Srixon

What it does: Making a fairway-wood face flex like a driver is more than having a thin face. A metal wood with its multiple connected parts is a system. Srixon’s team discovered with its ZX drivers that one way to get that face to propel the ball more efficiently is to focus elsewhere. So these fairway woods change the stiffness patterns of the sections around the face. Immediately adjacent to the face is a region that’s as much as 43 percent thicker than on past models to stiffen and concentrate more flex in the face. But that stiffer section is surrounded by more flexible regions in the crown and sole, which in turn flow into stiffer sections. This arrangement of flexible/stiff/flexible/stiff aims to return energy more efficiently to the ball at impact for extra speed and, ultimately, distance.   

Why we like it: Of course, a fast face, no matter how you achieve it, isn’t enough. The internal weight pad is forward in the sole to provide a low centre of gravity to reduce spin (even lower on the low-lofted 3-wood with its carbon crown). The pad is shaped with a little overhang. This allows the thin region of the sole to give more at impact, helping the face to flex better on low shots.  

Lofts 13.5, 15, 18, 21