Joel Tadman and Sam De'Ath from Golf Monthly pick the best fairway woods.
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00:00 With so many fairway wood models on the market,
00:02 it can be really challenging to find the right one for you.
00:05 But I've tested 16 models from nine different brands,
00:09 analyzing performance, feel, looks,
00:11 to find out which one's right for your game.
00:14 (upbeat music)
00:17 Right, Sam, so I've come to join you here
00:18 on the seventh hole of Deserter's course, Santo de Serra.
00:21 Incredible views in Madeira.
00:23 I would recommend it if you are planning a golf trip.
00:26 But we're talking about the looks of these fairway woods,
00:28 and it's very important with a fairway wood
00:29 that you get one that you like the look of
00:30 down behind the ball,
00:31 'cause they can be quite intimidating,
00:33 especially off the deck, tight lies.
00:35 You want something that's gonna give you
00:36 a lot of confidence.
00:37 Which ones have really stood out to you
00:38 in terms of the looks?
00:40 - Well, the first one I'd like to highlight
00:41 is the Mizuno STG.
00:43 Now, I'm a better player,
00:45 I'm a more confident ball striker,
00:47 and so having a smaller, more compact head behind the ball
00:49 is something that I look for.
00:51 This is a, like I said, a more compact head.
00:53 It's a more pear-shaped head
00:55 than some of the others we've seen released this year.
00:57 But the simple alignment on top,
00:59 the gloss black crown, it's really classic,
01:01 it's really simple,
01:03 and it's one that I think looks great.
01:05 - I agree, I think lots going on with Mizuno.
01:08 They're making some really good metal woods at the moment,
01:10 especially in drivers.
01:10 They've had a win on tour recently,
01:12 and it's got an adjustable hosel and everything.
01:14 So yeah, for the better player, I agree,
01:15 looks really nice.
01:17 But not everyone is a better player,
01:18 so if you're watching this video,
01:19 if you want something that's gonna give you
01:20 a bit more confidence, maybe a bit more forgiveness,
01:23 a bit more meat behind the ball,
01:24 is there one that really stands out?
01:25 - Yeah, absolutely, yeah.
01:26 The TaylorMade QI10.
01:28 Now, this is one that isn't necessarily built
01:32 for higher handicappers.
01:34 This is one that will appeal to the masses.
01:35 This has just gone in the bag of Rory McIlroy this season,
01:38 so he's actually opted for this over the Tour model.
01:41 It is a slightly larger head,
01:42 it's actually got a shallow face, though,
01:44 so it looks really easy to launch off the deck.
01:47 It's much more symmetrical than the Mizuno,
01:50 much more rounded, but again,
01:52 the carbon infinity crown on the top
01:53 goes all the way to the end,
01:54 and then they've touched on this laser etch treatment
01:57 on top, the silver lining really helps you
02:00 square that face up to your target.
02:01 - Agree, I think a very user-friendly option,
02:03 I think, for that one.
02:05 But, I mean, I'm looking at all the Fairwoods here,
02:06 they're all relatively similar,
02:08 apart from this one here,
02:09 which is really standing out to me,
02:10 and I think it stood out to you as well.
02:12 Talk about your favorite overall
02:14 for looks in this Fairwood category.
02:15 - Yeah, so if you were to walk into a golf store,
02:17 this is definitely the one that you're gonna
02:19 walk straight up to and pick up to inspect,
02:21 and that is the Callaway Paradigm AI Max.
02:24 - Yeah, I agree, there we go, looks amazing.
02:26 - So, this is named AI Smoke,
02:29 and that's pretty obvious,
02:30 it's because of the crushed carbon on the sole,
02:32 it's given this smoky effect,
02:33 black and gray kind of tones to it.
02:37 It looks great behind the ball,
02:38 they've gone for the carbon crown
02:39 with the satin gray banner on top.
02:42 Again, a really symmetrical looking head,
02:44 but the face lines on it really help with alignment,
02:49 and this is just one that I think everyone will love.
02:52 - There we go, plenty to enjoy with the Fairwoods.
02:54 Lots of variety on offer,
02:56 but those are our three favorites.
02:58 (upbeat music)
03:01 Right, Sam, we're moving on to feel now.
03:02 I think it's important that Fairwood feels good
03:04 off the face and in your hands,
03:06 and there's a few that have really stood out to you,
03:07 and I know one of them is the Ping G430 we're gonna start with.
03:11 Talk to us about why you like the feel
03:13 of this particular model.
03:14 - Yeah, so this one carries on from last year,
03:16 so Ping work on a biannual basis,
03:18 so this one came out at the start of 2023,
03:20 but it's still one of the best feeling models on the market.
03:23 Now, the titanium face just feels super hot, super springy,
03:27 and that's relevant to wherever you strike it,
03:29 and that's what everyone loves about a Ping.
03:31 They're known for their forgiveness.
03:32 This is the Max model.
03:33 They do have the LST model as well,
03:35 which is a slightly hotter--
03:37 - Oh my God, incredible.
03:38 - Yeah, produces very low ball flight, very low spinning,
03:41 but this one just feels great
03:43 no matter where you hit it on the face.
03:45 - Come on then, let's see.
03:45 Well, we've got this beautiful--
03:46 - This one down there.
03:47 You know, first thing of the day,
03:48 so it's probably gonna come off the bottom,
03:49 which is a really good test for this club.
03:51 - And you know, first thing of the day,
03:52 you're gonna want a Ping club, don't you?
03:53 Something a bit more forgiving.
03:55 - Absolutely.
03:56 - Let's see.
03:57 - Beautiful.
04:00 - It's still got that little bit of a tinny sound to it,
04:02 but I'm guessing it feels pretty stable.
04:05 - Absolutely, yeah.
04:06 Well, it's the tinny sound that's synonymous with Ping.
04:08 You know when you've hit a Ping,
04:09 and that's relevant to the feel as well.
04:12 It feels great off the face, very easy to hit.
04:15 - Right, let's move on to another one,
04:17 which I think you liked in terms of the feel.
04:20 I believe it was this one, which is the Cobra Dark Speed X.
04:25 Talk us about that one.
04:27 - Yeah, so this is one of three models released this year.
04:30 So you've got the Dark Speed X, the Dark Speed Max,
04:35 and the Dark Speed LS.
04:37 This is the, I guess, the standard model of the range.
04:40 This is the one that will benefit most players,
04:43 and the reason why I love the feel of this
04:45 is because it feels so hot off the face.
04:48 They do have hot face technology in there.
04:51 They've got this power bridge system,
04:52 which really helps boost ball speeds as well.
04:54 It's really forgiving.
04:57 It sounds good.
04:59 I've always thought Cobra sounds sometimes
05:02 more on the tinny side of things.
05:03 They're a louder sound, which is an acquired taste.
05:05 I'm someone who prefers a more muted sound,
05:08 but just the feel off the face of this,
05:09 especially when struck out the middle,
05:10 is just next to none.
05:12 - Well, let's see it in action then.
05:13 (whooshing)
05:18 - Yeah.
05:20 - I mean, how good does that sound?
05:21 - Really hear that reverberating around the trees.
05:23 Yeah, there's a lot of presence in that fairway.
05:25 - Yeah.
05:26 - Very good.
05:27 Awesome, but it's not your favorite.
05:29 - It's not my favorite.
05:30 - There's one that really stood out to you.
05:31 Which one was that?
05:32 - And that is the PXG Black Ops.
05:34 - Brand new.
05:35 - Brand new, here for 2024.
05:39 Now, the last PXG fairway wood I hit was the 0211,
05:43 and they're slightly different fairway woods
05:47 in terms of where they come into the market.
05:49 - Yeah, more of an entry level, that.
05:50 - Exactly, and this one is ultra premium,
05:53 premium materials.
05:54 This face is actually 12 and a half percent thinner
05:58 than the previous generation,
06:00 which has helped provide flexion in the face,
06:03 faster ball speeds,
06:04 and that's something you really notice
06:05 when you strike this.
06:07 The carbon crown on top
06:09 actually mutes the sound quite a lot as well,
06:10 which produces that more thud-like sound.
06:12 - It'd be interesting to hear that
06:14 compared to the ping, wouldn't it?
06:16 Let's see if we can hear that.
06:18 Okay.
06:20 Yeah, it's a little bit of a metallic sound to it,
06:23 but quite deep as well.
06:25 - It's a metallic sound,
06:26 but it's an improvement on previous generations,
06:29 and that's something I really picked up upon.
06:31 - There you go, those are our three favorites
06:33 in the feel category.
06:34 Right, so we're moving on to the all important performance.
06:40 Remember, if you do like this video,
06:41 make sure you click the like button
06:42 and subscribe to the Golf Monthly YouTube channel.
06:45 But let's flush out the data on the screen,
06:46 because Sam, you've tested all these fairway woods indoors
06:49 on a launch monitor with premium golf balls,
06:50 so you know exactly how they compare, how they perform.
06:54 So which ones really stood out to you
06:55 in terms of the performance
06:56 that you got on the launch monitor?
06:57 - Yeah, so I think the first one that stood out to me
07:00 was the TaylorMade QI10 Tour.
07:03 Now, the reason this stood out
07:05 is mainly because of the tech
07:07 that's been implemented in it.
07:08 Now, it's something we did see in the Stealth 2
07:10 with this track system.
07:11 That really helps dial in a certain ball flight
07:13 in terms of your height.
07:14 You then have the adjustable hosel as well.
07:16 But the smaller, more compact head
07:18 made it really easy to work the ball,
07:20 and that's something I particularly like to do.
07:22 So depending on the dogleg of the hole,
07:24 I like to shape it one way or the other.
07:26 And again, coming into par fives,
07:27 this is super helpful being able to launch the ball
07:29 in certain windows.
07:30 So for that reason, this one I really like.
07:33 - Yeah, I think with that lower spinning head,
07:35 you've probably got a lot of distance
07:36 out of this one as well.
07:37 - Yeah, absolutely, yeah.
07:38 So that was up there with one of the longest
07:41 that we tested this year.
07:42 So I actually averaged about 262 yards of distance
07:46 on launch monitor.
07:47 - Alongside this one.
07:48 - Alongside this one, this was actually the longest.
07:50 So the Titleist TSR 3.
07:51 Now again, this is a carryover model from last year,
07:55 but still performs excellently.
07:57 It feels amazing off the face.
07:58 Again, you've got a short track system on the bottom
08:00 and their SureFit hosel,
08:02 which allows you to dial in multiple different ball flights
08:04 or fight against a certain ball flight,
08:06 but produce really good distance.
08:08 It beat the QI10 Tour by a yard in my testing.
08:11 So there's not much between them.
08:12 We're splitting hairs, but this one performs excellently.
08:15 - Yeah, I think movable weight
08:16 and underrated characteristic info was, as you say,
08:18 being able to dial in that ball flight
08:20 and get some versatility out of the club
08:22 is really important.
08:23 Obviously you get that with this and the TaylorMade.
08:24 So that's a big plus point for those two.
08:27 Any others that really stood out for performance?
08:29 - Yeah, so, well, my winner of the performance category,
08:32 and it's a slightly different model
08:34 compared to the two we've just talked about.
08:36 They're very much aimed at the more confident ball striker,
08:38 the better player.
08:39 This one, it has to be said,
08:40 is aimed at the higher handicapper,
08:41 one looking for more forgiveness,
08:43 the Callaway Paradigm AI Smoke Max D.
08:46 - There it is.
08:47 - It's a long name, but it's worth it.
08:48 - It's a surprise pick, talk us through it.
08:50 - It's a surprise pick.
08:51 And so the reason behind my choice
08:54 is you still get the adjustable hosel.
08:56 It's a draw bias head.
08:58 Now, upon testing, I'm someone who draws the ball naturally.
09:01 It did turn my draws into hooks,
09:03 which I can't really complain about
09:05 'cause that's exactly what it's designed to do.
09:07 It's designed to promote that draw bias shape,
09:09 fight against the slice.
09:10 And this is a club that someone who fades the ball
09:14 or over-slices the ball will love.
09:16 - Yeah, but also you get a lot of height out of this club,
09:18 which I think is a really underrated area of performance.
09:20 You're attacking long par fours, par fives.
09:23 If the greens are quite firm,
09:24 you want it to stop relatively quickly,
09:27 but this is gonna give you the height
09:28 that you need to do that.
09:29 - Absolutely, and that's one of the reasons
09:30 why it won this category.
09:31 Off the fairway, striking the fairway
09:33 with off the fairway is one of the hardest skills in golf.
09:36 This achieved an apex average of 116 feet,
09:39 which is stupidly high,
09:42 but it meant that hitting into par fours or long par fives,
09:46 you can hold the green even in the summer.
09:47 - Okay, so there you have it.
09:49 That was kind of the comparative performance
09:51 of all the fairways.
09:51 Not much in it from kind of shortest to longest.
09:54 There's a lot of nuance there,
09:55 but hopefully we've picked out some areas
09:56 that will get you thinking about
09:58 which one might suit your game the best.
10:00 (upbeat music)
10:03 Okay, so the last category, Sam, is value for money.
10:05 I think every golfer wants a bit more bang for their buck,
10:07 and we've got a couple here
10:09 that really stood out to you in this particular area.
10:11 I've got one, you've got one.
10:12 Which one have you got and why, please?
10:14 - So I have the Shrixon ZX Mark II model.
10:17 Now, this retailed at 249 pounds,
10:19 but was released at the start of last year.
10:21 So a carry-on product
10:23 that you can probably get even cheaper than that now.
10:25 Small, compact-looking heads
10:27 produce a low-penetrative ball flight.
10:29 - Okay, let's see one.
10:30 Yeah, I think performed pretty well in testing.
10:34 And that kind of flatter ball flight
10:37 is really going to help someone
10:37 who maybe spins up their forwards a bit too much.
10:39 - Yeah, absolutely.
10:40 Ideal for someone who plays in the wind
10:42 or on Lynx courses.
10:43 And at that price point, a superb product.
10:46 - Okay, and at the other end of the spectrum,
10:47 I think we've got this Wilson Dyna-Power,
10:49 which comes in a bit lower
10:51 and offers slightly different performance.
10:52 Is that right?
10:53 - Yeah, so slightly different performance characteristics.
10:56 Very easy to launch off the fairway,
10:58 which is, you know, it's a hard thing to do.
11:01 But retailing at 220 pounds,
11:04 again, a carry-on product from last year.
11:05 So you can probably pick this up even cheaper,
11:07 get even more bang for your buck.
11:09 If you can get a fairway wood for around 200 pounds,
11:11 then that's perfect.
11:12 - Let's see it then, because as you say,
11:14 it's maybe not going to give you the distance
11:16 of some of the others in this test.
11:18 We've dug off you a little bit more height.
11:20 So if you do tend to hit the ball quite low
11:22 and you want to get a bit more stopping power into greens
11:24 and save a bit of money,
11:26 that Wilson could be a good option.
11:28 Now, I hope you really enjoyed this video
11:30 and it's given you a really good insight
11:31 as to the best fairway woods in 2024
11:33 and which one will suit your game the best.
11:36 But now it's time for me to pick my top three.
11:38 In third place, I'm choosing the PXG Black Ops Fairway Wood.
11:42 It's made major strides on last year's model.
11:45 It provides really good performance, fast ball speeds,
11:48 feels great off the face.
11:49 In second place, I've cheated a little here.
11:52 I've gone for a tied second between the Titleist TSR3,
11:55 offering superb performance, plenty of adjustability,
11:58 and the TaylorMade QI 10 Tour,
12:00 which falls in a similar category.
12:02 Loads of adjustment, easy to flight down,
12:05 movable in the wind, ideal for the better player.
12:08 But when it comes to a winner, there was a standout.
12:11 It looks superb on the shelf, will look superb in your bag,
12:14 feels amazing off the face, and is easy to control.
12:17 That's the Callaway Paradigm AI Smoke Max.