Who still uses a 4 wood?

[Golfnole3]

After seeing a recent post about what club you use after a 4 wood I was wondering: Who still uses a 4 wood? Not that using a 4 wood is bad but I was thinking "In this modern world of distance who still uses a 4 wood?" I carry no 3 or 4 wood in my bag and have a gap of driver to 3 hybrid. I do have a 3 wood but it has a regular flex in it when I need a stiff.

[Gbyeball]

[quote name='Golfnole3' timestamp='1325894183' post='4039071']
After seeing a recent post about what club you use after a 4 wood I was wondering: Who still uses a 4 wood? Not that using a 4 wood is bad but I was thinking "In this modern world of distance who still uses a 4 wood?" I carry no 3 or 4 wood in my bag and have a gap of driver to 3 hybrid. I do have a 3 wood but it has a regular flex in it when I need a stiff.
[/quote]

I have two 4 woods, Nike SQ 2 and a Ping G15. I don't have to carry a 3 or 5 wood, it's driver 4 wood, 3 hybrid. This leaves me room for 4 wedges. The 4 wood is plenty long off the tee for shortish par 4s and for me it is so much better off the deck for approachs into the green. I don't have a problem with the driver so I don't need anything that would substitute for that club. At the end of the day it is whatever works best for you and your needs.

[rocker40]

I just picked one up. Its Driver, 4 wood and then 21* hybrid.

[justyd401]

Love mine I don't think I'll go back to 3,5 woods

[Golfnole3]

Wow, I'm really surprised by the vote tally so far: 8 to 1 in favor of the 4 wood. When you go to a golf store all you see is 3 and 5 woods. Where do you guys pick up your 4 woods?

[DJ412]

I game a 4 wood. Easier to hit than a 3 wood for me. Mine is technically a high trajectory 3 wood. Has a 3 on sole but 17*. I found mine on rock bottom or global golf forget which one.

[Braveone]

I have a Ping G15 4 wood which I hit almost as far as a 3 wood but with a better flight to land it to stop on greens.

[avgjoe]

Golf digest or golf magazine tried to resurrect the 4 wood fairly recently

[Hit em good]

A 4w for sure. I hit it much better than a 3w. Could never hold a green with a 3w trajectory.

[bobfoster]

I'll generally go to a 4W on courses with unusual setups ... a course that is relatively short but with notoriously tricky greens well-defended by bunkers. In fact, one of the toughest courses I play is actually only 64K - 65K ... buy the greens are extremely welldefended.


I did notice, about ten years about or so, when the trend was "tiger-proofing" courses, that a good number of public and private courses were adding a good few hundred yards (not because Tiger would ever play them ... its just that with the new generation of clubs, and younger golfers with disciplined swings ... old school course were just plsying too short). Within that trend, however, was a bit of as subset ... course that either did not want to (or couldn't, just due to real estate resteictions) kept the course largely the same distace, but instead toughened the course by adding greenside traps, tutrtlreback greens ... etc., etc. ,,, i.e., they toughened the course by requiring a much higer level of green side precision.

This is not really the norm, but also is not entirerly uncommon ... and on courses like these ... it helps quite a bit to drop the 3W-5W combo for a 4W, and add another wedge.

[tbowles411]

My 4 wood is money from 230 yards on an easy swing and maybe 10 yards more if I lay into it. It's much easier to hit than a 3 wood IMO.

[scooterhd2]

im not driving the ball well right now, so im carrying a 3 wood to hit of the tee. but when the driver is on, i like to have the 4 wood instead. i have a Nike SQ Machspeed at 18 degrees and I have way better distance control and accuracy with the 4 than with the 3.

[Fornesto]

what do you mean "still" is carrying a four wood somehow antiquated? Using a four wood is smart if youre like me I dont really like low lofted hybrids so I use a four wood because I also dont really like low lofted fairway metals. works perfect flies high and far and is easy to hit

[schneck1977]

4W fan here as well. Not a fan of low lofted FW's or hybrids so my 4W(16*) 7W(20*) and 4H(22*) works very well for me and my swing.

[doctorbloor]

[quote name='Golfnole3' timestamp='1325898252' post='4039367']
Wow, I'm really surprised by the vote tally so far: 8 to 1 in favor of the 4 wood. When you go to a golf store all you see is 3 and 5 woods. Where do you guys pick up your 4 woods?
[/quote]

Clubfitters who are most interested in helping you build a set to suit your game rather than moving stuff out of the stock room.

[jeffrey r]

OP, while we all know what you are generally referring to, it is more about the loft of the wood than the label the OEM puts on it. I have a Ping original Rapture 5 wood which is 17*, G15 and Nike SQ2 4 woods which are 17*, and a K15 3 wood which is 16*. The Ping Rapture V2 had a 16* 3 wood and a 17.5* 4 wood. I try to play just one fairway wood in the 16*-17.5* range, whatever the label on the club.

[Tuba]

I have a TEE CB1 4 wood, then 22 and 25 hybrids. Irons start at the 5. I hit the 4 wood more consistently and just as far as my 3 wood of the same make. I actually hit with a bit lower trajectory as well.

[bobfoster]

[quote name='jeffrey r' timestamp='1325904261' post='4039843']
OP, while we all know what you are generally referring to, it is more about the loft of the wood than the label the OEM puts on it. I have a Ping original Rapture 5 wood which is 17*, G15 and Nike SQ2 4 woods which are 17*, and a K15 3 wood which is 16*. The Ping Rapture V2 had a 16* 3 wood and a 17.5* 4 wood. I try to play just one fairway wood in the 16*-17.5* range, whatever the label on the club.
[/quote]


VERY good point my friend. In my mind ... I think only in terms of degrees ... not what is put on the bottom of a club. OEMS have (at this point) completely hosed the average weekenders with their fast and loose definitions.


IMO, distance is a function of two basic variables: Shaft length, and loft. Because I like consistancy, I alway have me irons at a 4* difference (makes it much easier to know what a full, 2/3, and 1/2 shot is). I do not CARE what the stamp on the bottom of the cub is. I have a good friend who is a total duffer ... that gives me Shiat about how he hits his PW longer than me. Well yes, he does ... if you want to forget about the fact that I purposely had my PW bent to 48* ... and his is around 43*.

In my thinking ... (old school) ... a 3W is 15* - 15.5* ... a 4W is 17* - 17.5* ... a %W is 19* - 19.5* ... IMO, OEMs just dramatically confuse things when - in an attempt to sell clubs, they just srteengthen to loft, but stampr the same "3W or 5W on the bottom.

[jeffrey r]

And to further confuse the labels, I didn't fully disclose my fairway wood ho'ness, which also includes a 14* original Rapture 3 wood, a 14.5* Adams BTY 3 wood, and a 15* SQ2 3 wood. So I have four 3 woods ranging from 14* - 16*, all with different lofts and all with varying degrees of utility off the tee and the deck. Fairway woods are a tricky business these days.

[PINGWRXforeme]

I do. I've hit mine 230-250 and plenty in between. Works for me.

[Kelso]

My TEE 4wood is 16.5* which allowed me to take my 19* hybrid out and replace it with a TEE 18* 5wood. Then I move to a 22* hybrid.
I like the option of the lower loft on the 4 wood & I get more distance & height out of the 5 wood than the hybrid in that range.

[dieselG]

19* Adams A7 tour PNT. Replaced my 4 wood.

[Agent Jim]

About everything has already been stated. I just have to add that I have had more attempts at eagle on par 5's with the 4 wood in play then I ever did using a 3 and 5 wood setup. And as a bonus I get to add a wedge.

[That Bob Guy]

Hey,

IMO, the vast majority of golfers would be better suited to carry a 4W in place of a 3W. A little shorter offering more consistant contact,

and 17 or so degrees of loft to achieve optimum trajectory and carry off the fairway. For example, I've got a buddy I gave a Callaway
7W to here a year or 2 ago. He hits that thing a mile, and consistently. FYI, he's around a 16 cap.

I rest my case.

[That Bob Guy]

Hey,

Just seen the up-to-the-minute poll numbers. 4W users out number the 3W's by around 5:1. Boy, we're a smart lot!

[jcmain]

I have driver, 4 wood, 3 hybrid. My 4 wood is my favorite club in the bag and is money on short par 4's. It is the club that has stayed in the bag the longest. I have had the same 4 wood since 2003! I can't keep a putter for longer than 3 months.

[Shemp]

I've been carrying a 4 wood for years. Razr X Driver, G10 4 wood, Titleist 21 and 24 Hybrids. 4 Wedges.

[npark]

I carry a 17* 910f. If I keep the trajectory low it is just as long as my old 15* 3 wood off the deck, off the tee there was about a 10 yard difference. The biggest difference with the 4W though, is (with my normal fairway swing) I only lost about 5 yards, it has a better trajectory and is MUCH easier to hit. Plus if you tee it up just slightly you can hit it so high (and still good distance) to clear some trees on a short dogleg...it just a wonderful club. I opted to try out carrying one so that I can carry 4 wedges because my pitching wedge is of the new school strong (46*) variety, and it works for me...although I doubt I will every go back to a 3w regardless of wedge setup.

Go buy a cheap used one and try it out, you might be surprised. Shoot I used to carry a 3+ which was a 13* 3W and can't see ever going that direction again, lost so many strokes with it compaired to my normal 3W which lost some to my 4W.

[prestiege]

i started off with a 3W 5W combo, couldn't hit the 3 that often and when i did hit it good it only went as far as the 5w. i switched to a 4w and carry 4 wedges. the 4 is plenty long off the tee, i actually hit it farther than i would a 3. most courses I'm playing aren't long by design. from the back tee's I'm looking at 6600-6800 yards so 4 wedges get more use than the longer clubs. there are tight holes where i use the 4W off the tee, and if my driver is acting up the 4 is a must although a few of the courses i can get by with just hybrids i don't see myself dropping the 4W for low lofted hybrid. i own 2 R9 4W's, one is still new(back up for when the other finally fails, the club is that good) and a 910f 4W which is also damn good. i do jump around courses a lot and try different all the time. if i come across a longer course ill just play conservative on the longer holes and go for par unless i really crush a drive out there

[Desert Golf]

I'm a short hitting (230yd drives) midhandicap who plays a 12 degree driver. It really doesn't make sense for me to play a 13 degree 3 wood with a 12 degree driver...and I can't hit a 13 degree or 15 degree club off the deck consistently.

A 4 wood makes more sense for me and I'm liking my 17 degree G15 wood. It is good off the tee on short/tight par 4's and I can hit it off the deck.