TEJ puts the new PXG Black Ops fairway & hybrid + 0317 X Driving Iron to the test in this video; With hopes of answering one of the most important equipment questions in golf… Should you be playing a Fairway Wood, Driving Iron or Hybrid? Watch to find out!
Down below ↓ are the chapter times, so you can skip to relevant parts.
0:00 Intro
0:17 Background Info on Designs/Testing
2:34 Driving Iron *Testing*
7:01 Hybrid *Testing*
10:27 Fairway Wood *Testing*
13:18 Final Conclusions
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Today we are here to answer possibly the most asked equipment question in golf should you be playing a wood a hybrid or a driving iron let’s talk about It right guys so we are here today to finally put the ageold question to rest and figure out which golf club is going to suit you the best at the bottom end of your golf bag now before we get into testing it’s actually pretty important to understand these clubs and how they
Work so let’s quickly cover that so there’s a lot that goes into these clubs and they will absolutely vary from manufacturer to manufacturer but the two most important things you need to know are center of gravity and head construction itself so starting with the driving iron this is going to have the
Furthest forward Center gravity of the three clubs what this means is that it will be the easiest to manipulate from a face angle perspective and in turn trajectory and curve perspective which is why we tend to see a lot of better players using a driving iron style Golf
Club additionally while we usually see thin faces and hollow body Construction in driving irons the faces do not tend to be as thin as a fairywood or hybrid and so because of that we tend to have to go with a little bit less Loft to achieve similar ball speeds to those
Clubs as we get up into a hybrid this really tends to sit in the Middle Ground between a driving iron and a fairywood from a CG and head construction perspective usually a little bit easier to manipulate compared to a fairywood a little bit harder compared to a driving
Iron kind of in the middle ground from a trajectory perspective and additionally although we will see usually thinner faces than a driving iron they will not be quite as thin as a fairway wood so we do tend to have to have a little bit less Loft in this compared to a
Fairywood but a little bit more compared to a driving Aon very very in the Middle Ground from a design perspective now as we talk about Fairway Woods this will usually have the furthest back CG highest Moi but also the thinnest face of the three clubs what this allows us
To achieve is the highest spinni straightest and hardest to manipulate ball flight and because of the really thin face we usually have to go a little bit up and Loft to achieve the same ball speeds as a hybrid or a driving iron now I can sit here and talk about these
Clubs and what they’re supposed to do all day long but at the end of the day I know you guys want to see actual testing and that’s what we’re here to do so let’s quickly cover the clubs we got pxg 0317x driving iron just came out really
B excited to test this one 18° on that pxg Black Ops hybrid again just came out really been excited to test this one as well at 19° and then we also have psg’s black ops 21° 7 wood so what we’re going to do is hit all of these clubs on grass
With GC quad and really just see how they stack up from a looks feel and overall performance perspective from there I’ll kind of talk you guys through the clubs what I think about them and hopefully we can help find one that is going to fit in your bag the best so
Without any further Ado let’s get into testing all right guys so the way that we’re going to go ahead and work through this testing is we’re going to start with the driving iron hit some shots try to hit a couple solid ones and then
We’ll try to work it see what we can do with it then we’ll move up into the hybrid and then into the seven wood and try to do the same thing hopefully around five shots with each Club try to keep it quick and simple but also give
You guys the feedback that I know you’re looking for so nonetheless first Club in hand pxg 0317x their newest driving iron yeah this thing looks really good so you know I metion mentioned earlier when I was talking about how they design these golf clubs normally with a driving iron it’s
Going to have the most Mass forward allowing for the most manipulation from the player now what a lot of companies are doing is they’re actually making the soles a little bit wider they’re trying to push a little bit more weight in the back low and back so you can get a
Little bit more height and it’s a little bit more versatile not quite a hybrid but maybe a little bit more versatile than your standard driving iron as we take a look at this it’s definitely not as wide or as low back CG as something like a Titleist u505 but there’s a
Little bit more chunkiness what’s nice about that is you kind of feel like you can M hit a little bit and still get some height still get some carry so if we’re talking sizewise I would say this sits kind of in between a T200 and a
U505 it’s not quite as big as the u505 not quite as small as the T200 kind of somewhere in the middle a nice blend in terms of sizing as we take a look at it down at a dress looks really good to me I mean the head looks small it looks
Like a driving iron but at the same time I like the fact that there’s a little bit of Mass low and back in the head like I mentioned I just feel like I’m going to be able to Mish hit this and still get decent numbers not a lot of
Offset on this thing I mean honestly the shape’s really nice for a driving iron all right so that one kind of missed it a little bit low on the face but again because of where that CG is maybe just a little bit lower and further back than just a standard two
Iron or a smaller headed driving iron I got a decent amount of carry there 230 carry 3800 146 ball 114 launch definitely not landing and stopping on a green especially a firm and fast green but that shot is getting me in play and that’s really what this style of Club is
Meant to do better strike a little bit higher in the head got a little bit more launch I still don’t think that stopping on a green but flu maybe a little bit further two yards further carry 4,000 spin 123 launch 148 ball and you know kind of
What I talked about that’s what this club is just doing it’s not going to be a club that I personally would hit into many greens I think for you to be able to hit this into a green and stop it you got to be a really fast player who’s
Creating a lot of height and ability to stop the golf ball with land angle and I don’t think I’m super slow by any means but at the same time I’m definitely not you know a 180 ball speed guy at the current moment so that’s what I’m seeing
With this club we’ll try to hit one more solid and then see what we can do workability wise decent strike maybe a little bit low in the head pulled it a touch but it’s the same carry 230 carry 108 launch a little bit lower launch 3900 spin 148
Ball pretty consistent I mean there’s no other way around it I don’t really see this flying further than 235 for me at the current moment you know and I definitely don’t see it going any higher than it’s going right now maybe around 42 land angle somewhere in that window
It’s just it’s not going to stop for me on a green but let’s see what we can do manipulation wise because like I talked about that is the nice thing about this club we’ll try to hit one high and see what happens try to shallow out a little
Bit move her low point a little bit further back yeah straight up in the air obviously push my ball position a little bit further forward swing path went a little bit left that one cut a little bit so 223 carry spin was up 4,800 135 launch 149 ball so that’s a shot that
Can stop on a firmer faster green but the question really becomes do you want to manipulate this do you want to have to move that ball up are you comfortable doing that to get this to get the height to stop on a green so at the end of the
Day as the player at home that’s a question that you would want to ask yourself you know do you really want to be manipulating it to get everything out of it that you’re looking for so we’ll try to go ahead and hit one really low
Now 7 launch 149 ball 226 carry and 3700 spins we’ll try to cut one here see if we can curve this bad boy a little bit eh not great it cut a little bit 223 carry 4300 spin 108 launch 146 ball I say it cut a little bit it really went
Pretty darn straight let’s be honest let’s go ahead and try to draw one though yeah I mean that’s drawing and I’m a draw the golf ball I don’t really have a tough time doing that 103 148 231 3400 so I mean like I’ve said a few times if you’re a manipulator of the
Golf club you really like to be able to do that you can move it around your comfortable doing that that’s what this offers you now we’ll go ahead and move up into the Black Ops hybrid immediately taking a look down at this really nice I think it’s cool looking you know I the
Graphics are definitely a little busy but they’ve done a nice job it looks cool man it looks fast sits really square and what’s interesting about pxg is the way they have the face shaped it’s actually pretty Square in terms of like the heel and toe it’s not there’s
Not a lot of roundedness in this head so that’s something to point out for sure but you know the thing about this head is I just feel like in comparison to the driving iron I can really miss this thing more and I’m going to get away with it so that’s definitely what this
Offers you in terms of inspiration confidence at a dress all right towed that a little bit but I mean that’s really the difference as big of a Miss as that was still got plenty of height I could see that stopping on a green 131 launch 148 ball
227 carry 4,000 spin that’s the thing that’s what this is going to offer you over the driving iron if I would have done that with the driving iron it would have been maybe 210 carry that’s a big difference so try to actually hit one solid here that one really low on the face
That is probably not stopping on a firm fast green 95 launch 4500 230 152 so like I mentioned earlier this really sits in the middle if I would have hit that same strike location low in the face with the driving iron it would have come out even lower that was 95 I bet
The driving iron would have come out like 7 65 launch you know it’s little things like that you got to keep in mind that was solid very nice that is nice and high 135 launch 151 ball 230 carry 4600 spin is up on this one but
Carries in the exact same window so we got a little bit of a hotter face here we’re probably picking up I would say 2 mph of ball speed over the driving iron even with a little bit more Loft but because there’s a little bit more Spin
And a little bit more launch it’s going the same distance as the driving iron in terms of carry we’ll go one more with this and then we’ll try to maybe work it a little bit yeah that was better I think I just needed to get used to it a little bit
Different shaft different style head but yeah now I’m seeing the numbers now I’m seeing really good flight out of it 12 launch 231 carry 153 ball 4650 spin so if you get used to it if you kind of are able to figure it out in terms of how
You’re going to play it it’s really nice I mean I feel like this thing offers me a similar construction a similar look maybe to an iron just not super big in terms of How It’s stretched from front to back like a fairway would but just a little bit more forgiving a little bit
Easier to hit which try to open high and then low yeah straight up in the air 135 153 232 4700 try to hit one low now definitely not as low as the driving iron 85 versus I think 65 or 69 with the driving iron 15 152 231 4100 we’ll try
To cut one and then draw one see what happens yeah that was a crappy swing but it did cut to be fair 220 carry 146 ball yeah not great numbers I mean that’s the thing about this like it’s not going to do the curvature quite as well as a
Driving iron is the best way I would describe it but you know what screw it let’s hit another cut try to hit a good one here that’s better not a great strike but 220 carry 147 ball 5,000 spin 111 launch try to draw one here I mean again crappy strike I’m not
Really swinging it great today clearly but that Drew 230 153 10 4200 not perfect in every scenario but kind of a nice middle ground you know if you’re able to find one that works for you it really I would say does everything solidly but it doesn’t stand out in a
Particular area if that makes sense now we’ll go ahead and hit the seven wood and see what we got taking a look down at this thing I mean to me this just looks like I could hit it everywhere it’s going to go relatively straight I
Could hit it low in the face it’s still going to go high it looks good I mean the thing about pxg Woods is definitely it’s a different style of shape in terms of how they’ve done them from Heel To Toe top to bottom it’s kind of a squared
Look it’s different but we’ll go ahead and hit this thing see what we got that is straight up in the freaking air 141 launch 151 225 carry 5,000 spin so I mean that’s where it can be a little bit tough with seven Woods if you’re a higher speed player is getting that spit
In the right window because we’re seeing the same ball speed with two degrees more Loft than the hybrid and 3° more Loft than the driving iron but we’re seeing maybe a little bit too much spin so that’s where you maybe have to consider a different shaft consider the
Style of head maybe if you were to put hot melt in the head you could move it a little bit further forward try to take some of that spin-off that’s where you know if you’re a better player and I think especially tour guys to get these dialed in for them higher speed players
They definitely have to spend a little bit time trying to make sure they get that spin in the right window but at the same time if you’re a slower speed player and you need spin that’s the beauty of this club is it really is just super easy to elevate and Spins a very
Nice amount once again straight up 144 149 222 5,000 you know it’s just very very consistent very very easy to hit no other way around it I mean we’re down a little bit in carry but that’s simply due to spin terrible Mis strike I mean that was
Just a crap swing super toey big hook but straight up 145 ball 215 4,800 141 that’s just what this thing does you can miss it all over the face and it still gives you the height you’re still going to be able to stop it on greens at some
Point you know if you’re a slower speed player or somebody who’s maybe not at the highest skill level I feel like that’s all you can really ask for in terms of ball flight and ease of use but we’ll go ahead and try to work this
Thing I mean we’ll try to hit one high kind of seems like a bad idea cuz this thing already going straight up lowf faced it but still straight up 13 launch 5500 153 223 yeah I mean because I low faced it didn’t get the most launch out of it but still decent
Try to go ahead and hit one low here that’s decent 152 225 4800 94 there’s really no other way to put it this one is definitely just the hardest to manipulate of the three for sure it kind of just wants to go high and straight or high and draw the other ones
I do feel like I can manipulate the hybrid definitely not as much as the driving iron but try to cut one 145 15 219 5400 and we’ll try to draw one I know that will not be hard not a good strike but definitely Drew again 219 149 5,000 right guys so
There it is that is our driving iron versus hybrid versus 7w test it was a really fun one hopefully you guys learned a thing or two let’s go ahead and go over my final conclusions starting with the driving iron first and foremost really really impressive head
Here from pxg I love the look of it I think they’ve done a lot of really nice things in terms of the shaping I love the fact that it’s slightly wider in terms of the sole mixes it a little bit more playable love the fact that we’ve gotten adjustable weight that is not
Talked about enough with irons in my opinion this thing feels amazing I really have to give them a lot of credit they have made this feel like a forged golf club off the middle of the face even though it’s Hollow bodied not easy to do and they have managed to do it
Really really impressive but nonetheless this thing is exactly what you would expect it’s a better Players golf club it really is one of the those clubs where if you’re good if you know how to manipulate it you’re going to be able to flight it up and down curve it left to
Right do a lot of different things with it what it does really well is driving I mean it’s one of those clubs where me personally I would put this into play on a course that is shorter and requires Precision maybe something less than 6,800 yards where I really need to get
The golf ball in play it’s a little bit tighter that’s what this thing does well I wouldn’t hit this into a ton of greens I just don’t get the land angle out of it personally if you’re a higher speed player you might feel differently but what it does really well is just keeping
The golf ball in play now as we move up into the hybrid the new Black Ops hybrid from pxg again a really solid Golf Club here a little bit of a different shape in terms of a hybrid little bit more squared off like I mentioned earlier you
Know a hybrid is one of those clubs kind of like how I described it where it’s kind of the Jack of all trades Club it doesn’t go super high it doesn’t go super low it really sits in the middle it’s not super manipulatable but you can
Work it if you’re a better player and you get used to the style of head now me personally I have moved away from hybrids for that exact reason because it doesn’t necessarily do one thing outstandingly well I personally would rather just carry a driving iron and a
Seven wood and then switch them out depending on the golf course but nonetheless a really solid head here from pxg pxg always kills it with the hybrids and in my opinion this is absolutely no exception as we move up into the seven wood this is a really
Cool club and you know what I like about seven Woods is you can just really swing them super casually and they give you fantastic results this thing goes straight up in the air even if you hit it low in the face heel or toe it goes pretty straight it’s one of those clubs
Where whether you’re a higher handicap or or lower handicap it is just as usable it’s just going to depend on how you build it out to get it to fit your game I think for lower speed players just going with a stock head is going to
Be fine you’re going to get enough spin to be able to keep the golf ball in the air like most slower speed and higher handicaps tend to need but as you get up into those higher speeds that’s where you’re going to have to maybe manipulate
The club a little bit I know a lot of guys out on tour tend to use Hot Melt and kind of push it toward the front of the face to bring that spin down or they go to a much heavier stiffer shaft also bringing that launch and spin down so
This is a phenomenal Club I currently use the seven wood I think it’s one of the best decisions I ever made was switching to one and frankly this pxg model is awesome it sits very square at 21° but if you like it to sit a little
Bit open you can turn this thing down and it sits really nice and open as well at 20 or 19 and 1 12° and additionally you can adjust the weighting a little bit if you need it if you’re somebody who’s a higher speed player maybe you could go with a couple heavier weights
In the front of the head and a lighter weight in the back of the head to try to bring that spin down a little bit so this is super solid again looks cool a little bit busy on the crown but really looks sleek and fast like I have
Mentioned a bunch of times with regards to the pxg clubs but overall guys that is a test between seven wood hybrid and driving iron kind of showing you guys what these clubs do differently what they do well what they maybe don’t do so well me personally what I really like to
Do is carry both a driving iron and a seven wood it allows me to have the best of both worlds and with the events I’m playing I tend to play practice rounds and I can decide which one I’m going to use after seeing the golf course in my
Practice round but if you’re somebody who really doesn’t want to have to switch stuff out that’s where the hybrid is really going to be that jack of all trades club like I mentioned earlier hopefully you enjoyed this video if you did be sure to give it a like comment if
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