MGS Tested: 2014 MOST WANTED – Fairway Wood (Distance Awards)

If there’s one thing I know for certain it’s that some of you guys are chomping at the bit to buy a new 3 Wood. I don’t blame you. I had all but given up on them until this test, now not only do I have a fairway wood in my bag, I’m thinking it might be time to go back to a 5 wood too.

To help you make the smart play (so you can play smart) we put 22 different fairway woods to the test (and that’s if you don’t count Pro/Tour models separately) to find out which were long, which were straight, and which were probably best avoided.

Some offer more distance while others offer more playability. Unfortunately some don’t offer anything better than what was out there 2+ years ago. Which is which? We’ll get to that, but first…

How We Tested 3 Woods

To minimize fatigue while still allowing for the necessary number of shots to be hit, each of the 22 clubs in our test was placed into 1 of 3 club groups. No 2 clubs from a single manufacturer were placed in the same group, otherwise group assignments were randomly drawn.

The order clubs were hit each day was also determined at random, but to ensure fairness and balance, the order was different for each tester, and we took steps to ensure that each club was hit near the beginning, middle, and end of each group.

All shots were hit from a fairway lie. We did not test from the tee or from the rough. Given the emergence of clubs like Callaway’s 2 Deep, PING’s Rapture, and TaylorMade’s Mini Driver, future fairway wood tests will almost certainly involve a tee component.

Each club group was hit over the course of 2 sessions by each each of our testers. In each session we collected 6 good shots per club from each tester (12 total – 6 shots * 2 sessions).

Rankings are based on relative performance against our control club which was also hit by each tester in each session.

Golfers were given adequate time to warm up. Once ready, golfers took 3 swings with each club before moving to the next club. After 9 swings testers were given a break. The process was repeated until 6 good shots were collected with each 3 Wood being tested in that particular session. Testers hit an average of 65 shots during each session.

So what is a 3 Wood Anyway?

Now that’s one hell of a good question. Let’s face it, the lines are blurry, if they even exist at all. So for the purposes of this test, to keep it simple, and provide the best fit possible for our testers, we defined a 3-wood as having between 13° and 16° of loft. We did ask that low lofted/strong 3 woods have the same length shaft as their more conventional 15° counterparts. As long is those conditions were met, we were more than happy to call it (whatever it is) a 3 wood. Golfers spend too much time worrying about the number stamped on the sole. We thought it was more important to hit balls.

Distance Re-Defined

In past tests we’ve taken the average of all shots collected to determine our distance rankings. We feel that this is too broad, so moving forward we’ve decided to consider distance a bit differently.

Our Most Wanted 3 Wood for Distance is the club that offers the greatest potential for distance on your best shots.

What that means is that forgiveness and accuracy have been largely removed from the equation. Instead of the entire shot pool, we looked at only the best shots hit by each tester with each club.

Which club produces the most distance when hit in the center… that’s what we look for in our Most Wanted 3 Wood for Distance.

The Rankings

The appearance of the PING Rapture on top of this list shouldn’t come as a surprise to much of anyone. A $500 titanium fairway wood engineered for massive distance up against primarily steel faced woods offered at literally half the price. It’s a small wonder that anything came close.

Other than the distance (and ball speed), the amazing part of the PING Rapture story is that it’s so amazingly easy to hit. Granted, we probably shouldn’t expect anything different from PING, but given it’s relatively massive footprint we figured it would be too bulky to hit well off the deck. It wasn’t.

The PING Rapture is the “Most Wanted” 3Wood Distance Winner.

A clear favorite among our testers, Callaway’s Big Bertha offers up top tier distance with a shape and feel that most found just about perfect. Bertha was the longest of the steel faced fairways, and while not cheap, it doesn’t quite reach the Rapture levels either.

As you’ll see, the top of this list is littered with titanium-faced fairway woods, for the steel-faced Bertha to hit the board at #2 really speaks volumes about how long this club really is. As good as last season’s X Hot fairway was, we think Big Bertha easily represents Callaway’s best work in the standard  fairway wood category.

Like the PING Rapture the Tour Edge Exotics CB Pro features titanium face construction. Also like the Rapture, it’s $500. As you can see performance between the two is similar – you won’t be short with either. For the $500 crowd looking for a smaller footprint than the Rapture can offer, the CB Pro will no doubt deliver.

While we expect that Rapture would prove to be the better option of the tee, with its Slip Stream sole, the Tour Edge CB Pro may have some real advantages outside and out of deeper grass.

Few if any fairway woods are trending hotter right now than Cobra’s BiO Cell and BiO Cell+, and we can certainly understand why.  BiO Cell joins Big Bertha as the only steel-faced product to crack the top 6. Some testers saw massive distance gains with this semi-surprise beast of a club (actually if you’re surprised, you probably haven’t been paying attention).

The + offers one of the most compact footprints of any fairway on the market today, while the larger size of the standard model should boost confidence for those who need it. If you’ve been waiting for the right time to give Cobra a try, that time is probably right freakin’ now. For you tight-asses traditionalists out there, I should probably mention that BiO Cell and BiO Cell+ both come in black.

For those of you counting along at home the XCG7 is in fact Tour Edge’s 2nd fairway wood to crack our Top 5 for Distance. Like the CB Pro it’s a titanium-faced product, and like the CB Pro it’s long.

Some will no doubt complain about Tour Edge’s lack of adjustability in their fairway offerings, while others will talk about the smaller brand offering that trumps many big OEM offerings. If I were you, I’d focus on the 2nd part.

That’s right, the Adams XTD is the 4th titanium-faced fairway product in our top 6. Shot for shot, XTD can hang with anything we tested, and while it might come at a premium price, the XTD more or less proves that Adams fairways can still hang with the best of them.

Arguably the biggest surprise in our Top 10, the Cleveland 588 just feels right. It’s light, but largely controllable, and great fun to hit.

While JetSpeed may be on the verge of being replaced by SLDR S, but those who choose to be the old model are going to get hella distance for a great price. The longer shaft might be hard for some to control, but those who can will reap the benefits.

The VRS Covert 2.0 (and Tour)  Fairway offer the latest proof that Nike is inching closer to blowing the door of this golf thing. It’s going to happen one day, but in the meantime, enjoy conventionally good performance in an unconventional package.

Rounding out the Top 10 is the TaylorMade SLDR. We’re well within the average range here, and what’s really interesting is that while our testers didn’t all hit SLDR bombs they way they hit Rapture and Bertha Bombs (some actually did), as the shot sample size increases, SLDR holds up better than most. We don’t think it’s the longest 3 wood on the market, but SLDR will most certainly play.

Results by Swing Speed

As we usually do, we’ve broken down our list of top performers by swing speed. While there’s almost always some overlap, it’s far from unusual to find clubs that perform measurably better for higher, or lower swing speed golfers.

The PING Rapture proved particularly long in the hands of our highest swing speed players. We’re talking about a 3 wood that some testers hit as long as they do their drivers, and they did it off the deck. This is simply a phenomenal offering. It’s basically everything we’ve come to expect from PING.

Nearly as long as the Rapture in our higher swing speed players hands, the XTD brings massive distance in a more compact footprint. It’s pretty clear to us that the Rapture’s size isn’t an issue, but if it is to you, and you’ve got some juice in your swing, XTD  isn’t a bad way to go…not even a little bit.

Surpirse! It’s another titanium offering. There’s got to be a lesson in that somewhere. We absolutely love the Tour Edge Exotics CB Pro. It offers traditional style, some new technology, and one hell of a stock shaft (Fujikura Speeder). As is often the case with Tour Edge; they’ve offered up the best alternative to the big brands.

I’m not saying that our slower swing speed players dragged the TaylorMade SLDR down, but… Pound for pound SLDR was again one of the favorites in our test, particularly among our higher swing speed players. While we think there are better options for slower swingers, amazingly the SLDR represents the budget option (comparatively speaking) for higher swing speed players.

Right behind SLDR, and I mean like right behind it is Callaway’s X2 Hot. Last year X Hot was the fairway story, and this year…well, Callaway hasn’t exactly lost a step. For Callaway fans, and fans of good fairway woods in general, this is an easy buy. Oh…and if you’re looking for Bertha, it’s a very close #6 on this list.

While the XCG7 (Beta) driver was standout for higher swing speed players in our driver test, it’s the standard model’s performance among lower swing speed players that’s one of the stories of this test. Nearly 10 yards longer than our control club for lower speed guys, if you can’t get above 100 on the radar, well, then the XCG7 needs to be on your radar.

Once again, tales of Cleveland’s demise have been greatly exaggerated. While higher swing speed players enjoyed hitting the 588, lower swing speed players thrived with it. As one of the less expensive clubs in our test, the Cleveland 588 offers big time performance at a more attractive price point.

Even though I declared it dead just a week ago, JetSpeed absolutely refuses to die. And why should it. For slower swing speed players JetSpeed was a distance standout. Detractors will argue that the extra distance comes from a longer shaft. Those who hit it far won’t give a damn.

The can’t go wrong offering in the distance portion of our test, Big Bertha put up big numbers across all swing speeds, and if not for the Titanium offerings would have topped the overall distance list. We never advise buying blind, but if you insist on doing that, Bertha is probably your best bet.

While our higher swing speed players could have done with a bit less spin than even BiO Cell+ can offer, the standard BiO Cell was right in the wheelhouse of our slower swing speed players. The Cobra guys told us that their fairway woods weren’t wanting for distance. I have no choice but to agree.

Stay Tuned

Be sure to come back on Wednesday when we announce our 2014 Most Wanted 3 Wood for Accuracy, and again on Thursday when we announce our 2014 Most Wanted 3 Wood for Total Performance.