The Club Most Often Carried and Least Often Trusted
A fairway wood that only works off a tee is taking up a slot. The whole fitting is about what the sole does when there is no tee under the ball.
Mats Make Every Fairway Wood Look Competent
A mat has a hard, uniform surface with a thin layer of fibre on top. A sole skids across it regardless of shape, which means the two features that decide whether a fairway wood works off the ground — camber and leading edge height — are both invisible.
So we do not fit these indoors unless the weather forces it, and if it does, the card says so and we ask you to come back for a confirmation pass on grass. It takes twenty minutes and it changes recommendations often enough to be worth the second trip.
Camber Is the Whole Argument
Camber is the curvature of the sole from front to back and from heel to toe. More curvature means less of the sole is touching at any moment, so the head releases out of the turf more easily and is more forgiving of a slightly heavy strike. A flatter sole sits more stably at address and works better on firm ground where nothing is going to grab it.
Around here the ground swings between both extremes over a season. Firm, fast, sun-baked lies from May into early July, then soft and grabby through the monsoon weeks, then firm again. A sole that only suits one of those two states is a club you will lose confidence in halfway through the summer.
The tight-lie test. We keep a strip of deliberately worn, thin turf for this. If a fairway wood cannot be hit cleanly from that lie, its leading edge is sitting too high for the ground you play, and no amount of shaft testing will fix it.
Loft, Not Number
The digit on the sole means very little. A 3-wood from one brand and a 3-wood from another can differ by two and a half degrees, and adjustable hosels move things further. We fit by measured loft and by the carry gap it produces above and below, then write both the number and the actual loft on your card so the next person who looks at your bag is not confused.
Does It Earn the Slot at All?
Part of this session is an honest question about whether the club belongs in your bag. If your corrected carry with a 3-wood off the deck lands within a few yards of your best hybrid, and the hybrid is easier for you to hit from a real lie, then you are carrying a duplicate and giving up a useful gap somewhere else.
Roughly a fifth of fairway wood sessions here conclude with a recommendation to drop the club rather than replace it. That outcome costs the same as any other.
Test It Where It Has to Work
The grass strip is open Tuesday through Saturday, weather permitting.