PXG 0311 Black Ops Fairway Wood Review – Is it Good & Forgiving for High Handicappers?

“The new woods from PXG are making a bid for game improvement supremacy.”

The PXG 0311 Black Ops driver has already blown pros and testers (myself included) away with its incredibly high MOI, forgiveness and impressive adjustability.

Can the PXG 0311 Black Ops fairway wood keep the train rolling? Let’s take a look at it.

Is it Good for High Handicappers?

“The PXG 0311 Black Ops FW has a proprietary face material that is stronger than standard stainless steel.”

PXG calls it AM355 steel and it’s what drives the distance of this fairway wood.

On average I was getting 233.7 yards of carry with the PXG 0311 Black Ops (4-wood).

So the distance was considerable and the face material is only part of what yields that distance.

I’ll touch on the other aspects a bit later but for now I want to focus on the face performance and ball speed.

My average ball speed was 147.2 MPH. You can just feel the ball launch off the super-thin, super-strong face.

After just a couple of swings, I was roasting shots – and they were more or less flying straight down the heart of the fairway.

So I would say that the PXG 0311 Black Ops FW is indeed good for high handicappers who need more distance from their fairway woods.

Is it Forgiving?

“The PXG 0311 Black Ops FW has a unique perimeter weighting design.”

The perimeter weights are actually anchored to the outer wall so they are as far on the perimeter of the club head as possible.

The significance of this design has to do with MOI. Everyone is talking about MOI in 2024 with manufacturers like Ping and Taylormade releasing woods that boast 10k+ MOI.

The PXG 0311 Black Ops FW is no slouch in the MOI department either. The extreme, anchored perimeter weighting design allows for maximum head stability on almost all kinds of shots.

Coupled with the squared face shape, the PXG 0311 Black Ops is extremely stable on mis-hits.

The proof? My average off-line divergence was just 12 yards. Distance and stability is a winning recipe for high handicappers seeking forgiveness.

Difference Between the PXG 0311 Black Ops and PXG 0311 Gen6

“The profile and tech is very similar between the PXG 0311 Black Ops and PXG 0311 Gen6.”

The main difference I found was that the PXG 0311 Black Ops has a more rounded profile than the Gen6, giving it a more traditional fairway wood appearance.

But both models have a carbon fiber crown, perimeter weighting and three weight ports.

Available Shafts

• Project X Riptide
• Project X Cypher
• Mitsubishi Tensei AV Raw Blue
• Mitsubishi Tensei CK Blue
• Mitsubishi Tensei AV Raw Orange
• Mitsubishi Kuro Kage Black
• Mitsubishi Fubuki V
• Mitsubishi Diamana
• Graphite Design Tour AD
• Fujikura Ventus Red
• Fujikura Ventus Blue
• Fujikuda Air Speeder
• Fujikura Speeder Evo V
• Fujikura Motore X
• Fujikura Pro 2.0

How Does it Look?

Overall I would say that the PXG 0311 Black Ops fairway wood has a smaller than average head for a fairway wood.

The matte black crown looks sleek and fast with an “x” alignment marker outlined in white.

At address, the PXG 0311 Black Ops FW doesn’t look super forgiving but it does look really nice.

Is the PXG 0311 Black Ops Fairway Wood Worth it?

“I would say so. It’s incredibly versatile and it’s a dream come true for any player who struggles to stay out of the weeds.”

There are three weight ports in the heel, toe and in the back of the head.

They are all interchangeable so you can create a draw, fade or neutral bias that produces higher launch.

The ability to fit the needs of a wide variety of players alone makes the PXG 0311 Black Ops FW worth a fitting at the very least.