Low/shallow profile fairway woods: Love, hate, indifferent?

[Storms]

Does the 915F count as a shallow wood? Been playing it the last 7 years and and I've never had any issues hitting it off the deck or tee. Typically off the tee I will have about 1/4 of the ball above the crown and hit with a neutral to slightly negative AoA, so no issues with skymarks.

 

Whenever one of my buddies picks up a new 3w and it's got a deep face I feel like I have to hit a cut if its off the deck, similar to the few times I've played driver off the deck. Makes me think I prefer the shallow face

[caniac6]

I have a 425 Max 3 wood. I like it off the ground. Not so much off a tee.

[GOLF4373]

One thing not  mentioned here is the shaft tour ad di.  In my experience, that shaft moves my strike higher and toward the toe based on its design. I also use it in a 3 wood and for that purpose.  That is the reason its a “high launch low spin” shaft.  Any profile stiffer in the mid section will move that strike lower and more heel side instantly at the same specs (length and swingweight) all things equal. It will also increase the spin because of the strike location, there are a lot of guys on tour using super stiff fairway wood setups.  If you like the shallow face of that head, Ventus black, or project x anything would change that strike pattern significantly.  Ventus blue is a fairly similar profile to the tour ad shafts it’s basically a tour ad TP, but just stiffer overall if you want a smaller change in feel.  
 

a more upright lie angle would have the same effect on strike location but the loft will point left also and might bring in some draws for you.   Up to your game if that’s a positive change. 

[Jmccas]

I just snagged a Rogue St Max 5W. These are super shallow. I got a little steep with a 5W off the mats at the range and I was only a millimeter or two from a dummy mark. Going to have to exercise caution. I normally wear out the bottom grooves of fairways woods but with the Callaway there is not a ton of room for error.
 

Coming from a Mizuno STZ 5W which is much deeper. 

[lazyjc4]

Tour Edge E series fairway woods are very shallow, and great off the deck.  I really have to tee it low to avoid a pop-up from the tee, and fluffy lies out of the rough require a precise strike, but they are a fantastic performer.  

[GooseHook]

I've been in love with them since Tight Lies and the G15. Every now and then I'll catch one a little higher than I want off the tee but the benefits off the deck far outweight that tiny miss. Just tee them up so you can just see the head of the tee. 

 

That being said I'm well aware of my limitations as a new dad with an 8.0 index. I do not hit FW's out of rough unless it's a trouble punch out. Green light must equal short grass for me, or a perfect lie. 

[eric61]

On 12/2/2022 at 12:31 AM, Storms said:

Does the 915F count as a shallow wood? Been playing it the last 7 years and and I've never had any issues hitting it off the deck or tee. Typically off the tee I will have about 1/4 of the ball above the crown and hit with a neutral to slightly negative AoA, so no issues with skymarks.

 

Whenever one of my buddies picks up a new 3w and it's got a deep face I feel like I have to hit a cut if its off the deck, similar to the few times I've played driver off the deck. Makes me think I prefer the shallow face

 

I would actually consider the 915 F to be deeper faced, compared to something like a G425 Max or a Callaway Rogue ST Max. A great fairway wood though, for sure!

 

On 12/15/2022 at 8:09 AM, Jmccas said:

I just snagged a Rogue St Max 5W. These are super shallow. I got a little steep with a 5W off the mats at the range and I was only a millimeter or two from a dummy mark. Going to have to exercise caution. I normally wear out the bottom grooves of fairways woods but with the Callaway there is not a ton of room for error.
 

Coming from a Mizuno STZ 5W which is much deeper. 

 

Yeah I wound up trying a Rogue ST Max 7W for a little bit. Took it to a driving range and was practicing out of light rough at the end of the range (at that point I was still trying to work out whether it would work for me, and light rough is a situation I'd absolutely want to use a 7W from). I wound up with several dummy marks. I do hit down on fairway woods -- about 1.5-2 degrees down on a 3 wood (slightly steeper than April when I first posted this thread; I've taken lessons since then); not sure about 7W because I haven't checked on a launch monitor but presumably more like 3-4 degrees down since it's a shorter shaft. But I wasn't hitting them fat. Just anytime the ball was propped up a little bit on the grass as opposed to me needing to dig it out, I was getting under it. I wound up returning it for credit, thanks to Callaway's 30-day guarantee. 

 

51 minutes ago, GooseHook said:

I've been in love with them since Tight Lies and the G15. Every now and then I'll catch one a little higher than I want off the tee but the benefits off the deck far outweight that tiny miss. Just tee them up so you can just see the head of the tee. 

 

That being said I'm well aware of my limitations as a new dad with an 8.0 index. I do not hit FW's out of rough unless it's a trouble punch out. Green light must equal short grass for me, or a perfect lie. 

 

Looks like you're going with the TSi2 fairway woods now, though? I do really, really like those G15 fairway woods. I liked the G30 as well. But I feel like after about the G30, Ping tipped slightly over the edge into the "too shallow" category. What I've been finding is that even like 1/4" makes a huge difference for me in terms of confidence that I'm not going to sky the crap out of my fairway woods. I'm really hoping the G430 will be ever so slightly deeper faced in the center than the G425 was.

[GooseHook]

1 hour ago, eric61 said:

 

Looks like you're going with the TSi2 fairway woods now, though? I do really, really like those G15 fairway woods. I liked the G30 as well. But I feel like after about the G30, Ping tipped slightly over the edge into the "too shallow" category. What I've been finding is that even like 1/4" makes a huge difference for me in terms of confidence that I'm not going to sky the crap out of my fairway woods. I'm really hoping the G430 will be ever so slightly deeper faced in the center than the G425 was.

 

Yeah. The 3 wood has been in my bag since last fall and I just added the 5w to replace my Epic Flash Sub Zero. Each of the two heads is just shallow enough for the jobs they do. 

[starrman77]

Don't like them. They are only good (for me) from a good lie in the fairway. In the rough, or fringe, it's too easy for the club head to slip under the ball.

[jholz]

I'm playing a G30 currently and love the thing. Nice compromise between shallow and deep. Ping woods always look "easy to hit" to me. Not sure why.