Best Fairway Woods For High Handicappers: Top 11 Picks of 2023

Sleek Sole

The sole of the M4 is an unheralded but essential aspect of it. It’s perfectly shaped to deliver an excellent strike to the ball, even in fairly tough lies. I found it dug through the rough well and gave long, high-flying shots.

The Speed Pocket built into the sole makes the face ultra-hot, giving both sweet-spot contacts and mis-hits remarkable distance.

Sound is feel

One of the most critical aspects of the borderline-indefinable quality known as “feel” is the club’s sound. In the past, I’ve found TaylorMade woods to perform well but to have a thuddy, almost plastic sound. This is common to woods that use carbon fiber composite materials instead of being solid metal.

TaylorMade has paid a lot of attention to this aspect, and has really improved the sound. A well-struck ball leaps off the face with a satisfying crack, aided by the sonically tuned fluted hosel.

Low spin and high launch

The carbon-fiber material used in the crown allows TaylorMade to move the center of gravity low and forward, which provides the hitherto difficult-to-achieve combination of high launch and low spin. Low-spin clubs are usually hard for high-handicappers to get in the air, but the TaylorMade M4 launches nice and high. The lower spin reduces the severity of hooks and slices, resulting in more fairways and greens hit.

Jailbreak Technology

The Jailbreak Technology places two steel bars behind the face to offer more power to the golfer. The bars stiffen the head, directing more energy to the golf ball to assist in higher launch and extended length.

The Mavrik Max also features an oversized head that broadens the sweet spot with more forgiveness, allowing golfers to focus on dialing up their swing speed. Between the draw-bias, Jailbreak bars, and high forgiveness, amateurs can find plenty to love with the Mavrik Max Fairway Wood.

Optimized Weighting

The Max also features two weights that create the draw-bias that beginners and high handicappers need to center their shotmaking. The weighting helps boost shot height with a soft landing that stops near the target area.

The weights are interchangeable, allowing golfers to find a customized, ideal balance for the head through the impact area. With the customization factor, struggling golfers can find better shotmaking with the Mavrik Max.

Aerodynamic Design

Along with its distance and accuracy, the Mavrik Max also features aerodynamics along the crown for reduced drag. The maximized swing speed translates to more distance with a minimal spin for tighter shot dispersion.

From the fairway, the aerodynamics pay off with the oversized head-boosting forgiveness with high launch. By minimizing the side spin, golfers can find better accuracy from the fairway, very helpful on second shots on longer par 5s.

Tungsten Sole Weighting

Positioned along the center-rear of the sole is an interchangeable tungsten weight. The weighting helps many areas but no more so than the launch of the golf ball.

Working in concert with several other notable features, the weighting is the engine behind the power that the G425 Max delivers on every swing. With the impressive turf interaction, the G425 Max’s features, such as the sole weighting, provide exceptional shotmaking ability and unmatched versatility.

Increased Ball Spin for Distance

For golfers that need more distance via their versatile fairway wood, the G425 Max is well suited to the task. One of the areas where the G425 Max excels is through spin rate. Since advanced golfers want minimal spin from their woods, the G425 offers a severe reduction in spin to help tighten shot dispersion, along with maintaining the high speed needed for distance.

Although the club is tailored to the sophisticated golfer, mid handicappers will find that the G425 Max is very accessible to help them reach the next level in their game.

Facewrap Technology

Along with its gorgeous design and craftsmanship, the Ping G425 Max also gets the company’s patented Facewrap Technology along the crown. With a high-strength maraging steel face that extends from the crown and sole, increases flexibility for faster shotmaking with extended carry.

Adjustable Loft Sleeve & Weighting

The F9 Fairway has eight adjustable loft settings, giving golfers more control and options on the height of their shots. Regardless of the loft setting you choose, Cobra has included their Smart Pad Technology to help keep the face square at impact.

A rear tungsten weight anchors the back of the club and helps keep the center of gravity back to assist with a higher launch off the face. Also, the weight is interchangeable if you want a heavier feel throughout the swing.

Three Different Options

The King F9 Fairway comes in three different options to customize your club set. There is a 3-4 wood, a 5-6 wood, and a 7-8 wood to choose from. Each club offers different features to help create the shot shape and height that you want from your fairway wood.

The popular 3-4 wood has shallower rails to create the sweeping motion that golfers want from their long fairway woods. The rails allow for a lower and more rounded swing arc to lift the golf ball from trouble areas like rough and hardpan surfaces.

The other options have higher lofts and moderate rails on the sole to accommodate a steeper swing for more compression and a greater launch angle.

Aerodynamic Crown

The F9 Fairway also features an incredibly sleek aerodynamic crown for maximum club head speed. Lightweight and durable, the club head is another reason why the F9 Fairway is one of the best bargains for mid-handicappers looking to upgrade their secondary woods.

The carbon fiber crown of the Cobra fairway wood moves more weight to the high side of the head to allow for a lower center of gravity that creates incredibly high launch after impact with reduced side spin for straighter and more accurate shots.

Lofts

With lofts starting at 21 degrees and going all the way up to 33 degrees, these fairway woods are designed as replacements for long and mid irons. Many high handicappers struggle with long irons and even struggle to hit hybrids properly. If that’s you, you may find a lot to like here. The Moon Woods offers a good bit of forgiveness for off-center hits.

With the high lofts, you’re not going to get much distance out of these compared to a normal fairway wood setup of, say, a 3 and 5 wood. But if you can’t hit a 3-wood properly, that’s not really going to concern you! The 21-degree flies about as far as a well-struck 3-iron, with the added benefit of a bit of stopping power than most high-handicappers have a hard time generating.

Shallow

The Moon Woods has an extremely low profile. This makes them tough to hit if they’re teed up at all, so be sure you’re teeing them close to the ground if you decide to tee off with them. But it does help them cut through the rough and get under the ball on a tight fairway lie. Sometimes when it seemed like only a 9-iron or pitching wedge would be able to give the ball enough lift to escape heavy rough, the Moon Wood was up to the task.

I was also surprised to find them useful around the green. If you have trouble with chunking or thinning chips and wish you had a more reliable option, take the Moon Wood to a chipping green next time you’re practicing. You may be pleasantly surprised that the ball pops up into the air and rolls out nicely to the hole.

This is really only a good option if you have a lot of green to work with, but that’s often the toughest shot for a high handicapper to hit.

Value

At a price point similar to better-known companies, it’s tough to spring for a relatively unknown company. But if you miss the old Adams Tight Lies club or you’re new to the game and can’t hit fairway woods or hybrids, it’s worth your time to give these a shot.

Clubhead Speed

The Callaway Rogue fairway woods feature “Jailbreak Technology,” designed to maximize clubhead speed through their aerodynamic streamlining in collaboration with airplane manufacturer Boeing. 

This translates into a very fast fairway wood with a hot face that really gets the ball up in the air and flying.

High handicappers may find that the Rogue 3-wood is easier to hit and longer than their drivers, so you may wind up being like Henrik Stenson, hitting 3-wood off of most tees. 

The increased clubhead speed also helps generate more lift off the fairway and even from the rough.

Forgiveness

While Callaway has done everything it can to maximize distance, the forgiveness of the driver is a bit compromised. Heel and toe hit fly offline without much directional correction. 

The distance is still good, but it would be nice to see more perimeter weighting to help mis-hits curve back to the intended target.

Is the trade-off worth it?

High handicappers are always looking for more distance, so the Rogue is a good choice for shorter, straighter hitters who would benefit from long shots. 

If you’re a high handicapper because you’re always in the woods trying to find the ball you hit 50 yards offline, you may want to look for a club that offers more directional correction.

Performance

The big selling point for the M5 and M6 woods is the Twist Face technology, which is a tweaked version of the classic “bulge and roll” technology. Instead of the standard bulge and roll, the Twist Face is tweaked to deliver more correction on high-toe and low-heel hits; those are the most common mis-hits for all golfers and, thus, need the most focus.

And the technology works. Whereas normally a high-toe hit would balloon off to the right, the Twist Face helps apply spin to keep the flight lower and curving back towards the original line of the shot. While it’s not going to guarantee good results, it certainly helps to minimize bad ones.

And the thinness of the face combined with the Speed Pocket behind it turns the M6 into a rocket. Many golfers may find they hit it nearly as far as their driver and may find themselves going the Henrik Stenson route of hitting mostly 3-wood off the tee.

While past TaylorMade woods have been a little too busy on the crown for my tastes, this is a simple combination of a silver front half and a carbon-fiber black back half, with a simple sweet-spot indicator that puts a great visual in your mind before you swing. It looks like it’ll send the ball into the stratosphere, and it does!

Value

The TaylorMade M6 has a price tag to match its performance level, however. At around $300/club, it’s up there with some drivers and entire iron sets. High handicappers may have a tough time justifying this expenditure, especially when they may get more benefit out of more lessons or playing time instead of new equipment.

While there are comparable clubs out there for a lower price, if you do want that extra last bit of yardage and forgiveness, it’s here for the taking. However, I can’t blame you if you opt for a nearly-as-good-but-1/3-the-cost option.

Exceptional Perimeter Weighting

When first getting the Radspeed Fairway in our hands, we noticed that the club offers a nice balance that plays well throughout the swing. The Cobra’s innovative perimeter weighting technology generates a low spin for a straight shot shape that offers a nice upgrade for high handicappers.

The Radspeed Fairway delivers solid contact through the impact zone that provides instant feedback. We immediately knew that we crushed shots toward the target on our best swings with the club, a significant positive when building confidence in your game.

Forgiving CNC Milled Face

Usually, we see CNC milling in putters and wedges, but Cobra has long used the technology on the faces of their drivers and fairway woods. The feature also makes an appearance here with the Radspeed Fairway, and we’re happy to report that the milling reduces sidespin and helps maintain accuracy.

The milling also boosts the appearance of the fairway wood. The Radspeed Fairway offers a modern, almost futuristic, look in the bag.

Lightweight Carbon Crown

We were also blown away by the lightweight but very solid construction of the club. Using a carbon crown, Cobra helps golfers generate higher swing speed without sacrificing shot quality. During our time with the club, we often noted how much fun the lightweight build of the fairway wood delivered high arcing shots that found the target more often than not.

A delightfully well-made fairway wood, the Cobra Radspeed is another step up from the company that will help high handicappers improve their distance and accuracy.

Twist Face Technology

One of the biggest reasons why I wanted to highlight this feature is because of how the Twist Face keeps the ball from straying too far off the path. Even when I hit the ball off the toe, the shot stayed along my target line with maximum velocity. 

An enjoyable discovery on the driving range, the Twist Face delivers an incredible feel and response on swing after swing.

Draw-Bias Design

When it comes to hitting balls with a draw-bias fairway wood, high handicappers need to understand how alignment benefits their game. Since you don’t have to worry about hitting the ball to the right with such extremity, you can instead work on swinging the SIM2 Max with high speed.

With several features including a heel weight and the Twist Face, the club helps close the face allowing it to come back to the square position at impact.

Distance and Accuracy

As with any club, you want length and precision and I’m happy to report that the SIM2 MAX delivers exceptional performance in both categories. Shots travel high with the extended carry that high handicappers need to get the most from each swing.

From the fairway, this fairway wood offers crisp contact, and the large, rounded sole moves smoothly across the turf to square up the golf ball on the face.

Ultralight shaft

The 60-gram graphite shaft is as light as you’ll find in any fairway wood.

Quite frankly, it’s too light for most golfers, but slow-swinging seniors and high handicappers will find a lot to like here.

The light, flexible shaft allows for greater clubhead speed, which helps get the ball up in the air.

Extra loft

The 3-wood comes with 16 degrees of loft, which is what you might find in 5-woods from other manufacturers.

Orlimar also offers, 5-, 7-, 9-, 11-, 13- and 15-woods in lofts all the way up to 38 degrees. That’s an 8-iron in most sets!

So if you have a slower swing or have trouble getting irons up into the air, the Orlimar Escape woods should be on your shortlist.

Shallow face

Orlimar’s Escape features a shallow face and a unique design that gets under the ball and sends it flying high in the air.

This makes it very easy to hit, but means you won’t get a ton of distance and not much in the way of roll.

This is a good thing if you’re using the Orlimar woods as iron replacements! But if you’d like a more traditional 3-wood that’ll give you 15-20 yards of roll after it lands, this isn’t for you.

Setting up

The PGX fairway woods have a set of small arrows for an alignment aid, and I wish it were just a dot instead. The offset makes it look like the arrows are pointed way left of the target when setting up. 

This can cause aiming issues, especially for people with a bad slice who are used to aiming way left to begin with. The arrows may cause subconscious overcorrection, which is the last thing a slicer wants.

Ball flight

The PGX is focused on keeping the ball left, and it does a pretty good job of that. But overall distance and forgiveness are somewhat lacking. It just doesn’t have the lively face or high-tech design advantages of most of the other woods reviewed here. Ball flights are high but a bit short. 

However, most importantly, they tend to draw or hook. So the one trick they attempt, they pull off.

The bottom line

The PGX is an inexpensive club geared at the recreational golfer who just wants to stop violently slicing the ball. It won’t win any beauty contests (in fact, it gets scratched up pretty easily even if you’re diligent about keeping its headcover on), but at a price point around $50 and lofts available up to a 15-wood, it might be a lifesaver to the right high-handicapper.