fairway woods for low handicap golfers

Tour Edge Exotics E725, C725 fairway woods

The Exotics E725 fairway woods are for golfers who want more forgiveness and stability.

Gear: Tour Edge Exotics E725, C725 fairway woods
Price: $249.99 (E725) and $299.99 (C725) with Project X Cypher or Denali Blue shafts and Golf Pride Tour Velvet 360 grip.
Specs: Stainless steel chassis and face with carbon fiber crown (E725). Titanium face and body with tungsten sole weight and adjustable hosel (C725). Available lofts – 15, 16.5, 18 and 21 degrees (E725); 13, 15 and 18 degrees (C725)
Available: October 15 (pre-order); November 1 (in-stores).

Who it’s for: The Exotics E725 fairway woods are for golfers who want more forgiveness and stability, especially on off-center strikes, while the Exotics C725 fairway woods are for players who want reduced spin and a more-penetrating ball flight with enhanced workability.

What you should know: These are two very different clubs. The E725 has extra weight in the back and a low profile to help boost stability and encourage higher flying shots. The Exotics C725 has a titanium face and body, a low-forward center of gravity thanks to a massive tungsten sole plate, and it creates less spin, a lower flight and more speed.

The deep dive: Like the Exotics E725 and C725 drivers, these fairway woods have been designed with different player profiles. They share some core technologies, but make no mistake, they are designed to do different things for different players.

Tour Edge Exotics E725 fairway woods — The E725 fairway woods have a carbon fiber crown, low profile, and high- MOI design. (Tour Edge)

Exotics E725: Forgiveness and Stability

The E in E725 stands for extreme forgiveness, and Tour Edge designed this low-profile fairway wood to be easy to hit for a broad range of players.

The Exotics E725 has a 10-gram adjustable weight in the back of the sole, along the trailing edge, to pull the center of gravity (CG) location down and back, away from the hitting area. That low-back CG location encourages a higher ball flight, more spin and elevates the moment of inertia (MOI) to help the Exotics E725 fairways resist twisting more effectively on off-center hits.

Custom fitters can swap the 10-gram weight out in favor of weights ranging from 5 grams to 28 grams based on a player’s needs.

To enhance ball speed, Tour Edge gave the Exotics E725 fairways a new variable thickness face that has 61 diamond-shaped areas that act like mini trampolines and broaden the sweet spot. The company calls it 3D Diamond Face, and it dramatically increases ball speed on off-center hits.

The Exotics E725 fairways also have been made with Tour Edge’s updated 360-degree Ridgeback technology. It’s a reinforced area that encircles the carbon fiber crown to make the head stiffer and more stable at impact, while also allowing designers to use 22 percent more carbon fiber in the crown and remove more weight from the top of the head.

Finally, Tour Edge gave the Exotics E725 a RyzerSole and Power Channel. The RyzerSole is a heavy-railed piece on the bottom of the club that helps lower the CG location and help the E725 fairways skim over the turf and maintain speed through the strike. The Power Channel allows the lower portion of the face to flex more efficiently on low-struck shots and reduce spin.

Tour Edge Exotics C725 fairway woods — The Exotics C725 has a moveable weight and adjustable hosel. (Tour Edge)

Exotics C725: Less Spin, More Speed

The C in C725 stands for competition spec, and like its driver counterpart, the Exotics C725 fairway woods were made for fast-swinging players who want more speed, less spin, a lower flight and more shot-shaping control.

Unlike the E725 fairways, the C725 fairway woods feature titanium bodies and a titanium hitting area, which saves a significant amount of weight.

They have large carbon fiber crowns and the same 360-degree Ridgeback support system, along with the updated 3D Diamond Face design to broaden the sweet spot and protect ball speed on mis-hits.

A 10-gram weight in the back portion of the sole allows players and fitters to give the C725 fairway woods a draw or fade bias. However, much of the discretionary weight created by using titanium has been repositioned in the form of a 90-gram tungsten sole plate. The plate itself weighs 75 grams, and the steen fastener adds another 15 grams. Together, they drive down the center of gravity and pull it forward.

While the low-back CG location in the E725 fairway woods encourages a higher flight and more spin, the low-forward CG of the C725 fairway woods increases ball speed, reduces spin and helps the clubs produce a lower trajectory.

Exotics E725 vs. Exotics C725: Which one is right for you?

The best way to find out which Tour Edge Exotics 725 fairway wood is suitable for you is to work with a custom fitter who has a launch monitor and study the shots you hit.

That said, if you’re looking for a new fairway wood that emphasizes power and stability, the E725’s high MOI design and rear CG position could work for you. If you’re a fast-swinging, skilled player who prefers a compact shape and wants to control shot shape and spin, the C725 could be a better option.

TaylorMade Qi10, Qi10 Max, Qi10 Tour fairway woods

TaylorMade’s Qi10 fairway woods offer a blend of distance, forgiveness and spin.

Gear: TaylorMade Qi10, Qi10 Max, Qi10 Tour fairway woods
Price: $349 each for the Qi10 or Qi10 Max with Fujikura Speeder NX TCS shaft, Fujikura Ventus Blue TR shaft or Mitsubishi Tensei AV Limited Blue shaft and Golf Pride Z-Grip grip. $449 for the Qi10 Tour.
Specs: Carbon fiber crown with V-shaped sole plate, Speed Pocket and stainless steel face (Qi10, Qi10 Max); carbon fiber crown, titanium face, moveable weight and adjustable hosel (Qi10 Tour).
Available: Feb. 2 for the Qi10, Qi10 Max; Feb. 16 for the Qi10 Tour, but available for pre-order NOW

Who They’re For: Golfers who want to maximize forgiveness and distance off the tee and from the fairway (Qi10, Qi10 Max), or low-handicap golfers who want adjustability, more distance off the tee and a more-compact shape (Qi10 Tour).

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The Skinny: The standard Qi10 has been made to blend forgiveness and distance in an all-around fairway wood, while the Max version has a higher moment of inertia to make it extremely forgiving and easy to launch high into the air. The Qi10 Tour blends a titanium face with a sliding weight and adjustable hosel, making it the club low-handicap players can fine-tune easily.

The Deep Dive: TaylorMade has been a significant force in the fairway wood category since 2012, when the release of RocketBallz ushered in the era of nuclear-powered fairway woods that deliver driver-like distance. Since that time, the Carlsbad, California-based company has continued to refine shapes, work with new materials and design clubs that are as capable of splitting tight fairways off the tee as they are attacking long par 5s from the turf.

Golfers tend to be finicky when it comes to fairway woods, so one club can’t be perfect for every player. With the Qi10 fairway wood family, TaylorMade offers three very different clubs that share some key technologies.

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Since 2015, TaylorMade fairway woods have had a distinctive look, combining a carbon fiber crown with a stainless steel piece that joins the crown and face. In some clubs, such as the M4, M6 and SIM fairway woods, that area was even white to create a contrast and help golfers improve their alignment. But in the Qi 10 fairway woods, that ledge area is gone. Now the carbon fiber crown, which is larger, extends to the seam where it meets the hitting area. TaylorMade refers to it as an Infinity Crown, and it not only creates a more-premium look in the address position, it also reduces weight in the top of the club.

To help golfers align shots more easily, TaylorMade added a subtle white line on the top portion of the hitting area, as it did in company’s previous Stealth 2 fairway woods.

TaylorMade Qi10 Max fairway wood — All the Qi10 fairway woods, including the Max, have Twist Face to help golfers hit straighter shots. (David Dusek/Golfweek)

All the Qi10 fairway woods also feature Twist Face, the company’s design feature that peels back the high-toe area and low-heel areas of the face to help golfers hit straighter shots. There is also a Speed Pocket slot designed in the sole, directly behind the leading edge, that helps improve performance on thin shots and allows the lower portion of the hitting area to flex more efficiently. The Qi10 and Qi10 Max also feature a V-Steel sole design that lifts the heel and toe areas on the bottom of the club to reduce turf interaction and help golfers maintain speed through the hitting zone.

The standard Qi10 is available in lofts of 15, 18, 21 and 24 degrees. It is slightly shorter from front to back than the Qi10 Max, which is offered in 16-, 19- and 22-degree versions. Sharp-eyed golfers might see that, and they will also see that the Qi10 Max has a lower profile, but inside the Qi10 and Qi10 Max is where the most significant differences can be found.

Inside the Qi10, TaylorMade added an internal 15-gram weight in the back and a 42-gram weight behind the face to improve stability while significantly increasing ball speed. The Qi10 Max has a 42-gram internal weight in the back and a 15-gram weight in the front, so it is more stable on mis-hits, generates more spin and should produce a higher launch for most golfers. In fact, the Qi10 Max has the highest moment of inertia of any fairway wood TaylorMade has made.

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TaylorMade Qi10 Tour fairway woods — The TaylorMade Qi10 Tour fairway wood (David Dusek/Golfweek)

For more-accomplished golfers and players who want to maximize adjustability, TaylorMade is offering the Qi10 Tour. The head is smaller (170 cubic centimeters) than the Qi10 (190 cubic centimeters) and the Qi10 Max (200 cubic centimeters), but it does have an Infinity carbon fiber crown like those clubs, plus Twist Face and a Speed Pocket in the sole. However, the Qi10 Tour has three significant features the other clubs lack.

First, the Qi10 Tour, which will only be offered in 15- and 18-degree versions, has a titanium face like a driver, so designers could make it thinner and lighter without sacrificing durability.

The titanium face and carbon fiber crown combination allowed engineers to give the Qi10 Tour a 50-gram sliding weight, enabling players and fitters to shift the center of gravity forward to reduce spin, increase ball speed and produce a lower launch angle. Moving the weight back increases spin and should produce a higher ball flight with more forgiveness.

Finally, the Qi10 Tour also has an adjustable hosel that allows the stated loft to be increased or decreased by as many as 2 degrees.

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Below are more close-up images of the Qi10 fairway woods:

Callaway Paradym Ai Smoke fairway woods

Callaway Paradym Ai Smoke fairway woods are for people who want more distance off the tee and from the fairway with ball-speed protection on mis-hits.

Gear: Callaway Paradym Ai Smoke fairway woods
Price: $349.99 with Project X Cypher 2.0 shaft, Project X Denali Black shaft or Mitsubishi Tensei AV Blue shaft and Golf Pride Tour Velvet 360 grip
Specs: Forged stainless steel face and body with carbon fiber crown and adjustable hosel
Available: Feb. 2, but available via pre-order NOW

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Who They’re For: Golfers who want more distance off the tee and from the fairway, plus ball-speed protection on mis-hits.

The Skinny: Using artificial intelligence, Callaway created different faces for each of the four Paradym Ai Smoke fairway woods so they are optimized to enhance distance and protect ball speed for specific types of players.

The Deep Dive: Fairway woods can be the most challenging clubs to design because engineers need to deliver the ideal flight and desired distance both off the tee and on shots hit off the turf. It’s not easy.

In the four Paradym Ai Smoke fairway woods, Callaway studied thousands of swings made by a wide variety of golfers and developed unique “Swing Codes,” mapping where players of different abilities make contact on the face.

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As you would suspect, accomplished golfers found the center of the hitting area often and delivered the club to the ball on a neutral path, while mid- and higher-handicap players made contact all over the face and tended to swing from out to in. Callaway also observed that many players who struggle to make solid, consistent contact tend to have a steep angle of attack into the ball. At the same time, accomplished golfers only swing down slightly as they hit fairway woods.

So Callaway utilized artificial intelligence to optimize performance for different players. Engineers instructed supercomputers to virtually design and test thousands of faces to reveal which could deliver a blend of distance and ball-speed protection on mis-hits for different types of players. The result is four faces, each with unique thick and thin areas, that are now in the four Paradym Ai Smoke fairway woods.

The standard Paradym Ai Smoke Max fairway wood will be available as a 3-wood, 3HL, 5-wood, Heavenwood, 7-wood, 9-wood and 11-wood. It has a carbon fiber crown to reduce weight on the club’s top and help lower the center of gravity. Removing a pair of stainless steel reinforcing beams from the sole that were present in the original Paradym Max fairway woods saved another 24 grams of weight.

For fast-swinging players and golfers who generate excessive spin, Callaway designed the Paradym Ai Smoke Triple Diamond – available as a 3-, 5- and 7-wood – with a forward center of gravity that increases ball speed, reduces spin and helps produce a more piercing ball flight. The Triple Diamond is smaller than the other Paradym Ai Smoke fairway woods. Callaway designed it with a stainless steel sole instead of a carbon fiber sole because the weight saved by going with carbon fiber would be minimal.

For golfers who tend to slice the ball, Callaway offers the Paradym Ai Smoke Max D, a draw-biased fairway wood that comes as a 3-, 3HL, 5- and 7-wood.

Callaway also offers the Paradym Ai Smoke Max Fast, which comes standard with a lighter shaft and grip and is available as a 3-, 5-, 7- and 9-wood for players who struggle to generate speed and distance.

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Check out several images of the Paradym Ai Smoke fairway woods below.