Lee Trevino was one of many first professionals to reap the advantages of high-lofted fairway woods.
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Do a fast seek for 7-woods on GOLF.com and also you’re certain to seek out just a few articles proclaiming it because the membership du jour. I can’t recall precisely when high-lofted fairway woods began taking off within the skilled ranks, however I do bear in mind Bubba Watson and several other of his colleagues choosing a 7-wood on the 2015 Gamers Championship, the place it made sense to have a membership that would extract the ball from the tough, with a towering launch as well.
Lately, the 7-wood has gone from a distinct segment membership to an providing each producer has of their arsenal. It’s ubiquitous. Whether or not you wish to imagine it or not, mass acceptance amongst professionals made it cool for leisure golfers — significantly these with a single-digit handicap — to hold one thing with 21-plus levels of loft, as a substitute of a protracted iron or hybrid.
However is that this actually a pattern that began gaining traction solely prior to now 5 to 10 years? I tried to seek out out.
Looking for out the origin behind a membership’s rise to reputation can take you down some enjoyable paths. On this specific case, I occurred upon a narrative from the GOLF Journal’s digital archives (InsideGOLF has entry to 600-plus points) that every one however confirms Lee Trevino helped popularize the membership in some kind or vogue.
Within the Eighties, conventional lengthy irons remained a standard sight on the prime of the set. Blended choices that includes forgiving lengthy irons and workable mid- and brief irons hadn’t come into the image, so professionals relied on iron compositions that provided little in the best way of forgiveness. As a low-ball hitter who struggled to land the ball on elevated greens, Trevino discovered the 6-wood produced a towering launch with little effort.
“It’s one of the crucial versatile golf equipment in my bag,” Trevino wrote in a 1982 situation of GOLF Journal. “It’s my child.”
For a gearhead, probably the most fascinating bit about Trevino’s 6-wood is the way it got here to life within the Seventies. When the six-time main winner started the seek for a high-lofted fairway wooden, he shortly realized it will should be custom-made to suit his eye and specs.
“The very first thing I observed concerning the lofted fairway woods was that they’d hooked faces,” Trevino wrote. “For almost all of beginner golfers, that is tremendous. Nevertheless, I are inclined to play the fade and attempt to work the ball loads, having the chance to follow each day. I wished a sq. face on my membership.”
Trevino wound up choosing a block of wooden that was destined to be a 3-wood and had the clubmaker put 6-wood loft on it. Don’t overlook, these had been the times of persimmon whenever you didn’t have the posh of utilizing CAD or 3D printing to get issues excellent earlier than a ultimate model was created. This was all carried out within the second.
“He lower the face again deep into the top so the precise measurement of the clubhead is that of most 5-woods, possibly even a 4-wood,” he stated. “On this method, I used to be capable of get a bit deeper face, which helps get the ball up faster and simpler out of the tough, and in addition will increase the margin for error.”
While you’re eradicating a big quantity of fabric from the top to get the proper loft, further alterations should be made to get the swingweight excellent. In Trevino’s case, he was trying “for loads of headweight.” To realize a D5 swing weight — noticeably heavier than the opposite golf equipment within the bag — Trevino had the clubmaker make a full brass soleplate with further lead beneath the plate to bump up the general mass.
“To accommodate all this weight within the head, I had a really stiff shaft put in, the equal of a double X,” Trevino recalled. “It really is a stiff shaft that’s tipped about 3 inches. This mixture of low heart of gravity and no flex motion within the shaft virtually provides me the sensation of hitting my irons, or perhaps a wedge.”
Trevino was an early model of Bryson DeChambeau and Phil Mickelson, crafting one-off golf equipment he believed would ship a aggressive edge on the course. Trevino not solely discovered the 6-wood to be a worthy membership when attacking elevated greens, he even wrote in subsequent articles for GOLF Journal about its capability to dislodge the ball from deep tough inside 150 yards.
Trevino embraced the flexibility of the membership, lengthy earlier than it turned a standard sight within the luggage of professionals and amateurs. 4 many years after he proclaimed that “everybody who shouldn’t be a scratch participant ought to be carrying a number of of those golf equipment,” the high-lofted fairway wooden has lastly turn out to be vital membership.
We will thank one of many all-time greats for serving to set the pattern in movement.
