Driver vs 3 wood

[Oddsocks]

Used a 3w off the tee for years and a 3w is always my reset when my driving goes bandy.

I'd have a few rounds with just a 3w and then have a lesson when your swinging more free and less controlling

 

[And29]

I have nothing but praise for my Aeroburner mini i would give it a try. Its improved my driver numbers.

i would give it a try

 

[poorputter]

How do the numbers compare to your 3w?

 

[Pin-seeker]

Ping G10s are as forgiving as they come. Save some cash, get some lessons.

Or, buy a driver, enjoy it for a month, then get some lessons.

#harshbutfair

This

 

[the_coach]

Ok cool, I've got a GoPro, so I can take some footage. Am I able to upload it to here? Via YouTube or something?

was meaning initially for self assessment to compare the 3m to driver swings but sure you can either embed the youtube vids in a new thread on the experts section or just paste the links to the youtube pages in a post

links would be straight forward copy url and paste those in

or to embed the vid directly into forum thread/post you'd copy the page urls and use the 'video button' you see atop every post window - hit the video (last but one to the right) paste the url hit ok in and vid will enter code to embed vid itself in the post

would be better if you got some sort of smart cell fone to shoot the footage as the problem with a GoPro for swing analysis is the way the gp's shutter works (vertically linear) so when you slow the footage down you get huge distortions in anything that was moving fast - so real weird 'shaft bends', so a ways impossible to see good 'delivery' or 'impact' clubshaft or clubhead images - really need a 'global' shutter to limit distortion.

GoPro's great for general stuff but not a bunch useful for swing analysis

 

[huds1475]

would be better if you got some sort of smart cell fone to shoot the footage as the problem with a GoPro for swing analysis is the way the gp's shutter works (vertically linear) so when you slow the footage down you get huge distortions in anything that was moving fast - so real weird 'shaft bends', so a ways impossible to see good 'delivery' or 'impact' clubshaft or clubhead images - really need a 'global' shutter to limit distortion.

GoPro's great for general stuff but not a bunch useful for swing analysis

Just saved me a few £. Thanks coach :thup:

 

[Face breaker]

Dropped my driver in favour of my 3-wood, never looked back really, still take the big dog out for a run every now and then but nothing's changed, still slice it into the next county !...

 

[TonyN]

Is the shaft too stiff perhaps? Or too heavy?

I dont know as I'm no expert but if your reg shaft in 3 wood is going well, maybe you could do with one in your driver.

I often feel as though some stiff shafts I try feel too heavy, im not sure that is the case, i just think they feel that way as its harder to get them to kick as I'd need to swing faster.

Just a thought!

 

[groundskeeperwilly]

I am similar - driver hits fairway 2/10 times while Fairway wood hits it 8/10 times. Distance is on a par because i strike the 3 wood much more consistently. I also have a downward attach which is more suited to fairway woods than the big stick.

I previously owned an RBZ fairway like yours (was the 14* version IIRC) and won a few long drive prizes using it! They are seriously long if you've got the shaft etc to suit you in there!

Like you I also feel that I could get more out of the driver, and in theory it is easier to hit than a 3Wood but I've not mastered it.

I am just about to buy a new driver but for the moment have been using a strong 3 wood and scoring every bit as well if not better than when I had driver in the bag.

 

[poorputter]

I'm about to hit the range and will hopefully get some footage to show you guys what's going on!

 

[PJ87]

not sure if its been mentioned on here but I was told by both my golf coaches to get a higher lofted driver because the Higher the loft the less the slice (or hook just doesnt flow as much) I have a 12 degree taylormade now moved up from a 10.5 degree ping and I drive much better now (that combined with lessons)

11 handicaper in my society uses a 15 degree driver .. hits some of the nicest drives ive seen

 

[poorputter]

I captured some 20 mins footage earlier, but it took a bit of time to process, so I will upload it in the morning! I warmed up with a few 7 irons, then hit some 3 woods and drivers. One thing I noticed was just how closed my club face is on takeaway! It's shocking! But I seem to get it back to neutral on the downswing. Anyway, I'll let you guys pore over it tomorrow! You might be happy fast forwarding through though!

 

[poorputter]

So i've successfully managed to capture, edit and upload a video from some gopro footage mounted on a tripod! I'm not sure how useful it's going to be to help solve my initial question about consistency with the 3w vs driver issues, but I'd welcome feedback.

I've warmed up with a few 7 irons and then got stuck in to the 3w and then driver. From memory, roughly 6 out of 7 of the 3w here would have hit the fairway. With the driver, it was maybe 2 or 3 out of 5. The misses with both were right. The bad miss with the driver was a block right, off the toe.

I've slowed the footage down on a few swings to help you guys see what's going on. You should be able to view the clip in HD.

Thanks for looking and feedback welcome.
Tom.

[video=youtube;RJoGa3N7dBs]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RJoGa3N7dBs[/video]

 

[patricks148]

can't view the vid

 

[poorputter]

can't view the vid

how strange - it's come up on my screen :-S

 

[clarke_111]

Looks like you have it set as private on YouTube-needs to be a public vid so we can see it. Cheers

 

[poorputter]

That would be why! Should be sorted now!

 

[patricks148]

no swing expert, but you look like you are standing too far away from the ball.

when you take the practice swing and set up, you are fine, you then stretch forward to address the ball.. something i was doing as well

 

[poorputter]

Yer good shout, I've been told that before.

 

[the_coach]

reply for the OP

(warning to others .... long post.......)

touch tricky seeing a lot in 2d vid from only the one dtl viewpoint - for sure need the 'face-on' viewpoint so be able to glean stuff that could be a bunch more helpful

- (you may have shot some but then seen the problems with using GoPro as from 'face-on' as that's where you get the huge distortions of hands, club shaft and clubhead - but at least it would show ball positon set-up ect & grip a touch better along with body motion at transition and so get a better take and what might be going down)
and framing-wise good to shoot in the opposite 'landscape' format so both the big black frames ain't there and also don't get the issue of framing and losing clubhead during swing with the longer clubs

can see you've put some good hard work into set-up & swing: are you currently taking lessons - or had a bunch in the past - or are you for the most part self-taught?

wondering how tall you are?

just a few general observations around set-up

as said can see you've put some effort and thought into it, posture not in too bad shape my take would like to see just a tad flatter lower back as opposed to the little ways of a hollowing out so small 's' curvature to the spine along with maybes a tad less knee flex (though this goes back to the Q. on height, which would play into the knee flex)

always difficult with lens parallax to get a handle on aiming point so alignments (so why always when shooting practice analysis footage a bunch better to have at least 1 alignment stick down to indicate such)

re aiming would seem that the foot line/body line/shoulder lines are aimed at target (as opposed to being aimed parallel left of target line) so if the face angle is aimed to target too them the set-up alignments start off 'closed'

one thing can't see clearly is grip:
but my take on it by the swing motion and clubface angle on the way back then shaft angle and face angle to impact is that the hold on the handle very possibly isn't in the best of shape guessing the handle running a little ways 'up' in the palm of the lead hand and the trail hand maybes too much 'under' the handle so little ways overstrong

as as the club goes back there's some some grip induced rotation counterclockwise in the shaft which closes down the face some this also usually has an effect on ability to set 'the angles' good (pretty impossible to see if the angles {hands/arms to shaft - don't like the term much but common use is 'lag'} get set sufficiently (aroung 85º-90º) from the dtl viewpoint, a 'face-on' viewpoint would show whats going down with this a ways better)

so given the hold on the handle along with the body alignments more aimed at target itself the downswing gotta to be made to hold of the face shutting down even though the swing path is tending to want to swing leftfield through impact

so the body tends to want to stop rotation and rise up some making the shaft angle into impact rise some little ways more vertical, as the clubface feeling is wanting to be held off some to get ball to target so face often times won't close down to 'square' so the tendency to have a bunch of toe strikes ball going rightfield and right some with the less lofted longer clubs - occasionally though if the rotation through happens the face closes so the (pull)hooky scenario with stuff going left some

with 3m & driver look at the final address position before first takeback movement you'll see the clubheads addresses the ball off of the heel (natural subconscious reaction to toe hits but doesn't help as with the impact area rise up and the swing path the clubhead effectively gets pulled towards you and tilted toe down some putting the toe side to ball)
plus on the takeback movement immediately from start there's a slight push outwards of hands & clubhead away from you which will then play into the movements back too impact and the toe to ball

think if you can get to a Pro right now for a series of lessons would be $'s really well spent in getting improvement bang for buck
as you got a lot of good stuff going for you currrently anyways
sort out the grip, slight posture improvements, and aim alignments would then tend to want to swing and deliver the club little ways more naturally as wouldn't instinctively feel the need to hold off and stop rotation so much

if that not possible for any reasons then from the set-up and grip currently would need to spend time at the range learning and letting the hook shots left continue
so you could consistently hit shots hooking leftfield as that would mean the body was working good with the shaft angle being delivered on a better plane into impact

- so set-up and aim parallel left to target line but allow the body to work and the current grip to deliver the face to ball but without trying to hold off to get ball to target - allow yourself to hit it ways left gotta to let the face close - once that's consistent left and the rights have gone (any subsequent rightfield shots would just mean you'd held it off and raised the handle up some again)

then just rotate the trail hand at set-up little ways counterclockwise on the handle (maybes lead hand too but I can't see the need for that to happen for sure from the dtl viewpoints) and so with this start then to straighten out the ball flight
realize this no use out on the course but to have lasting change to shot outcomes there will be some changes needed to be made - otherwise it's just a temporary bandaid change to put more compensations in to balance out the others and overall think you could be a bunch better than that

remember that the clubhead doesn't travel through into impact & out of impact on a straight line - to hit ball to target, as a general thought, a swing concept the clubhead travels on an arc from inside the target line to briefly swing towards target before very quickly continuing back inside the target line
(of course there are all variances on this with small out to in paths, small in to out paths but even on those swingpaths the swings arc has to continue after impact back inside on an arc)

can see you have the potential to play a whole bunch better than what's been experienced currently would urge you to book up those lessons!