Leave the driver in the bag for now? (Beginner)

Mulligan9111 said:

I'm a firm believer that every golfer should learn to hit their driver.

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While I'm of the opinion that newbies probably shouldn't hit their driver during rounds (if they are playing for score), I agree with the above 100%.

I think if you can learn to hit your driver, it goes a long way towards really honing in a proper golf swing.

I used hate my driver when I first started (SLDR, silly choice for me my the way!) but kept on working on it. I purchased a Cobra FlyZ, found it VERY forgiving, worked on proper set up, hitting up on the ball, worked on closing the face, now it's my best club in the bag by a long way. I love hitting a wedge into par 4's now instead of 3w or long irons. What sort of miss are you having with the driver?

When I started playing regularly a few years ago, I was hitting my driver well. I could hit it far, and generally keep it playable if I didn't hit the fairway. The more I played, the worse it got. Last year I gave up hitting it and would hit my 4i off the tee instead. At the time, when I'd get my driver in play it would be able 240-250. With my 4i off the tee, I can regularly get 220-240. Although it's a loss of about 20-30 yards, I'd much rather have to take an extra 1-2 clubs than be playing out of the rough and scrambling to get on the green. This year, I played a few simulator rounds before I got outside and hit driver there and was averaging 260-280 off the tee and hitting it straight. I got outside the first time and it went back to the old ways of spraying the ball left or right and barely getting over 200 yards out of it. I put my driver back in my bag and forgot about it. It hasn't hurt me at all but I could probably cut 1-2 strokes per round if I played it and was able to play it well.

I suggest reading "Every Shot Counts" and the philosophies there, you may agree with them, may disagree, but they are worth hearing as they are backed up with solid statistical analysis.

The one tip I myself have is this; many new players notice a slice with the driver so they start moving their stance alignment further left to play for the slice and then their mind tries to correct and they build a massive outside in swing. I suggest not doing this as that stance creates a swing which causes a worse slice. The very thing you do to avoid the slice causes it. If you play the driver, aim to the left side of the fairway, sure, or even slightly into the rough as Every Shot recommends...but do it with the intention of swinging correctly. Do not train a bad swing.

I worded that poorly, hopefully the overall point comes through. Train correctly, it is much harder to unlearn later in your career.

darthweasel said:

I suggest reading "Every Shot Counts" and the philosophies there, you may agree with them, may disagree, but they are worth hearing as they are backed up with solid statistical analysis.

The one tip I myself have is this; many new players notice a slice with the driver so they start moving their stance alignment further left to play for the slice and then their mind tries to correct and they build a massive outside in swing. I suggest not doing this as that stance creates a swing which causes a worse slice. The very thing you do to avoid the slice causes it. If you play the driver, aim to the left side of the fairway, sure, or even slightly into the rough as Every Shot recommends...but do it with the intention of swinging correctly. Do not train a bad swing.

I worded that poorly, hopefully the overall point comes through. Train correctly, it is much harder to unlearn later in your career.

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You make a very good point (and clearly too).

I play as a single a lot and often come across some folks who have huge slices off the tee. So much so that they have to aim off the fairway, at trouble or at another hole. In addition, since the slice eats up so much distance, they swing out of their shoes. Which probably makes the slice even worse. Ultimately, I don't they think they have a clue about where the ball is going.

When you look at how they swing their other clubs, it's not hard to see that it creeps into those swings as well.

Yes, the driver is fun to hit and an important club. Important enough to learn to hit it well and in a way that really puts a smile on your face.

If you are hitting OB or wind up with a lot of unplayable shots due to the driver, I would encourage you to move up one, maybe two sets of tees and tee off with your 6 iron or a hybrid. You are going to have a lot more fun keeping the ball in play and hitting approach shots that actually matter into the green.

Bust out the driver on the range after your coach and you begin working on it.

This game is tough. Do what you can to keep it fun!

Thanks for the advice everyone!

My real issue is getting a good clean (and high) hit off of the driver. I know one of my problems is lifting my head. I have been working on contact rather than power lately. It is slowly improving.

Some of you have mentioned using a club that allows me to keep the tee shot in play, that was really what I was getting at. However, I am not going to give up on the driver all together. :act-up: