The following is an excerpt from a piece we filed for PGATour.com’s Equipment Report. Head on over there for the full story, which also includes the Mexico Open winner discussing how he configures his PXG irons set up. 

Knapp may be a Tour rookie, but he’s experienced enough to know what works for him. And it’s not a 3-wood.

“I put in a 3-wood every once in a while, but I was just never able to find one that I loved,” Knapp told GolfWRX.com on Tuesday. “Three woods, in general, I just hit on the bottom of the face. They spin a lot and don’t go anywhere.”

Rather than using a fairway wood, Knapp goes with a TaylorMade BRNR Mini Driver that has 13.5 degrees of loft. The club complements his 9-degree Ping G425 LST driver.

During a fitting session in Oklahoma last year, Knapp told his fitter he was looking for a club that goes 286 yards, and his first three shots with the mini driver went between 285 and 290.

“It’s just an easier club to hit than a 3-wood,” Knapp explained. “It spins more off the ground, but I don’t need it off the ground too often. And from 270+ yards away, you’re not really trying to be too precise. You’re just trying to get it up around the green most of the time. So, for me, it’s really just a tee club and kind of a fairway finder for me.”

Read more here and check out Jake Knapp’s full WITB below.

Driver: Ping G425 LST (9 degrees @7.5)
Shaft: Project X HZRDUS T1100 75 6.5

Mini driver: TaylorMade BRNR Mini Driver (13.5 degrees)
Shaft: Project X HZRDUS T1100 95 6.5

• Check out more in-hand photos of Jake Knapp’s clubs here.

Irons: Srixon ZU85 (2), PXG 0311 X (4), PXG 0211 ST (5-PW) 
Shafts: Mitsubishi Tensei White Hybrid 100 TX (2), KBS Tour C-Taper 130 X (4-PW)

Wedges: PXG 0311 Sugar Daddy II (52-10), Titleist Vokey Design SM9 (56.5-10S), WedgeWorks (60-T @61)
Shafts: KBS Tour C-Taper 130 X (52, 56), Nippon N.S. Pro Modus3 WV 125

• Check out more in-hand photos of Jake Knapp’s clubs here.

Putter: TaylorMade Spider Tour Double Bend
Grip: SuperStroke Zenergy Tour SGP 1.0

Grips: Golf Pride Tour Velvet

Ball: Titleist Pro V1 Left Dot

• Check out more in-hand photos of Jake Knapp’s clubs here.

In our forums, our members have been discussing shallow faced and deep faced fairway woods. WRXer ‘Mike412’ kicks off the conversation saying:

“I’ve always preferred a deeper face but with so many manufacturers making shallow face woods the deeper face models are hard to come by, especially on the used market and even more especially 7W’s. So for those that like a shallow face, what do you like about them?”

And our members have been having their say on the subject in our forum.

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.

• CactusGolf: “Shallow-faced woods were always a problem for me, especially with the last Paradym release because I found myself making contact at the top of the face to the point of danger. Had to switch to the Paradym Triple Diamond model for the slightly deeper face and haven’t had that problem.  Made sure to loft up by at least +1* with the lower-spinning head. I don’t hit fairway woods off the deck very often due to the length of some of my courses, so the fairway wood is primarily a tee-only club.”
• Bobb3rddown: “I like deeper faced woods. Especially out of the rough. I’ve slid under to many balls I the rough with shallow face woods.”
• ChipNRun: “Prefer a deep face, but can handle a medium-face OK. Played with shallow-face FWs during early 2000s, but I changed my swing plane and started popping up shots, especially on tee shots. Ended up fluffing grass and putting ball atop tuft on tee shots.”

Shallow face vs Deep face fairway woods – GolfWRXers discuss

At GolfWRX, we are a community of like-minded individuals that all experience and express our enjoyment of the game in many ways.

It’s that sense of community that drives day-to-day interactions in the forums on topics that range from best driver to what marker you use to mark your ball. It even allows us to share another thing we all love – buying and selling equipment.

Currently, in our GolfWRX buy/sell/trade (BST) forum, there is a listing for a Refinished Scotty Pro Platinum Newport Mid Slant putter.

From the seller: (@CAGOFORIT): “Refinished by Flanigan Built. Original HC and shaft with band intact and SC pistol grip.  Length 34”. Previous owner cut down the shaft.  It has been extended back to 34”. $300 shipped CONUS.”

To check out the full listing in our BST forum, head through the link: Refinished Scotty Pro Platinum Newport Mid Slant putter

This is the most impressive current listing from the GolfWRX BST, and if you are curious about the rules to participate in the BST Forum you can check them out here: GolfWRX BST Rules