In our forums, our members have been discussing the rising popularity of the 9-wood. WRXer ‘JetPilot’ spotted that Tommy Fleetwood’s WITB contains a 9-wood, and reacting to that he has reached out to the GolfWRX community asking:

“What shot is the 9-wood carried for?”

And our memebrs have been sharing their knowledge and thoughts in our forum, but first, here is what Fleetwood had to say at last month’s Travelers Championship on why he carries a 9-wood:

“I’ve had it for two seasons now. At the moment, like this week, I don’t have a 4-iron in. Like 4-iron and 9-wood go very similar distance, within five yards of each other, obviously very different performing clubs. So it replaced the 4-iron.

Sometimes I’ll have it in and I’ll take a wedge out. My bag is always sort of changing. But I do feel like this week is a very good course for it.”

Here are a few posts from the thread, but make sure to check out the entire discussion and have your say at the link below.

• prouse25: “I have been testing a ping 9 wood the past couple weeks.  For me, I carry it around 205 – about the same as I used to carry a 4 iron.  I just don’t have the swing speed anymore for the long / driving irons. The landing angle is upper 40’s – I can get it over 50 if needed.  I could never do that with an iron. It’s also easy to flight it down. it is so much easier for me to hit than a 4-iron.”
• J_Tizzle: “I mean 24* is probably a 4-iron replacement.  For me I cannot get the allure of it or even a 7-wood, but they’re all the rage now.  I still think a hybrid is such a better fit for 95% of golfers, but there is just so much negative stigma behind them.”
• bludot: “A 9-wood is great out of the rough, great out of fairway bunkers, and perhaps most useful for long approach shots into elevated greens.  Really, the only reason NOT to carry one is the stigma.  I suspect that very, very few players at any level from the Tour on down to high handicaps who have tried a 9 wood (and/or perhaps more commonly also a 7 wood) have subsequently gone back to a long iron or hybrid.  For Tour pros like Fleetwood it’s likely about holding greens; for high handicappers, it may be more about the quality of misses vs the alternatives.”

Entire Thread: “Tommy Fleetwood has one. So what shot is this club carried for? – GolfWRXers”