How often do you use your Driver?

[patricks148]

whould depend on the tee, if its the blacks, i'd prob be using it it for most holes except the par 3's, but may even need it on 14 depeding on the pin and wind. apart from that i wouldn't use it on 15,17 and 18. off the medal i don't tend to use it on 3,5,8,9,10,15,17 and 18. with the course redesign, i'm laying up on the two par 5 on the back 9 because i keep sticking it the new bunkers. on the whole i decide depending on my pref 2nd shot

 

[Wolf]

Literally depends on the course I'm playing and conditions. But my last home course would usually be about 7 times and only 1 of those tee shots is on a par 5. The other 3 par 5s can get better position using the 3 wood off the tee because going for them in 2 brings in hazards that just need to be risked.

At my dads course I can get away with using a driver probably max 5 times, that's to take advantage on the 3 par 5s and 2 long par 4s. Rest of the time round there I'll use max 3wood or even a 3H. Its a very tight little course that driver just doesn't give any advantage to length over position.

 

[Karl102]

@westlancs the other night 4 times... Yesterday @blundells 4 again. Can go to 6/7 off different tees!
You hit that hybrid really well and I bet it wouldn't be far behind your driver ?

 

[pendodave]

Between 6 and 12 times on my home course.
Between 14 and 15 at my dad's.
Driving well is one of the joys of the game, I'd always try to work round a bad patch.

 

[Oldham92]

Providing the wind isn't too extreme is every hole that's not a par 3 for me

I don't have extreme distance .. prob 200-220 but it's very straight ..so don't have worries using it in any situation

If it's really windy I'll use a 4 hyrbid into the breeze and driver against

5 wood for long par 3s

Similar to this for me. I sometimes go for the FW on shorter par 4s though

 

[Oldham92]

At my course there are effectively 15 holes where I can play Driver (which includes a long par 3 up hill).

But probably only 7 where the added distance really makes a difference, i.e. it changes from I can't reach this green, to I can (assuming 2 decent hits). All 7 are long par 4s and in reality I rarely hit the green in 2 shots anyway.

My course is reasonably wide open and so the vast majority of fairways are big targets, so I often find it hard to justify not giving Driver a hit. i.e. missing your Drive usually results in a ball still in play, just with no real shot onto the green. And it can still be reachable on the shorter holes.

In terms of my game, I actually hit my 3 wood far more consistently and confidently, so I'd be interested to know that over 100 hits on course if my Driver averaged more than my 3 wood?

My logic keeps coming back to the Mark Broadie book, Every Shot Counts, which pretty much stated you are best trying to hit the ball as far as you can off the tee... obviously assuming you aren't bringing serious trouble into play like OB or Water.

I guess you might get so far bumping a 3 wood down there, but after a few rounds it would take huge discipline not to try and get some Drives in play - especially on the longer holes where there isn't much risk. And you will always strive for that one round where you put a good swing on 12 or 13 Drivers and potentially set up a great scoring day.

And the final point is if you are struggling with your Driver, then get better.

I went for the 3W over driver when I struggled with my slice. Seemed to work reasonably well, just meant going up a club or 2 with the 2nd shot

 

[jim8flog]

Between 8 and 15 depending on the tee in use, the wind direction and what I am playing.

Even if I go down to a mid iron on the short par 4s there is still no guarantee of hitting the fairway when I am being wayward and I would sooner hit a wedge form the rough than another mid iron from the rough.

 

[clubchamp98]

It’s one of my best clubs so I use it as much as possible.

 

[IanM]

On my home course, there are 13 non par 3s.

Driver never used on 3 of these... maybe 2 others have decisions made depending on conditions and how I'm playing

 

[moogie]

Current home course
12 times per round
Not much choice due to layout
Plus its like windy city where its at

 

[Mark1751]

As my course is on a temporary layout due to redevelopment I only “need” to hit it 4 times, on the old layout up to 10 times. Need to practice hitting it and my hybrids as only use them once or twice in a round now.

 

[chrisd]

Usually 12 times

 

[Crow]

Typical round on my home course would be 5 times and one of those is a 50/50.

 

[larmen]

12 x a round. I can’t hit long irons, and I can’t hit irons of a tee. So on a par 4 or 5 the driver comes out. I am usually short enough with the driver as well to not run into any trouble, so it’s just the odd slice to deal with.

 

[Orikoru]

I use mine a lot, but I kind of have to since I'm not a big hitter and I'd rather be hitting 7,8 iron to the green than a hybrid really. The only time I don't hit it is when slicing it right would be a real disaster, then I do tend to hit 5 wood now for a bit of extra safety. As my bad drive would be a slice. But generally my driver isn't crazy and wayward like some people's so if there's a bit of a room I'm happy to reach for it. I don't think it costs me a lot of shots, the occasional bad one but I'm not losing balls every round with it or anything. Ultimately I like my driver and it's fun to hit driver isn't it? In winter I hit it even more due to distance loss, I have been known to hit my driver 12 times in a round.

 

[AdamC28]

Usually 11 times a round (not counting reloads ).
4 par 3‘s on the course and 3 par 4’s where an iron off the tee is plenty.

 

[Deleted member 25575]

For me 7 or 8 times.

3 par 5's
4 longer par 4's
Possibly the par 3 thats 240 up hill, which I find 3w only occasionally works out.

Im a horror show with my 3w off the tee, if I could fix that, then possibly only 5 times.

 

[HomerJSimpson]

At the moment 12 times (anything that isn't a par 3). There are a couple of holes I could take a 3 wood but the extra distance gives me more options for the approach in terms of a long pitch and run or something more lofted. It's a new driver so the joy of hitting it hasn't worn off and it's currently behaving

 

[williamalex1]

16 times a round usually followed by a 3 wood then probably a wedge

 

[Oldham92]

At the moment 12 times (anything that isn't a par 3). There are a couple of holes I could take a 3 wood but the extra distance gives me more options for the approach in terms of a long pitch and run or something more lofted. It's a new driver so the joy of hitting it hasn't worn off and it's currently behaving

You have 6 par 3s? Wow that seems like a lot compared to courses round here