---
title: "60% of right-handed 5-woods have an 18° head"
description: "The exceptions run from 17.5° low-spin heads to 23° women's models, a higher loft than the median 7-wood. Compare fairway woods by loft_deg."
summary: "GolfAPI.dev fairway wood lofts by head number. variants[].head_label is the maker's printed name for a head (3W, 5, #7), a Core field, recorded as printed and not normalized. variants[].loft_deg is the loft in degrees. Filter by loft, not by label: GET https://api.golfapi.dev/fairway-woods?loft=18&hand=rh, then compare variants[].loft_deg. Auth: Bearer API key. An absent head_label is Not published. Figures as of 12 November 2026."
url: "https://golfapi.dev/blog/fairway-hybrid-head-labels/"
published: "2026-10-26"
updated: "2026-11-12"
tags: ["Data","How-to"]
---

# 60% of right-handed 5-woods have an 18° head

For a 5-wood, the number on the sole is a fair guide to loft. That is less true further down the bag, where a 21° head can be a 7-wood or a 4-hybrid.

**89%** of right-handed 5-wood models stay between 17° and 19° (235 of 263).

**Odd head numbers sit 3° apart at the median.** Median right-handed loft: 3-wood 15°, 4-wood 17°, 5-wood 18°, 7-wood 21°, 9-wood 24°.

| Head number | Median loft |
| --- | --- |
| 3 | 15° |
| 4 | 17° |
| 5 | 18° |
| 7 | 21° |
| 9 | 24° |

Data as of 12 Nov 2026.

```sh
curl 'https://api.golfapi.dev/fairway-woods?fields=id,name,variants&limit=100' \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $GOLFDEV_API_KEY"
# Repeat with &cursor=<page.next> until page.has_more is false.
```

The 17.5° heads are the AEROJET LS, DARKSPEED LS and DS-ADAPT LS fairways. The 23° heads are PING's G Le4 and Cobra's Women's AIR-X.

The number on the sole is the maker's call, so the API keeps it exactly as printed (5, 5W, #5) in head_label. A head without one is Not published, as [handling missing specifications](https://golfapi.dev/blog/missing-specifications/) explains. To find 5-woods by what they actually are, filter on loft:

```sh
curl 'https://api.golfapi.dev/fairway-woods?loft=18&hand=rh&fields=id,name,manufacturer,lofts_deg&limit=20' \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $GOLFDEV_API_KEY"
```

Through the [MCP server](https://golfapi.dev/mcp), the prompt "List right-handed fairway woods with an 18° head and give each one's head label" needs a Hobby key, since the free sample holds two fairway woods.

> **Method:** We used right-handed heads that list both a loft and a head label, from 389 fairway woods. The head number is the digit in the label, so 5, 5W and #5 all count as a 5. Labels with other suffixes are left out. Shares are rounded to whole numbers. Numbers as of 12 November 2026.

Next up: the 21° head that is sold as three different clubs.