Who Has Dropped Their 3 Wood? What are you playing instead?

[Smith]

17° hybrid Ping G430 with the Ping Tour 2.0 shaft has replaced my 3 wood.  Much more consistent, and very long.  And a great fairway finder off the tee.  

 

I also play the G430 22° and 26°

[doctorgriffo]

I dropped the three wood and it has helped my scoring because I no longer try hero shots into par 5s from 240 yards that rarely end well. Now when I get the temptation to do something stupid I top a driver off the deck and it rolls out to a nice wedge distance.

 

[alas]

I bag at the top:

-Driver (Callaway Ai Smoke TD closed to 9.5*)

-Mini (Callaway Ti340 opened to 13.5*)

-Driving/Utility 2i (Mizuno FliHi 16.5*)

-UW 21.5*

 

The mini has been super reliable off the tee and deck for me. My old 3w (cleaveland launcher 15*) was top city USA off the tee and deck…

 

I’ve also had a go with 3h (20*) and 2h (17*) both of which I could absolutely stripe at the range but on the course it resulted in a topped ball…always. 

Edited February 27 by alas

[ezra76]

13.5* 300 mini turned up  turned up to 15*. 

 

Played my home course here in RI yesterday. Saturated and 25mph winds. Hit mini on 3 holes that dogleg left and don't fit my eye. 2 dead center and on barely left rough but my scratch partners were too except 40yds back with irons off the tee.

 

Hit mini off the deck 4x. One punch out to low cut it and 3x on par 5's to setup wedge shots. 

 

1st time out on the course with it and I was impressed to say the least. 

[Springsteennut]

I use a 16 degree 4w.

[RCGA]

Two drivers, then straight to 3i 

 

I'm done spending money on fairway woods, UWs, and hybrids. I draw the ball and have a toe miss; it's a foul ball when those two align. At least with the 3i I have a chance at staying in play. 

[Dan Drake]

IMHO, For the vast majority of golfers the 2nd longest club in the bag should be optimized for tee shot performance.  It should allow for a shape and/or distance that the longest club does not easily allow for.  Personally, I'm of the opinion that most people would be better off having 2 "tee shot specific clubs" and then starting the "approach shot" clubs with the 3rd longest club in the bag.  Truly long hitters would even start the approach clubs with the 4th longest.  

[Highlander 24]

Dropped 3 wood now play 5 wood and 7 wood 

[Roejye]

I dropped my 3 wood a couple years ago and haven't really looked back. Like @RCGA I use 2 drivers, but then I go to either a 17° hy-wood or 18.5° 5w, into 4-5hy. Heck, last season I ended with both the hy-wood and 5w, I just lofted the 5w up to 20°.  I've spent a fair amount of money trying to figure this area out/experimenting. 

 

I think bag setup in general is highly personal, but top of the bag especially. I go the non traditional route because of my length and the course I play most often, I don't need an approach shot with a lower lofted fw quite often. When I do go to longer courses, I'm short enough that I'm generally not reaching a 450yd+ hole in 2 anyways, plus at my speed the hy-wood/5w are on average the same as a 3w, with better results more often.

 

Going with 2 drivers gives me one that's slightly more distance leaning than control and one that's slightly more control leaning than distance. Plus the higher lofted one allows me to go for it on the closing hole of my home course without having to worry about someone's car should I have one of those swings where everything aligns. Also, the main reason, I just get to hit driver more often. 

[subcrazy12]

Dropped my 3w recently for similar frustrations.

 

Just going to roll with my 5W and turn it down and then I love my 7W I have been using as well.  Part of me is curious to try a 9W

[TNwanabe]

25 minutes ago, Highlander 24 said:

Dropped 3 wood now play 5 wood and 7 wood 

This. I cant get a wood to fly up in the air anymore. Im too slow. My 5 wood is now my 3. Age is a factor......

[BigDivotEnergy]

11.5 BRNR mini

 

3 wood is too spinny for me

[AllDunn]

6 hours ago, EKB said:

“I think this top end of the bag thing is a real expensive mess for a lot of us.”  Amen.

Truer words have never been spoken 

[AllDunn]

G430 max 3 wood has been about as easy of a 3wood to elevate and hit straight as there is. 

[Mcdgolfsalot]

Just got back from a golf trip where I had 2 three woods in the bag, neither of which I love. 1 out of 5 I love, 2 out of 5 I can manage, but 2 out of 5 our water/ob/ topper Harley. Driving home stopped at pga super store in ft myers and grabbed an 18 degree triple diamond smoke, which in the two rounds since buying it seems to be the magic loft. Easy to launch off the ground, good control, no big miss. Pure strike vs pure strike the 3wood is 10 yards longer, but don’t have that pure strike often enough ! 

[seanjk123]

I switched to a 4w, which is great off the deck and totally comfortable off the tee. Could not be happier with it.

[Fileist704CB]

I switched from 3w to a 5w (Taylormade Stealth+) and will never go back. It's shorter than the 3w in shaft length but only 10yds shorter off the tee. It just got that gapping perfect between my driver (10.5*) and 4hyb (22*). Dispersion was a million times better. I've literally played rounds where I didn't even pull driver because the 5w was just point and shoot out 250yds. 

[Par4Nate]

I haven’t played a three wood in over a decade.  Drivers are so forgiving these days, it’s easy to just back off my driver and carry it three wood yardage with control.  I see no need for a mini driver or a three wood.  I carry a five wood on most courses, sometimes replacing it for a three hybrid.  All depends on where I would rather have a gap.

[TNwanabe]

2 hours ago, AllDunn said:

G430 max 3 wood has been about as easy of a 3wood to elevate and hit straight as there is. 

The only way I can elevate a 3 wood is to throw the club.......

[TNwanabe]

2 hours ago, AllDunn said:

G430 max 3 wood has been about as easy of a 3wood to elevate and hit straight as there is. 

The only way I can elevate a 3 wood is to throw the club.......

[Icemangolfer56]

Replaced 3 wood with 13.5 mini and put a 18 degree 5w in the bag in place of my hybrid to help with gapping. 

[lefty1978]

Dropped my 3w for the BRNR Mini driver. I also carry a 5w. 

[LeicaRedDot]

6 hours ago, Fileist704CB said:

I switched from 3w to a 5w (Taylormade Stealth+) and will never go back. It's shorter than the 3w in shaft length but only 10yds shorter off the tee. It just got that gapping perfect between my driver (10.5*) and 4hyb (22*). Dispersion was a million times better. I've literally played rounds where I didn't even pull driver because the 5w was just point and shoot out 250yds. 

This resonates with my original post and top of the bag. I currently go Driver 10.5, 3W 15 and then 4 hybrid 22, then 4-PW.

 

Dropping the 3 wood for a 5 wood at 18 degrees seems like a better gapping fit. Need to try some 5 woods, if they don’t work then the back up is my 3 hybrid at 19 degrees which I already have. 

[ARSM1932]

I have struggled with 3 woods since making swing changes a couple of years ago, I have plenty of speed and hit them pretty well especially off the tee but the dispersion can be very poor and several big misses off the planet often made me regret hitting less than driver while my dispersion on the rare occasion when I did hit my 3 wood into longer par 5s was even worse and several times I ended up making bogey from the middle of the fairway after a horrific approach shot, that all changed when I discovered that low lofted hybrids are a much better fit for my game and my 17 degree Cobra Darkspeed hybrid is an absolute missile launcher off the tee and I can hit well over 90% of fairways with it, although it carries 12-15 yards less than my 3 wood the total distance is similar because the hybrid is very low spinning so it produces loads of roll, this hybrid essentially allows me to hit a similar fairway finder tee shot to my 3 iron on tight driving holes but it goes 25 yards longer with tighter dispersion, so on short par 4s its now a straight choice between my hybrid and long iron.

[bluedot]

If and when I’m swinging really well in the summer, I’ll carry a 3w, but I really don’t have the swing speed anymore to make a 3w beneficial most of the time; a 2 hybrid is the replacement.  
 

I watched a Trevino video recently where he said he doesn’t carry a 3w anymore for the same reason; Trevino is older than me, but if he knows he can’t hit a 3w anymore, that’s instructive.

[RSLP]

below, sometimes I swap either the 5W or 3i for a LW if the course has elevated greens.

[EKB]

14 hours ago, Dan Drake said:

IMHO, For the vast majority of golfers the 2nd longest club in the bag should be optimized for tee shot performance.  It should allow for a shape and/or distance that the longest club does not easily allow for.  Personally, I'm of the opinion that most people would be better off having 2 "tee shot specific clubs" and then starting the "approach shot" clubs with the 3rd longest club in the bag.  Truly long hitters would even start the approach clubs with the 4th longest.  

I went this route with the addition of the BRNR which I’ve been better at hitting on tighter par 4s.  My 3rd longest club has been a bit of a “rotating tap” (5Ws, 7Ws, UWs, and 3Hs) and sometimes accounts for 90% of my frustrations on any given round

[texcellence86]

17 - 18 degree 4/5W with the hottest face you can find. Best decision I've ever made.

[tatertot]

I play my 5 wood at 3 wood length.

[Ri_Redneck]

I see a LOT of golfers hung up on this. You should treat the top of your bag just like the bottom. You choose your wedges (loft & bounce) based on what you need for your game and where you play, so do the same thing for driver, FWs, hybrids and/or UDI. What allows YOU to play YOUR BEST is what you should carry. Do you play better with FW or Hybrid? What loft can you elevate and what is too low. Try different clubs and lofts to see what works best and go with that. 

 

I play a 3w when the course and conditions ask for it. Other times I leave it out and add another wedge. Don't get hung up on what is considered "normal" because "normal" may not suit YOU!

 

BT