The Driver

Just an update on golf "without" a wood...

Last Saturday I played a s/ford round with only my irons (and a putter) in the bag, having again left the Driver & 3 Wood at home in the shed gathering dust...

My score, 36 pts (90 off the stick, my h/cap is 17.5). The low score on the day being 46 points (by a fellow off 17 who had 78), I finished in a tie for 10th place in my club comp.

The annoying thing for me is I was 1 over the card through 6 holes (and 18 s/ford points at that time), having found every fairway bar one (the first) and every green in reg (bar the 2nd) and still found a way to simply play to my handicap. This of course means that I only scored another 18 points in the final 12 holes.

For me, the positive of the day was the fact that I scored at least 1 point on all 18 holes. No triple bogeys!!! Though I did 3 putt 3 times.

If I can remove the 3 putts (a big if) and find a few more fairways, I think a 70 something is not far away...

And, for me this is a GREAT thing, as I am still only playing once a fortnight and NOT practising...

Course management is a big part of this, as every time I missed a fairway from the tee, I looked to get back in position and didn't go for a "glory" shot.

More after my next round in a couple of weeks....

Cheers

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Every time a golfer makes a birdie, he must subsequently make two triple bogeys to restore the fundamental equilibrium of the universe....

Hi all,

Interesting to read your thoughts. I played a solo round recently, late in the afternoon with no one behind me, so I tried a comparison. I played my driver off the white tees, and then my 3 iron off the red (ladies) tees, to see how they compared. To my surprise I hit the driver better! Longer and more accurately! Now, I'm a 27+ HC so I'm not that flash to start, but the DiF% was about 50% cf 33% for my 3-iron. I think the moral of the story is Temet nosce, "Know thyself" (The Oracle, The Matrix). Know what your strengths and weaknesses are and play to them. Gees, if I tried hitting with my 3-wood all the time I'd never get off the tee. Good luck.

Like Scraggs, I've been trying to play a few rounds recently and leaving my woods in the car so I'm not tempted. As A high handicapper (25), I'm trying to discipline myself that my most important mantra - particularly on the course I play which is short but with narrow fairways, and heavy penalties for drifting from the middle - is that I MUST keep the ball in play.

Today I shot my second best round ever, with no woods. I know there's one hole that is hard for me - a 350 yard par 4 that needs two stone cold 3 irons for me, but equally for me, if I discipline myself to think about it as a par 5 for me, I don't need to take a wood off the tee particularly as it doglegs left, with OB left and a fair bit of trouble right too.

I'm not experienced enough to advise myself, never mind anyone else, but I do know that the club off the tee not just course dependent, but also player dependent and form dependent. My take is that at the end of the day, in a month's time, when I look back at the card, the only thing I'll notice is the score. I don't care how I get there...

Well boys I thought I would give you an update.

Where permitting, I'm using my driver more so than the 3/5 woods these days. I am hitting more fairways - around 7 per round (a couple more than before).

I have found that although I am in trouble - I'm closer to the hole.

Also a lower ball flight - less spin rate. A plus for the shots into the wind.

I'm thinking of getting rid of the 10.5 and getting a 9.5?

I've got an 8.5° TM Bubble Burner you can "borrow"...

And just a driver update from me...

Have a 9.5° Shark Tiburon with a stiff (makers name unknown) graphite shaft that I hit quite well. Me thinks this club may well be partly responsible for my recent h/cap drop from 17 to 14 over the last month or so.

Have confidence in hitting it now, where as this time 6 months ago, I was leaving it in the shed.

I'll take it on maybe 12 of the 14 non par 3's now and the funny thing with last weeks round was, those 2 holes where I didn't take the driver, I scratched one and got 1 point on the other after less than memorable tee shots in attempting the lay up for safety...

As they say in a golfing ad here at the minute...

"Man up and go for it...!!!"

Cheers

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Every time a golfer makes a birdie, he must subsequently make two triple bogeys to restore the fundamental equilibrium of the universe....

Well today just played in a 4bbb. The night before I borrowed one of the younger lads 9.5* Titleist driver.

Actually hit it quite well - although the accuracy a bug bear.

Great ball flight - penetration in the wind.

What I didn't like though was the stiff flex shaft.

Gonna go out and buy me a new driver. I'll get fitted though. Looking at the Titleist D2 I think it is. A lower spin rate.

Nicole, follow the link:

Tom Wishon Golf Technology

Get fit by one of those fellows. The new Wishon 919 is crazy forgiving.

Also, Barry Harris at Custom Clubmakers Australia in Green Point, NSW is a PCS certified builder and fitter.

I still use the Thriver, but I no longer use it on every par 4 or 5 hole automatically. I hit pretty well with it but I'm still straighter with the 3w, so if the fairway gets narrow or there's real trouble on the sides, I use the 3w. If I *really* need to play it safe, I use the 4i hybrid.

Well I did it. Today I ordered a Titleist D2 9.5* driver with a Proforce V2 R Flex shaft.

Can't wait. Should be in my hot lil hand by friday next week - yippee.....

Make sure you take it to your local clubsmith and have it put through it's paces. That way if it breaks, they can try and figure out what to replace it with.

Work on your driver, get fit for one that suits your swing.

Riddle me this:

How many Pros dont use a driver much?

And dont give me the 'Tiger won the Open using a 2-iron' bit. If you can hit your 2 iron 275 yards then have at it and ditch your driver. But if not, get the driver working and move it out there. 3 wood is fine a few times in a round to keep it in play on the really tight holes. If you can hit a 3 wood you can hit a driver cos its almost as long and a smaller head so driver is a psychological problem not a swing problem. Just hit the driver the same way as the 3 wood, lots of players get the driver in their hand and their view of the swing changes because they think they need to bomb it out there 50 yards past anything else in the bag and end up strangling the life out of it and getting tight and short in the swing and hitting it all over creation.

D.

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Longniddry Golf Club Champ 2005.

In the Taylor Made Bag:

Titleist 905T Graf Blue X

Taylor Made R7 TP 13* EI-70 X

Zero Tolerance Maximiser 19* Aldila NV 75 S

Srixon TCI-201 3-PW Rifle 6.0

MacGregor Tourney 52*

Cobra Phil Rodgers 59* Rusty

Odyssey DFX 2-Ball

Bridgestone B330

I hit my 3wood about 265yds and I don't use a tee - even in the tee box. How many swings with my 455cc driver do you think I could take without a tee?

Vijay Singh likes to hit driver from fairway on long par5s.