The Go-To Fairway Woods of Senior Tour Champions (2024)

Regular amateur golfers often find fairway woods one of the hardest clubs in the bag to hit especially off the ground.

So having already taken a detailed look at what fairway woods the top PGA Tour pros use on this occasion we wanted to switch our Golfing Focus onto the fairway wood choices of Champions Tour players.

Callaway fairway woods are the most used by Champions Tour pros. PING woods are the 2nd most common but their G430 Max is the most popular model among senior pros including Stewart Cink and John Daly. All the senior pros use a 3-wood and for those using two a 3-wood and 5-wood combination is the most common wood set up.

This high level summary does not give the full picture however and although we were only able to find reliable club data on 50 out of the top 100 Champions Tour pros our in-depth analysis revealed insights into the differing fairway wood lofts and shafts they favour.

It also confirmed to us how particular the top senior pros are about their 3-wood especially to the extent that one of them has resorted to picking one up from the discount bin of a local golf store!

3-Woods on the Champions Tour: A Comprehensive Look

The 3-wood is the mainstay of the fairway woods used by the best senior pros and all 50 of the Champions Tour players we researched carried one in their bag.

Master club makers and technicians cite the 3-wood as the most difficult club to fit a professional golfer for because of the variety of shots they want to be able to play with the one club.

As such it was little surprise that we found 34 different 3-wood models being used among the 50 Champions Tour pros we analysed.

And not only that but some players carry multiple models around with them on Tour while others are clearly very reluctant to change once they have found a club they like.

“I’ve worked with clubs for 25 years and can tell you [3-wood] is the hardest club to fit a tour player in. They want it to be low and long off the tee but high and long off the ground. They also want it to be able to execute a variety of different shots. It has to do it all.”

Champions Tour senior club technician Brian Rhattigan

Kirk Trippler for example has two strong 13.5º Callaway 3-woods in his bag – a Rogue ST LS in addition to an Epic Flash Sub Zero model.

But perhaps the most interesting 3-wood on the Champions Tour belongs to none other than former Masters and 2-time Senior Major champion Fred Couples.

Not only is Couples’ Callaway FT-i Squareway 3-wood potentially the oldest fairway wood in professional golf featuring the same shaft as when it was originally built for him in 2008.

But he soon realised he had a potential problem if anything happened to his gamer model.

According to Golf.com therefore he had to rely on luck and the chance finding by a friend of a backup version in the discount bin of a local golf store!

And Fred’s luck was clearly in as not only did he now have a backup version but by working on it with the help of Champions Tour club technician Brian Rhattigan the master club maker was able to find him an extra 12 yards of distance with a newer and longer Fujikura shaft.

When it then comes to analyzing the lofts of the 3-woods used by the top Champions Tour players once again the variance in their choices is very evident.

The ‘standard’ loft of a 3-wood is 15 degrees but only just over half (27 out of 50) stick with this standard.

Nine out of the 50 opt instead for a strong 3-wood with a loft of between 12.75 and 13.75 degrees, including Steve Stricker, Davis Love III and Darren Clarke.

Another four pros meanwhile, including Lee Janzen, go for a much higher launch 3-wood version with a loft of 16 or 16.5 degrees.

Indeed some would argue that having a 16.5º loft on a 3-wood makes it a 4-wood and it is interesting to note that Vijay Singh does class his Callaway Epic Speed 16.5º second fairway wood as a 4-wood using his 13.5º model as a 3-wood.

In total our research highlighted the senior pros using nine different lofts of 3-wood varying from 12.75º up to 16.5º, with some even choosing lofts with a precision of up to .25 of a degree.

Such attention to detail clearly backs up Rhattigan’s point of how much time the senior pros spend choosing a 3-wood that is tailor-made to their specific requirements.

As a result, it is probably something we should bear in mind when looking at the same 3-wood in the shops in that it may be a fair distance from what the Champions Tour pro you are following on TV may be playing with.

[Note – Just so you know, and we are upfront as an affiliate program participant, Golfing Focus, at no cost to you, earns from qualifying purchases made through links on this page.]

BRAND OF 3-WOOD	NO. OF CHAMPIONS TOUR PLAYERS USING BRAND	MOST USED 3-WOOD MODEL
Callaway	18 (inc. David Toms, Vijay Singh, K.J.Choi, Rod Pampling, Retief Goosen, Justin Leonard, Steve Flesch, Billy Andrade, Lee Janzen, Stuart Appleby, Rocco Mediate, Fred Couples, David Duval)	Rogue ST LS View at PGA Superstore
PING	11 (inc. Miguel Angel Jiménez, Y.E. Yang, Ken Tanigawa, Kevin Sutherland, Jeff Maggert, Stewart Cink, Chris DiMarco, John Daly)	G430 Max
TaylorMade	8 (inc. Steven Alker, Bernhard Langer, Padraig Harrington, Jerry Kelly, Dickie Pride, Darren Clarke, Tim Petrovic, Brian Gay)	Stealth Plus
Titleist	6 (inc. Steve Stricker, Brett Quigley, Rob Labritz, Tim O’Neal, Jim Furyk, Davis Love III)	TSi2
Tour Edge	5 (Alex Cejka, Ken Duke, Mike Weir, Scott McCarron, Tom Lehman)	Exotics C722
Srixon	1 (Joe Durrant)	ZX
XXIO	1 (Ernie Els)	12

The Most Used 5-Wood and 7-Wood on the Senior Tour?

While 3-woods are a seemingly non-negotiable in a professional golfer’s bag when it comes to higher number fairway woods there are more options for the players.

So after our initial analysis of the lowest lofted fairways woods the top seniors pros are using we wanted to discover how many of them were putting a 5-wood or 7-wood, or even higher numbered wood, into play?

And of the fifty pros we found data for among the top 100 Champions Tour players we noted 18 chose to carry a 5-wood as an option around with them on Tour while only 4 use a 7-wood.

Not one of the top senior pros we researched carries a 9-wood option around with them which is a club we have noted finding some favour on the main PGA Tour with pros such as Tommy Fleetwood occasionally using one.

Further, and as we have already noted, Vijay Singh was the only user we found of a 4-wood although whether the 16.5º option he carries around with him is a high lofted 3-wood as some other pros class it is open to debate.

What our research found clearly though was that while senior pros like Padraig Harrington and David Toms have a 5-wood as a staple part of their bag set up others including Billy Andrade and Tim Petrovic carry one as an ‘option’ which they put in and out of their bag depending on conditions.

Similarly, when it comes to 7-woods certain pros have one as an option while others consistently use one.

Steven Alker for example puts a 21º Callaway Paradym 7-wood model in his bag of 17 clubs to give him alternatives at the top end of his set alongside his two 23º and 24º utility irons and 22-degree Tour Edge Exotics C271 hybrid.

Rod Pampling and Stewart Cink by comparison choose a 7-wood alongside their 3-wood and no other long club option before they start their standard iron set with a 4-iron.

Miguel Angel Jiménez meanwhile was the only senior pro we discovered who opts for a three fairway wood approach in his 14 club setup.

He picks a 16º 5-wood and 22º 7-wood (both PING G430 Max models) alongside his strong 13.75º lofted G425 Max 3-wood in his set of fourteen clubs.

Overall our analysis uncovered fifteen different models of 5-wood being used by the best Champions Tour pros which tends to indicate as we found with the 3-wood how particular they are when it comes to their fairway wood choices.

PING’s G425 and G430 Max clubs together with Titleist’s TS3 model are the most popular 5-woods among the senior Tour pros with 13 of the 18 pros using a 5-wood choosing it.

The G430 Max is again the most used 7-wood model with three players choosing it including Miguel Angel Jiménez and Stewart Cink.

When it comes to lofts 18º is the most common loft we found among the 5-woods with over 70% of players picking that loft while with the 7-wood choices of the senior pros 21º lofted versions were the most used.

And the point about lofts is a key one when it comes to the fairway woods used by the top senior pros.

What one player lists as a 5-wood may have the same loft as the 7-wood carried by another player.

For example Stewart Cink lists his 19.5ºPING G430 Max as a 7-wood while Steven Alker categorises his 19º TaylorMade SIM as a 5-wood.

Ken Tanigawa meanwhile has a 21º 5-wood in his bag while Rod Pampling 7-wood is also stamped with 21º of loft which is the ‘traditional’ loft of a 7-wood.

All in all it doesn’t matter of course as it is the outcome of the shots they get with the fairway woods they use that is the most important factor.

But the fact some senior pros alter the lofts of higher numbered fairway woods away from ‘standard’ is something to bear in mind when looking at what they use.

Further our research uncovered 35 different models produced by 7 different manufacturers being used across all the 73 different fairway woods we analysed showing no one model dominates across all the leading Champions Tour pros.

And here is a complete list of the models of 5 and 7-woods used by the Champions Tour players we researched:

BRAND OF 5-WOOD	NO. OF CHAMPIONS TOUR PLAYERS USING BRAND	MOST USED 3-WOOD MODEL
Callaway	18 (inc. David Toms, Vijay Singh, K.J.Choi, Rod Pampling, Retief Goosen, Justin Leonard, Steve Flesch, Billy Andrade, Lee Janzen, Stuart Appleby, Rocco Mediate, Fred Couples, David Duval)	Rogue ST LS
PING	11 (inc. Miguel Angel Jiménez, Y.E. Yang, Ken Tanigawa, Kevin Sutherland, Jeff Maggert, Stewart Cink, Chris DiMarco, John Daly)	G430 Max
TaylorMade	8 (inc. Steven Alker, Bernhard Langer, Padraig Harrington, Jerry Kelly, Dickie Pride, Darren Clarke, Tim Petrovic, Brian Gay)	Stealth Plus
Titleist	6 (inc. Steve Stricker, Brett Quigley, Rob Labritz, Tim O’Neal, Jim Furyk, Davis Love III)	TSi2
Tour Edge	5 (Alex Cejka, Ken Duke, Mike Weir, Scott McCarron, Tom Lehman)	Exotics C722
Srixon	1 (Joe Durrant)	ZX
XXIO	1 (Ernie Els)	12

BRAND OF 7-WOOD	NO. OF CHAMPIONS TOUR PLAYERS USING BRAND	MOST USED 7-WOOD MODEL
PING	3 (Rod Pampling, Stewart Cink, Miguel Angel Jiménez)	G430 Max
Callaway	1 (Steven Alker)	Paradym

What Fairway Wood Combination Do Champions Tour Players Prefer?

Different golfers of all standards, never mind the pros, have different preferences when it comes to fairway woods.

And the task of analysing what combination of fairway woods is preferred by the best players on the Champions Tour was complicated by a couple of factors.

Firstly the number of pros who consistently carry around more than 14 clubs on Tour with them makes it hard to draw firm conclusions as to how many woods they choose to put in their bag given they often switch one or more of them out for an alternative hybrid or utility/driving iron.

And secondly, the amount of data available about the clubs senior Tour pros use.

Our research found reliable information on 50 of the top 100 Champions Tour players but when we excluded those with more than 14 clubs in their bag we were left with only 36 sets of clubs to look at.

Nevertheless from these setups we were able to discover that the majority, close to 2/3 of that group, carry only one fairway wood with 34% opting to put two woods in their bag.

And as we have already noted Miguel Angel Jiménez is the lone Champions Tour pro opting to carry three fairway woods.

Despite the relatively small sample information size compared to when we researched the fairway woods being used by the PGA Tour pros there does appear to be a stronger preference on the main Tour by comparison to the Champions Tour for choosing two woods rather than sticking with just one.

Keep bearing in mind the following in mind however.

While many pros, both on the main PGA and Champions Tour, do not change the make-up of the longest clubs all the time some will frequently carry a full bag of 15 to 20 clubs and swap out their fairway woods for other clubs as and when the course set up warrants it.

Fairway Wood Shafts Used by Champions Tour Pros?

When we took an in-depth look at the driver shafts the best Champions Tour pros use we uncovered a high degree of specialisation and customisation in their choices.

And when it comes to their fairway wood shaft choices it is clear that the top senior pros are similarly particular.

Across the 73 individual fairway woods we found being used by the fifty Champions Tour pros we found reliable club data on Golfing Focus’ analysis revealed 44 different shafts being used if you include variants in brand, model, flex and weight.

From a brand perspective Fujikura again leads the pack when it comes to the fairway woods shafts the best Senior Tour pros prefer accounting for 37% of the clubs researched.

We found True Temper wood shafts to be the choice of 23% of the Champions Tour players we analysed with their Ventus TR Blue 7X shaft being the most used individual fairway wood shaft with pros including Lee Janzen, David Duval and Jim Furyk choosing it.

However despite this, and accounting for Graphite Design and Aldila models being the next common fairway wood shafts with 7% choosing them, it seems that when it comes to the longest clubs in the bag the best Champions Tour pros’ preference is for Fujikura shafts.

Once again when we compared this data to the fairway wood shaft choices of the PGA Tour pros the absence of Mitsubishi shafts from the bags of the Champions Tour pros was noticeable.

On the main tour, Mitsubishi are the most used fairway wood shafts with 30% of the top 100 opting for them.

However, when it came to the Champions Tour our analysis discovered only 4% of the players using them in their fairway woods although one of this number does include the 2023 Champions Tour money list winner Steve Stricker.

Despite this difference though it is clear that the detail best Champions Tour pros go into when it comes to choosing the golf shafts for their fairway woods very much matches that of their younger colleagues on the PGA Tour.

Before you go …

Interested in finding out what fairway woods find the most favour on the PGA Tour and how some of the best players in the world set them up and choose their ideal fairway wood combination?

Read our next article to find out!

The Fairway Woods The Top 100 PGA Tour Pros Use

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• In the Bag: Unpacking the Clubs Champions Tour Players Use
• What Drives the Senior Tour Pros? Most Popular Driver on Champions Tour
• Champions Hybrid Heroes. Most Used Hybrids By Champions Tour Pros
• Champions’ Choice: The Most Used Irons on the Senior Tour
• Flexible Friends: Uncovering the Shafts Champions Tour Players Use
• Behind Every Stroke: The Most Popular Putter On Champions Tour
• From Tee to Green: Analyzing What Golf Balls Champions Tour Pros Use
• What Clubs Do Pros Use? Top 100 PGA Tour Player Guide
• What Clubs do LPGA players Use?