Non-scratch player--bagging a driving iron?

[RetiredBoomer]

I have discovered that a driving iron
which I hit the very same distance as my 5-wood
is a much more useful club in the arsenal
than a 3-wood which I hit the same distance as my 5-wood.

Sure, unlike the driving iron,  I can launch the three-wood shot from the deck as well as from the tee.

Being able to hit a three-wood from the fairway, however,
is NOT THE SAME THING as being able to hit an ACTUAL 3-WOOD SHOT from the fairway.
Like so many recreational players, I'm just a hitting a shot that carries a little less than does my 5-wood shot,
lands at a less steep angle and thus runs out more so as to equal 5-wood length.
It also has a wider dispersion pattern and is less useful from the rough.

In contrast, the diving iron gives me a wind fighting line drive that lands hot into a narrow landing area and runs hard.
Much more useful than the 3-wood shot, in my opinion, and much more different from the 5-wood shot, even if it's roughly the same length of shot.

The modern driving iron is not the really hard to hit, butter-knife 1-iron or 2-iron from days gone by.
It's hollow, tungsten-weighted for launch angle and MOI, and simply now easier to hit, at least from the tee,
You just push your tee almost all the way in as with any other iron from the tee and swing away.

I was convinced with the advent of the Mizuno Fli Hi II twenty years ago,
and they've gotten much better since then.

If, when hitting your 3-wood, you're actually getting an honest, GPS verified, 3-wood shot,
then the 3-wood is certainly a very powerful tool to have.
With the modern, 15° 3-wood, however,
I think fewer players are actually doing that than think that they're actually doing that.
That's why I think fewer players are bagging driving iron than the number who'd benefit from it.

Just my thoughts on the subject.  What do you think?
 

 

 

Edited August 30 by RetiredBoomer

[Shapotomous]

It seems whether 3w or DI you are looking at it as a tee ball only club, no fairway use.  So whichever is easiest to hit, fits your bag gapping and also fits the use on the course layout is the one to game.  

[RetiredBoomer]

24 minutes ago, Shapotomous said:

It seems whether 3w or DI you are looking at it as a tee ball only club, no fairway use.  So whichever is easiest to hit, fits your bag gapping and also fits the use on the course layout is the one to game.  

Yup.