With higher lofted fairway woods becoming increasingly popular on the PGA Tour, is it time as club golfers to put their egos to the side follow suit? There’s no denying that channelling your inner Tiger Woods and ripping a long iron off the tee or from distance into a green provides a massive sense of satisfaction, but repeating this shot when under the cosh can prove particularly difficult.
WATCH: Sam De'Ath puts a 9-wood in play on the course
Over the past few years, some of the best ball strikers in the world, such as Dustin Johnson and Tommy Fleetwood have opted for a 9-wood in their bag depending on the course set-up for the week to provide extra stopping power into greens versus a 3-iron. So does this mean one should find its way into your bag? Well if you struggle hitting greens from range, finding consistency with your longer irons or extracting the ball from the rough, you may want to stick around.
I’m a former mini-tour professional who, up until recently, had always played with a set of irons consisting of pitching wedge up to 4-iron. So what did I swap? Well, I have always been someone who loves golf gear and tinkering with my equipment but I have always struggled to find long irons I like and that performed well for me. I’m fairly specific with how I like clubs to look and even some of the best hybrids sit a touch closed to my eye, therefore I have always been bending the loft and lie angles with my utility irons to find something I felt comfortable with.
Fed up of missing greens on long par threes and seeing a lack of launch from the fairway into par fives with my irons had me searching for a solution. Enter the 9-wood. Seen as somewhat of a mythical creature and rarity in the golfing world, I was marvelling over the prospect of hitting ‘moon balls’ with my new Ping G430 Max 9 wood when it arrived. The head size is similar to that of a 5-wood, but due to the 24° of loft, it appears much more shallow at address and did have me feeling as though I could send a ball up my left nostril if I were to hit it off a tee.
Having tested all of the best fairway woods this year, I liked the combination of looks, distance and forgiveness of the Ping G430, so with the same head design, just slightly more loft, I had a hunch I would fall in love with this club - I wasn’t disappointed.
As someone who often spins the ball a little too much, I would be lying if I said I was a little skeptical as to how I would manage the spin-loft on this club and therefore ensure I wasn’t going to lose a dramatic amount of distance due to a ‘ballooning’ ball flight. The 9-wood was brought in to replace my 4-iron which produced the complete opposite flight - a flatter, more penetrating trajectory - and so there was a learning period to work out the ball flight windows and how you can expect the ball to react when leaving the face.
As you can imagine, the 9 wood with a shallower head and larger and lower CG, promoted a significantly higher ball flight with more spin which, I welcomed with open arms - most of the time. The opening hole at my golf club is a par-three around 210 yard mark and so standing there on a cold morning with a long iron is a particularly stressful start. Having the 9-wood in the bag is an absolute game-changer and I’ve never been so confident from 200 yards out.
Advancing your ball down the fairway from the rough is a night and day difference with a 9-wood compared to a long iron of similar loft too. The 9-wood often gave me a chance of hitting greens from the rough, where with the equivalent iron in my hand I’d be happy to see the ball advance to 20 yards short of the green when the rough is particularly thick. With the PGA Tour setting up courses with tighter, thicker rough, I don’t think we should be at all surprised if more and more professional golfers start opting for a 9-wood or higher lofted fairway wood in the future over a long iron.
For those who play on links courses or in strong winds the 9-wood may not be suitable as it would be very difficult to control the ball flight, but for calmer conditions and playing into firm greens, the 9-wood is perfect thanks to its high launch and steep descent angle, allowing me to attack tucked pins that I wouldn’t have been able to get near with 4 or 3-iron in hand. A hybrid is a great option for those seeking medium ground. For a hybrid of similar loft to a 4-iron and 9-wood, the flight would typically sit in between and gives you the workability of the iron, with the forgiveness of a lofted fairway wood. There are plenty of hybrid options on the market, from small compact models, to the most forgiving hybrids that actually appear more wood like than a typical hybrid.
As much as I thought this club would be somewhat of a one-trick pony, I was genuinely amazed with its versatility. Yes it is primarily used for sending the ball to the heavens, but I found it surprisingly easy to play a back-foot punch, getting the ball soaring through a headwind. But it was the ability to hit it out of fairway bunkers and even hit bump-and-run chip shots around the greens where I really understood how valuable this club could be to me.
At the end of the day, golf is hard and we should be doing everything we can to make the game easier. The confidence and ability to score from around the 200 yard mark is something I have sought after for a long time and I know other golfers feel the same way. Playing with equipment that helps you play better golf makes for a much more enjoyable day on the course and so I believe a 9-wood is a club that every golfer should at least consider adding to their arsenal.
What loft is a 9-Wood?
24° is the standard amount of loft you can expect to find on a 9-wood but many, including the Ping G430 Max model we tried, are adjustable.
What brands offer a 9-wood?
Ping, TaylorMade and Titleist are three major brands that all offer a 9-woods in particular fairway wood models.
