Description High COR and Low CG achieves the hottest ball flight of any fairway wood.
Titanium face and crown brazed to a stainless steel body - the first and only fairway wood manufactured this way.
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Summary: Distance monster. I had no expections for this club and I was left very surprised after fiddling with it for a week. It has very hot face, and went as long as my regular 15* wood. Compact head, very sharp-looking at address. The face is small so if youre not a good-ball striker you'll be intimidated. The big minus is the shaft, feels dead. Overall for the price, it is a very nice club.
I used to play and practice a lot more than I do now. As a result my average score has increased by 6 strokes per round, from high 70's to mid 80's. I lost consistency with my 3 wood and found that I was over swinging it frequently. I decided to go for consistency by going from 2 woods and a 3i hybrid to 1 wood and 3 hybrids (2i, 3i, 4i - pulling the 4 iron out as well).
What features made the Adams BUL 5 wood appealing?
1) A 5 wood that is the size of a typical 3 wood would be more consistent than a 3w but longer than a typical 5w
2) It is a very high quality club built with high end materials and a terrific shaft
3) It effectively utilizes cutting edge technology
4) in spite of the superior materials, technology and quality, Adams has not been able to gain recognition as a high end premium brand (except for their hybrids), so the $249 msrp meant this club was destined to be quickly and heavily discounted ($69 from several web sites)
What makes the club stand out?
As might be expected from a big headed 5 wood with a huge sweet spot, this is a very easy club to hit long and straight. Even when I don't hit it pure, the ball still flies long and does not go very far off line.
Can you cut it or hit a draw?
While it is possible to turn right and left, it is a club that is primarily designed to go straight. This means that the club tends to minimize fades and draws. I look to this club to advance the ball down the fairway on par 5s or par 4s when I hit a poor drive, it handles this task very well.
How is the distance?
Surprisingly long. Almost as long as the 3 wood I was carrying. If I were to hit 10 shots with the 3w and 10 with the 5w, I would expect the avg distance of the 5w to be slightly higher because it is so consistent and there is very little penalty in distance or direction for all but the worst misses.
Do you expect to keep hitting this club with consistency?
Yes. I rarely try to kill it with this club, but when I do, it usually pays off. The same could not be said of the 3 wood I was playing before. I do not expect 240 yard shots, yet I have reached a couple of par 5s in 2.
Why do you keep comparing this 5w to your old 3w?
Because this is a very long 5w that is almost effortless to hit. The larger head (for a 5 wood) and large sweet spot equates to very long shots. Because this club is so easy to hit well, I have noted that my approach on long par 5s is just about the same as a well struck 3w, sometimes a little closer.
Would you recommend this club?
Absolutely. A club that enables you to go long and stay in or very near the fairway is a club that will lower your score. It is also a club that will stay in the bag for a long time. If you are looking for a players fairway wood that you can fade or draw to the extreme, this isn't the club, but how often do you need to fade or draw a 220 yard approach? I can say with certainty that this is the best fairway wood I have ever owned. I intend to pick up a second one while they are still available, which I have never done before.
Customer Service: Cannot comment, have not required customer service from Adams.
Similar Products Used: Macgregor Mactec, Taylor Made v-Steel, Taylor Made Raylor Retro, Adams Golf Redline RPM Titanium, Callaway Big Bertha Stainless Steel.
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Summary: I like the set-up of this club. It has a very nice, traditional design. It head isn't so big that you wonder how you'll get under the ball, but it isn't too small either.
I wasn't sure about buying this club when I couldn't find many reviews about it, but I am glad that I did. The ball rockets off the face and keeps a pretty low trajectory without ballooning, which is hard for me to do. It is very fogiving from one edge to the other.
The low center of gravity makes the ball come off the ground very nicely. However, that same low center of gravity also makes hitting off the tees hard. You can only set it up 1/4 inch at most to ensure a solid shot.
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Summary: Hit this club during an Adams Demo Day and was pretty impressed with its' performance. Featuring a compact head with a fairly shallow face, the BTY is definitely geared towards better ball-strikers. It sets up pure and is very easy to hit. In fact, the club's profile reminds me of the great Macgregor Eye-O-Matic fairway woods of the 50s and 60s.
Matched up with an R-flex Grafalloy Pro Launch Red shaft, the 14.5 degree head launched the ball on a penetrating trajectory with good hang time and plenty of roll. As long as you approach impact on a shallow plane there should be no danger of balooning the ball, so "choppers" beware. Ball could easily be worked in either direction, although hitting a draw was easier for me than fading the ball.
Great performer from tight fairway lies as well as the tee box, provided you tee the ball low. Shots from the rough will be determined by how flush you catch it, since the shallow face leaves little margin for error.
The most impressive quality about this club was its' solid feel and sound at impact, which was very much welcomed in this age of hollow-sounding drivers and fairway woods. There's also an adjustable, neutral bias swingweight port on the underside of the club, located close to the face, although no extra weights are included with the club.
The BTY, with the Pro Launch shaft as a stock offering, is a player's club in contrast to the BUL, which is slightly larger and geared towards the higher handicap player. In my opinion, the BUL doesn't provide the same solid feel at impact that the BTY does and the stock Aldila shaft leaves a lot to be desired.
At the current clearance price of $119 (the shaft alone costs $89) the BTY is an incredible bargain. My long, arduous search for the perfect 3-wood is finally over.
Customer Service: Very low-key sales pitch by the Adams rep was appreciated, although he recommended a stiff shaft for my swing (100mph driver speed with moderate swing tempo). True Temper's ShaftFit site set me up with the regular shaft and I feel it's a better fit than the stiff would have been. Keep in mind that swing tempo, more than swing speed, is a major factor to be considered when shopping for the correct shaft.
Similar Products Used: Sonartec NP-99, Bridgestone J33, Cleveland Launcher (composite)
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Summary: I've played the Insight BTY model which is similar to the BUL but has the Graffalloy Red shaft and slightly different weighting.
A very good looking wood which sets up nicely. A lower profile face and its weight and balance is coupled with a good shaft.
Well struck hits are pure and have a low piercing ballflight. Lots of roll and distance is surprisingly long. This club can be dangerous in a low handicappers hands. But, off-center hits suffer on distance and MOI is poor. Heel/Toe hits are sometimes magnified and compared to other fairway wood offerrings, are below average. Off the fairway performance is very good but in thick rough the lower profile face can prove to be tricky with some lies.
Adams as a company manufactures really good equipment and they continue to put out quality, value priced products and the Insight BTY is a good choice, but not for everyone. Lower handicappers should give this model some serious thought.
Customer Service: none
Similar Products Used: everything
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