Off the tee

[putterman60]

I found a thread from 6 yrs ago debatingdriver or 3 wood off the tee, now i`m staring up again the golf thing as you know and im not mean or a cheapskate but i donyt think i need to buy a driver (yet) i have a used 3 wood in vgc and i think im gonna just go with that

opinions please


The weathers crap so my `personal training programme` is to practice in the house holding (gripping) the club properly and a half swing trying get my wrists right
with bad habits it feels odd

 

[timd77]

Personally couldn’t do without my driver, biggest head, most forgiveness of any club in the bag. I struggle to hit fairway woods myself but it all depends on what you feel comfortable with I guess.

 

[Orikoru]

Personally couldn’t do without my driver, biggest head, most forgiveness of any club in the bag. I struggle to hit fairway woods myself but it all depends on what you feel comfortable with I guess.

Agree with this man. I love hitting driver, massive face means you can't miss. Am not a big hitter either so I wouldn't want to be giving up 15 yards to hit something that I'm actually less consistent with.

I don't even own a 3 wood, I never found one I could hit off the deck very well, and off the tee I was happy enough with driver so 3 wood is never required.

Using a 3 wood for 'safety' is outdated thinking I believe, modern drivers are easy to hit so all you're doing is giving up distance - unless you're literally carving it out of bounds every time. But it's worth learning to hit driver I think.

 

[Deleted member 3432]

Agree with this man. I love hitting driver, massive face means you can't miss. Am not a big hitter either so I wouldn't want to be giving up 15 yards to hit something that I'm actually less consistent with.

I don't even own a 3 wood, I never found one I could hit off the deck very well, and off the tee I was happy enough with driver so 3 wood is never required.

Using a 3 wood for 'safety' is outdated thinking I believe, modern drivers are easy to hit so all you're doing is giving up distance - unless you're literally carving it out of bounds every time. But it's worth learning to hit driver I think.

Want do you do if there are hazards ie ditches, ponds or proper fairway bunkers right where you driver is landing.

3 Wood is often the best play to take these hazards out of play thus saving you shots! Hitting driver is sometimes a dumb option.

 

[Deleted member 29109]

Want do you do if there are hazards ie ditches, ponds or proper fairway bunkers right where you driver is landing.

3 Wood is often the best play to take these hazards out of play thus saving you shots! Hitting driver is sometimes a dumb option.

Do you mean penalty areas that are cutting across the fairway or at the side of the fairway?
If the former, then you obviously hit less club.

If the latter, then it depends how much space there is between penalty areas. But essentially, hit driver at every possible opportunity.

 

[Orikoru]

Want do you do if there are hazards ie ditches, ponds or proper fairway bunkers right where you driver is landing.

3 Wood is often the best play to take these hazards out of play thus saving you shots! Hitting driver is sometimes a dumb option.

I'd hit a 5 wood then. ??‍

 

[Imurg]

The Stats will tell you that driver is best "every" time...the closer you are to the hole the better you score....
Yes and No..
The stats can be misleading...they say something like 70% of people are just as accurate with a driver as they are with a 3 wood...(numbers pulled from thin air)
That means 30% aren't.....and you could be in that 30%.
And then people will say "Get a lesson with your Driver" - well, yeah OK but some people don't have the time to practice what they get told in a lesson.
If youre just starting back..use the 3 wood
Get comfortable with it.
Then start worrying about a driver.
And don't put in the bag until you're comfortable with it..
They say 250 in the rough is better than 220 in the fairway...and it is most of the time
But not if you're in 3 foot high rough or in the trees or OB.

 

[Jason.H]

A 3 wood shouldn’t be too much shorter than where a driver gets you. For me being a short hitter I’m about 15/20 yards shorter with my 3 wood than driver. Just see how you get on with it. On my new course it’s quite driver friendly for me being quite straight off the tee, I sometimes use it 12 times a round depending on wind conditions.

 

[patricks148]

Why not I often find a good 3 wood goes further or as least a far as a bad or poor drive. Since they changed our layout, I'm hitting 3 wood off the tee on more holes than I used to thats for sure.

 

[Imurg]

At the end of the day, use what loses you fewer shots...

 

[HomerJSimpson]

I have both in the bag. I love my G410 driver and my G25 three wood. If I need to avoid hazards in the driving landing zone, I'll hit 3 wood similarly if its a tight hole and I need to find a fairway. Plenty of second hand options so it needing be an expensive purchase

 

[Voyager EMH]

Do you mean penalty areas that are cutting across the fairway or at the side of the fairway?
If the former, then you obviously hit less club.

If the latter, then it depends how much space there is between penalty areas. But essentially, hit driver at every possible opportunity.

Or hit the driver, but don't hit it as hard as usual. Works for me.

 

[Dando]

I ditched my driver and put a 3 wood in the bag. Not a great loss of distance as I feel confident swinging harder with it but more fairways hit

 

[patricks148]

I ditched my driver and put a 3 wood in the bag. Not a great loss of distance as I feel confident swinging harder with it but more fairways hit

Distance isn't an issue for you though so not a bad shout if accuracy is improved

 

[Dando]

Distance isn't an issue for you though so not a bad shout if accuracy is improved

it’s those pesky short shots I struggle with

 

[patricks148]

it’s those pesky short shots I struggle with

Putt it ?

 

[tsped83]

The Stats will tell you that driver is best "every" time...the closer you are to the hole the better you score....
Yes and No..
The stats can be misleading...they say something like 70% of people are just as accurate with a driver as they are with a 3 wood...(numbers pulled from thin air)
That means 30% aren't.....and you could be in that 30%.
And then people will say "Get a lesson with your Driver" - well, yeah OK but some people don't have the time to practice what they get told in a lesson.
If youre just starting back..use the 3 wood
Get comfortable with it.
Then start worrying about a driver.
And don't put in the bag until you're comfortable with it..
They say 250 in the rough is better than 220 in the fairway...and it is most of the time
But not if you're in 3 foot high rough or in the trees or OB.

Good advice. I play to a reasonable standard (12 WHS) and that is from using 3 wood off the tee exclusively. In fairness I’ve had my best and worst rounds using 3w off the tee. When it’s good it’s accurate and decent distance, when it’s bad it wouldn’t matter what I was using off the tee. Driver, whilst being a big lump in your hands which makes contact easy doesn’t necessarily mean it’s friendly. I might be one of the few outliers but when driver goes bad the ball is OOB, so the hole is lost almost immediately.

If you’re starting out a 3w is a solid choice, plenty out there with big heads And obviously shorter shafts (key!) so go with that.

 

[jim8flog]

It very much depends on where you play regularly, age, how far you hit it, etc.

I play a relatively short course when I was young fit and a big hitter I did not carry any woods as a 1 iron was all that was needed from the tee at most, on some par 4s it was a 4, 5 or 6 iron.

These days I am lot older and now a relatively short hitter. A 3 wood would not get past the angle of the dogleg on some holes so for if asked which I would drop from the bag it would be the 3 wood.

These days the option is buy drivers with a lot of loft, 11,12 degree and I would go for one of those.

 

[Deleted member 29109]

These days the option is buy drivers with a lot of loft, 11,12 degree and I would go for one of those.

I was just going to to say this. So many people default to 9.5 and 10.5 degrees.

A 12 or 13 degree driver must be one of the easiest to hit clubs you can get.

 

[Orikoru]

I was just going to to say this. So many people default to 9.5 and 10.5 degrees.

A 12 or 13 degree driver must be one of the easiest to hit clubs you can get.

Correct - I adjust mine up to 11.5 degrees, this also closes the face a fraction which is an added bonus. Feels so easy.