I find that people who hit fairway woods well but drivers poorly suffer from problems with 2 things.
1. Driver may have too low loft and possibly too stiff of a shaft for their swing
2. Your Brain
3 woods and 5 woods have from 13* to 21* of loft which makes it easier to get the ball in the air and also has less side spin so it should fly straighter then the driver. As for the brain this can be the toughest to overcome, once you hit a few bad ones and go into panick mode you lose your confidence and swing reluctantly afraid of the outcome. I think you should try a regular flex regular length driver with 12 or 13 degrees of loft, you will not lose distance but should get the ball up easier. Shortening the shaft will stiffen it and perhaps make things worse. I am a scratch golfer and was creeping lower and lower with lofts on my drivers but recently went back to 10 degrees and am hitting it longer and straighter then I ever have,
callaway makes a 15 degree driver geared towards beginners and weekend hackers for this reason.
Dave D...
