3 wood and driver?

[golfshooter]

Essentially, what is the difference between a swing of a 3wood and a driver other than the Tee and a few degrees of loft? For me it is a centre of club strike and 20mtrs less with my 3 wood. A wonderful muffled clink sound and a soaring 3 tier dead accurate flight,a buzz.
Driver, doesn't matter what make or loft, Varying contact sounds, sizzling low flight with a quick right turn onto the next fairway, High right push onto the next fairway, high right slice onto the next fairway, just to add a bit of spice, a snap hook,with or without pounding the tee into the ground,Oh there is also the one that happens when there is no one around to tell you what happened, the ball vanishes into some kind of tear in the space time continuum and is never seen again. Always, always contacting the heel except for the very uncommon, a wonderful symphony happens when the ball hits centre and flys mid flight for 250yds, slight fade. This has been with me for at least 2 years, I broke the head off a Adams Speedline. I have had a couple of lessons with no lasting influence. I am desperate and will try anything, I mean how much difference is there between a 3 and a driver? HELP!

[BrianW]

Re: 3 wood and driver?

There should not be any difference with the swing, I like to try swinging all my clubs like they have a '7' stamped on them when taking a full swing.

As we know the driver has a longer shaft and less loft than a 3 wood, the lower loft amplifies any side spin applied to the ball (read about 'D' plane for an explanation) and the longer shaft makes it harder to square the clubface and hit out of the sweetspot.

One thing I have learned with the driver is to swing it with a smooth tempo, not necessaraly slow but Smoooooooooth! no jerky movements and no 'Heave Ho' just a nice steady backswing, pause at the top while the left hip starts to turn back, an easy transition then a gradual increase through the ball so that the clubhead is accellerating through impact and through to a full finish, feel the shaft touch the back of my neck in the follow through.

I tend to change between my Driver and 3 Wood on holes depending on the shape of the fairway, I can get a nice high draw or fade with my 3 wood.

[golfshooter]

Re: 3 wood and driver?

Thanks Brian, I know what your saying is right I just can't seem to pull it off'. I am going out again today and will be concentrating on just that, smooooth. I have been soaking up a lot about Mike Austin.I know I have been playing a relatively short time,I just don't know how I missed this guy. What a legend, The swing is just as you said so not to be beaten away we go again. the most enlightening thing I found with him is the swing starting at the ankles and works its way up. I guess you can't have an effective swing if your base is not under control.

[golfshooter]

Re: 3 wood and driver?

Brian, bearing in mind we have no range here and just have to pick a quiet time to practice.
Today I went out with three thoughts going in my head. 1. swing like its a 7 iron or a 5w. 2. swing firmly and smoothly. 3. Don't be afraid to move the ball around in my stance even if it is not "by the book" It must be a long time since I have hit something like consistent because I felt I was in control after 6 or so shots identical shots with these simple thoughts. I found my impact point and it was fading as usual, but it was consistent. It is a TM R9 Tri so I made an adjustment and yes there was a predicable out come. A few shots more,still consistent. Another adjustment and there it was, piercing trajectory with a slight fade easily kept on the fairway and incredible distance for me. They are a little low so when I got home decided to put more weight in the tail. Pulled the weight and though it was marked 14 it weighed 4 grams. It was the right size but made of alloy of some kind. I put in a 12g and that should be close to it. Have you ever heard of this ? Any way I even got joy out of hitting the toe, that has not happened to me before in my rather faulty memory. But I've got it Brian, got the Mojo on! I am not stepping up to drive and wondering where the hell it was going this time. This in itself is enormously positive and lifts a weight so thank you for giving me the key.

[BrianW]

Re: 3 wood and driver?

Thats good news, keep it smooth and easy and you will see the benefits in consistency.