Driver versus 3 wood issues--Can you help?

[Leftygolfin]

Why do I hit my 3 wood so well and long but my drivers #$#!

Ok, heres a little about me and my swing.

30 year old twice a week golfer with an 8 hc because of my infrequent play. Im in very good physical condition at 6'0 tall and 215. My driver swing speed on average is about 110 to 115. The best part of my game is definately my short game. Here is my problem.

I am a good hitter with my three wood which is actually a nice draw that gets to a solid 280 yards. I can also hit a nice fade with it when needed and its a great club. My three wood is a T60 15* and I love it.

What i can't understand is why I don't play very well with my driver but I hit a 3 wood so well. I mean, what is it?? I bet on my average round where I play a driver, I will miss most fairways but hit it a mile. There are the occassional rounds that its ok but not to often. I often think I just swing to hard so I try to slow it down but that just doesn't work that well for me. It just seems to be so out of control no matter what driver I use. I have always wondered if I would be alot better off trying a very high lofted driver or canning the driver all together.

I'ver always thought that high lofted drivers were for guys with slow swing speeds and short hitters trying to get the ball in the air. Do you guys think I would benifit from a high lofted driver for control?? Also, my problem is not getting the ball up but I have been told by a few guys that it might help me with control. Heck, I've even considered leaving out the driver and going with a strong 3 wood and 4 wood setup. You guys have any thought or opinions?? Thanks

[taylormadefan]

What length driver do you play now?

 

2 reasons why your 3 wood is such a great club. Loft (for the reasons you mentioned) and length. A shorter shaft is just easier to control, I don't care how good of a ball striker you are.

 

If you're hitting balls off the toe and heel, you're going to experience gear effect (I don't care how high your MOI is). Heel shots want to slice and toe shots want to hook. A shorter shaft will probably mean more center hits which translates to more distance and accuracy. Since going to a shorter shaft I've noticed that my slices don't slice that much (right rough instead of OB).

 

I don't think you need to ditch the driver. If you're honestly hitting 3 wood 280 off the tee, you've got a great golf swing and some power that should be harnessed. You just need to harness it correctly.

 

Higher loft will be straighter. A lot of guys on tour are playing 10.5* drivers these days. High launch + low spin is the MO now. How you get there is a different story. . . .

[Leftygolfin]

Well, Ive never tried a driver with more then 9.5* of loft as when I hit it well it is great and quite high. But when 2 out of 10 is good its just killing my scoring. All of my straight drives are over 300 yards but distance doesn't mean crap in the ruff or two fariways over. I do not want for distance. I love the guys games that I play with that hit it 250 straight all day. I actually played my best round of the year (72) when I left the driver in the bag for the entire round. I think I might try the shorter shaft as most of my misses are toe shot hooks. I really feel that most of it is just my swing problems but it just floors me how my swing is good with everything but a driver. I guess thats what makes this game so interesting. Anyone else have any thoughts??

[EdmontonGolfer]

In my honest opinion, why even bother with the driver if you're hitting your 3-wood 280? I even ask myself the same question since I'm the same, but I hit my driver really well too so that's why I keep it. Really though, if you hit the driver, maybe you'd get what, an extra 20 yards? I'd say get rid of the driver and add an extra wedge or 4-wood like you mentioned.

[Leftygolfin]

Oh, all of my current drivers (SQ Tour, SQ Max & my old Ignite) are all 45" long with stiff shafts. My old pro says I should play x-stiff but the feel is aweful in all of the xstiff shafts I've tried. What do you think, may try 44" in one??

[armygolfer]

Im not saying this applies to you, but I remember reading a story about a famous teacher,( Hank Haney?) who had Driver yips, as he called them, and had to go through some crazy steps to get through his issues with the driver......Although it may have been with tee shots... I aint sure...

[tarheel golf]

I had similar problem. Went with a 10.5 with a 75 gram stiff shaft. With 465+ par 4's, putting way too much pressure on the 3 wood. I had to find a driver I could hit.

[Leftygolfin]

Well I took my Ignite 460 ( My 3rd string driver) and cut it down an inch and took it to my range session today. The shorter shaft did seem to help a little with control. I think I need to just contact my pro and get some touch up swing lessons with my driver. I know im just swinging to damn hard but I just can't stop it with the big dog. I even had my swing speed checked with the driver today and it was staying around 119 or so and thats just to hard. I'll get it worked out or hopefully my pro will.