A Guide to Selecting Junior Fairway Woods

Junior Fairway Woods: A Guide to Selection & Fitting

Fairway woods generally do not come in a junior golf boxed set and as a result, many parents at some point in their child’s development ask the question, should we add a fairway wood to their golf bag and if so when is the appropriate time to do so? 

Advice by Age Groups: Fairway Woods: The best way to determine if and when your child should add a fairway wood is best generalized by age. So we’ve broken up our recommendations into age groups below. Age, in this context, is used as a term to categorize developmental patterns such as height and strength. We recognize that junior development is never linear, so our recommendations are based on age generalizations.

Ages 9 and Younger: Your Child Does Not Need a Fairway Wood: The first step is assessing the clubs or box set your child has now. If the golf set did not come with a fairway wood, there is no need for you to add one at this age. Adding a fairway wood doesn’t bring anything to his game except confusion. Keep it simple and work with the clubs that your child is likely to have the most success with – a hybrid, 7 iron, wedge and putter.

If your age 9 and under golfer has a driver and cannot find success in hitting it, you might be tempted to replace his driver with a fairway wood. However, AllKidsGolfClubs recommends, at this age, replacing a troublesome driver with a hybrid instead. With the estimated strength and height your young golfer likely has, he will require a lightweight, higher lofted club. This is where a hybrid is recommended since it is the easiest wood to hit consistently with success.

Ages 10-14: A Fairway Wood Is Recommended in Three Distinct Situations: At this 10-14 age range, there are three instances when you should add a fairway wood to your child's golf bag. If you feel like your child is ready for this club, checkout our Junior Fairway Woods.

The Dos: When to Add a Fairway Wood

If you are looking for a club to replicate the distance of a driver. Most juniors want that powerful drive that brings you great yardage, but cannot find that with a driver. That’s because the driver is the most difficult club in the bag to hit consistently with success. It may be that the driver is not fitting right; whether its shaft length, total club weight, or not matching your child’s swing speed.

With fairway woods your junior will have more control and will have better success repeatedly making contact with the sweet spot of the clubface. A high speed swinger and more skilled junior can use a 3 wood to replicate driver distance. Slower swing speed juniors can find a similar distance as drivers with 5 woods. Be mindful 5 woods for left handed juniors are hard to come by, so a 3 wood would be the sufficient option.

Your junior golfer currently uses a driver off the tee and is having difficulty consistently hitting the fairway. You will find far more accuracy off the tee with a fairway wood since it is lighter, a shorter club and with a higher loft. As a reminder, it is ok to sacrifice some distance for accuracy here. We recommend a 5 wood or around an 18 degree loft fairway wood in this case. 

If your child is looking for a club to gap the distance between his driver and a hybrid. Top-of-bag gapping matters the more skilled your junior is. Once he has mastered both the driver and the hybrid, AllKidsGolfClubs suggests adding a fairway wood. But be mindful of the loft on his current hybrid, as many junior fairway woods have lofts that approach that of hybrids. Select a fairway wood that has a loft that fits nicely in between the lofts of his hybrid and driver.

The Don’ts: When NOT to Add a Fairway Wood

• If your junior already has a fairway wood in his bag – he doesn’t need two!
• Your child is under 10 and a fairway wood didn’t come in his box set
• Your child is a beginner and has yet to develop the clubhead speed or accuracy on the fairway

Final Thoughts: It’s Important to Note the Following:

There are considerable differences in the lofts of junior fairway woods among manufacturers. The junior and teen fairway woods offered by AllKidsGolfClubs range in lofts from 15 degrees to 27 degrees. This large range of lofts overlaps those of both junior drivers and hybrids. Please make sure to check the actual loft of the fairway wood you are considering purchasing and make sure that the loft is lower than the hybrid and higher than the driver your child already has in his bag.

Fairway woods are uncommon junior golf clubs. Only a few manufacturers make single junior fairway woods to purchase separately and they are even more uncommon in left handed options. You are likely to find only 3 Wood, 5 Wood and clubs labeled as a generic “Fairway Wood”. So don’t search endlessly for something that doesn’t exist. 

Junior Fairway woods are typically much higher lofted than adult fairway woods.  A junior fairway wood can be up to 10 degrees higher lofted than its adult counterparts. Again, don’t just rely on the label, like 3 Wood or 5 Wood. If you insist on purchasing an adult fairway wood, make sure that the loft will work for your junior.

AllKidsGolfClubs has the largest selection of junior and teen fairway woods that you’ll find. Unlike many of our competitors who manufacture clubs, we are an unbiased source of information on junior and teen golf clubs and will give you the best advice for your child’s needs. We are well known for our top quality customer service, so if you have a question, give us a call or send us an email.