Fairway wood materials.. pros and cons

[HIRO.G]

All fairwaywood manufactures use different material for their products face and body material,

 

Titanium, maraging steel, ES230 SUS360 SUS304 and SUS630 maybe other material that i didn't know... what are the pros and cons between those material . i see that titanium fairway woods have higher price tag.. but are they more superior than steel and stainless steel

 

pro and cons on

PLAYABILITY ACCURACY/FORGIVENESS DISTANCE CONTROL FEEL ..

 

XXIO SUS360 body Ti face

Yonex Nanospeed SUS360

Royal Collection Tour VS SUS630

Yamaha some using SS some using Ti some use combination SS and maraging steel

Epon AF201 SS face SUS304 body

 

i know there are endless combination but

i make this thread here because alot of JDM fans are very sensitive for quality, performance and feel.. based on material that brands of fairway you played before which combination you like the most.. not from design aesthetic and weight distribution

[freehb]

I go with titanium face every time

[HIRO.G]

titanium gives more distance for sure.. but why some company use Stainless Steel instead of titanium they must be a reason behind this

[timeless]

[quote name='HIRO.G' timestamp='1376907435' post='7703584']
titanium gives more distance for sure.. but why some company use Stainless Steel instead of titanium they must be a reason behind this
[/quote]

because it's cheaper.

[HIRO.G]

yup it is cheaper, but why yamaha sell D-Spoon (note: D line is for amateur player) using titanium.. but their tour version (V-Line for better player) fairwaywood is using stainless steel face, they can simply use a titanium for tour version and stainless for D-Line

 

[KuroOuji54]

Stainless seems to be more consistent to me. I feel like with titanium, my fairway wood will "jump" on me every now and then or come up short on a solid strike.

[swgolf12]

[quote name='HIRO.G' timestamp='1377050059' post='7716470']
yup it is cheaper, but why yamaha sell D-Spoon (note: D line is for amateur player) using titanium.. but their tour version (V-Line for better player) fairwaywood is using stainless steel face, they can simply use a titanium for tour version and stainless for D-Line


[/quote]

Often times it depends on the clubs design. As noted in the article regarding the new Adams Tight Lies, they had tried a Ti face Tight Lies with the slot technology, however the CT was too high putting it over the legal limit. In addition it is higher production cost to have a Ti-face and stainless body so we will probably see Adams go away from the XTD line for fairways as the Velocity Slot Technology becomes perfected.

[kuregu]

I could be wrong but I always heard that Ti fairway woods spin more than stainless. Better for slower swing speeds but it's the reason why most pros don't use them.

I know this is a JDM forum, but I love my old R11 Ti fairways. Haven't found anything - JDM or otherwise - that have performed better for me, and believe me, I've looked around and tried many.

[Laws of Woo]

I've hit Ti fairways in the past and didn't really care for them. Same loft/length/shaft, but they would fly higher, spin more, and just weren't as consistent for me as steel. Distance is nice, but I preferred steel.

[gettingworse]

The titaniums that I have tried do tend to spin more (launch higher anyway) for me. Also don't seem to be so accurate and less efficient in the wind for me. Most that I have tried only want to go straight which is great for some. If there is one club that I like to control trajectory/shape it's the 3/4 wood and steal fairways seem to do this much better for me.

I want accuracy, control and reliability in a fairway, played sonartec ss-03 for many years and now a G15. Not as long as some I know but that's not important to me, really not bothered about an extra 5 yards and don't need much help in getting the ball airborne!

My take on it is that until the latest titanium fairways came out (the RBZ and X-Hot etc) , the perceived extra pop from titanium fairways was in no way caused by COR of trampoline effect from the titanium faces. When I tested the R9 steal and titanium I actually hit the steal a couple of yards further on average. I could be wrong but without the extra pop the only benefit of titanium in a fairway wood is it allows the designer to distribute more weight where it is needed, until now that is usually low and back away from the face to raise spin and launch. With MWT technology, it is just a matter of time before we have the option of moving weight not just to the heel/toe but also maybe towards the face and backwards, altering spin levels (someone probably already does and I'm just behind on my club knowledge).
If my thoughts are correct, titanium (and other lightweight metals/alloys) are still the future, but for me they are not the present.