[HighFade]

I have a big tournament coming up next week, and I'm wondering, since I removed my 60 from the bag, should I add the new driver to the bag? If I don't feel like I'm doing well with it, I'll still have room for the "old" driver.

Or am I better off going with a known commodity in my old driver? It's not killing me, but the new driver adds 15 yards. The course is short. Might have 2-3 drivable par 4's....You're my caddy. What do you tell me?

[jmiller065]

HighFade, on 11 June 2012 - 07:20 PM, said:

I have a big tournament coming up next week, and I'm wondering, since I removed my 60 from the bag, should I add the new driver to the bag? If I don't feel like I'm doing well with it, I'll still have room for the "old" driver.

Or am I better off going with a known commodity in my old driver? It's not killing me, but the new driver adds 15 yards. The course is short. Might have 2-3 drivable par 4's....You're my caddy. What do you tell me?

Well any course strategy starts from the green to the tee box. If it is a short course I would assume that the 60* would come more in handy on more holes then a extra driver would, I tend to favor a heavier bottom end of the bag for more options from shorter distances. When it comes down to it I would tell you to use the driver that you are the most accurate with, I don't care about a little 15 yard gap as long as you stay in play.

Once we got on the course during your warm up practice tee, I would pick out a target for you and hit 10 balls each whichever one gets the closest in ball flight and landing to the target that's the one going in the bag and the other in the trunk of the car. If we got on the round and you started to dip in confidence in the driver i would not let you hit that club I'd force you to hit 3 metal, yes you give up distance but again being in play is WAY more important.

That would be my basic strategy as a 2 or 3 handicap I know you have the ability but I would just make sure you are confident and relaxed mentally to hit shots mostly.

[HighFade]

Good point. But the 60 is stayin out of the bag. I'm just not disciplined enough to know when to use it and when not to. I'll put it back in after.

[The Artful Duffer]

If I was on your bag for a tourney and you told me you wanted to carry 2 drivers I'd pause and tell you it's not the week to try it. By considering carrying both I'm sensing the confidence isn't there to only carry the new one and on the course confidence is king. You'll second guess yourself no matter which one you pull out on the tee box. Tourney time doesn't always make the best time to experiment. Not trying to bring you down and by no means should you takey advice just wanted to offer up an opinion. Best of luck whatever decision you come to and be sure to let us know. All my bs aside, go with your gut.

[BK in Wisconsin]

I'd tell ya to pick the fairway over 15 yards....every time.

[RoverRick]

I won the Club Ho of the Month, I mean Forum Member of the Month for February, and part of the deal was the Callaway Razr Fit. It arrived Thursday Night @ 8 pm. I had a tournament on Saturday @ 8 am. I bagged the new driver, left the old driver at home. I think I even won.

As you know the key to playing well is to be 100% committed on each shot. If you have doubts about the new driver leave it at home in favor of the driver you have confidence in. After all, if you are having a bad driving day, you have a fairway wood or a hybrid or even an iron off the tee is better than two drivers. Two drivers can lead to indecision.

And if you are having a bad driving day, you are more likely to need an additional wedge than a back-up driver.

[RookieBlue7]

Who said you had to carry 14 clubs? Pick a driver and leave it in, leave the 60 out and carry 13 clubs.

[RoverRick]

RookieBlue7, on 11 June 2012 - 09:53 PM, said:

Who said you had to carry 14 clubs? Pick a driver and leave it in, leave the 60 out and carry 13 clubs.

Curious? What is the benefit of not carrying all the clubs you can?

[RookieBlue7]

RoverRick, on 11 June 2012 - 10:45 PM, said:

Curious? What is the benefit of not carrying all the clubs you can?

Lots of times, especially with amateurs, having too many options overloads one's brain. If he's not confident in the 60, remove it, because if there's a situation that calls for it but he's skeptical about using it, it often leads to lost strokes. Same with carrying 2 drivers, if both are in there, one can ascertain that confidence in either is shaky. Studies have actually been done that have proven that lots of times, amateurs would benefit from carrying less clubs and removing options than sticking a club they have little confidence in the bag as a slot holder, which leads to them using it with no confidence and costing themselves strokes. I'd much rather see someone carry one less club and have confidence in all of them than to put that one extra in there just because they can and then going and using it when they don't trust it.

[HighFade]

Very good point, Rookie. For the 60, it's not a lack of confidence, but a lack of discipline. If I'm carrying the 60, I tend to use it to try a flop, or a cute little short bunker shot, when a chip or higher percentage shot is the better choice.

I have a 3 iron to fill out my bag, but carried the 60 because I always thought having that extra wedge outweighed the need to fill in the gap between the 5 wood and 4 iron. In the end, it ended up costing me strokes by making bad decisions.

That being said, I'll prob take my new driver, the 60, AND the 3 iron out of the bag. The new driver and 3 iron because I havn't played them enough recently to have confidence in them, and the 60 because I make bad decisions with it. That leaves me with 13 clubs in my bag, but I will have confidence in all of them.

[RoverRick]

I actually carry the 64 rather than a 60. It is my third option club. I actually was glad I had it today because I got myself in trouble and had no other option to try to get close to the flag. While I used to use this club all the time, now my first options is alway the chip, my second is a wedge with spin, and my third option is the 64 with the blade slightly open pitch and final option is to flop it. I practice this shot, but try to never use it.

[RookieBlue7]

Don't get me wrong, I carry the full 14 club compliment, and I carry 5 wedges if you include the PW. But, for some, carrying less may work better. I carry a 47* pw, 50*, 56*, 60*, 64*. I use the 64* more than any around the green at my home course because the rough is thicker and the greens small. So I can take a much harder swing and bigger divot and it comes out and I can still stop it. It comes with course familiarity though and the fact I'm highly confident in my short game because I actually practice it a fair amount (at home).

[jmiller065]

For short game I just start with the least amount of loft I can carry on the green then have the ball roll up to the hole with. So I'll use 35*, 39*, 43*, 47*, 52* 56*, 60* in that order I really try to use a 60* as a last resort and not get cute.

I recall a couple different times where I made a less then conventional play out of bunkers with low lips, one time hit a slightly open 7 iron (35*) with a ankle high lip and 35 yards of green to a back pin location, had no reason to carry it all the way back there and hop it spun, long was dead and a harder shot then the bunker.

Another time I had a knee high bunker about 20 yards of green to work with, hit a slightly open (2* open maybe) 52*, I saw where it was going to land and my playing partner was already calling for it to run. I had to laugh and when it stopped i went "that's how I played that this isn't a 60* it is a 52*" he just kind of looked at me confused like that I was crazy or lying to him about it.

[barbajo]

As my dear departed mother used to say: "the man with one driver always knows what time it is. The man with two drivers is never sure."

Or something like that. My mother was an interesting lady....

[RoverRick]

I carried two putters a few weeks ago, of course putted horribly, one of the guys I played with said, "That is like having dinner with your wife and your mistress."

The interesting thing was, I was unable to make putts with either of them. Now that I can putt again, I went to Golfsmiths yesterday to kill time, I sunk putts with 40 different putters. It made no real difference.