Interesting topic to me, b/c with my age and lack of distance I'm always on the lookout for fairway woods that suit
me and can help me score lower. About 5 years ago I read a tip for seniors in one of the magazines by a pro who
offered the opinion that we older guys should not even bother trying to hit a fairway wood LESS THAN 20 degrees.
At that time, I think I still was trying to hit a 3-wood (solid, but no height off the deck) and an 18 degree 5-wood. So,
I started looking around for a 20* head that I liked. I found an Orlimar Trimetal Plus at our local PIAS with what looked like to me as the "perfect" shape (BTW the Trimetal PLUS is about 1/4 inch deeper in the face than the original Trimetal, which is super shallow!). I reshafted it at 42 3/4" with an ExCaliber senior shaft, and it has been in my bag as my "long fairway wood" ever since. I still hit it with a good trajectory, and get about 180 yards out of it. I've since
added a 22* and a 26* that match it exactly and have reshafted them with exactly the same shafts. I refer to them as my 5,7, and 9 woods, although with the OEMs jacking around with lofts these days, who knows?
The next club in my bag is a Taylormade RBZ #5 hybrid, which I just added, that gives me 150 yards.
So, as of right now, I've got all my yardages covered for THIS season. One thing that being a senior has taught me
is that every year the distances change, usually not for the better! Thanks for this thread, scotts33....I always
put a lot of stock in your posts about equipment, b/c you obviously have a great deal of experience in
the business of fitting and club making!
