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Leaving the driver at home

I am hell bent and determined to get good with the Driver. By good I mean longer while keeping most of my accuracy. Right now it’s what’s holding me back from breaking 80 consistently. Hit 2 large buckets today. 75% of those were Driver. The rest were 3 wood and my TM OG Mini Driver. There are times when I have considered leaving it at home. But it’s just way too much fun to hit. And I’m not long enough to 3 wood a golf course to death.

Sorry but golf is much more fun with a Driver. But hitting bombs ain’t easy! Got to want it. Bad!
 
If the driver was such an easy club for everyone to hit, there wouldn't be so many threads like this.

Some people find the driver the easiest club in the bag to hit. Others will score better if they leave it at home. For some of us, since we aren't always more accurate with less club, it doesn't make sense.

I want to get better with every club in the bag. The only way that happens is by using all of them. If I thought I could depend on better accuracy from my next longest club, I'd give up the 20 yards. But that's just me and the idea of applying my strategy to others doesn't make any sense.
 
This situation screams mini driver. This less forgiving, smaller club has changed my golfing life. WAY more accurate than any 460cc driver I've used and just as long.
 
This was me today. Played a match against another club and every time I took out the driver I hit it like trash. Thankfully I was crushing my 5 wood past their drives and was hitting that great. Won the match 4 up.
 
For a high handicapper the driver is actually my most consistent club. And I use a grip no instructor would approve of. But it works for me. With the exception of the thumb on my left hand extended on the grip and the palm of my right hand over it, the rest of the grip is just like gripping a baseball bat. I start with a loose grip on the right hand and tighten it up at the apex of the backswing. I have no idea why, but when I do that I hit farther and straighter. I can't use that grip with the other clubs though.
 
The longest club that you often hit off tees is your driver.
You play the one that works best.
If it's less than half of 460cc in volume, so the **** what?
It's the one that works best for you, right?

That's my philosophy, anyway.
 
40/45 85 today in some wind. For me, that's really good. And it was during guy's weekend with pressure and heckling.
 
Enjoy the weekend. Not having seen your swing, I have no idea if this applies. But in my observation, most players that struggle with driver struggle with one or more of these three aspects of their swing. You might want to look at these as a more long term solution.

Manipulating the club - Physically trying to muscle or re-route the clubhead on the downswing gets tougher as the club gets longer. With driver there is no club that is heavier or longer. There is an active thread right now on "Letting it Go" that speaks to this.

Swinging the club around the body vs. up and down - With a shorter club you can get away with having a swing that it steep (somewhat). This just doesn't work with the driver due to both length of the club and depth of the clubhead. If your misses tend to be making contact too high or low on the face, or hitting the ground behind the ball look at this one.

Balance Issues - Balance is especially essential with the driver. Small balance issues with shorter clubs get magnified with the driver. Example: A small change in spine angle in reaction to an imbalance results in a much bigger deflection at the clubhead when it is driver vs. another club. Partly due to length of the shaft and partly due to the forces created making it harder to recover before impact.
 
The only time I've ever broken 80 we had warmed up on the range, putted, and in the way to the 1st tee my buddy said to run back to his car, that he had forgotten something. He opens his trunk, roots around for a sec and says "let me see your driver". He tosses in in the trunk and says ok, let's go, you're hitting 3wood today. I proceed to shoot 78.

Sent from my SM-N986U using Tapatalk
 
I've been doing much the same for a number of months now. My RadSpeed 3w is so long and accurate that I've been using that off the tee more and more whilst I've been working on the driver at the range and lessons. Am at the stage now where I'm much more confident pulling the driver, so absolutely nothing wrong with keeping the driver out of the bag whilst you work on it, but as others have said if you never practice it then nothing will change.
 
Well, after 99 holes of golf I won our guys weekend trophy by almost 25 strokes.

It wasn't long, and it wasn't pretty, but it was effective.

We're all within 1 of each other's handicap in league.
 
While Im never a fan of bagging such a club I do (through my years of playing) see many folks gotten rid of driver usage and dont even bag one. I totally get that ideology if its for you. I mean whatever makes ones golf better and more enjoyable is always great.

But for me Im just a believer in using the club regardless of struggles because its part of golf imo (for me). The only thing I differentiate or question is why so many use it when it isnt at all necessary (based on hole layout and distances). I do not consider it a bad choice based on one struggling to be more consistent with it. I do however consider it a poor choice when pulling it on almost every darn hole when the obstacle layout and distance for the hole is not so driver friendly yet more than capable of being played very well without it.
What I mean is where a good driver strike can actually be a detriment via (for one thing) being too long and too straight through a shorter dogleg. But no trouble, no real obstacles and fairly wide landing area? then for me imo Im using it. If i struggle that day then so be it. Poopoo on me after all these years that I can still struggle with it and beleive me I can do that often.
Besides, for me my success rates when not swinging well are no different with driver vs 3 or 5w or even long hybrid. But thats the reason I will use a shorter club on things like shorter doglegs. If i hit my 3 or 5w too straight Im still in good play vs that same hit with driver I can be in trouble. But outside that tighter shorter hole or obstacle hole Im using my driver because in my mind I should and am supposed to hit it well enough after all these years. the fact that i don't isnt imo relevant. I have many days where you cant pay me to hit a good one and other (although less) days you cant pay me to hit a bad one.
 
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