Struggling to club down on long, straight holes to guarantee a ball in play

[Wormkiller]

Hello all. Looking for some advice. I’d love to be able to club down off the tee to guarantee myself a shot on the fairway. On holes where using my 5 Wood, 3 hybrid, 5 iron is the natural best play (because of doglegs, hazards) I hit the ball confidently. Likewise, off the fairway and range my consistency is solid with these clubs. For example, I never miss with my 5 Wood on the range. It’s so easy to hit. And my 3 hybrid is my favourite club. I love hitting it off the fairway for approach shots or long lay-ups.

But when I tee off on longer, straighter holes with these clubs with the intention of just getting the ball in play, I have a tendency to hit big hooks, leaving me in a worse position than if I hit driver or 3 Wood. There is something about standing on a tee box that changes everything. Maybe I subconiously am trying to hit these clubs further, with more power than what I should be. Id love to be able to use these clubs at times to guarantee me a fairway hit (think Golf Sidekick's Way of the Playa) and set me up for bogey and a decent score for the hole for stableford, as opposed to risking a penalty using a longer club.

Exhibit A: 1st hole and 10th hole at my home course are doglegs. Rarely will I miss the fairway playing 5 wood to the dogleg. Second hole is a long, thin, straight par 5. 11th hole is a long, thin par 4. More often than not I’ll massively hook my 5 wood left into the trees. It’s very frustrating.

Can anyone relate and/or possibly offer advice?
 

Edited August 30, 2021 by Wormkiller

[Ghostwedge]

Put a utility iron or crossover in your bag and hit very hard punch shots.

Quail high and they run out.

[Millbrook]

Do you play the ball in the same position between your feet on the tee that you do on the fairway?

Also could you be teeing it up too high?

[ShortGolfer]

Yes, I had this problem with my driver.  Swinging too hard.  Seeing what my swing speed is on the launch monitor.

 

I put the monitor away for awhile.

[xmanhockey7]

There is virtually no club that will guarantee a fairway hit. Unless the fairways your playing are 200+ yards wide you’ll miss them sometimes with anything. My best advise is hit driver whenever possible. It’s not like hitting driver means you’re going to miss the fairway. 

[Hawkeye77]

Just need to figure out how to get it from the range to the course.  No reason to start looking for a crutch. I hit my 3w great, 5w great but sometimes . . . . off the tee I see a big "draw".  Sometimes it's trying to get too much, rushing transition, sometimes it's simply not committing to the shot.  It happens! Just need to remember the mission and forget how far your driver might go if you hit a perfect driver and how many yards you have to "make up", lol - goal is a solid shot in the fairway. If you are really perfect with those clubs in other situations, it is between the ears!  I'd say just keep putting yourself in the situation and learn what it takes to handle it.

 

Edit:  One thing that helped on my home course is making my own yardage book.  Still finishing it, but the process had me picking out landing areas in particular on those holes where I don't need to hit and don't want to hit driver.  Those have become "targets" vs. just looking at the expanse of fairway up ahead and that has really helped.  FWIW.

Edited August 30, 2021 by Hawkeye77

[BrianMcG]

Golf should be fun. Hit your driver hard.

 

Why pay all that money on a green fee to lay up on a long hole. 

Edited August 30, 2021 by BrianMcG

[Wormkiller]

2 hours ago, BrianMcG said:

Golf should be fun. Hit your driver hard.

 

Why pay all that money on a green fee to lay up on a long hole. 

I get more satisfaction getting a ball on a fairway and keeping the ball in play the whole way up compared to smacking a driver OB or in the trees to be honest. 

[betarhoalphadelta]

On 8/29/2021 at 9:13 PM, Wormkiller said:

. Maybe I subconiously am trying to hit these clubs further, with more power than what I should be.

 

 

That would be my guess. I sometimes have that problem. I switched to single length clubs so my 4h and 5i should be no harder to hit than my 9i. But when I'm on the tee thinking to hit it like a tee shot (for distance), it screws me up.

[rooski]

15 hours ago, xmanhockey7 said:

Unless the fairways your playing are 200+ yards wide you’ll miss them sometimes with anything.

 

Bold of you to assume I couldn't miss that fairway

[Ri_Redneck]

On 8/30/2021 at 12:13 AM, Wormkiller said:

Hello all. Looking for some advice. I’d love to be able to club down off the tee to guarantee myself a shot on the fairway. On holes where using my 5 Wood, 3 hybrid, 5 iron is the natural best play (because of doglegs, hazards) I hit the ball confidently. Likewise, off the fairway and range my consistency is solid with these clubs. For example, I never miss with my 5 Wood on the range. It’s so easy to hit. And my 3 hybrid is my favourite club. I love hitting it off the fairway for approach shots or long lay-ups.

But when I tee off on longer, straighter holes with these clubs with the intention of just getting the ball in play, I have a tendency to hit big hooks, leaving me in a worse position than if I hit driver or 3 Wood. There is something about standing on a tee box that changes everything. Maybe I subconiously am trying to hit these clubs further, with more power than what I should be. Id love to be able to use these clubs at times to guarantee me a fairway hit (think Golf Sidekick's Way of the Playa) and set me up for bogey and a decent score for the hole for stableford, as opposed to risking a penalty using a longer club.

Exhibit A: 1st hole and 10th hole at my home course are doglegs. Rarely will I miss the fairway playing 5 wood to the dogleg. Second hole is a long, thin, straight par 5. 11th hole is a long, thin par 4. More often than not I’ll massively hook my 5 wood left into the trees. It’s very frustrating.

Can anyone relate and/or possibly offer advice?
 

 Tight tee shots can get in your head and cause you to attempt to "steer" the ball. I tend to hook when I do this. On really tight holes, I try to visualize a green and flag in my intended landing area and focus on that instead of how tight the fairway is. That allows me to just swing the club normal instead of feeling like I need to keep it really straight.

 

BT

[ShortGolfer]

Learning to swing lefty I discovered it was way easier to swing my hips and hit the ball than to just use my hands to move the ball a short distance.  

 

It may be that you have "muscle memory" of how to use certain clubs and trying to change that is hard.

I'd suggest using a very low tee height to simulate a very good fairway lie.  Hit it exactly as if it were in the fairway.

[Krt22]

If you are an 18 handicap and can blast your drives OB, you need to accept that can easily happen with shorter clubs as well. The range and the course are two different things. 

 

If you went to the range and picked a very specific target and  then hit 5w, iron, wedge, 5w, wedge, 3h, 5w. Would you really stripe the 5w every time towards your intended target? It's easy to get in the groove on the range hitting the same club over and over, which can easily give a false sense of security

[Wormkiller]

10 hours ago, Krt22 said:

If you are an 18 handicap and can blast your drives OB, you need to accept that can easily happen with shorter clubs as well. The range and the course are two different things. 

 

If you went to the range and picked a very specific target and  then hit 5w, iron, wedge, 5w, wedge, 3h, 5w. Would you really stripe the 5w every time towards your intended target? It's easy to get in the groove on the range hitting the same club over and over, which can easily give a false sense of security

I do a lot of this practice, but still I really struggle to translate it to the course. 

 

 

Edited September 1, 2021 by Wormkiller

[wagolfer7]

One thing you can try is to aim smaller and also during a normal round,  check your alignment after setting up. 

 

When hitting into a green,  players automatically pick a fairly small target. Whether it's the pin, a few yards left or right, over the left side of a bunker, etc. 

 

Pick a specific target off the tee. A strip of fairway, a tree, a yardage stick, anything.  

 

A lot of times a hook out of nowhere or a truly bad shot, my alignment usually was off whether feet, hips, shoulders or all. If my alignment is good, I'll usually focus on tempo. But picking specific spots off the tee, helped me with some consistency.  Good luck.