How often do you use your Driver?

[dronfield]

This is something I have been experimenting with of late. Was becoming a bit erratic off the tee & so took my driver out of the bag & went back to using my 14 degree mini driver, however, recently I decided to try the driver again & am suddenly hitting it straighter & more consistently than the mini driver.
The bigger headed driver feels more forgiving despite the lower loft & longer shaft - have now taken the mini driver out of the bag & am using my 5 wood off the tee on tighter/shorter driving holes.

 

[jamiet7682]

Never at the moment, cant hit it straight so it stays in the car and i tee off with 3h.

Keeps me out of trouble and on losing 20/30 yards.

 

[Wilf]

Up until a couple of weeks ago on every hole that wasn't a par 3 working on the theory that the closer I am to the green and therefore hitting less club the better.

However I've now started hitting a 19 degree hybrid off 3 or 4 holes as the potential miss with my hybrid is not as destructive, the holes are a bit tighter and shorter as well or have dog legs. The main reason for actually implementing the change was playing with my 15 year old son and as he has increased his length off the tee I started suggesting different ways to play holes. Gotta practice what you preach else you get the "well you don't comments"

Two rounds in, results are mixed, first round played well and the new approach worked, second not so well but the not so well is the result of bad swings on second shots which I can work on rather than reloads or hack outs.

 

[rksquire]

In competition at my home course, 4 times a round. Although admittedly, I have started working again on making it more reliable so if 'feeling' it I might start using it on our par 5 18th as I've a chance of making it in 2.
However, my scoring has drastically improved since I started plotting my way 'sensibly' round the course. Notwithstanding conditions, from the tips it's 4 x drivers, 5 x 3woods, 3 x 4Hybrids and the rest are irons. Result? Fewer lost balls, ball generally in play or at least in less worse trouble. The only difficulty is my scoring has become very reliant on my second shots to put me in a good position - these need to be good.

Social rounds, I'm still swings for the hills as often as possible!

 

[Swango1980]

If a driver is likely to get me within 50-120 yards of the green, I usually just hit an iron off the tee. Not only it is often the safer option by miles, I'm more comfortable playing a full wedge-8iron into the green than a flicky pitch type of shot from inside 100 yards, especially if there is water or bunkers in front of green. Unless you are generally a very low handicapper, it often seems higher handicappers have no real benefit from hitting a 60 yard pitch shot to green compared to just a full strike from 150 yards. In fact, the shorter shot usually seems to bring in more fat and thin shots as higher handicappers get too wristy (and I count myself in that group, and I have played off 6-9 this season).

Our 10th is a great example. It is 320 yards dog leg right, pond in front of green. I see so many golfers just get a driver out, and often hit it deep into trees left or right (rarely to be found again). If they hit it well. they may up in bunkers about 80 yards short of green, but hopefully on fairway. Even if they hit it on fairway, they then often duff their next shot into the pond. I learned a long time ago just to hit about a 6 iron off tee, which lays up short of bunkers and makes the fairway massive. If need to hit it seriously right or left to go into garbage, and I have a full Wedge / 9 iron into green on most occasions. Even if I hit a rubbish contact off tee, I'm still often hitting no worse than 7-8 iron into green.

Course management can seriously reduce your scores. Colin Montgomery said he could save an amateur 5-6 shots a round by simply being their caddy.

 

[Deleted member 1147]

I use it on any hole where it doesn’t go too far.
The last round I played was wet, so used it on 8 out of 14 par 4/5’s.
When it’s bone dry I’ll use it approx 5 or 6 times, as I’ll run out of fairway.

 

[Orikoru]

If a driver is likely to get me within 50-120 yards of the green, I usually just hit an iron off the tee. Not only it is often the safer option by miles, I'm more comfortable playing a full wedge-8iron into the green than a flicky pitch type of shot from inside 100 yards, especially if there is water or bunkers in front of green. Unless you are generally a very low handicapper, it often seems higher handicappers have no real benefit from hitting a 60 yard pitch shot to green compared to just a full strike from 150 yards. In fact, the shorter shot usually seems to bring in more fat and thin shots as higher handicappers get too wristy (and I count myself in that group, and I have played off 6-9 this season).

Our 10th is a great example. It is 320 yards dog leg right, pond in front of green. I see so many golfers just get a driver out, and often hit it deep into trees left or right (rarely to be found again). If they hit it well. they may up in bunkers about 80 yards short of green, but hopefully on fairway. Even if they hit it on fairway, they then often duff their next shot into the pond. I learned a long time ago just to hit about a 6 iron off tee, which lays up short of bunkers and makes the fairway massive. If need to hit it seriously right or left to go into garbage, and I have a full Wedge / 9 iron into green on most occasions. Even if I hit a rubbish contact off tee, I'm still often hitting no worse than 7-8 iron into green.

Course management can seriously reduce your scores. Colin Montgomery said he could save an amateur 5-6 shots a round by simply being their caddy.

I don't think this is true for me. Yes I may fat the odd pitch but you're still only 20 yards short of the green, whereas from 150 yards there is more chance of ending up in greenside bunkers left or right. Whereas from 50-60 yards it's not often I'd be that far left or right. So it's swings and roundabouts really. One of the two holes where I don't get a shot on our course is only 290 yards. I could hit two 8 irons if I wanted to, but I always hit driver on that hole because I still prefer being nearer the green. Last weekend I did in fact fat my pitch from about 60 yards, but it's not like I'm perfect at hitting full 8 irons either, so I still believe the nearer the green I can safely get, the better.

 

[Swango1980]

I don't think this is true for me. Yes I may fat the odd pitch but you're still only 20 yards short of the green, whereas from 150 yards there is more chance of ending up in greenside bunkers left or right. Whereas from 50-60 yards it's not often I'd be that far left or right. So it's swings and roundabouts really. One of the two holes where I don't get a shot on our course is only 290 yards. I could hit two 8 irons if I wanted to, but I always hit driver on that hole because I still prefer being nearer the green. Last weekend I did in fact fat my pitch from about 60 yards, but it's not like I'm perfect at hitting full 8 irons either, so I still believe the nearer the green I can safely get, the better.

True, every golfer is different. It also largely depends on the hole. In my general example, if there is a lot of risk around green, and very little 130 yards back, makes sense to use iron off the tee. However, there are some holes around 300-330 yards where I think it is actually safer to hit it at green as there is a nice bail out area to one side of it and a fairly simple chip / pitch, rather than messing about with iron off the tee.

 

[Orikoru]

True, every golfer is different. It also largely depends on the hole. In my general example, if there is a lot of risk around green, and very little 130 yards back, makes sense to use iron off the tee. However, there are some holes around 300-330 yards where I think it is actually safer to hit it at green as there is a nice bail out area to one side of it and a fairly simple chip / pitch, rather than messing about with iron off the tee.

Yeah that's fair. The hole I was talking about does have a ditch left and trees right, but it curves slightly left to right so generally suits my fade down to the ground. And no trouble up the middle.

 

[Oldham92]

If a driver is likely to get me within 50-120 yards of the green, I usually just hit an iron off the tee. Not only it is often the safer option by miles, I'm more comfortable playing a full wedge-8iron into the green than a flicky pitch type of shot from inside 100 yards, especially if there is water or bunkers in front of green. Unless you are generally a very low handicapper, it often seems higher handicappers have no real benefit from hitting a 60 yard pitch shot to green compared to just a full strike from 150 yards. In fact, the shorter shot usually seems to bring in more fat and thin shots as higher handicappers get too wristy (and I count myself in that group, and I have played off 6-9 this season).

Our 10th is a great example. It is 320 yards dog leg right, pond in front of green. I see so many golfers just get a driver out, and often hit it deep into trees left or right (rarely to be found again). If they hit it well. they may up in bunkers about 80 yards short of green, but hopefully on fairway. Even if they hit it on fairway, they then often duff their next shot into the pond. I learned a long time ago just to hit about a 6 iron off tee, which lays up short of bunkers and makes the fairway massive. If need to hit it seriously right or left to go into garbage, and I have a full Wedge / 9 iron into green on most occasions. Even if I hit a rubbish contact off tee, I'm still often hitting no worse than 7-8 iron into green.

Course management can seriously reduce your scores. Colin Montgomery said he could save an amateur 5-6 shots a round by simply being their caddy.

This makes sense, but for me it's the most accurate club I have off the tee, so unless there's an obvious hazard in range I'll usually go with driver

 

[Swango1980]

This makes sense, but for me it's the most accurate club I have off the tee, so unless there's an obvious hazard in range I'll usually go with driver

A fair point. Although, depending on the hole, you can be significantly off line with an iron but still be OK, whereas slightly hit it off line with a driver and find you are in some nasty junk. Or sometimes vice versa. So, there is a bit to think about. I guess I ask myself the following questions on, for both driver and a lay up club off tee:

• If I hit this well, how easy will my next shot be
• If I hit this badly (maybe based on my usual type of misfit), how much of a nightmare could I be in?
• What is the probability that I'll hit this club badly?

If the answer to my first question indicates the driver will not put me in a much better position than the iron, then I'll go iron. If it indicated that the driver could put me in a much better position, then I ask myself the 2nd and 3rd questions to see if it is worth the risk.

 

[PJ87]

All these [relatively] straight drives 200-220 yards, means you all must have a shocking short game or can’t putt, or you’d all be Cat1’s ?

I lived up to this today

some cracking drives

some cracking seconds to just short... poor around greens cost me.. putting was decent was the shot between that!

 

[HomerJSimpson]

I tend to hit it down as far as I can given I only average 220 or so. We have a short 4th with a bunker about 60 yards short which down wind and a firm bounce I can hit. However the fairway cambers left so chances are the ball as it runs out of impetus will track left. The point is the green is severely sloped and I've been finding it hard to control a lofted shot as it lands on the slope and runs down the slope often away from the hole. I've been toying with the long chip and run from 70-80 yards up the right to let it feed. Been getting much closer. The bunker is the biggest issue (although the OOB left can come into play with driver if I tug it too much).

As I've worked hard on my short game and especially pitching on the other holes with less contoured greens, getting as far down as possible is the sensible play. To be honest to go offline on most of the holes I use it to "attack" is a very poor shot and you deserve the punishment you get if you do

 

[shun_naka]

I went through a phase of using it on every hole aside from par 3s (as my distance is not good generally) and it was a disaster.
Started going for 5 woods and felt much more comfortable and keeping the ball in play more often

 

[sunshine]

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.

Do you hit driver on 18? I always used to but now I’m not sure I would have the confidence (or ability )

 

[sunshine]

At least 11; possibly 14; there's only 2 holes I haven't used Driver on - and we've 6 Par 3s!

The Shire?
If so, you must be a big hitter if you’re taking driver on holes like 2 and 3!

 

[hairball_89]

I'm a nomad, but the last 3 rounds I've played across 3 different courses, I hit it twice, 4 times and once.

As a high handicapper I'm mostly hitting hybrid or 5/6 iron and making sure I'm on the short stuff, with the occasional 3 wood and even more occasional driver. However, it is very much improving and I'm hoping to up these numbers by 2/3 on each course as it will allow me to attack a few more greens. That said, I'm getting 220 out of my hybrid at the moment so I'm not 'risking' driver.

 

[Foxholer]

The Shire?
If so, you must be a big hitter if you’re taking driver on holes like 2 and 3!

Indeed, The Shire.
And quite the opposite - a short-hitter these days. Hopefully getting longer with new hip, but other hip is playing up now too I'm 67 and legs have taken a battering from various sports injuries (Hockey, Tennis and Ice Skating)! One hip replaced and other feeling like needed soon!
Don't take Driver on 2 (2 or 4 wood normally), but do (with 'easy' swing) on 3 to get decent distance. Driver often comes out on Par 3 4th, Par 3 12th (if pin is middle to back, otherwise I lay up) Par 3 14th if back tee (as per last couple of times as they were protecting normal Men's tee for Ladies Rose Series) and often Par 3 17th - all purely because no other club will get the distance to get over hazards (mainly ponds) in front. Such tactics mean that (given they are all 'shot holes') I'm pretty competitive in our group (others are off 6-8) - at least if/while legs carry me! I was once off 7 for a while, so it's only length that's a 'problem'! Oh! and I birdied 1st last time out (and should have previous time too) when pin was in 'my favourite' position!

 

[Orikoru]

Do you hit driver on 18? I always used to but now I’m not sure I would have the confidence (or ability )

Nope. You probably need 200 carry to get over the ditch, but if you fade it like me you need more like 210 because of the angle of it. I don't really have that in my locker, not enough for it to be worth attempting anyway.