Finding a shaft profile for your driver is hard enough. When you find one you love with a driver head that works for your swing, it feels like you’re unstoppable. Finding a perfect fairway wood combination, however, can sometimes feel impossible. I don’t actually have a 3-wood in the bag because I’ve found it so difficult to find the “perfect” one for me. Most of that insecurity is due to the difference in the swings. I can feel invincible with the driver, but as soon as you tell me to hit a fairway wood off the turf, I’ll fall apart.

As I’ve experimented more with trying to find the right 3-wood for my game, my shaft selection has been all over the place. But one thing, particularly in the 5-wood category, that I actually love dearly, is that the profile needs to be different than my driver shaft. With my driver, I hit up on the ball pretty heavily, but with the fairway woods I like to be able to pinch the ball and even take a small divot. The difference in those two swings can be pretty dramatic, and that’s what causes the need for a different shaft profile.

I’ve made videos on my Instagram before talking about matching up a shaft profile to the player’s unique swing, which also means making sure that they entire build combination of head and shaft needs to work properly as well. However, even the same player can have different swings throughout the bag. The shaft profile in your driver may not end up being the same shaft profile you need to play in other areas of the bag.

For me, and lots of players on the PGA Tour, it’s easier to pair my driver with a lower launching part and my fairway woods with a higher launching part. For the driver I like to use something like the Mitsubishi Diamana WB or the Tensei 1k Pro White to help keep up with a bit more of an aggressive swing from the top, that I lean back on to hit up on the ball. I want the tip section to be a bit more stable so that it’s not providing any additional kick at impact. Since I am already providing a bit more dynamic loft naturally with my swing, I don’t want the tip of the shaft to increase that even further.

Advertisement

Mitsubishi Chemical Tensei 1K Pro White Wood Shaft

NOW AVAILABLE — TENSEI™ 1K Pro White is built for the player who seeks perfection. Created using extraordinary 1K Fiber that is 3x thinner than Carbon Kevlar for a tighter, more consistent weave. This super premium fiber produces an amazing “1K feel” by transmitting more of the high frequency vibrations needed to feel the true quality of impact. Constructed utilizing the new dual-phase XLINK Tech Resin System for a carbon-rich structure that is both stronger and more responsive. Boron fiber in the tip caps off this exceptional design. Available from 50R to 80TX, giving a wide range of players the opportunity to play a super premium 1K shaft.

View Product

In a fairway wood, I like something a bit softer. I’ll end up getting my attack angle more neutral, or even slightly down on the ball with the fairway woods, and my swing mechanics will change slightly. Getting closer to an iron swing, where I also have a shaft profile with a slightly stiffer handle section and a slightly softer tip section. Having a slightly softer tip section with something like a Tensei 1k Pro Red or a Diamana RB helps to feel a bit more confident getting down on the ball and pinching it off the turf. This helps to manage a nice launch and spin window, and I’ve also seen it actually increase speed as well in the fairway woods for me compared to a stiffer tip profile.

Who SHOULD play the same profile in both clubs?

It really all comes down to the fit. Lots of players at the highest level are playing the same shafts in their driver and fairway woods. The LPGA’s Hannah Green is on quite a run this season sitting second on the points list for the LPGA after two wins and a recent top-10 at the first major of the year. She plays a Mitsubishi Diamana RB in both her driver and her fairway wood; increasing weight by one class heavier in her fairway wood compared to the driver.

Hannah has a more similar swing with both her driver and the 3-wood, so it’s more comfortable to stay in the same timing and the same feel by sticking with the same shaft. Any player at any skill level who is delivering the club in a similar way is probably going to feel very comfortable with the same shaft profile in each club. I’ve also tended to see a trend in players on different ends of the speed spectrum fall into the same profile. Players, like a Xander or a Matt Fitzpatrick, that are more powerful and really need help controlling the club head tend to stick to the stiffer profiles throughout most of the bag. The same can also be said for players that are on the slower side of swing speeds. These players, like Hannah Green, tend to stick to the same swing no matter what part of the bag they are in, and having the same profile helps produce a bit more launch and ball speed at that level of swing speed.

Advertisement

Mitsubishi Chemical Diamana RB Wood Shaft

Diamana™ RB (Red Board) – the third profile in the most recent generation – is designed with all the traditional branding that made Diamana so beloved – including a return to the original 53/63/73/83 weight class designations – and all the engineering prowess and material innovation that made the brand dominant on tour. 
Offering a slightly higher launch angle than BB, Diamana™ RB was engineered to promote ease of launch while also maintaining control down field. Diamana RB is a classic “Red Board” profile — not available since the 2nd Generation of Diamana — that features an active tip section while still retaining the same material technology package and low-torque control characteristics as its lower launching counterparts.

Advertisement

View Product

In the middle are the players at any speed who have a bit more tempo in their swing, and they aren’t linear in their speed. These are players that oftentimes end up in smoother stiff profiles in the driver, like the Diamana WB, but softer profiles in their fairways. They’ll typically rip the driver a bit harder from the top, but stay a little smoother in transition with their fairway woods. These are players who will love to switch to something like a Diamana BB or a Tensei 1k Pro Blue (like Cam Young) in their higher-lofted fairway wood options.

As always if you’re looking to get yourself dialed in for the right combination of heads and shafts for you bag, visit your local True Spec for a fitting.

“>

Welcome to Fully Fit 2026, GOLF’s new platform for providing you with real-golfer insights into what 2026 gear might be best suited for your game. To this end, we assembled six GOLF content creators of varying abilities and ran them through the gauntlet of six full-bag fittings (driver to putter!) at six major club manufacturers in Phoenix and Carlsbad, Calif. Our hope: that you might see shades of your own game in one of our panelists’ and take some learnings and inspiration from their fitting experiences. In this installment (below), Wadeh Maroun details the clubs he can’t live without from Fully Fit 2026, his TaylorMade P770 irons. You may browse each of our panelists’ full 2026 dream bags here:

Jake Morrow (0 handicap) | Johnny Wunder (2) | Wadeh Maroun (2) | Jack Hirsh (2.4) | Maddi MacClurg (5.6) | Sean Zak (7.8)

MORE FULLY FIT: Fully Fit hub page | Why we’re ‘testing’ golf clubs differently this year | Inside 6 days of fittings and testing | Browse 2026 drivers | Browse 2026 irons | How 5 days of club fittings changed my mind on golf equipment

Going into Fully Fit, I thought I knew what kind of equipment was right for my game. Safe to say, I was very wrong, especially when it came to my irons.

A little backstory: Two years ago, I started on a journey to become a true scratch golfer. I got lessons and completely retooled my swing. Before that, I played a cut and hit down on the ball, which created a lot of early extension and left my hand-eye coordination to dictate ball striking — “sometimes maybe good, sometimes maybe s—.” At the time, I was a 5-handicap. I needed help.

Then came the pivot.

The lesson plan shifted my swing to be much less prone to early extension and more geared toward hitting up on the ball rather than down. It sounded simple enough in theory, but the real-world impact was anything but.

This new approach created a massive issue from 8-iron down. I started noticing a gnarly split in north-south dispersion. The ball wasn’t going where I wanted, and I had lost all the trust I previously had in my irons and wedges. For what it’s worth, I’m a high-launch, high-spin player by nature, and that combination was no bueno.

Enter the moment of truth: a fitting session at The Kingdom with Matt Simone.

Matt is the kind of fitter who makes you believe in the process again, not just the end result. We started tinkering with lofts, chasing a theoretical fix that would help me cover the ball more consistently and keep it from running up the face. The idea was simple on paper: stronger lofts should tame launch and spin just enough to bring my numbers closer to target.

What happened next felt like a revelation.

The adjustments started to take hold in a way that surprised me. I had a feeling I hadn’t experienced in a while: I trusted my irons to do their job. The result was a real, tangible improvement in how I could control distance and direction, and, crucially, trust the club to do what I asked without fighting my swing. It wasn’t magic, but it changed my relationship with the game in a meaningful way.

Fast forward to now: I ended up in TaylorMade P770 irons, and the arc of my journey has felt like a straight line toward a better game.

Advertisement

TaylorMade P770 Custom Irons

SOLID FORGED FEEL
Improved for a more solid feel like never before. The 2024 P•770 has been strategically tuned using a player’s forged construction and modal analysis to create a notable improvement and the best feeling P•770 to date.
MODERN PLAYERS IRON
TaylorMade’s FLTD CG™ coupled with precision milled face and grooves, deliver the launch and spin modern players demand. Designed with forgiving, high launching long irons and lower launching, high spinning scoring irons for accuracy and control.
CONSISTENCY
Consistent ball striking and accurate shot making from a forged iron construction designed with meticulous mass optimization and an updated tungsten weight design for more forgiving long irons.
REFINED SHAPING
Refined shaping for a cleaner look and improved turf interaction. The 2024 P•770 has a thinner topline visual balanced with a confidence inspiring, compact head shape. A newly modified leading edge design helps deliver consistent shot making and crisp turf interaction.

View Product

In just three months, I’ve moved from a 2-handicap to a 1. The swing feels less like a constant battle and more like a collaboration with the gear I’m using. The confidence I’ve gained isn’t about chasing a perfect number; it’s about knowing I can pull any iron, hit my number, get it clos, and walk away from a round without giving away three or four shots to avoidable mistakes.

Scratch is still on the horizon, but I’m closer than I’ve ever been. And I credit a lot of that progress to being deliberate about my equipment and trusting the process.

When I pull an iron now, I’m not wondering if I’ve got the right model or loft. I’m looking at the shot in front of me, feeling the club respond the way I expect and letting that confidence take over.

If you’re chasing consistency, I’d offer the same advice: start with gear that matches your swing, not the other way around, and give yourself the space to grow into it.

Ready to overhaul your bag in 2026 like our Fully Fit panelists? Find a club-fitting location near you at True Spec Golf.

“>

Matt and Alex Fitzpatrick’s emotional victory at last week’s Zurich Classic was not the first time the brothers teamed up for a big win. Back in 2013, a 13-year-old Alex caddied for Matt during his U.S. Amateur victory at the Country Club.

If you thought that would be a dream-come-true for the pre-High School Alex, you thought wrong.

It turns out that the Fitzpatrick parents had to bribe their young son with a shiny new device to convince him to carry Matt’s bag that week, as Alex explained on Tuesday at the 2026 Cadillac Championship.

Alex Fitzpatrick ready to break out of Matt’s shadow after PGA Tour promotion

For most of their lives, Alex Fitzpatrick had to live in the shadow of his big brother. Matt Fitzpatrick showed signs of greatness early on.

He backed them up with a career-changing victory at the 2022 U.S. Open, at the exact same course, the Country Club in Brookline, where he won the U.S. Amateur with Alex on the bag nine years before.

Matt is currently on the hottest streak of his career, having won three PGA Tour events since late March to rise to World No. 3. But Alex is on a tear of his own.

After capturing his first DP World Tour win in March, he teed it up with Matt at the PGA Tour’s Zurich Classic of New Orleans last week, for what he was expecting to simply be a good opportunity for “spending time with my brother.”

Alex got the family time he was looking for, but he also walked away with a victory, giving him a PGA Tour card for two years, over $1 million in prize money and spots in the remaining Signature Events.

So while Matt is taking it easy this week following his third win of the year, Alex is in Florida to play the Cadillac Championship.

Alex Fitzpatrick reveals parents’ bribery scheme to get him to caddie for Matt

During his pre-tournament press conference, Fitzpatrick was asked about his original partnership with his brother Matt at the 2013 U.S. Amateur.

For outsiders, it was a fairytale week that harkened back to Francis Ouimet’s U.S. Open win at Brookline one hundred years before, when 10-year-old Eddie Lowery famously carried his bag.

For Alex, the vibe was very different. In fact, he didn’t want to caddie for Matt that week at all. Their dad, Russell Fitzpatrick, was then forced to take an extreme measure to make it happen: bribery. He promised to buy Alex a new phone if he caddied for Matt in the tournament.

“I only caddied for [Matt] at the U.S. Amateur because my dad promised me a new phone,” Alex revealed in his Tuesday press conference at Trump Doral. “That was only reason why I caddied for him, because it was too expensive to buy a caddie for the week, so I got dragged into that one.”

Alex added that he did indeed get his new phone after Matt won, calling it a “win-win.”

“And then he won and then I got a new phone, so it was a win-win all around,” he joked.

It’s been a whirlwind few days since the Zurich triumph, but now Alex is set to chart his own PGA Tour career without his brother by his side beginning at the Cadillac Championship.

While Matt won’t be there in person, he did send Alex a touching note of encouragement for the Cadillac the morning after their Zurich victory.

“He just said, you know, he said enjoy it. He sent me a really nice text the morning afterwards that was like, you know, as much as this win is both of us, you deserve to be here, you’re playing some great golf, go out there and show them what you have and just try and enjoy it as much as you can really, that was the biggest message from him,” Alex said on Tuesday.

Fitzpatrick tees off for the first round of his new PGA Tour career on Thursday at 1:20 p.m. ET.