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Do amateur golfers really need a driver?


SMRT

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I'm an amatuer, 22 handicap and honestly my driving is fine. I hit it 250ish and straight. My putting is my problem. That's what I practice. I think what clubs to leave in the bag depends on the golfer

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

I'm not sure what happened here. I may have phrased it incorrectly, but I really was not looking for advice on my game. The tees I play are not the issue, getting fit is not the issue, the technology in a driver is not the issue, and I could not care less about bombing it past anyone (been there, done that, who cares)

I was curious if anyone else has had luck not using a driver? It appears the answer is an overwhelming NO. Either that or you are all driver salesman?

At this point, I am still scoring better without a driver and will continue playing that way until I feel I am ready to swing one correctly.

I carry a driver, but I RARELY use it. I have been focusing on course management, and leaving myself approximately 125 yds to the hole. When playing one tee shorter than the tips, I use driver on wide holes that I can either get very close to the green or can carry to a wider part of the fairway. I noticed on my best rounds ever the last three rounds, by 5 strokes or better, by only hitting driver when I absolutely needed to or when I could get away with it on par 5s. That ended up being a total of three holes. The rest were 3w hybrid or long iron, and I felt much better around the course at comfortable distances to attack the pins.

I carry my 3w 240-250 and couldn't even tell you a consistent carry with a driver because I never have had one. I WILL use it more after I can find time for lessons that I can follow up with practice. But until then I am comfortable with better course management decisions rather than inaccurate bombing.

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Good for you shadow - you are also freakishly long for an 18 - in fact you are long for a scratch certainly well longer than I am.  I will occasionally hit my 3 wood 225-240 but I can only carry it 195. 

 

I also appreciate the "until lessons and practice." kick in

 

The question at hand though is a straight forward does an amateur need a driver and the simple answer is yes. 

 

Even in the course management scenario that Shadow mentions if it turns out that a player is getting the ball closer from 125 than from 100 or 75 or 50 then there is an issue and more lessons and practice are needed.  Statistically players get the ball closer to the hole and make lower scores the closer they get to the hole on the shot prior (so long as they are not risking a penalty but getting it closer).  The actuality is that almost any player would shoot lower scores if he made the decision to hit it as close to the green as possible any time there is a decision to make.  (Assuming there is no possible penalty - horrible lie/stance, hazard - involved in hitting it closer.)

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Last few rounds I've left the driver in the car and teed with my VSteel 3 wood.

 

I have no consistency with the driver but I know I'm going to be on the fairway for a large majority of the time with the V Steel.

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Unless it's the wrong driver for you a driver is likely the easiest club in the bag to hit. It has the largest face and the largest area that you can mishit the ball and have a playable shot. The problem comes from over swinging or a driver that is ill fit for your game or both.

 

To the OP, of hitting something else gives you more confidence and better results then it's the best play for you. I'd suggest that it might not be optimal but who knows?

 

At the end of the day it's about putting the ball in the hole in the fewest strokes. It's not how it's how many. Do what's best for you.

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Unless it's the wrong driver for you a driver is likely the easiest club in the bag to hit. It has the largest face and the largest area that you can mishit the ball and have a playable shot. The problem comes from over swinging or a driver that is ill fit for your game or both.

 

To the OP, of hitting something else gives you more confidence and better results then it's the best play for you. I'd suggest that it might not be optimal but who knows?

 

At the end of the day it's about putting the ball in the hole in the fewest strokes. It's not how it's how many. Do what's best for you.

This exactly true. Golf is weird and we golfers are weirder still.

 

This entire thread reminds me of when I played baseball in college. I was a catcher and I went through a stretch where I would call breaking ball on 2-0 counts because that's what I saw in MLB games. One problem, D3 college pitchers don't have Catfish Hunter's command with the slider.

 

Here's the corelation. We see a tour event where guys are hitting irons and fairway woods off the tee. So we think we should, why not we're golfers too. But there's a problem. They hit 100's of balls with those clubs every week. We don't. They know when they pull a club under a certain set of course conditions that it will go x far, this much carry, this much run out.

 

They aren't the best model for us!

 

Now throw in the fact that driver gets the most R and D poured into it and it's silly easy to hit and even fit because of adjustability.

 

In the end though it's what you think works has the best chance of working.

 

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Taylor Made Stealth 2 10.5 Diamana S plus 60  Aldila  R flex   - 42.25 inches 

SMT 4 wood bassara R flex, four wood head, 3 wood shaft

Ping G410 7, 9 wood  Alta 65 R flex

Srixon ZX5 MK II  5-GW - UST recoil Dart 65 R flex

India 52,56 (60 pending)  UST recoil 75's R flex  

Evon roll ER 5 32 inches

It's our offseason so auditioning candidates - looking for that right mix of low spin long, more spin around the greens - TBD   

 

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This exactly true. Golf is weird and we golfers are weirder still.

 

This entire thread reminds me of when I played baseball in college. I was a catcher and I went through a stretch where I would call breaking ball on 2-0 counts because that's what I saw in MLB games. One problem, D3 college pitchers don't have Catfish Hunter's command with the slider.

 

Here's the corelation. We see a tour event where guys are hitting irons and fairway woods off the tee. So we think we should, why not we're golfers too. But there's a problem. They hit 100's of balls with those clubs every week. We don't. They know when they pull a club under a certain set of course conditions that it will go x far, this much carry, this much run out.

 

They aren't the best model for us!

 

Now throw in the fact that driver gets the most R and D poured into it and it's silly easy to hit and even fit because of adjustability.

 

In the end though it's what you think works has the best chance of working.

 

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Absolutely!!!  The only reason that I would not hit driver off a tee is if doing so would make me go too long.  That includes par 3's, and dogleg par 4's and 5's.  On occasion to stay short, I will even hit a "punch driver" (did you see Daniel Berger?) rather than hit a FW or hybrid.  Why?  Because I can control it better than a club that I rarely hit off a tee.  Nothing frosts me more than pulling less than driver on a tee box and then duffing the shot.  

We don’t stop playing the game because we get old; we get old because we stop playing the game.”

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On my home course I normally hit driver on 6-7 holes on the front nine and 5-6 holes on the back nine. Not counting par three holes I'll hit a 4i or 4w off the tee. My home course is old and short compared to modern courses. From the tips it's 6500 and from the men's reg. tee it 6100. Not counting my putter I carry 10 irons (4i through 60*) along with a 4w and driver. My current set makeup allows me to play anywhere as long as I don't exceed about 6500-6600 yds.

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On my home course I normally hit driver on 6-7 holes on the front nine and 5-6 holes on the back nine. Not counting par three holes I'll hit a 4i or 4w off the tee. My home course is old and short compared to modern courses. From the tips it's 6500 and from the men's reg. tee it 6100. Not counting my putter I carry 10 irons (4i through 60*) along with a 4w and driver. My current set makeup allows me to play anywhere as long as I don't exceed about 6500-6600 yds.

My course is very similar but it's fairly new (1997).  It's 6600 yards from the tips, and 6100 from the Blues or what I call the Men's tee.  I hit driver on every hole that isn't a par 3.  Depending  on the wind, tee and pin position on the par 3 #8, I might hit driver there as well.  I typically have 5i through 58* and 3H, and 5H in the bag.  The 4W hasn't been playing well with others lately.

We don’t stop playing the game because we get old; we get old because we stop playing the game.”

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To answer the OP's question.  There are occasional rounds where I have found better success with 3W off the tee than driver.  The tees I play at my course are about 6200 yards.  When I'm struggling with driver early in the round, I often times switch to my 3w and can get by just fine on most holes.  But it's not a permanent thing, just on occasion when I feel I'm not swinging very well with the driver.  

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A driver will always be an integral part of my bag. I usually over-draw it, but hit it about 280-290yd. I'm not that great with my fairway wood (250yd average), so my next accurate club is my hybrid at 230yd. On longer par 4s, the 60yd gain is usually worth the pain of putting my ball in the rough!

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I played tennis in junior high and high school, not golf.  When I started playing golf and took lessons to get better, I tried to bomb every drive.  My pro gave me some advice that I try to heed to this day:

 

"A drive is like the second serve in tennis.  The first priority is to get the ball into play."  

 

I still use this analogy  when evaluating risk/reward on the tee.  In tennis, most the time I would hit a firm, but safe second serve to the back of the box.  Occasionally the match called for an aggressive serve to try and ace the opponent, risking loosing the point if I missed.  If I was off my game, a soft serve over the net was all I could do to keep it in play.  

 

Sometimes it's worth the risk to try to ace a drive, but most of the time, a more moderate shot in the fairway is the better choice.  The question is do I hit driver all out (rare), hit it with control to find the fairway or short rough (the majority of shots), or hit a shorter club almost guaranteed to get in the fairway, but giving up distance (common, especially on short par 4s and tight longer holes.  

 

It goes back to skill level and how I'm playing that day.  Most of the time I can find the fairway or short rough with pretty good distance with my driver.  But it's taken a lot of practice to get to that point.  When my pro gave me that advice, I changed to my 3 wood or long iron for a year or so until my skills improved and my handicap dropped.   

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To answer the OP's question.  There are occasional rounds where I have found better success with 3W off the tee than driver.  The tees I play at my course are about 6200 yards.  When I'm struggling with driver early in the round, I often times switch to my 3w and can get by just fine on most holes.  But it's not a permanent thing, just on occasion when I feel I'm not swinging very well with the driver.  

To bump and update this.

 

This morning's round was a perfect example of this.  I started out with driver for the first 7 holes (two par 3's not incluuded..ha) and hit it decent, but came to hole 8, which is a dog leg left par 5 that you need to get in the fairway to have a chance to clear a hazard about 180 to 200 yards out from where my tee shot typically lands.  I typically am in the right hand rough on this hole and often faced with a decision to try a 200 yard 5 wood over the hazard or lay up, which is still going to leave me about 240 out.

 

today, I hit 3 wood and while it didn't draw (which would be the ideal shot shape on this hole) it went straight and stayed in the fairway leaving me only 180 to clear said hazard. So an easy hybrid over I was in good shape.

 

I continued to the use the 3 off the tee the rest of the round as it was just feeling very good in my swing and I was hitting it straight down the middle.  So the driver stayed in the bag and I ended up with a 93, which is pretty decent for me. 

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I think it's a great question with multiple answers, this coming from a person who couldn't keep the driver in the fairway when he started and now considers it the 2nd most important part of his game.

If you stink with a driver, odds are you will stink with a wood too. Perhaps you might be better at keeping it in play, but that comes with lack of distance. Distance you probably need to stop hitting driver high iron and wood into play. That being said, if you can't control your driver and think 4 iron helps your score, you could work on driver at the range and on open holes and use the 4 iron when you just need something in play.

For me, I need driver and just about half to 3/4 of all par 4's and 5's. The only ones I don't are either narrow and short, or have a massive dogleg. Even then my preferred club is the longest one in my bag, unless I can't hit 4 or 5 iron that day. 

 

I'll add on to everyone's advice, the driver is a key club, you really can't just leave it in the car. Learn to hit it and your scores will improve drastically. But also don't be afraid to play a shorter club in the meantime or if the hole doesn't call for driver.

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I played tennis in junior high and high school, not golf.  When I started playing golf and took lessons to get better, I tried to bomb every drive.  My pro gave me some advice that I try to heed to this day:

 

"A drive is like the second serve in tennis.  The first priority is to get the ball into play."  

 

I still use this analogy  when evaluating risk/reward on the tee.  In tennis, most the time I would hit a firm, but safe second serve to the back of the box.  Occasionally the match called for an aggressive serve to try and ace the opponent, risking loosing the point if I missed.  If I was off my game, a soft serve over the net was all I could do to keep it in play.  

 

Sometimes it's worth the risk to try to ace a drive, but most of the time, a more moderate shot in the fairway is the better choice.  The question is do I hit driver all out (rare), hit it with control to find the fairway or short rough (the majority of shots), or hit a shorter club almost guaranteed to get in the fairway, but giving up distance (common, especially on short par 4s and tight longer holes.  

 

It goes back to skill level and how I'm playing that day.  Most of the time I can find the fairway or short rough with pretty good distance with my driver.  But it's taken a lot of practice to get to that point.  When my pro gave me that advice, I changed to my 3 wood or long iron for a year or so until my skills improved and my handicap dropped.   

 

Interesting! I also played tennis during my high school days and never thought about it that way.

Definitely makes sense and it probably also explains why I had such a high rate of double faults :lol:

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On a whim last night I put a driver in play I hadn't played in 3 months (Vapor Fly) I knew it was in the timeout bag for a reason...ha

 

Went to the three wood for about half the holes and it was solid at least and didn't put me into any trouble.

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I have been an amateur golfer most of my life, starting at age 8 and now 65.  When I was a young adult(18-22),  I would begin every season using my 3 wood from March to May before I would swing my driver on the Tee.  I guess it was because I had not used it much since October.  I do remeber that the 3 wood kept me in play, until My driver could take over.  Growing up in Kentucky, we did not play much golf between November and March.  For the past 16 years, I have played golf regularly year round in Florida......so there has been no time off from my driver.  Today, I would not think of suiting up to play without it.  I have never had any problems or issues with it other than for a couple years after i shattered my left wrist I did not play, then used an offset driver in my bag until my wrist finally was strong enough to pull the club around. Today, most drives are straight down the middle with a slight fade.  I am not a long driver by any means, but, having moved up to the Senior Tees when I turned 65 last year, my 200-210 yard drives place me pretty close to the green for an approach shot with an 8, 9 or PW.  I guess one of the reasons why I do not struggle with the driver is I do not try to hit it too hard.  I remember Julios Boros' book, "Swing Easy, Hit hard" and back off my swing.When i do, the ball goes straight & far.  Maybe other amateurs should try the same......"Swing Easy, Hit Hard" 

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