver 3hl hybrid.

[njlam]

I play a 12 degree driver and hit it great. Part of the reason for this is the higher loft.

 

So for my 3 wood and 5 wood, I use 5 wood and 7 wood heads and use 3 wood and 5 wood length shafts.

Additionally, I adjust the heads to lower the lofts by 1.5 degree (which opens the face).

 

The result is a highly lofted 3 wood and 5 wood, or a 4 wood and a 6 wood. 

The additional loft gets the ball up and the open face keeps the ball from going left (my normal miss).

Stuart Cink does the same thing. We are frequently mistaken for each other. Just not on the golf course.

[PoeKingShankspeare]

I have that set up.. but the Ping g410 5w is rather strong. The loft is close, or the same as my old XR 3w which was my favorite club. 
 

I had the 3w LST which is string lofted too. Over time I used it less and less, so I got rid of it...

[ALIF]

Driver, 18 degree FW, 21 degree FW.

[lil'mike]

Driver, 5wd 18 deg, hybrid 21 deg,

 

[Skhacker]

Driver, 18 hybrid, 22 hybrid then on to 5 iron works nicely. 

[Pepperturbo]

My Driver set at 11', 4wd set at 15.75', then 2 iron followed by 3i-PW, etc.  My 2 iron essentially = 5wd.  This bag allows me to easily cover out to 6700yds. 

[TarHeelGolfer2325]

It’s somewhat course dependent for me but I have a Ventus Black 7X that just arrived that I’m going to put into my Taylormade Mini 11.5. If it’s a course less than 6800ish, I honestly don’t need a 3 wood. Pretty decent drives on par 5s leave me usually less than 3 wood distance so I’d rather have another tee option (especially in the colder months) and go straight to 5 wood.