Driver essential?

[CannyFifer]

bought a 9* driver without realising it was a stiff shaft a few days ago and after 1 round realised I couldnt hit it so played today using my 3 wood all the time and equalled my best score of 96 including a birdie on one of the par 5's. anyone else play without one although I will get a new one soon but played better without it.

 

[Imurg]

At your standard you're probably better off without one as long as your 3 wood works. But as you get better it would be a good idea to bring one in. But not till you're into the teens/low 20's handicap. Driver can cause all sorts of problems but the better you get, generally, the more you need it.
I couldn't do without it. Some par 4 holes at the moment are out of reach in 2 even after a good drive so not using the driver would make life even harder.

 

[Iaing]

Well, if you played better without the driver I'd say stick with the 3 wood.

 

[brendy]

I was out last week with just my irons and shot level handicap if you need any reassurance that it isnt needed.
Think of it like a joiner and his tools, does he keep the tools with the blunt edges in his toolbox or does he only keep the ones that can reliably do the best job?

 

[pokerjoke]

How can you decide after one round you cant hit your driver,if i did that i wouldnt have any of my clubs,persivere practice and at least give it a try or you will be changing all the time.

 

[Plonko]

I don't think it's just the stiff shaft that's the problem. I also think 9* is ambitious if your best score is 96, it's not very forgiving. Having said that I've not seen you hit a ball.

 

[USER1999]

Yep, driver is essential. Where else do you keep the spiderman headcover?

 

[Screwback]

How can you decide after one round you cant hit your driver,if i did that i wouldnt have any of my clubs,persivere practice and at least give it a try or you will be changing all the time.

I agree with pokerjoke here you have to give a club a chance to blend in with your game and the rest of your set. Also at the end of the day we are in the middle of winter and the cold conditions wont exactly give a true reflection of the performance of a club.

 

[CannyFifer]

At your standard you're probably better off without one as long as your 3 wood works. But as you get better it would be a good idea to bring one in. But not till you're into the teens/low 20's handicap. Driver can cause all sorts of problems but the better you get, generally, the more you need it.
I couldn't do without it. Some par 4 holes at the moment are out of reach in 2 even after a good drive so not using the driver would make life even harder.

cheers mate, comment taken on board. will take the advice and appreciate it.

 

[brendy]

9 degrees is getting beyond the means of most higher handicappers, unless you hit a high ball already Id give it back and swap for 11 or 12 degrees.

 

[CannyFifer]

9 degrees is getting beyond the means of most higher handicappers, unless you hit a high ball already Id give it back and swap for 11 or 12 degrees.

cant give it back thought it would work for me distance wise but it's a stiff shaft and I cant hit it. the thing is I sold my playing partner my tour Edge 10.5 and he's playing great today with it but i still equalled my best round without a driver and had no loss of distance. My swing speed is slow to middling.

 

[USER1999]

Give it time. Any one can hit anything. Just don't let the negatives creep in. Ok X shafts are too stiff (for anyone but superman), but the difference between stiff and reg isn't that great.

 

[PhilTheFragger]

In my limited experience high handicappers like me tend to gain yards but lose accuracy with a driver.

So on a long par 4 or 5 with a wide fairway, go for it as long as your second shot can make up for any lost accuracy.

otherwise try your 3 or 5 woods for 30 yards less distance, but with a better chance of being in the short stuff.

It is a case of knowing your clubs and making them an extension of your body.

(Didnt Inspector gadget have something like that)

Fragger

 

[Herbie]

bought a 9* driver without realising it was a stiff shaft a few days ago and after 1 round realised I couldnt hit it so played today using my 3 wood all the time and equalled my best score of 96 including a birdie on one of the par 5's. anyone else play without one although I will get a new one soon but played better without it.

It depends on how far and how accurately you hit other clubs as to the need of a driver. If you hit a 3w 250 yds for example and do this more accurately and more consistantly than you drive a ball, I would say the driver is not needed at all.

Its just a club that hits a ball like any other, you do not need one if you can compensate by using a smaller club and larger iron shot on approach.

Having said that, more often than not the driver is the club you hit the furthest and can sometimes gain advantage if accurate by using it.

 

[HomerJSimpson]

As I see it you have a number of options

1) Keep it in the bag for a few rounds and see if your driving improves

2) Get shot of it now and just keep using the 3 wood

3) Either try and PX it for a higher lofted and more forgiving shaft (or sell via E-bay and use that money)

Personally I'd be getting a driver in my bag but would be looking for something a lot more forgiving (10.5 as an absolute minimum) and looking for a shaft that complimented my swing speed. It might be that with a slow to middling swing speed that you'd need to look into the kick pint too but not being an expert on the subject is something that the better players could help with

 

[RGDave]

bought a 9* driver without realising it was a stiff shaft a few days ago and after 1 round realised I couldnt hit it

Bad luck. It happens to all of us at some point in our golf playing history.

You'll only do it once.

 

[TonyN]

Played with a guy who was visiting our course yesterday and he played off 7. Said he had been playing for about 25 years and had never had a driver or woods in the bag. He hit a 1 iron off the tee's I hit driver off and he was only 20/30 yards back but his second shots were just as good as his drives. He hit a 1 iron, 3 iron wedge into our 9th par 5. I hit driver, 7, wedge.

Point is, he obv doesn't need one and he claims the reason he doesn't have one is because years ago he tried one and he hit it no further than his 1 iron. Its worked for him but I do wonder how he would hit a modern one.

He claims he couldn't use one but with his swing I dont think it would take him long to learn and could see him dropping his H/C by another shot or two.

 

[SharkAttack]

At a club I was a member of many many moon's ago the lowest club handicap of +2 went to a player who couldn't hit a driver. He mainly used a three wood but could hit a two wood, I guess he would use a 12* or 13* lofted driver now.

All I am really saying is don't be rushed into having a driver in your bag. Let your swing and handicap progress before you put that driver back in your bag, too many people give up golf because they keep losing balls by knocking it OB and hitting balls in tree's.

Shark

 

[Smiffy]

9 degrees is getting beyond the means of most higher handicappers, unless you hit a high ball already Id give it back and swap for 11 or 12 degrees.

Sound advice.
If you have gone for the 9 degrees to keep the ball a bit lower you would be better off (in my opinion obviously) getting a higher lofted clubhead but swapping out to a shaft with a higher kick point to give you a lower trajectory.
Will have the same effect but looking down on 12 degrees of loft at address is a little more confidence inspiring than the straighter face of the one you have at the moment.

 

[David_L]

Phil The Fragger

Gosh you do like Ping stuff