The Driver obsession

[Shamed04]

Re: The Driver obsession

the answer is simple and logical...you want to hit the ball on the upswing not the down, or at the bottom of the swing...therefore the ball needs to be teed up higher than where your club would be at the bottom of the swing

[Robert O' Keeffe]

Re: The Driver obsession

Lets face it guys. We all like to hit the big stick because we are so sure we will hit the big boomer!!. And the more we make a mess of it, the more we pull it out of the bag. "Now, what did i do wrong last tee box, I will definitely get it right next tee". its a man thing, and we also watch too much TV!!!

[Shamed04]

Re: The Driver obsession

speak for yourself...i may watch 1hr of tv a day and its usually the golf channel..

[dannyra]

Re: The Driver obsession

First post after a long layoff from the site. Starting to get the bug back now that football season is over.

Here are some of my reasons for hitting the big stick.

1. My 3 wood is old, small head. Driver is large and gives me more confidence.
2. If I'm hitting from the trees anyway, I'd rather be 30 yards farther.
3. Have 2 holes with ponds. One is roughly 240 to carry, the other is around 270 to carry. The first pond isn't in play with the driver, 2nd pond I can occasionally carry with the driver. And everything slopes to the pond, so my 3 wood will kick into the pond a lot more often than my driver.

Now if the snow would just melt off the course so I can get out there.

[BrianW]

Re: The Driver obsession

But do you know why?

Yes, I think so.

If I use a lower tee with my driver (G2) I catch the ball lower down on the face missing the sweet spot, the higher hit makes the best from the clubs COR. With these tees I get better distance by making a good sweeping hit to the ball as the clubface rises past the swing low point. My driver has 10 deg loft which gives a launch angle of around 8 deg this way, I have found this launch angle gives me the best trajectory to encourage the balls maximum carry on landing (around 35/40 deg to the ground).

[lafrenz75]

Re: The Driver obsession

The driver is a club that is the greatest mystery and even the claim of success by other people here, especially the "I hit the driver 399 yards everytime", gives me more fascination everytime ths subject comes up in every form. But I do believe that the driver is the only club that seperates the golfer and his/her strokes by a big margin by either removing it from the bag or using it with 70% sucess on the golfcourse.

People want to kill the ball with the driver. But the killer swing will get you nowhere. The killer swing also comes with, YOURS FREE WITH THE VALUE OF $19.95, a rush of adrenaline. No need for a shot of epinephrine! And you can watch your ball fly high or low, but you can be assured that your ball will not be in the fairway.

But if anyone wants to find progression at thier game, SERIOUSLY, reduce the handicap in three areas.
1. Improve your wedges to at least a 3 foot leave for a 1 putt
2. Ruduce your long putt average by leaving the 2nd putt to at least 3 feet.
3. Master the 3 to 4 feet length putts to 1 stroke time and time again!

The practice cost for the short game is usually free, or in some cases, $2 for a tube rental in some places. But a bucket of balls to practice your driver could range between $3 to $12 for a bucket and $40 to $600 for lessons. Plus, an instructor will not teach the driver mechanics on the first lesson anyway.

[BrianW]

Re: The Driver obsession

Hi Dan,

There is no arguing with your suggestions on the short game. I would also subscribe to the thinking that the driver should not be the first or only choice in driving a ball down the fairway on par 4s and 5s, it depends on ones ability to use it verses ones macho instincts to use it.

Now I wont be bragging of regular 300 yard or even occasional 300+ drives with my driver. However, it is a very important tool within my golfing toolkit and after many years of nurturing my swing to produce reliable long hits with it I would be lost without it. It is a great tool, I can hit it long, it is the easiest club to shape a shot with, long par 4s and 5s would seem so intimidating without it.

To play a good round you need a good reliable, repeatable, long, medium and short game, it would be a mistake to rely on any of them alone. What a great game it is!!!

[lafrenz75]

Re: The Driver obsession

Yo, BrianW
I am happy to see that you are enjoying your game with the talent and hard work that im sure you put in to become a successful golfer. But I want to send the message to augolfer81's message of his concerns about the 90+ handicapper.
The high capper can have more fun and appreciate thier game with more initial success with the short game.
Then if others, with the proper guidance, get the success that you have aquired with the hard work that only some can experience. Its just that so many out there need to know that the game can be fun in other respects instead of the one booming driver that people dwell on to see why they cant seem to repeat it. Golf does not have to be that frustraiting.

[BrianW]

Re: The Driver obsession

Dan,

Well put.

I would not recommend any new or aspiring player to use a driver until they can produce a beautiful swing with their 7 iron.

[merarmou]

Re: The Driver obsession

I see so many post about the driver that I had to start this thread. Why are so many high handicappers obsessed with hitting their driver? Its a tuff club to master, even tiger doesnt have it yet but someone who shoots in the 90s wants to use it every hole anyway. I play with guys who could never fathom using anything except a driver off of the tee and their in the woods half of the time. I use a driver once a round IF im feeling really confident in my swing because theirs just no need to. Im hitting 70% of my fairways by using a 3-wood, right down the middle like moe norman. And if your a high handicapper you will probably hit the 3 wood a good 20 yards farther than a driver anyway. I think a big part of it might be ego and the fact that your trying to "kill" it, but put the ego away for just a while and you will be surprised. So anyway I just had to give a little advice and vent. I hope someone takes the advice and it helps them.

6-8 years ago I might have agreed with you, however, with today's large sweet spot driver's I disagree. The new drivers are so much more forgiving that they allow players of all levels to hit farther and straighter. For my wife, driver is the best club in her bag. She hits it dead straight about 200-220 yards almost every time. For myself, the only time I won't use driver is for extremely narrow fairways, on short par 4s, or if the is trouble beyound 250 yards. Also, for me, even if I miss the fairway, I would rather have a 150 yards shot from the rough than a 180 shot from the fairway. And hitting 3-wood doesn't even garantee that you will hit the fairway. For me the extra distance and slightly lower accuracy is worth it.

[Martin Levac]

Re: The Driver obsession

6-8 years ago I might have agreed with you, however, with today's large sweet spot driver's I disagree. The new drivers are so much more forgiving that they allow players of all levels to hit farther and straighter. For my wife, driver is the best club in her bag. She hits it dead straight about 200-220 yards almost every time. For myself, the only time I won't use driver is for extremely narrow fairways, on short par 4s, or if the is trouble beyound 250 yards. Also, for me, even if I miss the fairway, I would rather have a 150 yards shot from the rough than a 180 shot from the fairway. And hitting 3-wood doesn't even garantee that you will hit the fairway. For me the extra distance and slightly lower accuracy is worth it.

And I'll have to disagree with you. The modern driver is sold with a flexible 46" graphite shaft. It offsets any benefit that the larger head may provide. That's probably why the average player still plays at the same level he used to play 100 years ago or at any other time in the past. That you can hit the ball 250 is not average, it's quite above average. That your wife can hit the ball 200 is not average, it's above average as well. The average is about 200 for men and about 150 for women.

If you will compare the average length of professional player's driver shafts, you will notice that it's far from 46" and closer to 43". If the pros prefer to use 43" drivers and even then it's obvious that they aren't so accurate, why do average players expect to send the ball farther by using a longer club if because of its additional length it becomes even more difficult to make proper contact and thus transmit power to the ball?

Where I play, nobody can hit the driver and land on the fairway at will. It's all a matter of chance, it seems. They're all playing the lottery.

The original poster got it dead on. Use a shorter club, hit the ball better, play better overall, score better, have more fun.

[slater170]

Re: The Driver obsession

"The original poster got it dead on. Use a shorter club, hit the ball better, play better overall, score better, have more fun."
i agree!
after several attempts to master the driver i have sold both of them off tonight.
i hit my 3 wood extremely well and my 3r baffler puts me in the fairway @180yds every single time so no point hoping and praying driver will get me another 30 yds.
more fun playing from your fairway than the adjacent one

[Scragger63]

Re: The Driver obsession

"The original poster got it dead on. Use a shorter club, hit the ball better, play better overall, score better, have more fun."
i agree!
after several attempts to master the driver i have sold both of them off tonight.
i hit my 3 wood extremely well and my 3r baffler puts me in the fairway @180yds every single time so no point hoping and praying driver will get me another 30 yds.
more fun playing from your fairway than the adjacent one

And Amen to that Slats...

Playing a qualifying round tomorrow for my Clubs annual Matchplay knockout tournament. Its also medal day, so its stroke round from the black pegs. My Driver and 3 Wood are both staying home......

Will hit nothing longer than my 4 or 5 iron tomorrow and see if "Target Golf" is possible for me at my home track......

Of course there's also a small matter of holing some putts......

Cheers

[slater170]

Re: The Driver obsession

And Amen to that Slats...

Playing a qualifying round tomorrow for my Clubs annual Matchplay knockout tournament. Its also medal day, so its stroke round from the black pegs. My Driver and 3 Wood are both staying home......

Will hit nothing longer than my 4 or 5 iron tomorrow and see if "Target Golf" is possible for me at my home track......

Of course there's also a small matter of holing some putts......

Cheers

all i gotta do is persuade my playing partners to give up hitting driver and we could save 45 minutes a round not looking for lost balls
good luck tomorrow

[Matt10]

Re: The Driver obsession

I can honestly say that the reason my handicap is as low as it is, after only playing for two years, is because of my shortgame. The last round I played, I didn't have anything over a two-putt, my irons were a bit off, but my driving was decent - about 240-yard average. My wedge game has really taken flight - the result of practicing nothing but my pitches for a whole week has paid off considerably.

I'm playing a round tomorrow and have been using the Mike Austin (MA) method on the range and the small 9-hole Par 3 course we have here. My irons are on target and that's all I'm worried about, I'm bringing my 12* driver and my 8.5* and have no doubt I'll shoot a low score.