The 8 Best Fairway Woods of 2025

If you haven’t noticed lately, fairway woods are back in a big way. 

The best fairway woods are easier to hit than ever before. Many players like them better than hybrids because there’s more surface area, which some believe makes them more forgiving.

I’ve tested many of the latest and greatest fairway woods from the top manufacturers. These are eight of the best fairway woods on the market.

• Callaway Elyte
• Titleist GT
• TaylorMade Qi35
• Wilson Dynapower Carbon Fiber
• Ping G440 Max
• Cobra DS Adapt X
• Srixon ZXI
• PXG Black Ops

I still like hybrids on certain shots, so I keep one in my bag to replace my 4-iron. But I must admit that fairway woods have taken a leap in the last few years. In fact, sometimes I wonder why I just don’t hit three-wood off every par-4 tee. They really are easier to control than a 460cc driver for many golfers.

The other trend in fairway woods is that more and more companies offer higher-lofted fairway woods, well beyond the traditional 3-wood and 5-wood.  Today’s fairway wood lofts range up to 27 degrees. It’s somewhat reminiscent, perhaps, of the old Callaway Heaven Woods, which were typically associated with high handicappers.

But these days, it’s common even for tour players to opt for 7-wood. In fact, according to some surveys, just over 10 percent of tour professionals have used a 7-wood or higher, and that list includes World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler.

The latest designs, for the most part, feature shallow clubheads. Barney Adams wasn’t wrong 30 years ago when he came up with the Tight Lies. The concept still works.

Many of today’s best fairway woods are just as adjustable as the top drivers. Some of them offer adjustability through weights in the sole, plus lofts and lies. The Cobra DS Adapt Max, for example, has so many loft and lie combinations in the hosel that you need a QR code to pull up a chart to explain it all.

While you can get lots of shaft options with all these fairway woods, the stock shafts with almost all of them are pretty good, too. They’re lightweight and produce plenty of clubhead speed.

The Callaway Elyte is as solid as a fairway wood gets. While the Paradym AI Smoke was a performer as well, I really like the simple, clean look of the Elyte. 

Beyond looks, I found it was easy to hit, and when you hit it, there’s a satisfying sound and feel to it.

It launches well, perhaps due to the tungsten Speed Wave weighting in the sole behind the face. And it also seems to interact well with the turf from the fairway. In fact, Callaway claims the new Step Sole engineered into the head reduces the sole contact area by 57 percent vs. a traditional sole design. 

Additionally, I found these fairway woods to be very long, certainly longer than what I had before I put the Elyte 3-wood and 5-wood in my bag. The added distance and forgiveness might be due to the AI 10X face that the Elyte fairway woods feature. 

All I know is that during a tournament the other day, I surprisingly reached a green from over 260 yards out, and I’m a senior player. I probably haven’t done that in over a decade.

Pros:

• Appealing shape and look
• Super easy to launch
• Lots of adjustability options

Cons:

• Not best for players with high swing speeds

You can’t go wrong with any of the Titleist GT fairway woods. They all offer a pleasing head shape and a sole that glides over the fairway surface with ease. I’ve had the opportunity to try out the lighter GT1 fairway woods the past few months, and I can tell you, especially for older players, this is a really easy club to hit.

The GT1 has a lightweight construction, lower CG, and shallower face profile designed for aerodynamic speed that gets the ball up in the air with ease. For players with high swing speeds, it’s probably too light (they should consider the GT2 or GT3), but I think for the majority of golfers, the GT1 will do nicely. 

Additionally, the GT1 features adjustable Fore-Aft weights plus an adjustable hosel to adjust it for draw, neutral, or fade bias.

Pros:

• Versatile club that works well off the tee or the fairway
• Clean look
• Easy to launch

Cons:

• Not as adjustable as some others on the market

Not surprisingly, the ball jumps off the face of the new TaylorMade Qi35, perhaps even more impressively than last year’s Qi10. The Qi35 should appeal to a wide array of golfers with its shallow profile and multi-material construction that includes a beautiful carbon crown finish. 

This club is easy to hit off the tee, but launches really well off the fairway and out of light rough as well. 

Each head incorporates TaylorMade’s “Twist Face” and “Thru-Slot Speed Pocket” technologies as well as 4-degree loft sleeves that allow you to adjust ball flight and shot shape.

Pros:

• Beautiful finish inspires confidence
• Satisfying feel and sound
• Easy to launch

Cons:

• Not super forgiving

If you’ve never considered Wilson before, you might want to take a look at the new Dynapwr Carbon fairway woods. And it’s a good look indeed with its beautiful black carbon finish with red highlights that set it apart from others on the market.

Best of all, this club keeps up with the competition. It’s easy to look at and easy to launch off the fairway with its sleek design.

The Carbon version of the Wilson Dynapwr woods spins less, too, making it straighter and longer for many players. It’s available in plenty of different lofts, which provides golfers a chance to dial in a wide variety of preferences.

Pros:

• Very forgiving
• New carbon crown creates nice feel and sound
• Deep face makes it easy to hit off the tee

Cons:

• May spin too much for higher swing speeds

A more streamlined shape and new Carbonfly Wrap crown are among the improvements to the Ping G440 Max. It also has a maraging steel face that’s a little taller, which is designed to be a little more forgiving and give you confidence when hitting these fairway woods off the tee.

Also new for 2025 is a 4-wood among the five loft options, which go all the way up to 24 degrees. 

The Carbonfly Wrap crown not only looks good, but also saves weight, which is reallocated to help lower the CG of the head, resulting in an easier launch. It also has a nice, muted, but pleasing sound to it.

Finally, both lofts and lies are adjustable, up to 1.5 degrees up or down and up to 3 degrees flatter.

Pros:

• FutureFit33 makes it the most adjustable on the market
• Attractive head design
• Superior distance

Cons:

• A couple more loft options would be nice

The Cobra DS Adapt probably appeals to the widest range of golfers because of its FutureFit33 hosel, which as the name would suggest, has 33 different settings. That means there are 33 different combinations of loft and lie you can set on this club to perfectly dial in what should work best for you, whether it’s to correct a slice or help you with ball-turf interaction. 

It’s so intricate that there’s a QR code on the head so you can pull up a chart on your phone to help guide you through the process.

Other than that, though, the DS Adapt Max already has maximum forgiveness built in, including a slight draw bias, which helps out the majority of golfers. In addition to the hosel settings, you can also adjust the back and heel weighting.

It also has a larger, forged face insert with Cobra’s H.O.T. Face technology, designed for improved face flex to produce plenty of ball speed and distance.

Pros:

• Attractive head design
• Plenty of distance
• Lots of adjustability

Cons:

• Deeper face won’t appeal to everyone

The refined shape and new adjustability options are what put Srixon’s new lineup of ZXI fairway woods on this list. They look good, perform well, and you can configure them to best fit your game.

It all starts with a completely redesigned face thickness called Flex Face that produces more energy transfer at impact. Combine that with its new Rebound Frame, which utilizes two flex zones instead of one, and you’ve got a lot of energy transfer at impact, which translates into longer shots.

Srixon equips these new fairway woods with a new adjustable hosel, which allows you to fine-tune the club’s loft, lie, and face angle. With the matte black crown and tour-inspired shape, the Srixon ZXi also looks pretty good at address, too.

Pros:

• Produces lots of ball speed
• Fairly forgiving
• Lots of fitting options

Cons:

• Look might not appeal to all golfers

The PXG 0311 Black Ops fairway woods have one of the more unique looks on the market, and many will find that very appealing. 

With its high-speed square face that’s 12.5 percent thinner than previous versions, the ball really does jump off this club. Combined with a high-strength carbon fiber crown, the Black Ops fairway wood is easy to hit, and it produces a high launch.

The clubhead also features extreme perimeter weighting, which the company says produces unprecedented feel and sound. The club also comes with hosel adjustability and moveable weights in the sole, so you can dial in your specs.

And speaking of specs, PXG has one of the best custom-fitting processes in the business. So if you do get a set of Black Ops fairways, be sure to have them help you get you dialed into your best configuration.