What are the best 7-woods in 2025 and are they right for YOUR game? Our complete data-backed test reveals all
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Find out how we rigorously test fairway woods
We took a trip up to SGGT in Chesterfield, one of the newest and most interesting custom fitting studios in the country, to test the latest 7-woods in 2025.
SGGT (Scott Gourlay Golf Technology) was chosen due to a combination of product availability and expertise. The company background has seen them turn from one man's dream of offering unbiased, tour-level fitting to a multi-location, highly regarded fitting studio that services golfers of every standard across several sites across the UK and Europe.
One of the more unique aspects on offer at SGGT is their use of a custom fitting system designed in-house, which allows them complete control of the golf clubs you test. This means everything from the shaft used to the balance of the clubs and even the grip is taken into account when you visit.
With every club built and shipped through their own workshop in Scotland and an immensely deep matrix of head, shaft, and grip options, including the option to test 4i/6i/8i/PW during an iron fitting and outdoor wedge facilities, SGGT offers one of the most complete experiences in the custom clubs space.
For our 7-wood test, we worked with Lead Fitter Laurence Pawley to explore options for you, the golfer, including testing at multiple speeds and swing styles to give a comprehensive breakdown of what works for you.
How the team at Today's Golfer test golf equipment.
More and more tour players are putting a 7-wood into their golf bag, but is this the right decision for your game, and which manufacturers should you consider?
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When we test new fairway woods, we typically focus on 3-woods, or occasionally 5-woods, in the hitting bay, but should we consider 7-woods or even more loft in our bags? 2024 USPGA Champion Xander Schauffele and two-time Major champion Dustin Johnson both have 7-woods in their bags. DJ even has a 9-wood, which he used in his 2020 Masters triumph to great effect. With so many options out there, it might be sometimes confusing to find the perfect club for your game.
Tour professionals to also add a higher lofted fairway wood include Tommy Fleetwood, Sahith Theegala, Ludvig Aberg, and Adam Scott; with so many now putting another fairway wood back into their setup, what should you look for to find the right product for you? Thankfully, we’ve got all the answers in this page, thanks to our rigorous testing for every brand in 2025.
Let’s show you the best available and provide some information on why choosing to play a more lofted wood will benefit your golf game.
Best At A Glance
Best overall: Ping G440 Max | Buy Now
Best for faster swing speeds: Titleist GT2 | Buy Now
Best for slower swing speeds: Cobra Darkspeed Adapt Max | Buy Now
Best for height: Callaway Elyte | Buy Now
Best 7-woods 2025:
Combine performance with consistency
A wider and shallower head means that, regardless of player clubhead speed, this wood was incredibly easy to launch while also producing some of the highest ball speeds in our testing.
While you do still have the option of picking up a G430 fairway wood - and it hasn't suddenly become worse as a club, by any stretch - we'd recommend the G440 for the subtle improvements that Ping have made to make this edition even simpler to connect with.
The chassis changes make the G440 better out of the rough than previous iterations, while maintaining the same performance from tighter fairways as before.
Read our full Ping G440 Max Fairway Wood Review
Pros
- Impressive all-round performance
- Shaft range is excellent
- Incredibly easy to hit from varied lies
Cons
- May not suit steep swings due to shallow face
| High Loft Options | 7W – 21° / 9W - 24° |
| Stock Shafts | Ping Alta CB Black, Ping Tour 2.0 Chrome, Ping Tour 2.0 Black |
| Stock Grip | Golf Pride Tour Velvet 360 |
Straight ball flight with tight dispersion
The only downside to the GT2 fairway wood is that the launch and landing angles were the lowest of everything we tested. For the higher club speed, this wasn't an issue due to the increased ball speed producing more height, but at slower speeds, we noticed the flight being significantly lower and a drop in carry distance.
Read our full Titleist GT2 Fairway Wood review
Pros
- Highest ball speeds for faster swingers
- Classic look and sound
- Flatter ball flight for those that don't want too much height
Cons
- Harder to launch with slower swing speeds
| High Loft Options | 7W - 21° |
| Stock Shafts | Multiple custom-fit options are available |
| Stock Grip | Golf Pride Tour Velvet 360 |
A classy, non-nonsense fairway wood
At low club speeds, the Max produced the highest ball speed of anything in the test while also adding the 2nd-highest peak height at the same speed. Despite a slightly deeper head, this was still easy to send into the air, combined with an easy-to-square-up face.
The Darkspeed Max isn't only for slower speeds; if you want more height, this can work for both categories. The only difficulty with the Max is that, with quicker speeds, there is a tendency for the ball to have a draw bias that is hard to fight, although the new FutureFit33 will be helpful in dialling the fairway wood in further.
Read our full Cobra Darkspeed Adapt Max Fairway Wood Review
Pros
- Incredibly tight dispersion
- Great height and spin regardless of clubhead speed
- Highest ball speed for slow swingers
Cons
- Hooking tendency for higher swing speeds
| Lofts | 3W-16º / 5W-19º / 7W-22º |
| Stock Shafts | Mitsubishi Kai’li Blue, UST Mamiya Lin-Q Blue, UST Mamiya Lin-Q Red |
| Stock Grip | Lamkin Crossline Black |
Never a bad option
That's not to say there aren't some golfers who will really enjoy this head at higher speeds, but, for our tester, the lack of face depth made this harder to figure out where the middle was.
The opposite was true at slower speeds. We found that slow club head speed made the center easier to find and produced more consistency. Never a bad option by any metric, the 7-wood just couldn't top any particular category like its stronger lofted brothers have done in our best fairways test.
Read our full Callaway Elyte Fairway Wood Review
Pros
- The loft options are best in class
- Easy to launch profile
- Great for forgiveness
Cons
- Possibly difficult to find the center at high speeds
| High Loft Options | Heavenwood-20º / 7W-21º / 9W-24º / 11W-27º |
| Stock Shafts | Mitsubishi Tensei AV Series Blue, Project X Cypher 2.0 |
| Stock Grip | Golf Pride Tour Velvet 360 |
A personal favorite of our tester
Qi35 also performed well in the slower swing speed test; the only thing that limited it was consistency for both speeds. Variation in strike produced stronger movement in key categories than we'd like, although to call the Qi35 fairways bad would be a terrible disservice.
These woods still require some precision from the golfer, but Taylormade does offer the Qi35 Max, with a slightly shallower profile, for the golfer who needs a touch more help off-center.
Read our full Taylormade Qi35 Fairway Wood Review
Pros
- Offers plenty of forgiveness for a smaller head
- Ball speed across the face is high
- Available in 7-wood and 9-wood
Cons
- Deeper face may not suit every golfer
| High Loft Options | 7W-21º / 9W-24º |
| Stock Shafts | Mid 60g - Mitsubishi Tensei AV Ltd Blue FW (65 R), Mid 70g -Mitsubishi Tensei AV Ltd Blue (75 X/S) |
| Stock Grip | Golf Pride Z-Grip Plus 2 (52g) |
Hard not to be impressed by
As with the Max head, the X offers crisp, old-school looks with a matte black finish that is hard to look down at and not be impressed by. Less draw bias than the Max as well, the flights we saw during testing were neutral to slight fades, although this is expected from the difference in design.
In slower speed testing, the preference goes to the Darkspeed Max every day, but at higher speeds (or for low clubhead speeds that overdraw the ball) the Darkspeed X takes the cake from its sister model.
The only downside, like with the Qi35, is that this head feels like it requires a good strike to get the most from it.
Read our full Cobra Darkspeed Adapt X Fairway Wood Review
Pros
- Sound and feel are fantastic
- Looks are classy and refined
- Power is in line with best-in-class models
Cons
- Darkspeed Adapt X doesn't come in lofts higher than 7w
| High Loft Options | 7W - 21° |
| Stock Shafts | Project X Denali Blue, Denali Black |
| Stock Grip | Lamkin Crossline Black |
Courage at address
Best Value
Changes include improved turf interaction due to the revised GlideRail system featured on the sole of the club, a variable thickness face design for increased ball speed across the face, a large total head size, which our team believes, will help inspire courage at address, and a counter-weighted shaft for optimized feel without sacrificing in mass coming into impact.
With more loft options than before, this year's Halo XL is an option we think should not be overlooked for those attempting to maximize their height from the fairway.
Pros
- Easy to get through the turf
- Additional loft options this year are very welcome
- Larger profile at address is confidence inspiring
Cons
- Only available in lightweight shaft options
| High Loft Options | 7W-21º / 9W-24º |
| Stock Shafts | Mitsubishi Tensei AV Blue 55, Aldila Ascent PL 40 |
| Stock Grip | Lamkin Crossline 360 |
FAQs: Buying a 7-Wood
READ MORE: How to choose the right fairway wood for your game