Have You Forgotten The 4-wood ?
In previous posts on selecting the clubs for your bag, I’ve mentioned that I carry only one fairway wood – a 17* 4-wood. In my opinion, this is a real hidden gem in the set make-up, but you don’t see too many golfers carrying one. Back in the “old days”, when Hogan, Nelson and Snead plied their craft, the 4-wood was a staple in the set. Of course, those guys played courses where they hit woods to the longest par fours and most par fives, if they could even get home in two. So the ability to hit it high and far was important. Gene Sarazen’s famous double eagle on Augusta’s 15th was holed out with a 4-wood.
Why I Love the 4-wood
My own love affair with the 4-wood began in the 1980s, when I was a marketing/advertising consultant to Joe Powell in Florida. Joe made the most gorgeous persimmon woods you ever saw, and I learned a lot about golf clubs from those years with him. When I saw this gorgeous 4-wood in his shop one day, I just had to hit it. Well, I was overly impressed with what it could do. At the time, I carried a driver and 3-wood, and still packed a 2-iron. This 4-wood changed my world, so to speak. I soon dropped the 3-wood and 2-iron and added a third wedge.
From that first one, I went through several more, and only a few years ago, swapped my trusty old persimmon 4 for a metal version. I’m a big fan of Sonartec fairway woods, but that company has experienced some problems lately. Their fairway woods and hybrids are wonderful in my opinion. Anyway, my current 4 is their NP-99 (Nick Price model), and I just put a new UST Pro Force V2 shaft in it – what a weapon.
My 4-wood is a Weapon
I never miss having the 3-wood in the bag, as I just don’t find that I need a shot that goes 235 instead of 220 or so. That’s splitting hairs to me. And with only one fairway wood, I have learned to hit various shots – it’s a specialty club for me. I can hit it high when I want, and it’s the one club I can easily turn over left when I need a draw. I can also hit it low – kind of like Tiger’s “stinger” to hit tight fairways.
In fact, I find very many par fives that play nicely with a 4-wood from the tee, and another to position me at “my range” of 85-115 yards. And the best thing ? Carrying only a 4-wood allows an extra wedge in the bag, and I get lots more use out of that than an extra fairway wood.
You can experiment with the 4-wood pretty easily these days. Callaway Golf Pre-Owned has a large assortment, and eBay is always a good bet. And as always, I’ll advise you to see your local clubmaker/clubfitter to have one built just for your swing.
The venerable old 4-wood. It should be in nearly everyone’s bag, in my opinion.
{ 8 comments… read them below or add one }
Terry, another good column with food for thought! As I think back, my best fairway wood ever was an old Taylor Raylor 16 degree that I used off of the tee, off the deck, out of the rough, no problem. Now if I could find another one like it with a graphite shaft…mine has the old S-300, and I used to kill it…then I decided I needed a 13 degree from the tee, and so on and so forth…I’m going to go treasure hunting in the garage and bring it back out!
Yo Terry,
I used to have a 4 and loved it. Wonder where I “lost” it ?
Like John mentioned, I used to have a Raylor and loved it. Also had a 911 wood from Powerbilt, with rails, and loved it too.
How did we ever let the marketers talk us out of those great old clubs ?
Terry,
What do you feel are the advantages of a 4 wood over a 2 hybrid? To my mind, your description (shots you hit, distance, and utility) sounds like what most people like about hybrids.
I have carried a 16* tight Lies 4 wood for years, and have found it to be perfectly matched to my swing for those second shots from the fairway. It just works with my swing, I hit it much cleaner than a 3 wood and really the same distance or very close to it.
I was able to kick both my 3 and 5 woods from the bag with the 4 wood, and let’s face it, with fairway woods, most of us are not accurate enough to hit the green consistently, so several long fairway woods (3 and 5) is often overkill.
I recently swapped out my beloved Orlimar 3w/5w combo for a Ping G10 17* 4w so I could could carry 3 wedges along with my 3h and 4h. I learning to love my 4w, but I sure miss that Orlimar 5w.
Great post Terry,
Made me misty eyed thinking of my old Power Built 4 wood!!
Steve.
Duffy — good question about the difference between fairway woods and hybrids. In most cases, hybrids are built more like irons in length and lie, so they play more like irons. In my set, for example, my 4-wood is 42-1/2″ long, and my 21* hybrid is 40-1/2″. That allows me to swing the hybrid more like I used to swing long irons (what was always a strength of my game), and work the ball like I would with an iron. My whole point was that if we determine the kind of shots we want to be able to hit, it’s much easier to find the right club to hit them with — whether it be a wood or hybrid.
I too just have a 4-wood as a fairway wood, and as you say you can easliy manipulate the shots with short shaft of the 4-wood. But I also carry the 3-iron still for some windy days, you can´t get it so low with the wood as you can with the iron.
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