I'm in the market for a fairway wood as I currently do not have one. I have only been playing seriously for about 6 months now and have slowly been upgrading/adding to my clubs. I have a decent swing and a 12.3 handicap 9 at it's lowest. My question is will a relatively new player benefit from having both a 3 and 5 fairway wood or would my $$ be better spent on a signal fairway wood and a utility club say a 2 or a 3 iron replacement.

I was able to test out the fairway woods I'm interested in this past weekend at a demo day at my local driving range. I was striking the 3 wood relatively well getting a fairly consistent 230-240 yards from it and a little less 220-225 with the 5.

I would look at it from a usability standpoint. How often do you find yourself 220-240 from the hole?

Another angle would be to consider would a 220-240 tee shot put you at a comfortable distance from the hole. i.e. your magic lay-up length.
If you have enough control over your driver to do this then I would say that a 3W and 5W would just take up space in your bag that could be filled with more 'scoring' clubs - wedges, or you could get the utility club you spoke of.

Having said that, we all get days when the driver doesn't want to co-operate and it's good to have an alternate long club, so it might not hurt to carry a 3W or 5W.

I personally don't carry either. I carry 3 hybrids 22, 19 and 14 degrees respectively. Before I got the 14 degree hybrid, I carried a 3 wood which I used almost exclusively off of the tee. The only reason I switched to the hybrid was that I hit it the same distance off of the tee (around 230) that I hit the 3 wood, and I can hit it way more consistently from the fairway that the 3 wood. The downside is that it doesn't get nearly as high up as the 3 wood, but I'm way more accurate left to right with it, so it's a trade off.

All very good points. I found myself going over my local courses in my head last night and trying to find what 200+ yard shots I see consistently. And after a little consideration I'm going to go with just a 3 wood for now. I am still considering a hybrid but after a trip last night to my local golf shop I fell in love with the new Adams A7 iron/hybrid set that comes with a 4 and 3 hybrid. As I am planing on replacing my 4 year old knockoff irons in the next few months I'm going to wait on procuring a hybrid till then.

Happy golfing!

You might also consider what gaps you have at the short end of your set. For example, most pitching wedges are in the 46 - 48 degree range and the standard sand wedge is 56 degrees. So you could potentially have a 10 degree gap. As you get better you may also want to add a 60 degree lob wedge.

I've been carrying 13 clubs and recently added a 14th. Had a decision between a 19 deg hybrid or another wedge. I choose the wedge because I decided that I'd use the wedge a lot more times per round than a club I'd hit 230 yds.

Don't they say that 70% of all shots are taken from 100 yds and in?

I was lucky enough to have a friend donate his old wedges to my bag, a 52, 56 and 60 degree. They are by no means "nice" but they work for me. After my new irons later this year I'm going to start working on getting new wedges and at that point I will consider dropping the 60degree as I just can't hit it with any consistency but I do acknowledge the us-fullness of the club, if one can use it that is. As for now may bag is maxed out with the addition of my new club yesterday Taylor Made 3 wood. The gaps I have now are between my 3wood and 3hybrid and 4iron. My hope is with a new set of irons I can shorten those gaps.

get a 4 (16-17 degree) wood. It's right in the middle: it's almost as long as a 3 wood, and nearly as accurate as a 5.

i too would suggest a 4 wood. something around 16.5º or 17º. That way you leave an open spot for another hybrid or another wedge in your bag

I've been toying with a 4/4/4 concept. 4 hybrids, 4 irons, 4 wedges.

Irons- 6 to 9
Wedges- 48, 52, 56, 60
Hybrids- 2,3,4,5

I've tossed around the idea of going 1h,3h,5h and adding a 4w as a secondary tee club, as well.

here's another vote for the 4 wood. i used to carry a 3,5,7 wood combo but traded in the 3 and five, replaced them with the 4 and added a 9 wood.

I have a Ping G15 4wd and 7 wd. I love both of them. I like the 4wd of the tee on days when the dig dog is not cooperating.

I'm going to hit my original 4 year old Exotics 15/18 fw and 21 hybrid for this season but next year replacing them all with 17 fairway and 20/23 hybrid set up of some sort. Just hit the 4/5 wood so much better and almost as long.

Well, I think it comes down to how you hit your woods.

Angles for most woods seem to be something like
3w 15
4w 17
5w 19
7w 22

Hybrids look like
2H 16
3H 18
4H 21
5H 24

Do you find yourself in the rough a lot from 220 ish, or the fairway.

I have a 4 iron at 22 degrees, so basically i have room from driver to 22
3w means 15 is taken, 18 means 3H or 4/5W
I think since I might need the flexibilty of hitting a hybrid in case I'm in the rough, 3W and 5W means I have to be on the fairway or lay up only from 200+

So I'm going to go 3W and 3H and the 4i covers the gaps.

5w are nice, but its a different swing for me, and my irons are MUCH MUCH better than my hybrid 3w. I think the hybrid is more iron like than the wood, shorter shaft etc, so thats why I have only 1 fairaway wood... only when i need it.

I think variety helps, no big gaps.
Then again I'm a high capper, what do i know

Yes i would defiantly go with a couple of woods in the bag in you really have just started playing golf in the past 6 months