Why Was it Great: Titleist PT fairway wood
This video series brings to light why certain clubs maintain such a cult following and what makes them classics.
This is about the Titleist PT fairway wood, which was made endlessly popular by Tiger Woods and others during the beginning of the metal-wood era.
From the classic pear profile at address to the sound it makes on a solid strike, equipment expert Ryan Barath breaks down the many design attributes that still make the PT fairway wood such a fun club to hit.
Kristoffer Reitan just won his first PGA Tour event at the 2026 Truist Championship. He is a Ping staff member and has a complete set of clubs from the brand. He did make a late driver switch this weekend that helped propel him to victory.
Driver: Ping G440 Max (9 degrees)
Shaft: Mitsubishi Tensei 1K White 60 TX
3-wood: Ping G440 Max (15 degrees)
Shaft: Mitsubishi Tensei 1K White 80 TX
7-wood: Ping G440 Max (21 degrees)
Shaft: Mitsubishi Tensei 1K Black 85 TX
Irons: Ping Blueprint S (4-9)
Shafts: KBS Tour X
Wedges: Ping S259
46-S
Shaft KBS Tour X
50-S
54-S
58-S
Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue S400
Putter: Ping PLD Custom Ally Blue H (white finish)
Grips: Golf Pride MCC Midsize
Ball: Titleist Pro V1
Videos
Finau’s unique long putter experiment, Webb’s WILD irons | Inside the Ropes | Truist Championship
In this week’s episode of Inside the Ropes from the Truist Championship, Alistair Cameron catches up with Tony Finau, who is in the midst of an interesting long-putter experiment, and Webb Simpson, whose irons must be seen to be believed. Also featuring: Sepp Straka, Ryan Gerard, and much more!
Right now, I am tied for first place in my league! Don’t worry, the wheels will fall off as we get further into the year, but let’s keep the train rolling with 14 brand new clubs this week. We are off on the back nine again, so the driver is back in, and the 7-wood is out, as the course dictates what clubs I tend not to use. Excited to get these New Level irons out there and see if I can catch some of that driver magic I had down at Pinehurst with the Wilson Dynapwr+.
Driver: Wilson Dynapwr Max+ (12 degrees @ 11)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Black 6s
3-wood: Cobra OPTM Max (15.5 degrees)
Shaft: Graphite Design Tour AD VR-7s
Utility: PXG 0311 X Gen8
Shaft: Graphite Design Tour AD DI-85s Hybrid
Hybrid: Ping G440 4h (22 degrees @ 21)
Shaft: Ping Tour 2.0 Chrome 85s
Irons: New Level 702+ (5 & 6)
Shafts: Project X Red 6.0
Irons: New Level 702 CB (7-PW)
Shafts: Project X REd 6.0
Wedge: Titleist Vokey SM11 (50.12F)
Shaft: Nippon Modus Tour 105 S
Wedge: Titleist Vokey SM11 (56.14F)
Shaft: Nippon Modus Tour 105 S
Wedge: Titleist Vokey WedgeWorks (60V)
Shaft: True Temper Dynamic Gold S200
Putter: PXG Hot Rod ZT
Ball: Titleist ProV1x Left Dash
Bag: Ghost GT-14 Patriot
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William Wu
Feb 6, 2020 at 12:28 pm
Young isn’t an advantage to write something about the history golf gears. Actually it’s really difficult.
You surely know Adams came out to market by”accident”, well as you know Jesse Ortiz family created TRIMETAL FW, what to say which is best? How to compare?
Ask golfers , yes, fun, lots of fun!
JR19
Feb 6, 2020 at 12:56 am
Please do a review with actual trackman numbers against something modern to do understand the leaps gained in tech……. Thanks again!
Ryan Johnston
Feb 5, 2020 at 8:59 pm
Would love to see an Eppie on my fav fairway of all time the Titleist Starship!! 🙂
James
Feb 5, 2020 at 8:17 pm
Because Tiger Woods and no other reason. It wasn’t great.
Brian
Feb 5, 2020 at 7:26 pm
I have zero complaints about the information presented, Why on gods earth didn’t we see pros hitting it, showing the shot shapes etc.?
We all know it’s unforgiving as H-E-double hockey stick, show us how the pros used it and why they loved it!
Shallowface
Feb 5, 2020 at 4:15 pm
I never liked the way the “Titleist” script looked on the crown of the PT. Always looked crooked to me. Never had that problem with anything else, unless it was a refinished persimmon on which someone messed up the new decal.
That Powerbilt persimmon is one of the greatest woods of all time. It still performs quite well, even with a modern ball.
Shallowface
Feb 5, 2020 at 3:50 pm
I never liked the way the “Titleist” script looked on the crown of the PT. Always looked crooked to me. Never had that problem with anything else, unless it was a refinished persimmon on which someone messed up the new decal.
That Powerbilt persimmon is one of the greatest woods of all time. It still performs quite well, even with a modern ball.
Tourgrinder
Feb 5, 2020 at 1:02 pm
Mr. Barath is enjoyable to hear at times speaking about most subjects, but he’s also too young to recall metalwood history accurately. The Titleist PT metalwoods were nothing much more than good-quality copycat metals after seeing TaylorMade intro the first Pittsburgh Persimmon metalwoods in 1979 and and then the Tour Preferred versions a few years later. As far as my memory serves, the Titleist PT metalwoods were first introduced in 1992, long after the ‘trend’ had taken hold. I owned many TaylorMade metalwoods from that era and also a few Titleist PT metalwoods. There was nothing about the Titleist versions that were “more pro preferred” than the TaylorMade breakthroughs. As Mr. Barath explained, Tiger Woods just happened to carry the 15-degree 3-metal version. Other than that, it was the TaylorMade clubs and company that broke the barriers and still maintained the “pro preferred” aspects. Obviously, Titleist is picking up something here, but until their first contract with Tiger Woods, Titleist clubs were considered by many pros and better amateurs as rather mediocre and poorly crafted. It was only after the Woods’ contract in 1996 that Titleist decided to get truly serious about quality clubs. Just MHO.
Stfudonnie
Feb 5, 2020 at 8:21 pm
I remember it that way, too. Wasn’t Tiger’s bag mostly non-Titleist clubs at time of going pro and winning first major? King Cobra driver, Mizuno blades, Cleveland wedges, I think.
Bob Pegram
Feb 5, 2020 at 9:25 pm
The very first Titleist clubs were very good because they were Golfcraft with new stampings/decals. However, that was way back before 1970.
Mr. Memory
Feb 6, 2020 at 3:10 am
Truly, you should be writing articles here. You nailed it. I remember having 2 staff bags full of the Titleist PT and PT Midsize woods after a net down because they wouldn’t sell. The wood looked much better than the Taylor Made but was not nearly as widely accepted. I remember the Wilson Ultra fairway woods with Firestick 2.8 stiff and 3.5 regular flexes being the next most wanted fairway wood prior to Big Bertha coming out.