The Driver obsession

[Matt10]

Re: The Driver obsession

OK but isnt the whole point that if you are only getting 220 off the tee and you are not comfortable hitting a long iron or 3 wood from the fairway then you are probably a high enough handicap, say 18.
If you are 18 handicap then you shouldnt really be going for the pin in 2 on the longer holes. In fact you are probably only off 18 because you do go for it in two, make a balls of it and then end up with a 6 wondering what when wrong....

You have to play to your own ability, not your partners or anyone elses. There is a reason for having handicaps, use it.

Precisely. If you can only hit your driver 210-220, then play from the gold or white tees - not blues or blacks. Play to your handicap, and if you keep the mentality of "I'd rather be in the woods than not hit driver", your handicap will stay the same.

[Martin Levac]

Re: The Driver obsession

Here is my routine when I use my driver. I stand with both feet together and the ball is exactly even with the center of my right foot ( I am right handed). This ball position puts the ball exactly 2 inches from the right edge of my left foot. I then move my right foot out to shoulder width. Tee hight is 3 inches from the ground. I am six feet tall. My stance is square to the target line. I normally hit a ten yard draw. My carry and distance is about 230 to 250 with a regular shaft and 10.5 degree loft. I use the driver every chance I get. My last outing was this past Sunday. I hit 12 of 14 fairways. Almost every drivewas in the center of the fairway. We played in a 15 to 20 mph south wind. My score that day was 86. My putting killed me.....36 on a 72 par course. I have no excuses but I do need to practice my putting. LOL.

36 putts for 18 holes is par. Your putting is fine, it's the rest of your game that cost you strokes. You scored 86 so that's 14 strokes over par before you even got to the green. But that's all besides the point, you are the exception, not the rule. The great majority of players don't even approach half of what you just did that game.

In my opinion, the dominating aspect of golf is accuracy to reach the green, GIR. Not putting, not driving, not chipping, not recovering.

[Scragger63]

Re: The Driver obsession

hi greeboman
think your are spot on with what you say, if your off 18 then play to your handicap and not try and play off scrach.
bill

Playing off 17 as I do at the moment, all I am trying to achieve in my game at the moment is a little consistency and a lower handicap.

My question, Is it possible to achieve a lower handicap by simply trying to play to your current handicap...

Knows I am capable of playing birdie/par golf and it is the occasional poor shot and or hole that keeps me out at 17 and not something lower.

For me, in order to improve, you have to first believe yourself to be better than you are and then run the gauntlet of avoiding the disappointments that will follow, especially if your estimate of your abilities exceeds your capabilities...

Cheers

[Stillhacken]

Re: The Driver obsession

OK but isnt the whole point that if you are only getting 220 off the tee and you are not comfortable hitting a long iron or 3 wood from the fairway then you are probably a high enough handicap, say 18.
If you are 18 handicap then you shouldnt really be going for the pin in 2 on the longer holes. In fact you are probably only off 18 because you do go for it in two, make a balls of it and then end up with a 6 wondering what when wrong....

You have to play to your own ability, not your partners or anyone elses. There is a reason for having handicaps, use it.

I agree with you for the most part...if your in a tournament or playing for money then handicaps would be what you should play by. The question was..... what is the obsession with the driver? People should be obsessed with the driver. Until they learn to hit it they will probably be playing with a high handicap. If they would learn to hit it they would see a big improvement in all their clubs. And their scores would drop.

[Scragger63]

Re: The Driver obsession

I agree with you for the most part...if your in a tournament or playing for money then handicaps would be what you should play by. The question was..... what is the obsession with the driver? People should be obsessed with the driver. Until they learn to hit it they will probably be playing with a high handicap. If they would learn to hit it they would see a big improvement in all their clubs. And their scores would drop.

How is an 18 marker supposed to "learn" to hit driver when there are PGA Tour Pro's that can't hit it consistently well either...???

[slater170]

Re: The Driver obsession

I agree with you for the most part...if your in a tournament or playing for money then handicaps would be what you should play by. The question was..... what is the obsession with the driver? People should be obsessed with the driver. Until they learn to hit it they will probably be playing with a high handicap. If they would learn to hit it they would see a big improvement in all their clubs. And their scores would drop.

not sure learning to hit driver well will improve my chipping stroke or pitching swing

[bill reed]

Re: The Driver obsession

hi scragger
i found that when i started to take 6 shots on a par 5 and not try and play it as a par 5 i played better and started to work out where i wanted to hit my 120 yard shot as i was always good from 120 yards. that ment my second shot was not a 2 iron to the green but a 6 iron to the fairway, 8 times out of 10 i would put my 4th shot close enough to putt it out. i started to use the same idea on the harder par 4s too. i did get my handicap down to 4 over the next 8 years but i hurt my back and gave up golf for 18 months this is my second year back after that and i'm playing off 14 now and i know i can drop that by another couple . i never get down to 4 again as i was playing 3 days a week then and out most nights chipping and pitching.
i think if you think about your 17 shot handicap and dont take a shot on the par 3s unless there real long you will find you can use that extra shot on some of the holes you have problems with, target the holes you seem to hit 6 or more on and try and get them down first. on the hard ones try and play par + your handicap. i am sure you can drop a few shots very quickly.
my biggest tip is to play within yourself, hit every shot at 80/90%, you will find out you get better results for the drop of a few yard and fight the urge to hit your driver full out.
best of luck
bill

[GreeBoman]

Re: The Driver obsession

Playing off 17 as I do at the moment, all I am trying to achieve in my game at the moment is a little consistency and a lower handicap.

My question, Is it possible to achieve a lower handicap by simply trying to play to your current handicap...

Knows I am capable of playing birdie/par golf and it is the occasional poor shot and or hole that keeps me out at 17 and not something lower.

Ahh welcome to my world
The problem here is that you (we!) are not always using our brains.
How many times a round do you hit a shot that if you thought about it you know it really wont pay off long term?
When hitting an any way iffy shot I try to imagine myself in a matchplay scenario. Would my opposition be happy if they saw me attempting this shot?
If they would then I probabaly shouldnt be playing it!

If you can par and birdie several holes then your problem is that if you do get in trouble, you dont get out of it. You try to make up for a bad drive or a bad approach with an inappropriate next shot, leading to more trouble.

Use the index of the hole to guide you, if its index 18 and you get a good drive away then by all means go for it in 2, but dont feel you have to if conditions arent right.

When he was at his best Jack Nicklaus said he expects to hit 5 or 6 bad shots in a round. I reckon we can probably multiply that by a few.

[Stillhacken]

Re: The Driver obsession

How is an 18 marker supposed to "learn" to hit driver when there are PGA Tour Pro's that can't hit it consistently well either...???

The pros are being compared to other pros. They are also playing on the toughest courses in the world from the tees farthest back. I thought I was getting to be a decent golfer until I played a pga style course. That course humbled me quickly. You can learn to hit your driver just like I did by video taping your swing and watching video of the pros or some of the peoples videos off this site. This site has tons of tips.

[Stillhacken]

Re: The Driver obsession

not sure learning to hit driver well will improve my chipping stroke or pitching swing

If you get farther off the tee you might not need to chip as much because you will be hitting more greens in reg. It might not help your chipping stroke but it will lower your handicap. I am speaking from my experience. I worked on my driver all winter in the garage because that was my weakest part of my game. I have played 4 rounds this year and have been in the 80s every time. And that was with a rusty very rusty short game. I feel I have overcome a hurdle and can now start playing some good golf.

[Scragger63]

Re: The Driver obsession

Hey Bill... Thanks for that and yes, I agree entirely with the 80%/90% swing thought. I have been carrying that with me (where I remember) for a few weeks now. There have been times when my frustrations, however brought on, have conspired to see me forget this thought. Tomorrow is a new day and a new round. Actually looking forward to tomorrow's round. Just a Stableford round with a couple of mates, should be both relaxing and enjoyable, regardless of the score. As I have said before, I'm going to attempt to keep it on the short stuff and swing well within myself. We'll see what happens.

And yes Gree, brains is very definitely my problem me thinks. I'm hopeful of not hitting any bad ones, but if Jack expected 5 or 6, I guess I have to expect to hit many more than that, or at least not be as critical of myself when I do...

Cheers

[BrianW]

Re: The Driver obsession

When I start producing poor drives it is normally down to two reasons:

Gripping too tightly with tense arms and shoulders.

Not making a full shoulder turn.

[bdbl]

Re: The Driver obsession

36 putts for 18 holes is par. Your putting is fine, it's the rest of your game that cost you strokes. You scored 86 so that's 14 strokes over par before you even got to the green. But that's all besides the point, you are the exception, not the rule. The great majority of players don't even approach half of what you just did that game.

In my opinion, the dominating aspect of golf is accuracy to reach the green, GIR. Not putting, not driving, not chipping, not recovering.

Well up to a point Lord Copper.

Unless you are accurate with your long irons - and most club golfers aren't that accurate - then GIR requires distance off the tee.

Now Golfseeker didn't say how his 36 putts was made up but I think we can assume that (14 over & 36 putts) that he's not getting a lot of GIR - in which case the key to improving his score is the short game.

After all if you can chip your third to within 3 or 4 feet then you are not much worse off than someone who lays GIR but with a 40 foot putt to play - and if you consistently put your approach to within 6 foot then I don't want to play you in the medal but well done.

So - GS's game sounds similar to mine - from experience I'd say that his puuting might well be fine but with a better short game the ppr could come down by at least 4.

[ogallalabob]

Re: The Driver obsession

[quote=Scragger63]How is an 18 marker supposed to "learn" to hit driver when there are PGA Tour Pro's that can't hit it consistently well either...???[/quote

I think the one thing the Pro's are very good at is not letting a bad shot here and there effect thier round. They hit a bad drive, they do not let them effect that hole, they hit a recovery shot and give themselves a good chance to make par. While a poor drive by a ameture usually leads to a attempted hero shot that fails and then a huge number.

The other thing to keep in mind is that positive thinking and confidence goes a long way. If you do not believe you can hit a driver you won't be able to and are better of to leave it in the bag.

I think that the easiest way to lower your handicap is practicing and also play to your strengths wether pitching, irons driving and then work on course managenment. Do not shoot at pins but areas where par is easier and there is a bigger chance for error.

[BrianW]

Re: The Driver obsession

You know, it's a tough call sometimes how to play a hole.

For example:My course has a hole that is a 340 yard par 4, I normally play a driver then a gap or sand wedge to the green. The problem is that at 220 yards there are a row of trees with a deep ditch, the right side is out of bounds and a narrow gap to drive through, many a players drive ends in the ditch or OOB.

Last week I tried using irons only on the back nine, I teed off with a 5 iron which landed centre fairway at 180 yards, followed with a 6 iron to centre green, putted a birdy. I was pleasantly suprised how I was able to eat up par fours and fives with my irons and the longest iron i use is a five.