Compare driving distance Driver versus 3 wood

I have been to driving ranges and also on the golf courses and have noticed that I can drive the ball safely in the fairway with the driver about 240 to 250 range. And with my 3 wood distance is not much different and 3 wood seems straighter. Is everyone doing about the same thing......

Hi,

I generally find that I can drive the ball pretty straight, consistantly to about 280yds and can really 'muscle' it to 300+ when I'm in the 'zone'. I rarely use my 3 wood off the tee, but find its about a 260yd club when I do and perhaps a little more consistant, that said I'm totally incompetant at hitting my woods off the deck but rarely find I have to. Its worth noting that I'm a fairly big guy (6'5" and about 250lb) and therefore I should expect big distances.

Cheers Chris

Depending on how high I choose to tee the ball up, I can hit my 3W (actually a 'strong 3' - 13.5deg) almost as long as my 10.5deg driver. The difference is maybe 10-15 yards.

The shot PROFILE however is different. The 3W goes higher and the difference in distance comes from less roll more than from less carry.

On top of that, I typically hit a slight draw with my 3W and a slight fade (read: Big slice) with my driver. I'm sure, if I could hit the draw with my driver, I'd get even more roll and a bigger difference in distance.

It's probably a lot down to not being able to get the best from your driver (and mine). Getting distance is a product of a lot of parameters, club head speed (or rather ball speed), spin and launch angle. All these parameters have to be adjusted to fit each other.

You can easily have a situation (like mine), where a 10.5deg driver, launching the ball at 140mph (appx 95mph club head speed) with a spin rate of 4,400rpm, gets the same distance as a 13.5 deg 3W launching as the same speed and spin rate.

Think about it. You'll often tend to tee the 3W lower and the Driver higher, causing you to hit more on the upswing with the driver and thus increasing your launch angle so that it ends up being the same as the 3 wood.

Same speed, same spin, same angle ... you're going to end up with same distance. One club having a giant head and the other not, will not increase distance.

But if you - one way or another - were to change some of the parameters to fit the club better - like teeing slightly lower, going to a 9deg Driver or hitting a ball with different spin rates - you might suddenly see a fairly big difference between your Driver and your 3W.


It all boils down to TWO words that we probably all should spend some time with ...

Launch Monitors!

I'm fairly sure that any decent clubfitter out there (please chime in if you're watching) would be able to dissect your swing (and mine) and find out what the optimum parameters would be for that swing, getting you a set of clubs - and a choice of balls - that will benefit your distance greatly.

Accuracy, however, is quite a different formula

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//Mox
2008 bag:
Mizuno MX-500 460cc 10.5* Fujikura Tour Platform 26.3 stiff. (about to be replaced by MP-600 10,5* UST Proforce V2 stiff)
Mizuno F-50 3w 15* Fujikura Tour Platform 26.3 stiff.
Wilson Deep Red 5w 18* Graphalloy Fatshaft stiff
Cleveland HALO 3i hybrid 22* graphite regular
Mizuno MP-60e forged 5i-PW True Temper Dynamic gold R300 steel
Mizuno MP Black OX raw haze 50/6 GW, 54/9 SW, 58/10 LW
Heavy Putter B3-M
Titleist NXT Extreme

My 3 wood goes about 230/240 and has a very low ball flight. My 9 degree driver goes about 270 and has a higher ball flight.

As for accuracey I am comfortable hitting a slight fade with my driver/ straight and it might be more accurate then my 3 wood. Though the 3 wood is easier to draw the ball.

Bob

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!