golfrewind.com

I'm looking for a chart or a website that lists the guidlines of the ranges on lofts for fairway woods. I realize that every manufacturer is not going to make a 15 degree 3 wood, but somewhere there must be a chart that shows a 3 woood should be between 13 and 15 degrees, and so on down the line for each wood. Anyone know of such a chart?

http://www.leaderboard.com/LOFTINFO.htm
"...What is the official loft angle for each golf club?


There aren't any official values. Manufacturers are free to set the angles to whatever they wish.

We can show you a chart indicating nominal loft angles for a modern set of irons. Realize that over the last forty years, manufacturers have changed these values considerably in order to make their models more attractive. By slightly reducing the loft angle of a club, the ball travels a bit farther. Distance sells....

in late 1940, early 1950s, according to Hogan 4-wood lofts were higher (weaker) than lofts of 3-irons of that era, 23* to 24*?

There is no chart... the '3' is just a number. Whats interesting is the lofts of your fw woods and your distance transition to your irons

(in late 1940, early 1950s, according to Hogan 4-wood lofts were higher (weaker) than lofts of 3-irons of that era, 23* to 24*?)


True! Circa 1950 or so, Standard was 3I 22* (Hogan 21*)...4I was ,25.5* Standard..(Hogan 23*) etc.

Titleist and Cleveland do not mention 3W, 4W, 5W or 7W on their website. They are marketing lofts: 13, 15, 17, 19 and 22 degrees. Cleveland also sells a 25 degree.

Taylormade, Nike, Mizuno, Cobra, Callaway and Hogan (owned by Callaway) market the terminology:
TM: 3W (13), 4W(16.5), 5W (18), 7W (21), 9W (24)
Nike: 3W+ (13), 3W(15), 4W(17), 5W (19), 7W (21), 9W (23)
Callaway: 3W+ (13), 3W(15), 4W+(17), 5W (19), 7W (21*), 9W (23)
Hogan: 3WS (13), 3W(15), 4W+(17*), 5W (19), 7W (21)
Cobra: 3W+ (13), 3W(15.5), 4W+(16.5), 5W (18), 7W (21), 9W (24)
Mizu: S3W (13.5), 3W(15), 4W(16.5), 5W (18), 7W (21), 9W (23).

Interestingly, Titleist only mentions the 904F on it's website. So, they only have 1 set of "lofts". Taylormade and Nike sell 2 or more sets of FW woods. But, they use the same set of "lofts" for each. But, Mizuno and Cobra have senior and ladies woods with higher lofts than mentioned above. Callaway's Big Bertha wood have different lofts and more options (up to 27*) than the Fusion or X.

So, in summary:
3+: 13*
3 : 13-15.5*
4 : 16.5-17*
5 : 18-19*
7 : 21*
9 : 23-25*

Like the previous post says, this is as close to a table on FW lofts as anyone can offer:

3+: 13*
3 : 13-15.5*
4 : 16.5-17*
5 : 18-19*
7 : 21*
9 : 23-25*

Almost ALL of the gear makers call 21* a 7W. So that one is fairly standard.

MOST of the gear makers set their stated 9W loft at 24*.

One other thing to add ....

If you have a lower center of gravity to produce a higher launching fairway with more spin then you would want a slightly stronger lofted wood to bring the launch and distance further then what it would produce at "average".

Ex. If you have a 15* 3 wood (the "standard") and you have a deep face but low center of gravity with a low profile and a hot face that promotes spin then the club could launch in the ball park of 16-17* causing it to have less distance due to its higher launch and spin. So you would want to made the 3 wood 14* for the optimal launch = distance.

So most of the time loft is determine more on design and distance.