Driver or something else in the bag..

[jsmcdon]

Are you a person that no matter the yardage (par 4-5) you use a driver?

Or if it's a shorter (par 4-5) you'll use 3 wood or even a hybrid?

Lets just call the yardage 350-450 in total.

This has recently got me thinking, I've been struggling a little with my driver, not sure I'd call it struggling but I'm pushing it a little. So thee idea was why not start hitting my 3 wood more often, yes I realize this is probably fairly common, I'm just interested in seeing how many people actually hit their driver less than usual.

[jvincent]

Unless driver brings trouble into play significantly, driver all the time.

[EDT501]

Unless there is a compelling not to hit driver (eg - water hazard that only comes into play at driver distance), Im pulling the big stick. The closer you are to the hole, the closer your approach is likely to be, regardless of skill level. That said, I often see holes where hitting bombs brings significant risk into play and pull something else, usually a 5 wood or hybrid, off the tee. 

Edited September 14, 2021 by EDT501

[Superfast2.0]

I like to hit 3W if I can because I hit a lot more greens from the fairway, but have started to hit driver more often than I have in the past. If i'm swinging well driver is great, but sometimes it not worth getting some funky/sidehill lie in the rough

[rooski]

My distance is enough that I favor the strategy of "if i NEED to hit a driver, I'll hit driver", otherwise I tee off with my 2i. 

 

Par 5s almost exclusively driver to set up an eagle chance, and 320-340 par 4s for the same reason

[KBong]

38 minutes ago, jvincent said:

Unless driver brings trouble into play significantly, driver all the time.

Unless I run out of fairway or something....I'll always hit driver....I consider my driver a strength of my game and I'm confident with it.

I don't have more confidence hitting my 4W off the tee to avoid trouble.

 

Obviously, there will be rds where the driver is misbehaving.

[aenemated]

Nah. I wanna be within a comfortable approach number. I'm just not that good in the 30-70 yard range but feel great being 80-110. So on shorter par 4s, I'm going with whatever will get me around there. 

 

I can confidently get 270-290 with my driver these days so if it's, like, a super short par 4 - say 300-320 - I may try to get within an easy pitch or chip range. But not always.

 

Case in point, #15 at the club plays around 320 ... but if you don't fly it 300 (and I can't) you're gonna be way below a super elevated green and have a super tough flop to get it on. And the fairway around there filters into some really tough rough so if you're so unfortunate as to wind up down there ... good luck even getting on the green in two, let alone near a makeable putt since they always cut the pin in the front. 

 

I play that up the flatter right side of the fairway with a 5 or 4 iron depending on the wind, which leaves a wide open look at the green from 100ish yards. 

[jsmcdon]

Yeah that's another thing I've been playing into lately is I'd rather be 115 for say a full wedge than 60 out. Yes that plays into well your not that good on some of your approach shots from a shorter distance, some cases could be true, I'm not bad by any means, I just may be more comfortable with a full shot than shorter, regardless of hitting a drive down there and getting closer to the hole. The older I get the more course management starts to play into things, yardages is the biggest. Years before I never gave it a second thought, hit the driver and play in from there but today I'm starting to rethink a few things..

[jvincent]

1 hour ago, jsmcdon said:

Yeah that's another thing I've been playing into lately is I'd rather be 115 for say a full wedge than 60 out. Yes that plays into well your not that good on some of your approach shots from a shorter distance, some cases could be true, I'm not bad by any means, I just may be more comfortable with a full shot than shorter, regardless of hitting a drive down there and getting closer to the hole. The older I get the more course management starts to play into things, yardages is the biggest. Years before I never gave it a second thought, hit the driver and play in from there but today I'm starting to rethink a few things..

Have you actually tracked your proximity to the hole from 115 vs 60?

 

That's the whole point of Broadie's book. Most people think they do better from there "good" yardage than closer but in reality they don't. Their perceptions are skewed by an expectation bias that 15' away from 60 yards is somehow worse than 20' away from 115 yards.

[Krt22]

Driver unless it brings in trouble. I will take 60 yards over 115 all the time. If you practice a 50 yard shot and a 75 yard shot, filling in the gaps is pretty easy. 

[NJBigFish22]

I feel it’s more what the course and your shot shape dictate.  Also if you can control your miss to avoid trouble.  

[Fairway14]

5 hours ago, jsmcdon said:

I'm just interested in seeing how many people actually hit their driver less than usual.

My observation is that very few players can resist the temptation to swing driver off  the par 4 and par 5 tee boxes, maybe 1 or 2 out of 100 players.

But without a driver in the bag I expect 75% of players would lower their scoring average, so my opinion is that driver hurts 18 hole scoring.

If a player has the discipline to only swing driver off a few tee boxes per round, I believe that is ideal.

[sg91]

I hit driver more than I used to but one of my regular courses is really tight (15-20 m wide fairways, sometimes choked in to 10 m) on short par 4s so I'll often hit a hybrid or 4 iron. The other course has a lot of holes where it's better to be on the flat with the approach and having a 9 iron vs a gap wedge doesn't make that much difference to me.

[hagimihale]

I'm in the "get to a good approach distance" crowd.  For me thats 90-120yds (between PW and SW).  

 

Many of the courses here in FL are set up for seniors (unless you play the tips): par-4s @320-360 yards.   For a few years now I'd use my 18* hybrid or 4-iron, to set up a good look with a wedge. Note that since Covid I've been experimenting with a "2 wood": a 12* driver with a 70X shaft that won't go farther than 260.  Lately I've been using this on medium length par-4s to get to my desired approach distance, with good results.  

 

I found that while hitting driver is fun, it often got me into trouble: an approach shot that was too close (40-60yds) that required a partial wedge, or crushing driver only to watch it roll through the fairway and into trouble.

 

 

[rkillian]

It depends on the course for me. On the local muni that I play the most, the front is pretty short and driver can put you in a bad spot. There's also a par 5 on the back that is really more like a long 4. Driver can put you in a really narrow area so a wood or hybrid is fine and can still set you up for an eagle chance if you are long enough (I've done it twice but 3-putted for par each time). 

 

On another course I play sometimes there are a lot of doglegs with trees that are just to tall for me to confidently carry. I hit driver on 1 par 5 on the front, playing tees that are about 6300 yards. 

 

Basically, if I have enough width between trouble and won't got to a distance that is also trouble, I will try to hit driver. 

[dropkicked]

Wide open FW and it's driver. If it's tight and I need to really position the ball well, I'll use my trusted 3w. I still need 2 shots to get on the green so I play the %'s, that will help lower my score.

[Rosco1216]

Completely depends on the hole and where I’m playing. At my home course, I’ve played it countless times and will, in theory, “risk” driver. But it’s not a risk from countless rounds I know what holes I score better or not worse from. On a number of shorter par 4’s from 360-400, the pin placements will weigh into my decision as well.

 

However, if it’s a new course that I’m not familiar with, I rarely hit driver unless I know it is completely open because I hit it farther than most and have learned I can’t trust local caddies. So I hit something I can see where it’s landing. 

[phizzy30]

Driver all day on short par 4's unless there is a hazard in front of the green.  I hit my 3 metal just as straight/crooked as my driver.  I will take out driver on all par 5's.  There's only been one instance where I had to take out 3 metal on a par 5 because the fairway ran out at 315 yards and that was a course out in Dallas.  I score better when I'm aggressive out on the course. 

Edited September 14, 2021 by phizzy30

[Georgie Z]

Driver every par 4 and par 5 for me

[PixlPutterman]

Ill echo a lot of others, I look more for where the trouble is and less at the total yardage of the hole.

[RmoorePE]

I've been working hard on a reliable low cut with my driver. I'm getting closer and closer to being consistent with it. I tee the ball low and just focus on staying behind the club head and the ball stays low and cuts along the left fairway edge. It goes somewhere like 240 to 260 with not much roll out. It tends to get on the ground early which helps stop before trouble. It seems like most golf holes (even some left dog legs) will allow for that shot from the correct tees. With lots of room (par 5s and resort courses), I tee it higher and give it a good lashing with the same swing path. 

 

My 3 wood has a slightly softer shaft, which I use to hit from right to left when needed.

 

For years I tried to shape my driver both directions, but I don't have the skill or time to practice it. I made a personal rule that my driver is not allowed to do anything but hit cuts, on the range or on the course and it has helped a lot. I still have bad days, last weekend I played on Sunday morning and never hit a single fairway (I hit one green on a 250y par 4), however the strategy and misses were mitigated by the low ball and mostly settled in the right cut rough.

 

I used to be a believer in getting the ball to 115y to 130y for a wedge, but scoring is better overall getting closer. It feels better to hit a 130 yard shot to 20 feet than a 50 yard shot to 15 feet, but scores over time will be better from 15 feet.

[jsmcdon]

21 hours ago, Fairway14 said:

My observation is that very few players can resist the temptation to swing driver off  the par 4 and par 5 tee boxes, maybe 1 or 2 out of 100 players.

But without a driver in the bag I expect 75% of players would lower their scoring average, so my opinion is that driver hurts 18 hole scoring.

If a player has the discipline to only swing driver off a few tee boxes per round, I believe that is ideal.

This. This is where I'm at in thinking.

Tonight I'm leaving temptation in the car and seeing what happens with my round..

[Fairway14]

17 minutes ago, jsmcdon said:

This. This is where I'm at in thinking.

Tonight I'm leaving temptation in the car and seeing what happens with my round..

 

I expect you will find that no driver in the bag offers the benefit of improving swing tempo/rhythm for all the other clubs. In other words, once the "hit it hard" instinct that naturally comes with driver is removed, good things happen.

[RightHandRough]

I'm not comfortable with a full 58 degree, and yes I need to practice it, so I avoid that range usually. 

I tend to aim to around 120-90 yards from the green and rely on a drop and stop shot from that range when possible.

[Davidv]

Gotta pound that driver unless there is big trouble within my driver distance.

[Drumdog]

If it's not a hard dogleg that I can't drive over, I am hitting driver.

If there is trouble, I will choke down on the driver.

I'm just more comfortable hitting the driver than the 3 wood off the tee.

 

[lefthack]

On 9/13/2021 at 1:49 PM, jvincent said:

Unless driver brings trouble into play significantly, driver all the time.

 

This is also my approach. If it's over 275 yards, it's a driver.

[Bye]

It’s the other way round for me, driver is generally a weakness, so I tend to hit less off the tee unless driver is required.

 

It depends where you play, my home course can get dry, and angles/position become more important. 
 

But if you cans can hit driver straight most of the time, then use it as much as you can. Work on these scoring shots. 

[tr881430]

Anything under 400 yards is not a driver for me. Prefer having a full club in to the green.

[Roejye]

I use a driver on most holes that are par 4 or par 5. Only times I don't are when trouble will come into play with driver, or if I'm experimenting with different strategies.

 

My home course is mostly driver, but I played one course recently that had a short par 4 dogleg right with water short right and long left after the turn. I ended up hitting a nice 5 hybrid over the tree into the middle of the fairway.