Ah, the fairway wood; the club that sees the most action when things are not going well. It can be a struggling driver or long course, either way fairway woods are for distance.
As you become Senior golfer, all courses seem longer and the need for more frequent long shots grows. We’ve got you covered with the best fairway woods for Seniors.
| Click Below To Compare Prices | |
|---|---|
| Top Pick King Cobra F-Max  |  |
| Budget Option Wilson Launch Pad  |  |
| Best for Low Handicap Seniors TaylorMade M6 D-Type  |  |
| Best for High Handicap Seniors Cleveland Launcher HB Turbo  | |
| Runner-Up Callaway Epic Flash Star  | |
Top Pick | King Cobra F-Max
With their F-Max fairway woods, Cobra centers their effort of reducing weight. With less weight in the shaft and head, it gives you the opportunity to gain club speed without doing anything to your swing. As a result, you hit the ball longer simply by switching to this club.
King Cobra F-Max
Lighter and more versatile than ever, the King Cobra F-Max is easy to hit and helps the ball fly off your club.
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Compared to previous generations, the shaft is five grams lighter. While that might not seem like a lot, the difference is immediately noticeable once it’s in your hands. Cobra even shaved off two grams by getting rid of the paint. A creative solution and it looks pretty cool as well. A carbon fiber clubhead crown reduces weight by 10 grams, yet another measure that makes this club easier to swing.
Ask any golfer if they want more distance. If someone says no, walk away. At that point, any further conversation will hurt your game. The Cobra F-Max has an offset design that helps reduce slice tendencies and promotes a natural draw. With this ball shape, there is more consistency, and extra yards are easy to come by. Back heel weighting also helps the cause, doubling the effect.
If you want to offer one of the best fairway woods for seniors, you can’t create a model that only comes in one loft option. Senior golfers don’t want to be carrying 3 and 4-irons. There’s no need for them thanks to the rise of hybrids and how easy it is to hit modern woods. Let’s be honest, most golfers could benefit from using fewer long irons and more woods—not only seniors. The King Cobra F-Max is offered as a 3, 5 and 7-wood with respective lofts of 16, 20 and 23-degrees.
Cobra offers two shaft options with the F-Max fairway wood; Airspeed 50 and Airspeed 45. Both shafts are high launch and high spin making it even easier to hit the ball high and long. The Airspeed 50 comes in regular and stiff flex. The shaft that will likely be a better fit for senior golfers is the Airspeed 45, which comes in—you guessed it, senior flex.
Budget Option | Wilson Launch Pad
Wilson wanted to make a lightweight fairway that was also affordable. Surprise, they succeeded. Wilson Launch Pad fairway woods give your game a boost, without hurting your wallet too badly (it’s still golf).
Wilson Launch Pad
Without seeing the price tag, you’d never guess that the Wilson Launch Pad was our budget option with how well it plays.
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The team over at Wilson took the lightweight approach seriously. They knew that by reducing weight, it would help golfers build up swing speed, gain distance and be happier after each swing—not an easy task. Starting with the shaft, then to the clubhead and even the grip, Wilson reduced each component by a few grams, reducing the overall weight dramatically.
I like knowing what’s going to happen when I hit the ball, you should too. Now, admittedly, much of my trouble comes from my own inconsistency. Fortunately, the right clubs can help this.
Wilson Launch Pad woods have a clubface where hitting the center helps, but is not the end of the world if missed. By dispersing clubhead weight, they enlarge the sweet spot. A bigger sweet spot means that off-center hits go straighter and farther than older model clubs.
Between the light weight and a moderate offset, you’ll be hitting the ball past your buddies when this comes out of the bag. With the hosel being offset, your club face will be slightly closed at impact. While it won’t generate a hook that runs for 40 yards, it will reduce a fade or slice.
Wilson Launch Pad fairway woods come as either 3-wood (15 degrees) or a 5-wood (18 degrees). Both of these are considered slightly strong lofts. The benefit of this is that it will help add a few yards compared to other brands. For this club, the UST Mamiya Helium graphite shaft would be your stock shaft. With such a high-quality (and high launch) standard option, there’s no reason to consider upgrading.
Best for Low Handicap Seniors | TaylorMade M6 Fairway D-Type
There is a reason that the M-Series has existed for the last five years and new models come out yearly. They’re good. The TaylorMade M6 Fairway D-Type is the latest and greatest from the M-Series. Yet again, we like what they’ve done with it.
TaylorMade M6 Fairway D-Type
Need a little more distance? How about a draw? The TaylorMade M6 D-Type delivers on both fronts.
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For a low handicap senior, it provides enough help that you can account for more inconsistency in your swing than you’re used to. Additionally, this club can easily be shaped and provides the feedback you’re used to.
A TaylorMade technology that has found its way to fairway woods is the twist face. Now I can’t explain how it works, but I can tell you what this does. Thanks to the clubhead shape, side spin is reduced and off-center hits still go long and straight. Since fairway woods are all about maximizing distance, it’s always good to have a little extra control (and room for error).
The “D-Type” in TaylorMade M6 Fairway D-Type means that this club has a draw bias. Now some might think we’re going a bit overboard with clubs that produce draws, but I’m not sure that possible.
Considering these are clubs procured for seniors who are losing distance as time passes, we want to find ways that let the clubs do the work for you. In other words, we want clubs that give you added benefits without forcing you to change your swing or increase club speed.
TaylorMade makes the M6 Fairway D-Type as a 3-wood (16 degrees), 5-wood (19 degrees) and 7-wood (22 degrees). While the selection is nice, the 7-wood is made only for righties. For this club, the stock shaft is the Project X Evenflow Max Carry 50. At any flex, this shaft is high launch and high spin.
Best for High Handicap Seniors | Cleveland Launcher HB Turbo
The best fairway woods for seniors come in all shapes, sizes and yes, brands. This Cleveland production could have easily filled the spot of budget option. What stopped that was what it brought to the table in terms of playability for high handicap players.
Cleveland Launcher HB Turbo
A high handicap golfer needs a high launch club. With ample forgiveness and assistance, there’s hardly a better option than the Cleveland Launcher HB Turbo.
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Our favorite aspect of the Cleveland Launcher HB Turbo is the HiBore crown. Thanks to this design, center of gravity is lower and your launch angle will be higher without changing angle of attack. This club has stong lofts. With the low center of gravity, you’re adding distance—without increasing launch difficulty.
Designs on the bottom of clubs may appear aesthetic. In reality, they decrease weight. By cutting a few grams where they can, Cleveland lends a hand in adding more club speed to your swing.
Even better for weight is how Cleveland distributed it across the shaft and clubhead. By allotting more weight to the top of the shaft, you’ll get a better feel in your hands and excel through the ball.
Combine this with cup face technology that expands the sweet spot and you’ll hit the ball longer without adding any extra force. Any increases in swing speed will come naturally.
Cleveland Launcher HB Turbo fairway woods come as either a 3-wood (15 degrees) or 5-wood (18 degrees). This club also comes with a Miyazaki C. Kua 50 shaft. In itself, this is a mid-launch shaft, but with the clubhead technology on hand, getting the ball up is not a challenge.
Runner-up | Callaway Epic Flash Star
The Callaway Epic Flash Star is a slow-swingers delight. With every aspect engineered to help generate distance and speed, this is an ideal option for senior golfers. After all, it is a top choice on our best fairway woods for seniors list.
Callaway Epic Flash Star
The Callaway Epic Flash Star might be a bit expensive, but delivers for golfers at every level.
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With multiple ways to increase ball speed, the Epic Flash Star has a leg up on the competition. The most effective is through jailbreak technology. Two bars are placed inside the clubface, helping to absorb force at contact and produce more ball speed. Hit it between the two bars and you’re in good shape.
Across the board (head, shaft and grip), Callaway has made this a lightweight club. Often, brands aren’t able to combine their top tier technology and keep weight down. Callaway has. Thanks to all these factors, you’ll swing harder and hit the ball farther. Outside of that, what more could you want?
Callaway Epic Flash Star fairway woods come as a 3-wood (15 degrees), 5-wood (18 degrees), 7-wood (21 degrees), 9-wood (23 degrees) and 11-wood (25 degrees). For the few people interested in the higher woods, the 7, 9 and 11 are only made for righties. Lefties—you’ll survive without an 11-wood. For this club, the stock shaft is a UST Mamiya ATTAS Speed Series.
Outside of our budget options, we don’t like to get too deep into the financials of clubs. After all, everyone has a different price range. It is worth noting though, that the Callaway Epic Flash Star carries a heftier price tag than most clubs. Bring this club down a little bit and it would have been out top pick. Regardless, the club is awesome.
What Seniors Should Look For When Choosing A Fairway Wood
Senior golfers need to consider other aspects of clubs than hard-hitting young players. Those golfers go out there and swing with reckless abandon, that’s not you (anymore).
First off, the best fairway woods for seniors are lightweight. A lighter club helps generate more swing speed. I’m sure we don’t have to tell you this, but the harder you can swing, the farther the ball will go. Even a few extra mph will generate distance that helps your game improve.
Another key element to a good senior golf club is a low center of gravity. When this happens, it is easier to get the ball off the ground and generate an optimal ball flight. Hitting the ball too high can be a problem, but it’s a whole lot easier to fix than not getting the ball off the ground.
A third thing you want to focus on during your club hunt is forgiveness. A forgiving club is one that you do not have to hit completely square for the ball to go straight. Find a club that reduces errant spin and you’ll have a club that helps you hit more fairways and greens.
Why A Senior Flex Club?
How do I know it is time to make the switch?
It is a rarity that a golfer starts as a senior. While it’s not completely unheard of, becoming a senior golfer is a transition. Like any conversion, this requires a fair amount of adjusting (and acknowledgment).
Deciding when to ditch regular shafts and embrace senior clubs is not the easiest choice to make. We don’t always have the luxury of getting hooked up to a launch monitor or going for a professional fitting. Instead, we have to rely on other key indicators.
To get the best fairway woods for seniors, the first step is realizing that you need senior clubs. Most club fitters will ask about a how a club feels in your hands. When a club feels “dead”, it means there is no noticeable responsiveness.
If you cannot feel your club flexing, you’re not swinging hard enough to take advantage of the shaft. The term “dead” is not a matter of power in the club, but what you leave on the table without swinging as hard as necessary.
Another key indicator is shot shape. While this not a rule of any kind, golfers who push and slice may be using a shaft that is too stiff. When you do not generate enough swing speed to get through the ball, your timing is messed up and the face will open. Reducing flex alleviates this problem and squares the face at impact.
Looking at the big picture, having the incorrect flex leads to inconsistency and losing distance. We’re here to help you prevent that.
How can I benefit from less flex? (Swinging lighter, ball going farther)
For a senior golfer that sees their length disappearing, something needs to change. The biggest mistake is trying to swing harder. Today’s golf clubs are built so that you don’t need to swing harder to make the ball go farther.
When you reduce the flex of your club, you can swing lighter without losing distance. If you’ve been fighting the transition from a regular shaft, not only will you maintain your distance, but you’ll add something to it.
With a lighter flex, your swing does not need to be as fast to get your club face square when you’re hitting the ball. A square face equals more consistency and distance. Sign me up for that.
