Ping

What it does: Ping’s three-model fairway-wood family includes  the Max (the most forgiving in the line for the broadest set of golfers), the anti-slice SFT and the low-spinning LST 3-wood. All of the clubheads feature Ping’s first wraparound face design, which is made of high-strength maraging steel to produce faster ball speeds. The Max uses a rear tungsten weight to create high stability on off-centre hits, but the smaller size on the LST means the tungsten weight results in spin reduction. The SFT is the largest, and the weight chip favours the heel side to make it easier to square the face at impact.   

Why we like it: Sometimes it’s the barely seen enhancements that can produce visible change, like the microscopically forgettable curvature of the face from top to bottom, known as roll. Past fairway woods have featured a more symmetric roll in which the bottom of the face would have naturally less loft than the centre to reduce spin, but these woods cut that decrease in loft in half. That allows shots to launch with more speed and loft yet with less spin. This produces more consistent results for centre shots and mis-hits, which, of course, should be very easy to see.

Lofts 14.5, 17.5, 20.5, 23.5 (max); 16, 19, 22 (sft); 14.5 (lst)