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Having a few fairway woods in your bag set up is highly recommended. Fairway woods are very versatile, more forgiving and easier to launch high and far compared to low lofted iron.

Because of this versatility, swapping those long irons for a few different lofted fairway woods would most likely aid your performance, especially in mid to high handicap players. The design of todays fairway woods make them playable from the tee, from off the fairway and also out of short rough. The weighing and shape of the club heads helps the player launch the ball higher and carry further than that of a low lofted iron.

Most golfers have trouble hitting the low lofted irons in their bag in the air, resulting in very low shots which then spend more time running along the ground than they did through the air. This lack of carry is not ideal when most golf courses have been designed with a variety of hazards to hit over and negotiate to plot your way around the links.

Trading out those long irons and adding in a few fairway woods is a no brainer. Fairway woods are available in a variety of loft options, so when replacing your long irons its a good idea to have a club fitting so you can get the correct distance gap between each wood. With the added length you can hit the ball with fairway woods. It makes those long par 3, 4 and 5s reachable in less shots than if you only had irons in your bag.

The primary design behind fairway woods is to make it easier for the player to launch the ball through the air both higher and further. If the player wants to hit a low running shot with a fairway wood this can be achieved with the correct adjustments in set up and swing technique.

Fairway woods are a lot easier to curve the ball with than with irons. This is due to the woods having less loft on the club face and also the ball will be spending more time in the air, resulting in more time to curve off line. Like any club in the bag, the further it travels, the wider the dispersion of the shot can be.

Unless the ground is very soft or you are intentionally trying to stop the ball on the spot where it is landing, having the ball spinning back with fairway woods isnt ideal. If your ball is backing up on landing this usually means the launch and spin you are putting on the ball is not being optimized and you will be losing distance.