Do you need a 4 wood golf club in your bag?

Another advantage of carrying a 4 wood is for ladies or senior golfers who use a high-lofted driver. A #3-wood probably won’t have adequate loft to get the ball airborne due to the slower swing speed. Equipped with a higher lofted #4 wood won’t have that same problem. Then that same player can skip to a #7-wood to have a nice separation of loft and distance. A beginning golfer can also benefit with a driver, 4 wood, 7 wood set make up as it will be easier to get the ball airborne off the fairway or rough; one of the biggest challenges for those just learning the game.

What’s a Baffy you ask?  Well, it is another name for a #4-wood. In 1935, Gene Sarazen hit that famous club that made the shot heard ‘round the world. Three down with four to play, Sarazen came to the par 5 #15 at Augusta National. His perfectly struck #4-wood holed out from 235 yards to score a double-eagle (or albatross). His historic feat at the Masters catapulted him into a tie which later Sarazen went on to win in a Monday playoff against Craig Wood.

The simple answer is they are not needed anymore. Odd numbered fairway woods vary by 3 to 4 degrees between clubs. If you added even numbered fairway woods, then you would only be seeing a separation of loft 1.5 to 2 degrees apart from their odd numbered counterparts. There wouldn’t be enough differentiation between clubs so only the odd numbered fairways remain sans the #4 fairway wood.

Well, many years ago it was quite common that a set would come with a #4-wood (with a loft of @ 19 degrees) which would be the modern-day equivalent of a #5-wood. Here is a chart showing what the loft of fairway woods were through the years. The designation n/a means it was either not available or there was too few available to obtain an average.

It might be time to revisit the option of carrying a #4 wood in your bag. Who knows, maybe the lowly, oddly-even 4-wood golf club might make a resurgence again.