A 3 wood has more loft than a driver so they create additional backspin to the ball, backspin tends to negate an amount of sidespin thus reducing the affects of slices and hooks. The 3W loft (15 - 18 deg) creates a higher launch angle and when combined with the additional spin will not carry as far as the driver but will tend to be more accurate.


Drivers tend to have between 7 and 12 deg of loft and are slightly longer than the 3W. This produces less backspin and lower launch angles with higher head speed resulting in longer drives, although less forgiving of miss-hits.

In saying this:

A dramatic development has occurred over the past several years - professional golfers are throwing out their low lofted drivers and opting for large-headed, higher-lofted 10 and 11 degree drivers. Their argument is that the longest drives are achieved by combining a high launch angle with lower spin. The newer, higher-lofted designs for large-headed drivers provide the higher launch angle; the new solid core golf balls provide less spin on the golf ball. This results in the longest drives. So the professionals are increasingly moving to larger headed higher lofted drivers. They get more carry with less shot error.

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Best Regards
Brian

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Funny o'l game!