We've launched the new forums! Read more here

Taking the Driver out of the bag...

When my Driver swing is gone, which is usual, I used to hit a TM 2wood. I have shot 80 without using a driver and shot 105 using a driver.
 
Unless you are hitting the ball where you are aiming 8 to 9 times out of 10 with a driver off the tee then hitting a 3W there makes a lot of sense, but only if you can improve your fairways hit. You shouldn't lose a ton of yardage going from driver to 3W if you have the right 3W, or maybe carry 2 - 3 woods one at about 15.5 or 16 for off the ground and one at 13 for off the tee. The two most important things off the tee are to get the most distance possible but still keep it at least in play if not in the middle of the fairway. I would tell anyone having trouble with a driver to spend a lot of time hitting a driver at the range to get a good feel for it because there is really no easy way to score well without hitting driver on the longest holes, it is an important club. Putter may be the most important but driver is a close second.
 
There was a thread about how did people get to single digit handicaps and I believe it was TC that said he played to the 150 marker off the tee. I think this is a brilliant idea and if hitting a 3 wood off the tee every round eliminates trouble and puts you in the 140-150 range and in the fairway, it's pretty much a no brainer. Sure you are going to sacrifice distance but if you are playing your second shot from the fairway and not the rough it is much more likely that you would hit more greens and lower your scores. Whether it is hybrid or 3 wood off the tee as long as you're in the fairway you're in a good spot.
 
I have yet to find a 3W that deserves a full time spot in my bag-just haven't perfected my swing yet. With that said, I shot my best rounds last year when the head cover never came off the driver and I hit my 2 iron off the tee. I can tell during my warm up time how well the driver is going to behave. If it is acting up, it stays in the bag.
Now, my first lesson(s) in the spring will be with driver and fairway woods. It is clear that this is a weakness in my game.
 
I'd rather be closer and in the rough in most cases. I rarely hit a 3W off the tee unless a driver flies though a dogleg, or gets to, but can't clear a hazard. When I was a pup I struggled with a slice, like a lot of lefties I think. When I was 21 or 22 I spent a Summer hitting a lot of drivers on the range. That fixed that.

Kevin
 
I am not a long hitter so I use my driver a lot. However, there are three holes on my home course that I use the 3 wood because they are either short holes or I need to make sure I stay out of trouble.
 
I use 3w off the tee quite a bit more then my driver depending on what tees im playing that day and pin locations, white, blue or black. If playing white I will use driver as on the par 4s I will be usually a full 9i, PW or gap wedge out. If blue, I will play 3w or even less and try and land around the 130-150yd depending on pin location and which hole it is. If playing black, I will use driver on most of the 14 holes. I have gone from trying to get as far off the tee as possible to playing to a number that I am comfortable with for the approach shot, whether a par 4 or par 5. There is a par 5 on my course that is 585yd and I will hit 5i, 5i,9i as the hole requires you to stay center or right of center the whole way. I can't reach it in 2, so there is no reason to play the longer clubs off the tee.
 
I've been using a die to randomly decide the club I tee off with right now for practice using every club off the tee. Then when big rounds come up I can effectively use every club as necessary. I've just found out that I'm an ace with my six iron. A little swing tweaking and I am banging it 200+ on the sim (inaccurate I know but still crazy numbers) and dead straight too which is accurate. Therefore, I'm gonna experiment with laying up to 6 iron distance and see what that does for me if all of this stays around and is true on the course in March.
 
3 wood off the tee - absolutely any time. Far better than figuring out how to get out of the woods on days when the driver is not at its best.
Played a round years ago where the driver didn't work, the 3 wood didn't work, the 5 wood didn't work. Shot 48 on the front. Left them all in the bag and shot 2 over par on the back using a 3 iron off the tee.

If it ain't working leave it in the bag, take it to the range and work it out later.
 
There are a couple of shorter holes my course I use a fairway on. I am dead accurate with that thing, but not so much with the driver

Tappin!
 
Doug the lefty said:
I have yet to find a 3W that deserves a full time spot in my bag-just haven't perfected my swing yet. With that said, I shot my best rounds last year when the head cover never came off the driver and I hit my 2 iron off the tee. I can tell during my warm up time how well the driver is going to behave. If it is acting up, it stays in the bag.
Now, my first lesson(s) in the spring will be with driver and fairway woods. It is clear that this is a weakness in my game.
Click to expand...
Whoah, a 2 iron? You are a brave man.

Tappin!
 
I only hit 3w off the tee on really short holes, the driver can produce bigger misses but I need the distance.
 
I used to do it all the time because I really struggled with the driver. But even now that I hit my driver much more consistently, I'll still tee off on some shorter holes with the 910fd. A little extra distance doesn't always help me.
 
I need to start using the 3w off the tee more. I'm starting to control my driver slice now but I'm sacrificing distance. If I go hard with my wood I can hit it as far as my safe drive so theoretically I should be pulling my wood out more at the tee.
 
I've got the opposite issue. For the most part of 2011 I found my groove with the driver but my confidence with the 3 wood went down for some reason. Right now it's all or nothing for me with the 3 wood.
 
JesseO said:
Whoah, a 2 iron? You are a brave man.

Tappin!
Click to expand...

Oh, make no mistake, it is a "SGI" 2 iron. Ping G2, to be specific. I am certainly not hitting a blade/old school 2 iron. I can put it back in my stance and keep it low.
 
I played 3W only a lot last year, usually 6400-6600 yards...ended up with a lot of hybrids into greens which I hit better than long irons anyhow. More consistent off of tee, less balls OB and most of my 3W were going as far as most peoples drives anyhow, so I didnt feel like I was missing out too badly. More FIR for sure, hard to say on the GIR since my mid-short iron game was sketchy last year as well
 
I only had a 3W for several months after I cracked the face of my driver.
I found that I scored better overall because my FIR's increased dramatically.
So much easier to hit greens when playing from the short grass!
 
When I am driving poorly, I am also 3 wooding poorly....

:banghead:
 
Thanks Thainer. I was happy about this thread from the OP as I can relate to it.

I just couldn't believe the confidence boost I had on the tee when I was sure 80% of the time I would be on the fairway...
It really makes the game far more enjoyable.

That said, I have no idea why I can hit a Titleist 909 3w better than when I tried a Cobra or Callaway. I just love the club. I really want to get fit for either the RBZ or Speedslot to hopefully gain some yards (but I won't hold my breath as I read the fine print for RBZ fw saying "better players gained an average of 17 yards" I don't fall in this category....yet)
 
I tend to use a 3W on holes that punish too much inaccuracy or too much distance with a driver. The courses I play range between 6000-6700 so I can get away with it a little bit. 235 out of a 3W leaves 165 to the green and an 8I for me. I feel fairly confident with 7-PW that I should hit the green and at least give myself a chance at a birdie.

When I was having serious driver problems (wrong shaft/club) earlier in 2011, I tee'd off exclusively with my 3W. I found that my FIR went up (60%+) but my GIR stayed roughly the same. Now that I'm a bit more confident with my irons, I would think that my GIR would go up a bit.
 
I like hitting my 3 wood on holes that have a lot of trouble on them end up OB less and not having to take as many penalty strokes.
 
Played with the XCG5 11.5 3w this weekend. Overall it helped my game off the tee. Distance was good and had some mishits/popups. Not a huge fan of the Tour AD shaft. I am going to try it with the Blur shaft this weekend. I ended up shooting an 84 and 88. Could of been much lower if not for the popups and some other stupid mistakes I made on the course. I definitely think a strong 3w is going to replace my driver for now. I just have much more confidence in the swings I take with it.
 
Taking the Driver out of the bag...

Have any of you ever experimented with taking your driver out of the bag? Today, I played 9 holes, and could not drive the ball straight to save my life. It was THEE worst round of golf I think I have played, since I was in high school. So bad, that I didn't even keep score. I must have topped 3 drives; and any drives that actually made it off of the tee, wound up fading a lot (basically, they were semi-playable slices). The highlight of my round was on #8, a par 5; I sliced the ball across the #9 (not a typo) fairway, and from ~200 out, I put the ball on the #8 green with a 3-wood (from 15' out, I came up literally 1 inch short of an Eagle...my putting was alright today).

Anyways, just curious if anyone has had any luck (improvement in consistency and scores) using a 3W off of the tee. Last year, my driving was awesome...and I could put the ball where I want it. This year, I want to put my driver in a trash compactor. IDK what to do.
 
Yep, I've certainly taken the driver out of the bag before and used a 3W, hybrid, and even a 4i off of the tee for accuracy's sake...driver struggles plague most of us, myself included...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top