Titleist

What it does: Sometimes to get better, you have to shake up the old way of doing things. Titleist’s engineers decided that the channel cut in the front part of the sole – a staple for more than eight years worth of fairway woods – was no longer necessary. Yes, the channel allowed the face to flex a little better, but it also took up valuable mass. Repositioning that mass in these new fairway woods produced the lowest centre of gravity in a Titleist steel fairway wood ever. As the engineers like to say, “When you lower your CG, you improve ball speed a little bit, you improve launch angle a little bit, you improve spin a little bit and you actually improve the feel of a centre hit, too.”

Why we like it: The perception that Titleist fairway woods are only for tour players has never been more wrong than it is today. Yes, Titleist is the most played fairway wood on the PGA Tour, but now the company offers a model for the masses seeking a higher launch and forgiveness across the entire face (TSR2), a version with a moveable weight to pinpoint draw and fade preferences while increasing stability (TSR3), a back-up-driver version that spins less (TSR2+) and a lightweight model to optimise speed and launch (TSR1).

Lofts 15, 18, 20, 23 (tsr1); 15, 16.5, 18, 21 (tsr2); 13 (tsr2+); 13.5, 15, 16.5, 18 (TSR3)