Hello all, I am Sam, Golf Monthly's fairway wood tester and I've managed to get my hands on every 2026 model this year as well as some models that have carried over from last year. Over the last few months I have put them all to the test at our new Performance Lab so I can get data in a controlled environment, and it allowed me to setup the woods in a similar fashion thanks to the building equipment we have on site. From here I then took the woods outside to see how they performed just where they need to, on the course.
All of this has put me in a position to give real recommendations and as such I've created this ultimate guide. Within I've split my recommendations across several important categories such as best off the tee, best from the ground, most forgiving, best for slicers and my top overall picks. Oh and I've also snuck in a best looking pick as well. The specific selections in each category are listed further down this page and if you want more information, then please scroll down a bit further to check out my full video on this guide. Finally if you want to see more of this type of gear testing, then head over to the Golf Monthly YouTube channel as well where my colleague Joe Ferguson has now completed his 2026 driver testing.
So here are my top picks across categories. I've split them into six factors most important to fairway woods and if you want more information and more in-depth explanation of my picks then I've included my full video below. This also contains all my numbers from testing if you want to see those too. If you want more information on how each model specifically tested, I've also included links to all the reviews in this list below as well.
- Best Overall Picks - TaylorMade Qi4D, Callaway Quantum Triple Diamond, Cobra Optm X
- Best Off The Tee - Titleist GT2, Srixon ZXi, Callaway Quantum Triple Diamond
- Best Off The Ground - Mizuno JPX One, Wilson Dyanpwr Carbon, TaylorMade Qi4D Max
- Most Forgiving - TaylorMade Qi4D, Ping G440 Max, Callaway Quantum Max
- Best For Slicers - Wilson Dyanpwr Carbon, TaylorMade Qi4D Max, Cobra Optm Max
- Best Looks - PXG Lightning Tour
For more fairway wood buying advice, I would also recommend taking a look at our guides on the most forgiving fairway woods, best fairway woods for high handicappers, or best fairway woods for mid-handicappers.
