Learning to use drivers etc

[KeefG]

Just a post I read a few minutes ago where the poster said "you might struggle with even the most forgiving of drivers", do we rely too much in this day & age on technology being able to provide us with the right tools for the job?

What i'm getting at is I bought my MP-001 driver off the internet when I knew no better, I didnt realise that a 9.5* would be harder to hit than say a 11*, I also didnt know that Mizuno drivers were pants compared to their irons etc but, after having it in the bag for 2 years, most of that time it was just out for a walk, it is an absolute peach of a club now that I couldnt live without! So much so I was in the market for a new driver myself not so long ago and was given the green light by the wife to spend upto £250 on one....no need now!

A lot of perseverance has seen me learn to hit the club properly, and not just fling it away and spunk £100's away on something new that is designed to be easier to hit.

Is technology gradually replacing skill? Is it going to get to a point where your average village idiot could pick up a driver and tonk it 260yds straight down a fairway?

The way I see it now, manufacturers would not make clubs if they couldnt be hit, ok maybe you need to have a good swing or whatever to be able to hit it, but is it not better to try and get said good swing than to cave in to technology?

 

[Macster]

Good points.

I'm going thru a period where for the last 6mths, my Driving has been shocking, and ive developed a damaging fade/slice with my Driver, while still drawing my irons and 4Wood.

That 4 Wood, - a years old Callaway War Bird with a small steel head & steel shaft, still travels 240yds with a nice draw mostly, and I'm considering taking my Driver out altogther to keep me in play more often.
The 'Big Stick' is a great Club if we can hit it well, and can certainly help in lowering your scores. But equally, its very damaging too if not nailed correctly.

Interestingly, I got down to a 12H/C without ever using a Driver, so perhaps there is food for thought there for some readers ?
240 in the fairway always beats 270 in the trees.

 

[USER1999]

20 years ago few teen handicapped golfers played with drivers. Then Ping came out with a more forgiving model, and they became more popular. Now every one wants a driver within 10 minutes of taking the game up, and expects to hit it 270 with a slight draw.

The manufacturers are only making what people want. Something any monkey can knock down the middle.

Very few have the time, money, patience, desire to have shed loads of lessons and improve their swing.

Shiny stuff is nice too. Much better than practice.

 

[Espada]

Nice to see you read my post Keef

The reality as I see it is there are a range of clubs on the market today, starting with some very forgiving clubs which are great for beginners, ending with some top end clubs aimed at the pros. If a pro used some of these simple clubs they would not play as well as with the more high end clubs, so yes a beginner has some reliance on technology to compensate for their inadequacies but as they advance and get better clubs, skill becomes a more important factor. That is not to say that a beginner needs no skill.

Clubs like drivers are currently to difficult for a lot of golfers out there.

The other month I was playing with someone who has been a golfer for several years and on virtually every hole I played off the tee better than him, despite the fact that I am far less experienced. Part of that was that I had spent hours hitting balls on the range and had taken lessons from a pro but also I used a 3W which I know I can hit okay.

 

[freddielong]

Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes and Yes Finally someone agrees


I have been trying to get this point over for ages and no one agreed with me Technology is replaceing skill. If somthing becomes easier then it requires less skill.

E.g. I used to have to learn to hit the ball straight (not slice it) now I buy a new driver

 

[USER1999]

But if golf is too difficult straight away, very few will stick it out, and many clubs/courses would have to close. To promote the sport, it has to be relatively easy to start, with forgiving kit, and then as you get better, you buy more advanced kit to meet your new requirements.

I don't see the problem.

Someone who buys an offset 12 degree driver to counter their slice, rather than having lessons and practicing will never achieve their true potential, but they will be having fun. Golf is about fun, not just getting your h/cap as low as possible. The technology makes golf fun for more people.

 

[Macster]

I argued the point too, in suggesting that people should learn to use their long irons well, instead of diving for Hybrids instead.

Seems most cant be @rsed tho.

 

[USER1999]

But a long iron is way less versatile than a hybrid, so even though I can hit one, I am not going to 'bag' it. As a result, why bother learning. It is a needless skill.

If all cars were automatic, would you still learn in a manual?

 

[freddielong]

But if golf is too difficult straight away, very few will stick it out, and many clubs/courses would have to close. To promote the sport, it has to be relatively easy to start, with forgiving kit, and then as you get better, you buy more advanced kit to meet your new requirements.

I don't see the problem.

Someone who buys an offset 12 degree driver to counter their slice, rather than having lessons and practicing will never achieve their true potential, but they will be having fun. Golf is about fun, not just getting your h/cap as low as possible. The technology makes golf fun for more people.

In the words of JFK "we choose to play golf not because it is easy but because it is difficult"

I find this argument a load of rubbish anyone who stops playing because they find find it to difficult at the start would give up anyway golf will never be easy, just easier.

 

[USER1999]

You might play it because it is difficult, you might stick with something that you are not naturally gifted at straight away, but many won't.

If every one now had to learn with a hickory shafted bladed one iron, golf would not be as popular as it currently is, and there would be half the number of courses that we currently enjoy.

Ditto for wooden tennis rackets, and leather footballs played with hob nailed boots. All sport evolves in terms of equipment.

Golf is now competeing with things like the playstation. You need to be able to pick it up, and start playing to a level at which you can enjoy it, or kids won't bother.

Any way, you can't roll it back, so you will just have to climb back into your ivory tower.

Anyway, all this forgiving new kit hasn't done much to lower anyones handicap (particularly mine). It is still a difficult sport, as we all know, and it still comes down to skill at the end of the day. All the technology does is get people interested in the beginning. It is only when they truly get into the game they will realisse how hard it is.
At this point, once they are hooked, hopefully they will want to improve, and iron out their faults.

 

[TWM]

What i'm getting at is I bought my MP-001 driver off the internet when I knew no better, I didnt realise that a 9.5* would be harder to hit than say a 11*, I also didnt know that Mizuno drivers were pants compared to their irons etc but, after having it in the bag for 2 years, most of that time it was just out for a walk, it is an absolute peach of a club now that I couldn't live without! So much so I was in the market for a new driver myself not so long ago and was given the green light by the wife to spend upto £250 on one....no need now!

Yes I have the same idea. I recently bought driver number ten in less than three years but currently use number two, a Wilson Staff Dd5. The first one was from a set - useless, and I keep kidding myself that I can hit a real scorcher if I could only find the right driver. Waste of time and money.

 

[Espada]

Yes I have the same idea. I recently bought driver number ten in less than three years but currently use number two, a Wilson Staff Dd5. The first one was from a set - useless, and I keep kidding myself that I can hit a real scorcher if I could only find the right driver. Waste of time and money.

Doesn't that prove my point though that skill is still important?

 

[Herbie]

I see keefs point in the OP, but new technology was only a factor of the era. When I eventually got a driver, it was a Ping driver, with a real wood on the end of it, I have yet to come across a driver where I have been as consistant or as far hitting as my old ping (which sadly lost its head)technology or not?

I think all the technical factors can be discussed all day long and have their merrits, and the best people to deal with this question are those trained to deal with it. I think one factor that even pro's have difficulty dealing with is mental approach to a Driver, some golfers have more difficulty than others with this problem and until people start looking at the use of a Driver with no more importance than any other club, or find some other simplistic way to look at it, it will always be a big club with a big issue in the minds of many and will hamper choice and progress of some.

 

[HomerJSimpson]

I think personally that there is a certain amount of skill required even with the modern equipment. Shaft lengths are much longer today than even 10 years ago and certainly when metal woods first came out and were the same length (maybe an inch) longer than traditional wooden clubs.

This longer shaft combined with modern graphite technology meansthat it is easier to swing quicker (speed = distance) but the skill is the ability to control the speed and factor in timing and a square clubface. Technology can't solve fundamental swing faults and so it isn't any easier today for the novice to hit a driver and learn the game. They make the same basic mistakes new golfers have made over the years.

 

[Imurg]

No matter how much technology you have on the end of your shaft if you put a crap swing on it you're going to get crap results. So yes skill is a big factor in this game. Yes the technology does help. But you can still slice a square driver and no amount of tinkering with your R9 is going to help if you can't put 2 swings together that at least resemble each other.

Most of the Tour pros are using 420-460cc drivers. they can still knock it 3 miles wide of the fairway.........

Have they not learned to use them?

 

[big_mean_bunny]

I play with about 8 friends that are convinced that drivers are evil, every now and then they get theres out there bag, hit an awful shot and then use that as the proof they are hard to hit despite maybe hitting 4 shots a year with it. They predominantly use 5wd off the tee and one of them even uses a 3 iron on virtually ever hole.

 

[bobmac]

My theory on driving.
This is for people who have trouble hitting their driver.
The driver is unique as it is the only club in the bag you cant club up from.
If you have a shot of say 165yds uphill, wind against and you normally hit your 6 iron 160, most would switch to a 5 or even a 4. With the driver, you dont have that option.
If the hole is uphill against the wind, some golfers just try and hit it harder, creating more spin, height and less distance.
If you know your yardages with your irons, do you also know how far you hit your driver with a normal shot?
Go out on a still day and find out how far you hit it and from then on try and stick to that distance.
If its uphill and against the wind, accept you will hit it less distance and hit a longer club for your second.
So, if your driving distance is say 250yds, dont try and hit it 280. Stick to what you know you can do. Dont try and do what you think you can do

 

[RGDave]

Is technology gradually replacing skill? Is it going to get to a point where your average village idiot could pick up a driver and tonk it 260yds straight down a fairway?

Hmm.....a bit maybe.

I remember playing with drivers about the size of a modern 5 wood and doing OK.
The idea the an average Joe can pick up a club and hit it straight and long because of easier-to-use technology is a bit bonkers. All the technology can do is help us all to play a bit better.

Having said all this, I do find my latest driver almost like cheating, but even with 20 more yards and splitting the fairway, I've still got to hit a proper iron shot onto the green.....

Some club golfers are hitting some clubs better than ever (hybrids vs. long irons, Drivers etc.) but the scores are the same as ever more or less. A bogey is a bogey regardless if you've hit a great 260 yard drive that would have been a poor 200 yarder 20 years ago.

 

[Handycap]

At it's highest level, which is a professional vocation, for all the superstars that make it big, there must be a thousand that don't. A professional or scratch player relies on his own skill and choice of equipment on an equitable competitive basis; there are no free strokes given or received by any player.
At this skill level, the choice of equipment is mainly determined by sponsorship as most manufacturors range of products are all going to be fairly similar to each other's.

For the more humble club golfer the handicap system allows players of all abilities to compete with each other on a fairly even basis. The 24 handicapper can drive the ball straight down the fairway and bogey the hole for net par while playing against the scratch player who doesn't use a square headed driver, but prefers to work the ball round the dogleg left, and over the hazard resulting in one less shot taken to complete the hole. Both are using different equipment that suits their ability as represented by their respective handicaps. One has a better gross score than the other, and so is a better player. But the chances are that the better player will be using equipment that enhances his skill, rather than equipment that compensates a player whose skill level is not as high. If that is the case, the lesser player will improve and can move on to equipment that better suits his/her skill set

That is why this amateur game is almost unique in that all levels of ability can compete against one another at grass roots level. The equipment has changed but it's changed for everyone, and there are a myriad of choices to be made when purchasing new equipment.

 

[RGDave]

The 24 handicapper can drive the ball straight down the fairway and bogey the hole for net par while playing against the scratch player who doesn't use a square headed driver, but prefers to work the ball round the dogleg left, and over the hazard resulting in one less shot taken to complete the hole. Both are using different equipment that suits their ability as represented by their respective handicaps. One has a better gross score than the other, and so is a better player. But the chances are that the better player will be using equipment that enhances his skill, rather than equipment that compensates a player whose skill level is not as high. If that is the case, the lesser player will improve and can move on to equipment that better suits his/her skill set

That is why this amateur game is almost unique in that all levels of ability can compete against one another at grass roots level. The equipment has changed but it's changed for everyone, and there are a myriad of choices to be made when purchasing new equipment.

Wow.....top post.