Mini-driver? 3-wood? hybrid? Pro reveals how to choose the perfect woods

As golfers we can still get confused as to the best make-up at the top end of our bags. Moortown Assistant Professional Eddie Hammond explains what to consider when you’re looking for some woods to accompany your driver.

Hybrid or fairway wood?

From a coaching point of view you know the type of golfer who can hit down on a ball, who can lean the shaft forward and who takes a divot. They’re always going to be that person who’s probably better suited to a hybrid.

But golfers who sweep and pick at the ball and who have a shallow angle of attack and who can get a bit scoopy and a bit flippy, are most likely going to be slightly better suited to fairways.

What you also need to remember is that when you are buying a club off the shelf then a 19˚ hybrid and a 19˚ fairway will be different. You’ve got the size of head in the fairway wood being bigger and the length of shaft being longer. That’s two things straightaway that are going to make the ball go further so you need to take that into consideration too.

The 3-wood

There is still something of a macho thing about this and golfers think you should have a 3-wood in the bag but not many can produce the clubhead speed to get the ball speed to launch the loft of a modern 3-wood.

A few years ago 3-woods were getting down to 14/14.5˚ but they now seem to be creeping back up a little bit. Manufacturers are changing things with the soles and how they’re welded and other factors to try and help launch but still with a strong loft.

But we are seeing more people now going into 5 and 7-woods rather than the old fashioned 3-5 combination. Titleist do it well, they put the loft on rather than the number of woods. So they do a 16.5˚, which is technically a 4-wood, and they do a 15˚. Personally I’ve always gone with the 16.5˚ as I have a low ball flight and I actually hit the 18˚ further and higher.

So we’re not seeing as many 3-woods and, those who do still carry one, will generally carry it to use off the tee.

The mini driver

We are seeing this transfer over a bit from the pro to the amateur game because of shots like Tommy Fleetwood’s in the Ryder Cup.

Personally I still think that a well-fitted 460cc driver should tick all the boxes. Most manufacturers have a selection of offerings to cover all necessary requirements. Most offer a low launch/spin head, draw bias weighted, max forgiveness (fast ball speeds across the face) option and a lightweight high launch/spin head.

About Eddie Hammond
Eddie is the Head Assistant Professional at Moortown in Yorkshire. He is originally from Sheffield and he moved to Moortown in 2005, qualifying as a PGA Professional in 2010. Eddie is a Titleist ambassador