TaylorMade's Qi10 Tour was a favorite for the Fully Equipped crew.
Jonathan Wall/GOLF
The 3-wood remains one of the most important clubs in the bag for a weekend golfer. Even if you’re one of the lucky souls with a semi-reliable driver, it’s imperative to have a strong secondary option off the tee that also provides consistency from the fairway.
The second-longest club in the bag for most golfers — in some cases, it could be the longest — the 3-wood can truly do it all, provided you’re using one built to accentuate your strengths. Think of it as the Swiss Army knife in your bag.
As GOLF’s Fully Equipped co-hosts found out recently, there’s a plethora of worthy 3-woods in the marketplace. But which ones stood out? Here’s a look at several standouts during robotic testing with Golf Laboratories’ swing robot.
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TaylorMade Qi10
TaylorMade’s Qi10 fairway wood falls in between the Qi10 Tour and Qi10 Max. Jonathan Wall/GOLF
Kris McCormack (True Spec VP of Tour and Education): From what I’m seeing in the [hitting bay], for a majority of people out there, the TaylorMade Qi10 core head has been really solid in the fairway wood category. That’s going anywhere between a Tour player and some of the amateur and collegiate players. Even the higher-handicap players I work with come in and Qi10 has been successful for them.
TaylorMade Qi10 Custom Fairway Wood
Introducing the Qi10 fairways. Experience TaylorMade speed with Qi10 forgiveness…off the tee and off the deck.
TOUR PROVEN PERFORMANCE
The model most popular with both Tour players and amateurs, the Qi10 Fairway is the ideal blend of distance and forgiveness, while the precision CG location delivers a combo of high launch and low spin.
NEW INFINITY CARBON CROWN
An Infinity Crown provides a clean, uninterrupted view at address while also optimizing performance. Engineers relied on this new design to reshape the club, shifting more weight lower in the clubhead to maintain high inertia with an enlarged face profile to inspire confidence and generate ball speed.
An adjustable 50-gram weight is situated in the back of the head to alter launch and spin. Jonathan Wall/GOLF
A look inside Cobra’s Darkspeed LS fairway wood. Ryan Barath/GOLF
Ryan Barath (GOLF’s senior equipment editor): I really like the Cobra Darkspeed LS. It has a smaller shape, really hot. My misses correlate with what the data shows. It explains why that 3-wood lines up so well for my game.
The other would be the TaylorMade Qi10 Tour. They took the Stealth 2 Plus, which was a really good product, and they said: What are the ways we can create a better option here? They shallowed the weight port and adjusted the head shape. As the data shows, it’s a little rocket. So you can build this rocket, but you still have 2 degrees of adjustability, so you can make yourself a strong 2-wood or a little 4-wood. It gives you that option that’s very unique.
Cobra DarkSpeed LS Custom Fairway Wood
The LS model features our first ever Titanium fairway construction for driver-like performance in a refined clubhead shape tailored for precise shot shaping.
TOUR INSPIRED SHAPING
Subdued clubhead styling inspires a Tour-validated look and feel at address.
TITANIUM CONSTRUCTION
A multi-material construction blends a lightweight 8-1-1 Titanium body and face, and a carbon crown to improve weight distribution for more distance.
Introducing the Qi10 Tour fairway. Experience TaylorMade speed with Qi10 forgiveness…off the tee and off the deck.
MAXIMUM ADJUSTABILITY
A lower profile moveable weight system features a 50g sliding weight and a 2° loft sleeve for a wide range of flight options. Golfers can shift the weight back for higher launch and stability, center it for all-around performance or move it forward for a low-spin ball flight with maximum distance.
NEW INFINITY CARBON CROWN
An Infinity Crown provides a clean, uninterrupted view at address while also optimizing performance.
Mizuno’s ST-G Titanium fairway wood. Ryan Barath/GOLF
Gene Parente (Golf Laboratories founder): From a pure data standpoint, it was the PXG 0311 Black Ops if you want a solid 3-wood that’s going to hit it straight and not penalize you on misses. The 1A would be the Mizuno ST-G. It was at the top of the class as far as equal weighting and performance characteristics. But those were the two that jumped out to me in an overall category.
PXG 0311 Black Ops Custom Fairway Wood
High-Strength Carbon Fiber Crown
Crown made entirely from high-grade carbon fiber. This lightweight material saves mass in the crown, allowing it to be redistributed low and to the perimeter of the clubhead for optimal CG and addedforgiveness.
Supported Weight Structure
Innovative supported weight structure that delivers unbelievable sound and feel.
High-Speed, Squared Face
PXG 0311 Black Ops Fairways present a proprietary stainless steel face engineered to position the CG low for high launch, optimal spin performance, and insanely fast ball speeds.
CORTECH CHAMBER
A chamber located on the sole adjacent to the face, filled with an elastomeric material with inserted weight provides: Larger CORAREA, improved spin performance, and tuned impact sound.
ULTRA LOW CG CONSTRUCTION
Lighter density 811 Ti body combined with 88g higher density steel along the sole provides the lowest CG construction.
MULTI-THICKNESS CORTECH FACE
Refined to maximize CORAREA combined with the SAT2041 Beta Titanium face material.
WAFFLE CROWN
Extremely thin lightweight crown portion.
MODERN PLAYER’S PEAR SHAPE
An inviting, compact, head that sits perfectly square at address.
HIT TUNED IMPACT SOUND
Strategically placed internal sound ribs tune the impact sound to the appropriate frequency and sound pressure
QUICK SWITCH ADJUSTABILITY
4 degrees of loft adjustability to fine-tune address look and trajectory.
Jonathan Wall (GOLF’s managing equipment editor): I’ll go with the Ping G430 LST. It was high launch, low spin for golfers who struggle with the longer length of a driver. The length can make it difficult to square up the face, so going to the shorter length of a 3-wood with those launch and spin characteristics makes it a great secondary option off the tee.
The other would be the Mizuno ST-G. I think they absolutely nailed this one. It was second in ball speed and right there in terms of carry consistency [across the entire face].
Ping G430 LST Custom Fairway Wood
The low-spinning tour-style design combines a 2041 Beta-Ti face, Ti 8-1-1 body, and a high-density tungsten sole plate to position the CG low/back for faster ball speed with reduced spin to generate big distance gains. The high-strength titanium face wraps into the crown and sole to increase flexing for more ball speed. Its variable roll radius face (Spinsistency) improves performance across the face, especially on thin shots, and the Carbonfly Wrap crown helps lower the CG to increase ball speed and elevate forgiveness with a pleasing sound. Available in 3W only (15°).
CARBONFLY WRAP
The lightweight composite crown wraps into the heel and toe sections of the skirt, creating weight savings of 10 grams which are reallocated to achieve the lower the CG and increase ball speed. The composite also plays a role in the pleasing sound.
FACE WRAP TECHNOLOGY
FaceWrap Technology, a variable-thickness, high-strength maraging steel face wraps into the sole and crown of the stainless steel head, generating more flexing for faster ball speed and higher launch for greater distance.
SPINSISTENCY
The variable roll radius of Spinsistency improves performance across the face (especially on thin shots) by reducing spin to increase ball speed from the maraging steel face.
TUNGSTEN BACK WEIGHT
A tungsten back weight extends the perimeter weighting to ensure maximum forgiveness.
TRAJECTORY TUNING 2.0
Trajectory Tuning 2.0 provides eight hosel positions, adjusting for loft (+/- .5°) and lie (up to 3° flatter than std).
Jonathan Wall is GOLF Magazine and GOLF.com’s Managing Editor for Equipment. Prior to joining the staff at the end of 2018, he spent 6 years covering equipment for the PGA Tour. He can be reached at jonathan.wall@golf.com.
