12.5 Degree Driver/ Fairway Wood

[rlattajr]

Is it feasible to use a 12.5 degree driver with a shorter shaft as a three wood?

I have difficulty with the smaller heads of a fairway wood.

[LowPost42]

Re: 12.5 Degree Driver/ Fairway Wood

Can it be done? Yes.

Should it be done? Well...

The idea of a "thriver" - a three wood lofted, 460cc head built to driver length; or a regular driver cut down to three wood length - has been around for a little while.

Most people use them as tee clubs to get their Launch Angle up or for more control off the tee (and more distance on a sweet spot miss).

As for a club off the fairway - essentially you now want to hit driver off the deck.

What do you have difficulty with? Virtually ALL of the modern 3W heads are shallow faced (ie very short top to bottom) to help get CoG low and aid in launch.

There are some models that are deep faced - the Geek DCT, Ashton X1D, Wishon 915f/d, Adams A4 Boxer and Titleist PT all come to mind. I've personally gone to an Adams A4 Boxer as I can't handle the shallow face of the modern 3w.

[Mizunoman]

Re: 12.5 Degree Driver/ Fairway Wood

Perfectly feasible, and its a great idea if you cant hit driver off the tee. What you are talking about is basically a "Brassie" or a 2 wood. Callaway do a handful of great heads in the 11-13 degree lofts, the original Warbird is a very flexible head, which can be hit off the tee and the fairway equally easily. The Steelhead Plus was probably about the best head they ever did for this kind of loft because its a good combination of the Warbirds ease of hitting off the deck and a little bit deeper and wider in the face to make it more attractive off the tee, if you can find a #2 in this head snap it up.

Another option is the FT-3 HT, which is available in 13° or 16° heads. I have seen one of the 16° heads fitted with a 3 wood length high kick shaft that was a great 3 wood option. The downside of the club is that it is pretty demanding to make good contact off the fairway with anything less than a perfect lie off a nice lush fairway!!

Remember and make sure the rest of your woods fit, go for a 4 wood in about 16.5° and a 7 wood in a 21° loft. This should cover your range to the irons pretty well. Assuming you have launch problems, replace the 3 iron and 4 iron witha single 24° Hybrid, the Titleist 585H is an excellent option for this.

D.

[bill reed]

Re: 12.5 Degree Driver/ Fairway Wood

hi
the biggest problem is the 460cc driver sweet spot. it is on the top half of the face so vary hard to play the ball on the sweet spot if its not tee'd up.
with the older 360cc driver head the sweet spot is in the center of the face and you can play it off the fairway as you can hit close to the sweet spot. i still use a 360 driver so i can play off the fairway and hit a low shot under the wind. i play mostly links golf and it always windy so hitting of the fairway with a driver does work.
i have tried using a 460cc driver but with the sweet spot so high on the face it is very hard to get the ball more than head hight in the air.
if you find a 460cc driver with a center sweet spot then i would think it could be used for a fairway club! but put a ball down and then place a 460cc driver and see just how low the center of the ball is on the face and you will see why it don't work. you need the ball to be 10 to 15 cm higher to get a good center strike.
even if you play a 12.5 degree face the sweet spot is still to high up the face on the newer drivers.
like lowpost says:- the 3 wood had a smaller face and the sweet spot is closer to the center of the face so you can play them of the fairway.
using a driver of the fairway is about where on the face the ball strikes and the big head driver just hit the ball to low down on the face to give you the shot you want.
look for an smaller head driver like a 360cc and you should be fine.
cheers
Bill