The Adams Redline RPM Titanium Fairway Wood has what Adams says is the lowest center of gravity of any fairway wood on the market. By moving large amounts of weight from the crown to the sole plate, Adams can deliver increased ball speed, better launch angle and a higher spin rate.

Adams says that the result is a club that delivers longer, hotter shots.

TaylorMade is adding to its amazingly successful line of adjustable weight woods with the R7 Steel and R7 Ti fairway woods.

The R7 steel is a more compact, traditionally shaped fairway wood. Adjusting the weights allow the user to develop either a neutral shot, or a draw. TaylorMade says that shifting the weights can create a movement of up to 15 yards.

The R7 Ti offers a larger, more forgiving clubhead. As with the R7 Steel, players can shift the weights to create either a neutral, or right to left ball flight. 

The r7 Steel is available in Tour Strong 3-wood (13°), 3-wood (15°), 4-wood (16.5°), 5-wood (18°) and 7-wood (21°) at a manufacturer’s suggested retail price of $300 per club with graphite shaft, $270 per club with steel shaft. The r7 Ti is available in 3-wood (15°), 5-wood (18°) and 7-wood (21°). for $400. Both will go on sale in April 2006.

TaylorMade now says that it has something for everyone in its moveable weight technology line:

“The r7 TP is engineered with a smaller head and a higher CG, features that are typically favored by skilled players like tour pros,” said Todd Beach, TaylorMade’s director of metal wood development. “We wanted to make Movable Weight Technology available in fairway woods that are easier to hit, which is why we created the r7 Steel and r7 Ti. The r7 Steel is similar in size to the r7 TP but features a precision-positioned CG and shallower clubface that combine to make it easier to launch on a high, long-carrying ball flight. Likewise the r7 Ti also features a low and deep CG that makes it easy to launch high and long, plus its larger size adds forgiveness, making it even easier to hit than the r7 Ti. Now there’s a model of r7 fairway wood for every type of player that wants to take advantage of the distance and accuracy made possible by TaylorMade’s Movable Weight Technology.”

I had a terrific opportunity to play with the R7 TP fairway wood this last summer and will attest to the ease of play and sitance offered by that club. I can only imagine that the new clubs—especially the Ti, with its larger head—offer even more forgiveness.

Adams Golf has introduced a new line of fairway woods with a low profile design, and Adams signature Upside Down Technology. Like all Adams clubs, they’re designed to be extremely easy to hit.

I’ve always liked Adams’ products in terms of their ability to get the ball in the air, but felt that they didn’t give me as much distance as some other brands. I gave up my Adams GT 3 Wood when I started playing the TaylorMade R7 Fairway Wood largely because I thought it offered a better forgiveness/distance ratio.

I haven’t been able to try any of Adams’ new offerings, though, so it might be worth taking a look.

The full press release is below:

The end of the season is a great time to pick up that equipment that you’ve been admiring all summer long. The Golf Warehouse currently is offering a deal on Cobra woods, including the 460 SZ Titanium Driver and the SZ Fairway woods.

New lower prices on Cobra woods.

TaylorMade R7 TP Fairway Wood w/Graphite Shaft

Grade: A
Teacher’s Comments: This is a very forgiving and versatile club that’s staying in my bag.

In spite of its “Tour” designation, I think that the TaylorMade R7 TP Fairway Wood is a club that could find its way into a lot of players’ bags. As a mid-handicapper, I was unsure whether a “tour driven” club like the R7 Fairway would work for me. Frankly, I’m a little scared of products designed for tour pros, and shafts that say “stiff.”

I know my limitations.

But like the R5 TP Driver, which I reviewed earlier, the R7 TP 3 Wood sent for my review by TaylorMade is a club that I’d love to have stay in my bag.

I had a chance to swing a Callaway Big Bertha Heavenwood the other day and really liked it. It’s billed as a hybrid but looks to me more like a small fairway wood.  Its graceful, with none of the stumpiness of some of the other hybrids.

Callaway says that the elongated low profile face gives it a high moment of inertia (resistance to twisting) and that the modified warbird sole makes it easy to hit off of any surface. I only had the chance to hit it off tees at a range, but liked the ball flight and the feel at impact.

Snake Eyes Compressor Fairway Wood Head

Grade: A

Fairway woods are an amateur golfer's best friend. I put together a set of 3, 5, and 7 woods with this head, using Graffaloy Attacklite Fairway Wood shafts. I used Lamkin Crossline grips.

The Compressor Fairway woods are built with the same technology as their big brother, the Compressor Driver. Based on a Zevo design, the woods are held under 12,500 psi of pressure using an internal cabling system. This is supposed to keep the head from deforming at impact.

I think the system works. I hit these fairwoods farther and more accurately than any I have tried before.   As a point of comparison, I also own a set of Adams Tight Lies GT, and have played with an number of others, including offerings from Titleist, MacGregor, Cleveland, Cobra and Golfworks.

Like their big brother, I hit the fairway woods twenty yards longer than others I have used. Unlike the driver, however, I have managed to maintain my accuracy with these throughout the season. My ideal shot -- a high fade -- has stayed with me through good times and bad. I've never been able to hit a draw with these, but that's just my swing. I'd guess that there is no draw bias at all on these clubs.

All three fairway woods hit the ball high off of nearly any lie. The 3-wood is my go-to club off the tee. I hit it as far as any driver I own (with the exception of the Compressor, which I can no longer keep in the fairway).

The three wood was the instrument of my best shot of the summer: I had 230 yards to the green on a par 5.  (I had flubbed the second shot out of the rough with a 4 iron).  The hole has bunkers guarding the left and right front, and an elevated green. I hit it solidly and in a perfect fade. It sailed left, curved back over the left bunkers, and dropped almost straight down into the hole. My third career Eagle. The greenkeeper mowing the lawn nearby applauded.

If I have any complaint about the clubs, it's that Golfsmith does not make a 9 wood in the same line. Given current trends in clubset makeup, every manufacturer -- component or OEM -- should include 9 woods as a choice.

One other complaint: the tension device screw on the bottom of the club gets gunked up with turf and dirt. I wonder why they couldn't fill the holes with some sort of plastic plug.

The lack of a matching fairway wood and the screw hole are the only things keeping these from an A+.