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Drivers; Distance vs Forgiveness

SuperStroke
War Eagle

War Eagle

the Beags of THP...
Albatross 2024 Club
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It's time to get a new driver, when looking at your options, which are you more likely to go with...

Distance- Are you looking purely for the longest driver you can hit?

or

Forgiveness- Are you looking for a driver that gives you the most forgiveness even with a miss across the face?

For me, I look for forgiveness, I want to be in play off the tee every time. Obviously, I still need some distance, so I look for the most forgiving driver combined with distance that I can game. Looking at my rounds this year, I can always point to a few holes that I missed scoring chances because I had to reload on the tee or I was not in a good spot off the tee.

What do you look for in a new driver?
 
Distance. If it's not longer than what I currently play, I'm not interested in buying it.
 
blugold said:
Distance. If it's not longer than what I currently play, I'm not interested in buying it.
Click to expand...
Is every new driver you game longer than the previous?
 
Interesting thread considering that on the Driver vs. Driver show they think golfers look for distance. I play golf once a week and rarely practice so I want a club that is forgiving. My goals for golf now are hit fairways and hit greens.
 
Fun topic.
While I dont think they mutually exclusive all of the time, there are elements that can change that.
Im a big believer in forgiveness, but since switching to a 2 driver setup, I go with the most distance I think.

I need to revisit this thread in a couple of months though, when I really go deep into trying every 2017 driver.
 
War Eagle said:
Is every new driver you game longer than the previous?
Click to expand...
The 816 DBD was shorter than any driver I've played over the passed 4 years. I do not like it.
 
JB said:
Fun topic.
While I dont think they mutually exclusive all of the time, there are elements that can change that.
Im a big believer in forgiveness, but since switching to a 2 driver setup, I go with the most distance I think.

I need to revisit this thread in a couple of months though, when I really go deep into trying every 2017 driver.
Click to expand...
I may be in the minority of those who will give up length off the tee in order to stripe it down the middle of the fairway. Looking back at Bridgestone in Vegas, my only bad holes was when I was not in play off the tee.
 
Well luckily enough for me my driver was the longest and most accurate of all the ones I tried when I was getting one but I will say that distance is the more important thing for me. I'm wild enough off the tee that there generally isn't too much of a difference between drivers in terms of accuracy
 
War Eagle said:
I may be in the minority of those who will give up length off the tee in order to stripe it down the middle of the fairway. Looking back at Bridgestone in Vegas, my only bad holes was when I was not in play off the tee.
Click to expand...

I actually dont think you will be in the minority in the thread, but might be at the register, so to speak. Its hard to walk into a store, drop a credit card down all of the while giving up yards.

The good news is a lot of times, with some of these drivers, you don't have to sacrifice either.
 
Distance has been the big preference for me...i can hit anything into trees might as well be closer to the green
 
War Eagle said:
I may be in the minority of those who will give up length off the tee in order to stripe it down the middle of the fairway. Looking back at Bridgestone in Vegas, my only bad holes was when I was not in play off the tee.
Click to expand...

I am with you. I will give up some length to be on the short grass to a point. I kinda like JB's two driver set-up where you can have both however.
 
I wanted a solid driver that gave me good numbers. I also wanted the new 917 because of all I was hearing. When I was fit I was pleasantly surprised by the results. I had distance in my mind but the dispersion I saw was outstanding. A great added benefit.
 
1. Ability to hit it reasonably straight
2. Distance
3. Distance / dispersion on mishits (forgiveness)
4. Looks
5. Sound
 
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I want forgiveness, but I want the longest I can get above that. I don't really want to hit any shorter than I already do.
 
I'm pretty consistent with whatever I hit off the tee so I'd be looking for distance. I am hesitant to change though since i'm almost automatic to hit my current driver straight. I'd be a fool to be chasing a couple of extra yards when we hit a club so well but i'm sure most of us do it. My Bridgestone has stayed in the bag longer than any driver in quite sometime. My response has done nothing to answer your question....sorry!
 
Give me a "Fairway Finder" I'll give up distance for "Straight in the short stuff"
 
I'm with blu but that's mostly because of what I'm currently gaming. If I was gaming something long but that I could never hit straight and was racking up penalty strokes, I'd strongly consider something straighter. But for what I'm gaming, it's long and straight so if I was to switch it would have to be longer and straighter.


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The drivers over the last year+ have all been pretty close in carry distance for me. I look for one that will be as long as the current one, is easier to hit and provides better dispersion.
 
Give me 225 in the short stuff over 250 behind a tree any day.
 
Distance vs forgiveness...I'll take forgiveness if it means hitting more fairways. Currently hitting the fairway ~65% of the time and don't have too many huge misses. That works for me.

I played with 3 big hitters yesterday and joked about having short man syndrome. They often beat me by 30-40 yards so my answer was different yesterday.
 
markm778 said:
Give me a "Fairway Finder" I'll give up distance for "Straight in the short stuff"
Click to expand...
Let me sell you this nice pitching wedge ;)
 
1. I need to feel comfortable I can put a good strike on the ball consistently
2. Off-center hit performance
3. Distance

Dave
 
I go for distance. In my experience a more forgiving driver is not some wonder cure that will keep me in the fairway any better than any other driver. I prefer consistency across the face and less penalty on my particular miss.
 
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