The 5 highest-launching fairway woods of 2023, according to robot testing
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Fairway woods can serve a number of different purposes on the course. For many golfers, it’s a great option off the tee on tight holes or when the driver is misbehaving. It can also make reaching the green in two a reality when an iron or hybrid can’t get the job done.
Versatility is the name of the game.
If you’re a golfer with a swing speed of around 95 mph — the speed we tested each fairway wood on Golf Laboratories’ swing robot — it might be worthwhile to have a 3-wood that induces a high-launch angle to land the ball softly on the green. (And if you’re someone who typically uses 3-wood almost exclusively off the tee, we have you covered as well.)
For our latest robot test, we measured the launch angle from three strike locations (center, high toe and low heel) to determine if there was a high-launch model in the bunch.
As we found out, the latest crop of fairway woods (15 degrees) has several offerings that can produce a towering launch. Below are the five models with the highest recorded launch angle.
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1. Cobra Aerojet Max (17.3 degrees)
Cobra Aerojet Max Custom Fairway Wood
$329.99
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2. Cobra Aerojet (16.9 degrees)
Cobra Aerojet Custom Fairway Wood
$329.99
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3. Ping G430 SFT (16.8 degrees)
Ping G430 Max Custom Fairway Wood
$349.99
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4. Mizuno ST-Z 230 (16.8 degrees)
Mizuno ST-Z 230 Custom Fairway Wood
$299.99
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5. TaylorMade Stealth 2 (16.4 degrees)
TaylorMade Stealth 2 Custom Fairway Wood
$349.99
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Jonathan Wall
Golf.com Editor
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.