I may have missed it but were these shots from a tee or off the deck? I would guess the results of each could be very different from one another as some fairway metals are great off the tee but hard to hit off the deck and vise versa.

Cobra are making a marketing point that their F8 clubs have the Arccos system included at no additional cost. When i bought my Cobra irons and a hybrid i was assured that any Android phone would work with the Arccos system. They do not. This note is merely to make sure that if you intend buying The Cobra clubs with the Arccos system you make sure you have a mobile phone that is compatible.

I love to read your golf club testing results because if someones club maker isn’t number one on the list, I get to read how your test sucks and why ( a great read ) Next you get to read how far they hit their 5 Iron ( 210 ) or Driver ( 305 ) then they tell us how fast they all swing 118 mpg what a load of bull crap my guess is only PGA pro’s read and comment on your web site because most golfers can hit a 7 iron 150 yards. thanks, keep up the great work you all do

Glad to see Exotics out on top where they should be–I have been playing them for >15 years. Clearly the most beautiful and longest fairways around. Of course, yardages may depend very much on swing and path rather than publiched or adjusted loft–for example–I hit my CBX 4 wood 10 yards farther than my Titleist 3 wood. Feel, look, spin, and control with fairways is very much individualized.

Don’t see how you can call a clear cut winner with that data. The differences from top to bottom are so small. Just demonstrates, I suppose, that it truly is hard to find a “bad” club nowadays. The competition is so keen.

Test the CBX before you just order online

I did my own test yesterday on GC2. Hit 10 balls each after warming up with each one. Rogue was longest for me by 10 yards. Cobra F8 was right behind it and actually felt the best with tightest dispersion. Now to the Exotics CBX.
It was not as long as those 2 for me. It felt tingy and was harder for me to hit off the deck. My current gamer is a 917 F2 titleist. I like it for the accuracy I have with it. I also use a ping G400 from time to time. After all that said…I would never put the CBX in my bag after what I saw and felt yesterday. It could have been the shaft selection. I use tensei pro blue 70 stiff in mine..I tried several Px types and weights but couldn’t get a good feel. My driver swing speed is 95-100. My current driver is G400 max!
I make most of my choices with a 3 wood based on accuracy and ability to hit off deck.
I’m a 10 handicap (Sometimes).

Disappointing that Tommy Armour only finished in the middle of the pack. Still, not too shabby!

Information is always appreciated; all being within 4mph, so it’s the indian with shaft of their choice. I play the 917 F2, 3 & 5wds; work very well for me, not thinking of changing at all…

Thank you, Tony, for another very interesting test. And for sticking to your guns. And for your clear language. I am certainly not a math major. You test the way you test. It’s all out there. You’ve determined the test parameters that MyGolfSpy will use and you’re using them. That, in itself, is a baseline for further tests. Please continue. At the end of the day, humans hit golf balls. Unless you use Iron Byron, the variabilities are mindblowing. I think your methodology is sound in addressing that fact, and in giving MyGolfSpy readers a sense of consistency in terms of testing…. inasmuch as at the end of day, it’s humans flailing at a tiny white ball. (Science can only do so much, after all.) My 2¢, YMMV.

This is all well and good, and I appreciate the effort that went into it, however, the results really don’t tell a whole lot. Certainly not which is better than another. So much depends on the variables of the swingers, swings and days they are swinging.

As an example, I noticed that the Titleist 917F had very different numbers this year than it did in the 2017 version of the same testing. It was second in its finishing spot overall last year but way down the list this year. Same club. Yet, the carry distance is significantly different from last year to this year, relative to the rest of the field. Spin is 200 rpms less this year. Again, that changes a lot in terms of how it compares to others on the list. Why so different? Same club. Different people swinging it? The point is, I’m not so sure that no matter how much effort you put into a test like this, your results will determine which club is best…..except in THAT particular test. And, without all the same shafts in each head, even THAT is not a realistic result. You are comparing apples and oranges and lemons and watermelons, once different shafts enter the equation. Again, I appreciate the effort and like all the testing that MGS does, but unless the test is with millions of golfers and every feasible shaft combination, I’m not confident that we can glean that much choice-making information to shop for a new fairway metal. Even so, thank you for the effort.

BTW, for anyone interested the 2017 version of the same MGS test, it is available here: https://mygolfspy.com/2017-most-wanted-fairway-wood/

I’d be interested in knowing how the baseline numbers are calculated for these tests. As far as my understanding (which I’ll admit is limited), the strokes gained calculation would be fairly sensitive to what is used to calculate the base line. It works for the tour as they have a large amount of data from very consistent players. Are you using the standard tour baselines?

I’m confused by the year-to-year disparities in results. The Titleist 917 Fs are a constant in the ‘17 and ‘18 tests, but the distance declined meaningfully from 2017 to 2018. Are the 2018 subjects testing all clubs? Because if not, the ‘17 results for the 917 could have been used. Very confusing.

Love the site love the work you do. I don’t understand please help. You test with a ball that may or may not fit most plyers testing. That ball is a mid swingING low spin ball. Big hitters are going to spin it to much slow singers not enough. Why aren’t you using balls that fit each player to there swing speed ? Numbers would be more accurate to reflect the players ability/speed ? Example a strong hitters swING speed 105 plus is going spin that ball to much. A slow swinger won’t spin it enough. Numbers will be skewed. Thanks for the help

Please provide the data and rankings based on swing speed. I swing my lob wedge faster than the stated swing speed (64mph) of the slowest tester and could probably only hit 125mph swing speed with a 3 wood on my best day, if I didn’t care about keeping the ball on the planet. Like another commenter said, I have hit a 5 iron as far as the average carry distance of the longest club in this test and the listed distances are about where I would expect my 4 hybrid to go most days, not my 3 wood.

So, the results are not overly relevant to me, nor to many golfers, unless they tend to vary their swing speed by 50+ mph from swing to swing. If you can break it down by a few swing speed brackets, such as those below, it would be more helpful. However, I understand this would reduce the sample size of your data in each bracket, so possibly make those results less statistically significant as well:

– Under 85mph
– 85mph to 95mph
– 95mph to 105mph
– 105mph+

im confused, nearly 5000 shots with swing speeds low to 125.
and yet these carry distances are about my 5 iron.
would be nice to know the breakdown of swing speeds and shafts.
i.e. fast swings = no trouble getting ball airborn.

C’mon guys- could you at least put some general pros/cons with the cubs? They all perform very similar on paper, but some little difference might help sway a prospective buyer’s opinion.

Tour Edge has been making excellent drivers and woods for quite sometime. So I am not surprised at the results, but it would be nice to know what level the players who used the clubs were.

The testers must be the most accurate golfers in the world. If i could get these offline figures i would be the happiest golfer in the world. But i guess only the best shots are included. Could it be that some clubs have a higher number of offline shots than others. If that is the case then is the test fair?

What the test obviously shows is that we golfers need to test a number of different clubs to determine what suits us best and perhaps importantly what suits our budget best.

Another great review by mygolfspy and another series of interesting comments by the readers.

The one thing I want to see added to these tests… Last year’s top 5. I would love to see how they stack-up against the “latest and greatest”

Interesting to know that my two current fairways of choice came out #1 and in a tie for #2 in this test. I have been gaming the 13.5* TEE CBX Strong 3-wood with a Mitsubishi Tensei Blue PRO 70-S shaft since the fall of 2017, and I love that club. However, I found a great deal on a Tour-issue Rogue Sub Zero 15* club has (almost 220 grams and with a 1.25* to 1.5* open clubface), so I shafted it up at 42.5″ playing length with an AXE XCaliber PRO fairway shaft (78 grams, Tour Stiff flex). I have played 3 rounds with this Rogue Sub Zero 3-wood, and it hangs in there pretty well with the longer and stronger lofted CBX. The CBX is a few yards longer for me, but I think that the Rogue Sub Zero 3w is a bit more accurate …. at least it has been so far.

For reference, I am 69 years old, with a 13 handicap, and I still generate 108-110 MPH of clubhead speed with my driver, and about 104-105 with the 3-wood. With these two fairways, I get 240 to 245+ yards of carry and about 260 to 270 yards of total distance, depending on how firm and fast the fairways are that day.

I get the strokes gained, I really do….but like some I really think you need to either differentiate by club head speed or by handicap. Just A. B. C . players.
If people are looking at this data for advice or to possible consider purchasing you are so close. But its your site not mine.

I can guarantee that 84 year old did not need a 3 wood, instead a 4 or 5 wood would be optimum for him or her, like wise for the 75 mph and lower club head speed. The 110 mph plus club head speeds would be optimized by a number of tour head ( smaller) or sub zero heads that were tested.

BTW was the bridgestone ball teed up for the test results?

I would be interesting to see the test results by this breakdown:

Handicap 0-5
Handicap 6-10
Handicap 11-14
Handicap 15-18

I don’t think it’s right to put every tester in the same general group and expect your number one Truerank pick to be the best club for the greatest percentage of golfers in these bracket ranges.

It strikes me the vast majority carry within 4 yards of each other and the vast majority are offline within 2 yards of each other, basically they are all the same. Granted certain clubs will suit certain individuals better but this give no indication of which they might be. I am struggling to understand how this is much help to anyone?

As always thank you for your through testing and rankings. I have not carried a 3w for several years and have been in the market for one. I will use your results to help me find my next 3w.

Look over the data….50% of the clubs are about the same. I like the Wilsons’ numbers due to the lower offline number. Personally, I use PING G400 but the numbers say I could game any of these clubs tested, of course, color would be a big decision maker!

Some pretty big (and expensive) names sitting at #9. Should be interesting to see how Titleist’s new clubs fare next season.

I am looking for the raw data, but I don’t see it. I clicked on the How We Test page, yet no data there either. The only data that is provided doesn’t jive with the results given. Do you guys perform a statistically significant analysis on your results? Nothing should be declared “better” than another unless the data shows that the difference between the clubs is statistically significant.

Great review Tony. I am feeling pretty good gaming the Cobra F8 right now.

Tony, I appreciate all of your efforts. I really do. All very good information. But, your readers need to understand that you are rating the whole club, not the just the head. So, if you are looking to get a club retail(stock), this is tremendous information. If you are looking for custom, then go to a good fitter and try a number of combinations of heads and shafts that fits your game. Don’t restrict yourself to the heads that tested best in the stock configuration.

The cbx performed better for more testers. That’s why it’s ranked #1. I.e., the rogues didn’t do as well for the majority of the people hitting it, though their numbers have better averages.

This probably means that there was a higher standard deviation. I.e., the rogues were less consistent.

That doesn’t mean that a rogue isn’t right for you. It just means that on average, the cbx is going to be better.

Mr. Covey has stated this very thing in different words. But maybe this helps.

I get it, as I reviewed the page describing how you test. “For each shot, we calculate the strokes gained value before calculating the strokes gained average for every tester with each club”. That said, why not provide the results as you have above, and provide an alternative straight performance result, for the guy who can’t quite grasp the strokes gained value?

Looking at it from the surface, why do the launch angles look so low? Shouldn’t the degrees go up as you go from driver to 3 wood to 5 wood, etc.? I’m used to seeing my driver at 14-15 degrees and my 3 wood slightly higher.

The rogue had better ball speed, was longer, and had less dispersion. How did it finish behind the tour edge?

Thanks Tony, after reading the test page, I get it.

Hi,

Are you guys going to rank by club head speed?

Thanks,

Andrew

I haven’t hit the exotics woods yet, but the new Callaway Rogue fairway woods are sensational. The ease of hitting suits anyone and Its been a long time since I could shape shots both ways with precision in a fairway wood. I’ve carried a Titleist 909F3 for years bc nothing would shape shots accurately every shot I needed. Until the rogue that is. Awesome reviews again!!

Of course, this test does not mean that the top fairways should be your most wanted fairway. For example, I can’t launch #1-3 enough to use them. Don’t know about the others but am using the TEE Beta Fairways in 16.5 and 18 in a real GD AD F fairway shaft. Tried that shaft in the Rogue, and it was a no go. Get fit.

I’m beginning to understand why the Champions Tour has several members playing Exotics CBX woods.

So the rogue was longer, spun less, more accurate and faster off the club head, yet ranked worse than the cbx?

Wow… I wasn’t expecting that to be #1. I was going to guess Cobra-F8, Rogue, and the Mizuno GT 180. Just goes to show you, it’s not all brand names at the top!

Why such a huge difference in distance between 2017 and 2018? Were you guys using different lofts from year to year? The Cobra F7 from last year that lead in distance would only be 16th on the list this year in distance. Just wondering why the 9 yard gap from first in 2017 to 2018.

I guess I don’t understand how the Rogue can be ranked lower than the CBX when ROGUE tested to be both longer and more accurate, isn’t that what the consumer wants?

I’ve heard this story before re: TE and actually had one for a season last year – not convinced. I thought it underperformed and had a soft and mushy feel to it. Personally – not a fan.

So glad to see the fairway results. My only wish would be to filter by SS. Least surprising top 3 ever for me, those 3 are fantastic 3 woods. It is great to see the data behind it though.

Wow! Did not see that coming when I clicked to read this one.