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How many of you don't carry a driver?

SuperStroke
carolinaborn82

carolinaborn82

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I played three rounds this weekend and I am about ready to leave my driver at home. Tired of losing balls and playing out of the woods for my second shot. Is there anybody who actually does this? Is the sacrifice in yardage worth the accuracy?
 
yep I do --------- the last driver I had was made of wood ---- old style callaway 2 wood and 4 wood tight lies are used off the tee
 
deadon500 said:
yep I do --------- the last driver I had was made of wood ---- old style callaway 2 wood and 4 wood tight lies are used off the tee
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So I would assume you don't miss it lol.
 
I used to not for a long time, probably from 1995 to 2003 or so. Of all things, I found a Northwestern driver at K-Mart for 20 bucks that I could hit kinda decent, and I have carried a driver ever since.
 
I used to not carry one as recently as a couple of months ago but I think I may have finally figured something out on the range and have been hitting it great...well kinda great. I for some reason had a totally different swing when I had a driver in my hands than I did with any other club. I also put the ball WAY too far forward. Started wondering why I did that because the results were always horrible. Decided to move the ball way back, essentially between center and front heal, so it's farther back than most play it. Then put a normal swing on it and low and behold the damn ball went straight. I got super excited and kept hitting balls with decent results. Sure some of them still went wide right but more often than not the balls were center-ish and would have been playable. A lot of it is just mental. I find myself most times trying too hard in the tee box. Now I just try to relax, doesn't always work but just being conscious of it helps.

Also, most importantly driver shafts are way too long for most people. I have my shaft now at 44 3/8" total length with head attached. It makes a HUGE difference not having a 45.5" or more shaft. You really don't lose much if any yardage with a shorter shaft and more importantly it's easier to control and more often than not your side to side yardage will be much tighter.
 
PowerCobra98 said:
I used to not carry one as recently as a couple of months ago but I think I may have finally figured something out on the range and have been hitting it great...well kinda great. I for some reason had a totally different swing when I had a driver in my hands than I did with any other club. I also put the ball WAY too far forward. Started wondering why I did that because the results were always horrible. Decided to move the ball way back, essentially between center and front heal, so it's farther back than most play it. Then put a normal swing on it and low and behold the damn ball went straight. I got super excited and kept hitting balls with decent results. Sure some of them still went wide right but more often than not the balls were center-ish and would have been playable. A lot of it is just mental. I find myself most times trying too hard in the tee box. Now I just try to relax, doesn't always work but just being conscious of it helps.

Also, most importantly driver shafts are way too long for most people. I have my shaft now at 44 3/8" total length with head attached. It makes a HUGE difference not having a 45.5" or more shaft. You really don't lose much if any yardage with a shorter shaft and more importantly it's easier to control and more often than not your side to side yardage will be much tighter.
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I think shaft length is a big problem for me. A driver feels so uncomfortable at address, swing, everything.
 
The longer the shaft, the harder to hit still holds true, but I could not imagine not using a driver. I'd seek help from a qualified teacher and get to the root of the problem. A driver is a must I think.
 
Took my Cleveland 588 Custom 10.5* out last round and replaced it with a 3 wood as I could not find a fairway with it for months, had a nett 68/80 gross best round I have had in months, I have an Cleveloand 588 Altitude 12* I am going to shorten to 43" and see how that goes.
 
I will often use my Bertha Mini as a driver in leui of carrying a traditional driver. Just depends how I'm feeling. Not confident with a driver every time out and the Mini is just a beast in its own right.
 
carolinaborn82 said:
I played three rounds this weekend and I am about ready to leave my driver at home. Tired of losing balls and playing out of the woods for my second shot. Is there anybody who actually does this? Is the sacrifice in yardage worth the accuracy?
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I think it's about finding the right driver more than anything else. As it stands, I'm equally as confident with my driver as I am my three wood.
 
I carry one now but played a season or so without a driver and scored roughly the same.
 
I switched to a TM SLDR Mini 14* a few weeks ago. The accuracy is terrific but the loss of distance is killing me.
 
My last two rounds I've had to put my driver away on the back 9 and I've scored much better teeing off with my 4w, and this is after a recent driver lesson. I definitely need more work on it, plus I've got a 3 Deep on the way.

I also started hitting better by moving the ball back a bit in my stance, rather than the "move it forward, tee it high and let it fly" mantra. But I'm still not comfortable or confident at all on the tee box with my driver, and never really have been since I started playing years ago.
 
carolinaborn82 said:
I think shaft length is a big problem for me. A driver feels so uncomfortable at address, swing, everything.
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Move your hands down towards the club head next time you are at the range and it will tell you if its shaft length.
 
If anyone can hit a 3 wood/4 wood further or better than your driver, I would say you need a proper driver fitting. The connection could be shorter shaft/more loft is the reason. I struggled years ago once driver heads started approaching the 440cc range up to 460cc heads of today, and the root of the issue was too long of a shaft and not enough loft. Drivers have grown longer in shaft length, but us humans are not getting any taller on average. Shorter shaft and lofting up after my first real fitting 7 or 8 years ago, made a HUGE difference.
 
HoosierGolfer said:
The longer the shaft, the harder to hit still holds true, but I could not imagine not using a driver. I'd seek help from a qualified teacher and get to the root of the problem. A driver is a must I think.
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Agreed. I play my shaft 1/2" under standard length and I also worked with my instructor for a number of sessions with it. Once we finally got it all clicking it becomes a very confident club.

Having that extra 30 to 40 yards over my next longest club is huge. I'm hitting a wedge into the green instead of a long iron. Being long off the tee and accurate really started making the scores drop.


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Height is merely one variable to length of clubs.
Like most things on the internet, the amount of misinformation out there is staggering.
This is not to say that a shaft length is one size fits all, but more posts come out that the reason someone is missing is because of an extra inch in length is just not accurate. It can be, but its certainly is not a one size fits all idea.

People get "comfy" and for years graphite was rough in terms of ability to excel in longer lengths due to construction. Heads have become VASTLY more forgiving and shafts have become 100 times better than they were. If a driver is flying off line at 45 inches, in most cases its going to fly off line at 44 inches.
 
My last two rounds were filled with 3 wood and hybrid which improved my scores. I think I hit mini driver twice and like the trend. But once the fairways are not as firm,I will miss the big rollout .

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JB said:
Height is merely one variable to length of clubs.
Like most things on the internet, the amount of misinformation out there is staggering.
This is not to say that a shaft length is one size fits all, but more posts come out that the reason someone is missing is because of an extra inch in length is just not accurate. It can be, but its certainly is not a one size fits all idea.

People get "comfy" and for years graphite was rough in terms of ability to excel in longer lengths due to construction. Heads have become VASTLY more forgiving and shafts have become 100 times better than they were. If a driver is flying off line at 45 inches, in most cases its going to fly off line at 44 inches.
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Agreed there. The issue I had is that my previous drivers were always 45" - Taylor Made R9 Stock came at 45", and my old SteelHead III driver I think was order 1" over standard in 2002 to put it at 45". When I started looking at new drivers, I ordered site unseen and they never felt right. Well I was ordering them 1" over standard and it never felt right. I realized after the fact that stock now 45.5". Once I got the right length, the comfort level was back.

It took working with my coach to get my driver going straight again, but getting the right length for comfort when getting myself set up made a huge difference.
 
Played an entire season with my 3 wood without any problems, just hitting a bit longer into holes.
 
I don't use a driver, or 3w. I tee off with my 3h, and use a 4h off the fairway. I sacrafice a little distance for a lot more accuracy. It works for me.
 
When I was starting out I thought I had to swing the driver as fast as I could. It gave less that desirable results so I used a 3 iron. Now days I wouldn't even consider it even if I only hit it about 9/10 times a round.
 
I never used to carry a driver. My instructor had me hit a couple and told me I should consider putting it in the bag. Worked on it a bit and now I love hitting it.
 
Played without a driver for a long time. I would just hit my 3 iron off the tee (or an old school driving iron) then I put in some time and began to feel confident in my Driver again. If I need to shape the ball or be extremly accurate I will hit my 4wood off the tee. If I had to take a club out of my bag it would probably be my driver.
 
Driver comes out after today's round. Not that I'm hitting it terribly but there is zero advantage to me carrying a driver over the BB Mini. Maybe the GBB will eventually change that.
 
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