Fairway woods are an essential part of your golf bag, filling the gap between your irons and your driver. This means that more precise shots off the tee are possible without having to play the longest iron in your bag and longer irons for your approaches from the fairway. Manufacturers design them to provide excellent distance while still being usable without a tee, making them highly versatile.

A 3 wood is typically the longest fairway wood in your bag, providing more distance than just about every club in your bag except your driver. There isn’t one best club for everyone, as each brand and model will focus on different things. As a result, finding the best 3 wood golf club for you usually means comparing options and evaluating the following aspects of a club:

• Distance
• Forgiveness
• Adjustability

Let’s dive into each and discuss what you can look for as a customer to determine whether a club has the right amount of each category for you.

Distance

One of the first things on many golfer’s minds is distance. They want to be sure that their fairway woods will provide sufficient ball speed, optimal trajectory and descent angles to optimize distance and spin rates.

The following are some ways manufacturers can ensure that their fairway woods provide enough distance:

Forward CG	Moving the center of gravity closer to the face can reduce ball spin and create a more aggressive shot trajectory.
Weight Reduction	Keeping the clubhead light can increase swing speed, which results in better ball speed and carry distance.
Face Construction	Using better materials in the face and strategic internal weight placement for the purpose of enhanced MOI can improve the energy transfer at impact and increase ball speed.

By looking for clubs with these features, golfers can narrow their search to clubs likely to bring the extra distance they seek. While this can be good for some golfers, others may be looking for a mix of distance and forgiveness.

Forgiveness

Forgiveness refers to how easy it is to hit the ball straight with your golf club, especially on off-center strikes. This isn’t just geared toward newer golfers, as even the best golfers like to have some level of forgiveness prioritized in their fairway woods to ensure that they can get the ball in the air regardless of the surface they are hitting from.

The following are some ways that manufacturers can improve the forgiveness of their fairway woods:

Rear-Biased CG	Moving the center of gravity further away from the face increases MOI, or the amount of playable surface area on the face, making the club more forgiving for off-center strikes.
Low CG	In addition to keeping the CG rear-biased, lowering it can increase launch and make it easier to get the ball up in the air regardless of the terrain underneath.
Turf Interaction	Creating a long, smooth surface across the sole makes the club glide more effortlessly in varying turf conditions, increasing the odds of solid contact even if your swing path isn’t ideal.
Face Construction	Using better materials in the face, and creating some space between the face material and the internal weights, can also improve forgiveness by allowing the face to flex more and fly straighter across more of its surface area.

Clubs with these features will be easier to hit straight, and those with a specific emphasis on forgiveness will be well-suited for golfers that struggle with consistency with their 3 wood. Many golfers need forgiveness in some circumstances (bad turf, shorter shots, etc.) and more distance in others. Luckily, many fairway woods offer some level of adjustability.

Adjustability

For golfers that want to be able to alter lofts, left and right bias, and lie angles of their 3 wood, there are a few ways that manufacturers allow golfers to adjust their clubs on-the-fly. This will enable them to prioritize distance on tee shots or approaches from the fairway and increase the forgiveness on shots out of the rough or shorter shots that don’t require as much distance.

The following are some ways that manufacturers can provide adjustability on their fairway woods:

Adjustable Weights	Allowing golfers to swap the exterior weights on their fairway wood lets them reduce weight to increase clubhead speed for some shots and increase weight in certain parts of the club to improve forgiveness on others.
Sliding Weights	Providing sliding exterior weights allows golfers to manually move the center of gravity toward the front or rear to increase distance or forgiveness. Some clubs have sliding heel/toe weights that allow for draw/fade bias, though this feature is more common on drivers.
Loft Adjustment Sleeves	Using a loft adjustment sleeve lets golfers adjust the loft and lie of their club slightly to make their shot trajectory higher or lower. Higher loft makes getting the ball out of rough terrain more manageable, while lower loft increases distance (as long as the golfer can still get the ball in the air).

While not all golfers want this level of adjustability, it can be a handy feature for those with varied needs depending on their circumstances. Clubs with these features suit golfers that use their 3 wood in many different circumstances.

Buy the Best 3 Wood Golf Clubs at Worldwide Golf Shops

Worldwide Golf Shops provides next-level service to customers of all experience levels, with the best-trained staff in the industry. We pride ourselves on our ability to provide guidance to beginners and to share pro tips with even our most experienced clientele, making us one of the best places to buy the best 3 wood golf clubs. 

Check out our online store to see our industry-standard variety of the best kids’ golf gear and all of the following:

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At Worldwide Golf Shops, we take pride in offering brands that we guarantee will provide the highest level of value to our diverse range of golfers. Our knowledgeable staff is ready to assist you in finding the perfect golf gear. Find a store near you today!