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Fairway
Woods Ratings /
New
Testing Methodology for Fairway clubs
At the end of 2005 GolfTest USA partnered with Golf Illustrated,
one of the top national golf publications, to provide them
with the results of our standard golf equipment testing
that we conduct on an ongoing basis. Golf Illustrated has
agreed to publish a feature article in each issue highlighting
many of the new clubs that have been introduced. In the
process of explaining our testing process to GI they asked
if we could expand the criteria we have the testers evaluate.
We agreed and there are now 10 criteria that the testers
evaluate. There is also an additional rating we list in
the last column which is the combined "AVERAGE" of the first
10 criteria. We feel this "AVERAGE" gives golfers a good
indication of which clubs performed the best across all
the criteria.
We pick test golfers with varying skill levels based on
what the manufacturer recommends that each club is best
suited to. Some clubs are designed for low handicap golfers
and some clubs are referred to as game improvement clubs
and are designed for mid to high handicap golfers
When testing fairway clubs we use three evaluation formats.
The first evaluation format is done by GolfTest USA Test
Administrators and in the second evaluation format GolfTest
USA asked each golfer to rate 10 criteria on a scale of
1 to 10 with 10 being best. GolfTest USA had 60 testers
hit shots at the driving range. GolfTest USA Test Administrators
rated the distance and dispersion of each shot on a scale
of 1 to 10 and the "Control" and "Accuracy"
they felt each golfer displayed with each fairway club during
the test. These ratings are then combined with the second
evaluation format which is the golfers own ratings to come
up with the ratings for each fairway club. (The "Overall"
column is not an average of the other criteria. For the
"Overall" criterion we ask each tester to rate the club
based on how they feel the club performed overall in the
test.) For the third testing format we have 15 golfers play
one round of golf with a set of each of the fairway clubs
and again rate all the criteria. We then take those rating
which where obtained under actual playing conditions and
merge them with the range test to come up with the final
ratings. We have found that combining these formats give
the most comprehensive ratings.
On
a scale of 1 to 10(with 10 being best) they rated each of
these criteria.
Distance:
Each tester rated how far they hit each fairway club.
Control: Testers rated how much control
they felt they had while hitting each fairway club.
Accuracy: Testers rated how accurate they
felt each fairway club was.
Forgiveness: Testers rated how forgiving
the fairway club was on off center hits.
Sound: Testers rated how did they liked
the sound of each club.
Appearance: Testers rated how much they
liked the appearance of the club.
Feel: Testers rated the feel of the club
at set up, during the swing and at impact.
Ball flight (Trajectory): Testers rated
how they liked the trajectory of the ball off the club?
Recommend to others: The testers were asked
to rate how strongly would they recommend to each fairway
club to their friends or other golfers.
Overall Rating: The testers were asked
to take into consideration what is important to them in
a fairway club and give it an overall rating. (This is not
an average of the other criteria).
Overall Average: A final category was added
at the request of Golf Illustrated which is the average
of the 10 criteria rated by the testers. We feel this average
helps to give golfers an indication of how each club performed
taking into account all of the criteria in the test.
Why are the test results the way they are? Click
here to find out!
Let us know if there are other fairway clubs you would like
us to test and we will contact the manufacturers and see
if they will participate in our next testing cycle. requestatest@golftestusa.com.
 Based
on the testing completed to date we have determined that
any club that has an "AVERAGE" score 7.9 or better based
on our scoring system is awarded the GolfTest USA "Seal of Excellence" award. Being awarded the GolfTest USA "Seal of Excellence" indicates a golf product has been tested
and reviewed by our staff of golf testers and has been judged
to be of superior quality, value and performance. Golfers
who purchase any of these clubs can feel confident they
will be obtaining a quality golf product.
Click on each column head to sort ratings by that criteria.
| Fairway Woods |
Distance |
Control |
Accuracy |
Forgiveness |
Sound |
Appearance |
Feel |
Ball Flight |
Recommend |
Overall |
Average |
| Mizuno F-60 | 8.4 | 8.3 | 8.3 | 8.3 | 8.4 | 8.4 | 8.4 | 8.3 | 8.5 | 8.4 | 8.4 |
| Sonartec GS Tour | 8.4 | 8.3 | 8.3 | 8.4 | 8.3 | 8.4 | 8.4 | 8.3 | 8.5 | 8.4 | 8.4 |
| Callaway X | 8.4 | 8.2 | 8.3 | 8.3 | 8.3 | 8.4 | 8.4 | 8.3 | 8.4 | 8.4 | 8.3 |
| Adams RPM Low Profile | 8.2 | 8.2 | 8.2 | 8.3 | 8.2 | 8.5 | 8.3 | 8.4 | 8.4 | 8.3 | 8.3 |
| Bobby Jones | 8.4 | 8.2 | 8.3 | 8.3 | 8.3 | 8.3 | 8.4 | 8.4 | 8.3 | 8.3 | 8.3 |
| Nickent 3DX | 8.4 | 8.2 | 8.3 | 8.3 | 8.1 | 8.3 | 8.4 | 8.2 | 8.3 | 8.3 | 8.3 |
| Nickent 4DX | 8.3 | 8.3 | 8.2 | 8.3 | 8.2 | 8.5 | 8.3 | 8.4 | 8.4 | 8.3 | 8.3 |
| Nicklaus Claw | 8.3 | 8.3 | 8.4 | 8.4 | 8.3 | 8.4 | 8.3 | 8.5 | 8.4 | 8.3 | 8.3 |
| Wilson Staff Df6 | 8.3 | 8.1 | 8.3 | 8.2 | 8.3 | 8.2 | 8.3 | 8.3 | 8.4 | 8.3 | 8.3 |
| Yonex Cyberstar Nanospeed | 8.3 | 8.2 | 8.1 | 8.3 | 8.2 | 8.4 | 8.4 | 8.4 | 8.3 | 8.3 | 8.3 |
| Alpha C830 2 Plasma | 8.3 | 8.1 | 8.2 | 8.2 | 7.9 | 8.2 | 8.2 | 8.2 | 8.1 | 8.2 | 8.2 |
| GRIP | 8.3 | 8.1 | 8.1 | 8.2 | 8.2 | 8.3 | 8.2 | 8.2 | 8.2 | 8.2 | 8.2 |
| Nike SasQuatch | 8.2 | 8.2 | 8.2 | 8.3 | 8.1 | 8.2 | 8.3 | 8.3 | 8.3 | 8.2 | 8.2 |
| Black Shark MX EX | 8.2 | 7.9 | 7.9 | 8.0 | 8.1 | 8.2 | 8.2 | 8.1 | 8.0 | 8.0 | 8.1 |
| PGF PWT Southpaw | 8.2 | 8.1 | 8.1 | 8.2 | 8.0 | 8.0 | 8.2 | 8.2 | 8.0 | 8.0 | 8.1 |
| Izzo Z Wood | 8.2 | 8.1 | 8.0 | 8.2 | 8.2 | 8.3 | 8.0 | 8.0 | 8.1 | 8.1 | 8.1 |
| Natural Golf ST Beryllium Copper | 8.1 | 7.9 | 7.9 | 8.1 | 7.8 | 8.1 | 8.0 | 8.0 | 7.8 | 8.0 | 8.0 |
| Vulcan Caldera Beta Steel | 8.2 | 8.0 | 7.8 | 8.0 | 8.0 | 8.1 | 8.0 | 8.2 | 7.9 | 8.0 | 8.0 |
| MacGregor MACTEC NVG2 | 8.1 | 8.1 | 8.0 | 8.1 | 7.9 | 7.9 | 8.1 | 8.1 | 8.0 | 8.0 | 8.0 |
| Bob Burns No Bananas | 7.9 | 7.9 | 8.0 | 8.1 | 7.9 | 7.8 | 8.1 | 8.0 | 7.9 | 7.8 | 8.0 |
| Techpower DPF | 8.0 | 8.0 | 7.8 | 7.9 | 7.9 | 8.1 | 8.1 | 8.1 | 7.9 | 7.9 | 8.0 |
| Upswing | 8.0 | 8.1 | 8.0 | 8.0 | 7.9 | 8.0 | 8.1 | 7.8 | 7.9 | 7.8 | 8.0 |
| Innovex RLS | 8.0 | 8.0 | 8.0 | 7.9 | 7.8 | 7.9 | 8.0 | 7.9 | 7.8 | 7.8 | 7.9 |
| McHenry TourPure II | 7.9 | 7.8 | 7.8 | 7.9 | 7.7 | 7.8 | 8.0 | 7.9 | 7.7 | 7.8 | 7.8 |
Over
several years of testing GolfTest USA has determined that
when subjective and objective ratings from our Test Administrators
and the golfers taking the test are combined the overall
rating is a very accurate indication of the actual performance
of any particular golf product. There is only a small difference
in the ratings yet even a couple of percentage points difference
from one club to another is significant enough to indicate
a club that performs at a superior level to other clubs.
Go to
our manufacturer's links
page to get more information about the items in the above
category.
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