Some friends with big hands have a long barreled Super Blackhawk in 44mag that they can't shoot due to the the small grips/big hand misfit. They are looking at putting a wooded Hogue grip on it. Would folks with revolver grip experience recommend getting a checkered grip over a smooth wood grip?

Smooth wood grips slide like glass in my hands. Checkered wood grips have an ouch! factor on the kickers.
I solved all those problems by either putting Pachmyr/Hogue rubber grips on OR putting slip on Pachmyr .45 auto grips over the wood grips.
The "purists" don't like the way they look, but I've done both for 20+ years and it works fantastic. I even put the slip ons on my XPs. Really enhances the grip and takes away all slippage.
My hands are very big and all my revolvers are very comfortable to shoot this way.

The Hogue rubber grips for single actions are bigger, and have a palm swell, and would probably be better choice for big hands than the Pachmayr grips. The checkered Ruger grips were called cheese graters for a good reason.

I have vary large hands BUT short fingers. My SBH came with oversized Hogue rose wood grips. For me these are just too big and chunky. FYI. As for Checkering, if they work with their hands (swing a hammer,or the like) no problem. Otherwise toughen up or find something else