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I’ve long fantasized about some day trying a completely different setup bag that would use a 2-wood in place of a driver and a 5-wd instead of a 3. Never could find anything that didn’t mean giving up all the usual (ego based...) distance suspects though. Until now. I mentioned here earlier this year how much I’ve been enjoying the new Ryoma F-5 fairway wood, but now I’ve played a few weeks with the new F-2 also. And bingo, this is the combo I’ve fantasized about! Both are incredibly long and yet easy to work due to a fairly shallow face and really appealing look at address. And both have that amazing “gunshot” sound off the face that really pops. (Not kidding -- it surprises anyone in near by range…) I guess it’s the titanium factor in whatever mix Ryoma has come up with for these babes. The (more than) pleasant surprise is that with the 2-wd I’m getting exactly what I was looking for without giving up much distance to my driver – namely hitting more fairways off the tee than I ever have. This comes into play on my home course which is tight and a shotmaking course designed by Billy Bell. Yes, there’s an absence of the ego factor in hitting that one 300-yarder (if I’m on) in a round. But I kid no one, this 2-wd has me within 10 yards of most of my drives distance wise, but the difference is I’m in the fairway. The result has been more GIR and better scoring – more than enough to make up for the few seconds of joy felt while that one perfect drive is in the air. And I can tell by the gasp factor coming from mates that I’m not the only one who is amazed and NOT missing my driver. No more of those long pushes right for me which was my most common miss with with the big stick... Just like the 5-wd, the most repeatable shot shape with the F-2 is a gorgeous high draw on full swings. I find I can dial it back and hit a nice straight stinger though when I want to. But in general the high draws are what I lust after most of the time anyway, and these things seem to spit them out with no effort. I’m sure the shaft has much to do with that. I went with the Beyond Power shaft, and as I’ve told Chris, something about this shaft is unusually suited to my swing, I guess. I haven’t enjoyed a shaft this much since my first swings with the 7D’s. And that’s saying a lot for me! In short, I can’t recommend these babies enough for anyone who has given thought to shaking up their driver/woods game. It’s kind of an added smile for me that since I also love Ryoma’s P3 putter as the most unusual feeling putter I’ve ever come across, now the longest and shortest parts of my game have Ryoma stamped on them when, like most, my introduction to Ryoma was that old stand by quest for the Holy Grail of more distance off the tee… Feels like the best of both worlds for me on this combo. Looks to be a good summer shaping up.