Driver or 3 Wood of the Tee

I have been playing golf for 10 months. Practice once a week and play maybe twice a month. My best round was last week (112). I just recently had a lesson with a pro in Orlando, Florida. He told me that I should forget about hitting my 9.5 degree Driver and focus on hitting my 3 Wood off the tee. The problem is that I hit my Driver better; Not great, avg 260 yards and hit 3 fairways a round. I think I have more confidence because of the bigger head and I'm not sure of the correct ball position for the 3 Wood. I usually slice or pull the 3 Wood. I don't hit it consistently enough past the ladies tee to say what my avg distance is. Can someone instruct me how to hit the 3 Wood please.

Thanks

You need to understand why you're being advised to hit 3w off the tee.

The more loft a club has, the straighter it goes. So a 3 wood, at probably 15° loft is by design straighter than your driver.

You say you hit 3 fairways/round with your driver. That's out of how many tries (with the driver)?

Saying you slice or pull you driver tells me that your swingpath is outside in. I would play your 3 wood in the same place as your driver (may a half-a-ball back towards center). Then swing easier. The toughest thing for a golfer to do, IMO, is trust that the club will do the work. We all tend to think 'this club is hits the ball a long way, so I have to swing harder to get it to do that'.

Wrong. By virtue of it's loft, it goes further. Swing easy. It may stop the pull or slice (or at the very least, lessen the effect).

But I'm with you - who has confidence in hitting a 210cc head off the tee? Introduce the Thriver. Driver sized head, 3 wood loft. Ubizmo is learning about thrivers, and what they can do for your game (although we haven't heard much from him lately. The guy breaks 100, and disappears! He must be at Q school. ) But I digress. The thriver is the answer. All the forgiveness of your current driver, but with the shot-straightening characteristics of your 3 wood.

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For the record, I'm a club doctor, not a swing doctor.

I hit 3 fairways out of 15 attempts on my local course which is not a good ratio. Where can I find a thriver.

Thanks

If it helps at all, thrivers are sometimes described as "Max" - i.e. the tech spec / brochure lofts will say 8, 9.5 11 (or whatever) plus "Max" - which may well be 14 or 15.

I think its because the marketing people think that a 15 degree driver is an insult to the macho male and therefore don't label it overtly.

I think it's quite rare to find someone who actually hits the driver better than the 3W Any swing faults should be more pronounced the higher you go with the clubs. This was my understanding. Any thoughts on this? If robersha you can actually hit the driver better than then 3W, could there be some fundamental difference in both equipment to account for this?

Irregardless of distance, if you're hitting 3 fairways a round with it, leave your driver in the garage.

I'm honestly not sure you can buy a Thriver in a big box store. You may have to visit your local club builder for a thriver.

If you can get me video of your swing, I may be able to suggest some specs, or build it myself.

Current design of 3-woods, is such that the heads are very small, especially compared with the huge driver heads some now use. I just bought a Ben Hogan 3-wood, but even it has quite a smal head - but not as small as the Titleists and some others.

Like you, I can hit my driver far more consistently than my 3-wood - probably just because it is more tolerant of off-centre hits.

I too, may not hit that many fairways, but it depends how far off you are If I miss, it is usually by a yard or two, so I have to play from the rough. On our home course, we sometimes do this on purpose to cut distance (when the rough is not too long!).

You should probably get a higher loft driver or look for an old style 3-wood with a higher face than the current low-profile Tight-Lies type. I have a 10.5 Deg Taylormade R510 driver. Even Vijay used to play this same club - It's like hitting with a 2-wood. It's quite a bit harder to hit a 9.5 Deg driver.

When I started back at golf, I first used my old style (bigger head) 5-Wood, then progressed to a 3 wood and then finally to the driver once I had developed some type of repeatable swing. So, there could be something in what your pro is advising you.

Good Luck!

for some reason it feels natural to want to pick up the big stick and thunder the golf ball as far as you can, using a 3 wood is easier as it will provide more accuracy for you off the tee. my advice is when you practice is to start with a 6 iron then a pitching wedge and try to learn a key thing that is relax when hitting the ball feel relaxed and as if your helping the ball along rather than knocking it to next week , slow down your swing and try to understand the science of how your club looks and feels in different areas of your swing . basics are to 1st learn the correct grip, 2nd , it is all arms on the first part of your backswing then your body starts to turn,if you can afford to have regular lessons have 2 a month and try to get to the range more often to practice what you have been shown. theres no point having lessons unless you get the chance to practice what your being taught. golf is the most beautifull game but also the hardest to learn it,s all in your head and dont lose patients rome was'nt built in a day

I was always taught to firstly use the 3 wood off the tee. When consistency was accomplished then move onto the the driver. You're paying your coach good money - no point going to him if you don't take on board what he says.

I wouldn't be happy only hitting 3 or 4 fairways with driver if I used it off the tee everytime (barring par 3's).

My driver comes out it certain situations. Obviously confidence is one of the factors. Other factors are wind, dog leg and so on. If I can get to the 150 m mark off the tee using another club - I'll will (my driver tends to have a tail).

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hi nicole
really envious of you guys and gals out there that have a coach

i am learning solely from gto and dave pelz short game bible
looking forward to the day i can afford personal tuition and hopefully see the cap plummet!
got my first ever comp next week and my adage is when the flag drops the bullsh*t stops!

My coach did point out a very interesting point, which I can definitely relate to. For a beginner such as myself, normally you find that when you move up a club, you actually hit it worse than the last club you practised and are comfortable with - that includes consistency, distance and direction. Because I was able to launch the 4W pretty decently, I was advised to move on and not be afraid to practise with the driver. Reason given : If you have any swing faults, it will be more apparent with the driver. And the other reason, once you have practised enough with the driver and manage to launch it decently, you will realise that you could easily do the same with the 4W (or 3W).

If you look at it from a certain point of view, it does make good sense

When I damaged my small headed Tommy Armour driver I was left hitting off the tee with a new 3W I had in my bag. Now my driver was my first non-wood driver and I seemed to be more accurate with it than hitting the old persimmons. The metal 3W head was somewhat larger ( I don't know the CCs) and the shaft was more flexible than the driver's shaft. I noticed that the 3W became more consistent for me and distance was not suffering all that much. As a result I used the 3W exclusively for a couple of years. This year I purchased a 460cc headed driver. On the practice tee I felt uncomfortable looking at that huge head. It reminded me of those plastic kiddie golf sets with the huge red plastic head. Anyway, aside from this, using longer tees was a must. With the new BIG driver, my distance is slightly longer (when I hit it) than my 3W, but my swing is not as good with it. I seem to be pushing the ball to the right. (Instead of 12 o'clock, perhaps 1 or 2 o'clock). This tells me I'm not coming around on the ball as well or addressing it correctly. The shaft is similar to the 3W. Consequently, my confidence remains stronger with the 3W off the tee.

I suppose if I were to spend time practicing with the driver I would soon learn it's differences and then I might be able to alter my swing or address just a bit to get it to fly straight. Golf is a very tough game to master isn' t it.

I know how you feel. I am new to this game, and have already gone from the driver to a 4 iron on some holes. Cant seem to hit with the driver at all.

Its my opinion that you should use whatever club you are most comfortable with. I do know a few golfers how hit their driver better than their 3-wood. With the driver you will indeed have the advantage of having a large club face, however, you will be more susceptible to hooks or slices than a 3-wood. You should perhaps analyze your bad shots. Are you having more of a problem with contact or slices/hooks? If the answer is contact, stick to your driver, and if its slices/hooks, than try a 3-wood. Good luck.