What is a Fairway Wood?
It is a type of club used in Golf.
We can assure this type of club is used for fairway and made out of wood (hence the name). But not really!
Despite a long history and the name, nowadays, fairway wood clubs are usually made of stainless steel, so-called fairway metals, and not necessarily be used in the fairway.
Wood comes with a number, the higher the number, the higher the loft is.
Fairway woods are usually known as 3-wood and 5-wood. All higher-lofted woods (7, 9, 11, and so on) are frequently referred to as utility woods.
For short, fairway wood is either a 3-wood or 5-wood.
What is a Hybrid?
A golfer always carries around a big bag of tools. Surprisingly, even with a selection of 14 different clubs, there is still someone who complains that they can not find the perfect club for that tricky par-5 approach shot, which is where the inspiration routed.
The hybrid club was created and made its first launched about 25 years ago. Taylormade marked a massive revolution in the industry when they came out with their hybrid in 2003, claimed to combine the best of wood and an iron club.
The hybrid lie, length, and even weight are comparable to an Iron.
The head of a hybrid is usually shallower and does not extend that far back from the face compared to a fairway wood, as say its lie angle is iron-like, as well as a flatter sole than a fairway wood.
What so different?
Lofts and distance chart:
Fairway wood shaft is set off-center in the large head, and the flattened bottom let the head slide over the grass when you take your shot.
The first thing to remember, woods are used to hitting long shots.
Use them for fairway shots that are beyond the range of your Irons. Also on tee shots when you need more control of the ball. Their lofts of 12 to 20 degrees produce higher, softer shots, allow you to shape shots more easily.
Hybrids are similar to the woods, which has an equal loft in performance, With a smaller clubhead than wood, a shorter shaft, and more loft, hybrids send the ball higher in the air with less effort.
Swing mechanics are identical, but still have some behaviors different from either.
Thanks to the wood-like head design create enormous impulse on the ball, the loft of a Hybrid head is higher than either the wood or iron of the same number so that the distance carried by the ball is similar to the comparable Iron number.
In most situations, hybrids can replace for fairway woods, but a fairway wood will have higher club speed and more roll for better distance.
In tricky situations, such as tight lies, hybrids come in handy.
How to Swing:
For a typical right-handed golfer, on a standard fairway shot, with a fairway wood, the ball is placed forward (most likely about 3 inches inside the left heel) in the stance. The player would take a more level swing, with the clubhead parallel to the ground.
However, The hybrid is played more like an iron, in most circumstances, the ball would be placed in the middle of the stance, as the player hits down on the ball, the swing is always steeper. On a clear fairway shot with a hybrid club, a golfer should take a divot just beyond the spot where the ball sat.
Golfers must try to set up closer to the ball when swinging a hybrid than they would when using a fairway wood.
When to use?
A fairway wood is more likely suitable for experienced players, who are better in controlled and precise motions.
For beginners, using irons can be tough. The reason is the swing motion with an iron should be aimed down to the ball. This is something amateurs struggle to do.
Hybrids, though, allow a more natural, sweeping swing.
A typical golfer can easily hit the ball a bit farther with a hybrid than with an iron of the same number.
In general, hybrids have been designed to have a larger sweet spot on the clubface. It means that even the least experienced players can hit a fresh approach shot more often than not.
There are also great for approach shots as the higher loft means your ball probably would skip off the green. This is happening instead of landing downwards with hopefully a touch of backspin to bring it to a quick stop.
In a tight lie with no room to swing, the fairway wood clubface is designed to slide over the ground, get your ball out of the rough without digging into the turf.
On the other hand, when the lie is rough, the hybrid club seems to worth the pick.
Fairway Wood or Hybrid What to pick?
If you are an experienced player playing into the wind, there are not many hazards around the green. Your lie is good, but you are not in a tight lie. Fairway Woods will be perfect for you.
For a beginner (like myself), this might be too much information to take in at one time. So if you are playing in downwind, there are lots of clubs that come with a specific set of usage. Though, is a selection of what you are carrying, you still do not know what to choose. You are playing from the rough or a bunker. You have to hit over a hazard, and you want a higher trajectory and a soft landing. Using a Hybrid will instantly step up your game!
