Your driver

[Tashyboy]

I played on tuesday and Tricky Trev tees off with a 3 wood.Someone asked him why? He said my driver is all over the place. A guy mentioned you have had a shed load of lessons. I cannot say on here what his reply was. He played in the first fourball.
I played in the last fourball. A guy I played with plays off 9 up from 6. First time i played with him. Lovely chap. Anyway he smashed his first straight down the middle with his driver. After 3 holes he went to his 3 wood and hit it well. Once more he said “ bloody driver” he has just bought a new callaway.
Me, well my story is well documented with the driver. I am hitting the 3 Wood off the tee. My driver is doing me head in.
What I don’t understand is at one time it was like Harry Potters wand when in my hands. Now I don’t even want to look at it. Every other club in my bag I am on first name terms with. So why do folk have a love hate relationship with there drivers.

 

[bobmac]

So why do folk have a love hate relationship with there drivers.

Because normally they try and hit them too hard.
Find out how far you hit your driver with a smooth swing, say 250yds, then try and hit it 250 every time (allowing for wind and slope)

 

[Diamond]

My driver was stopping me from breaking 100. I have a swing speed of 100 mph but I could slice the ball 80 yards right.
I reduced my backswing to 30% (75% in reality), used a shorter tee (White Castle instead of pink castle) and moved the ball closer to central in my stance. I now hit 200 yard drives straight with a low to medium ball height. Sometimes I get 230 yards but I know I am leaving a lot of length on the table, but my drives are more consistent and is allowing me to work on my short game which is pants at the moment. I can also play a stinger now which a lot of my pals like and is useful when into a head wind.

 

[patricks148]

It's a tool at the end of the day if I'm hitting it poorly it's down to me not the driver or what ever club it is. I've been driving the ball well this year, but the last two games been all over the place off the tee, nothing to do with the club

 

[IanM]

Yep... get the job done.

190 in the middle is better than 240 in the rhubarb!

 

[Slab]

What I don’t understand is at one time it was like Harry Potters wand when in my hands.

If you check you'll find that despite a whole load of lessons, Potter was actually mental bad with his wand most of the time. He'd get the odd one right usually towards the end when something clicked but overall a 'D' on his good days

Ended up he actually changed wands before he got his big win!

Get yersell down to Ollivanders for a new stick mate

 

[Beedee]

Drivers are strange things. A few years ago I was using a TaylorMade R1. I loved that club. I went to the Belfry with a few friends for one of their overnight deals. First day was on the Derby, and I was smashing my driver an easy 260 down the middle all day long. It was a good driving day for me, but not that unusual.

The following day on the Brabazon I couldn't hit a barn door from 6 feet. I was a danger to all around me. That club never worked for me again despite multiple lessons and multiple settings adjustments with proper fitters (and multiple sessions of me fiddling with it, it must be said also).

Changed to the TM mini driver eventually, and the fairways and distance returned. Got a Ping now and very happy with it.

 

[Orikoru]

Opposite is true for me. I love hitting my driver, probably have more confidence with that than any other club in the bag. I have it lofted up at 11.5, nice and easy to hit fairways with it, or just a yard or two off. Only around 220-240 yards but I rarely ever lose a ball with it so that's fine.

 

[Curls]

It’s a confidence stick for me. If I’m standing over it thinking I’m going to smash this perfectly down there i generally do. But any hesitation, doubts/negative thoughts or distractions and it can go anywhere. That’s on me. It’s my head shortening or knocking my swing out of tempo. Not sure if that helps but if you’re not feeling it, it’s a tough ask imo

 

[sunshine]

If you check you'll find that despite a whole load of lessons, Potter was actually mental bad with his wand most of the time. He'd get the odd one right usually towards the end when something clicked but overall a 'D' on his good days

Ended up he actually changed wands before he got his big win!

Get yersell down to Ollivanders for a new stick mate

But at the end of the day, Potter gave up on the super duper best wand in the world and stuck with his trusted reliable wand. Maybe a lesson for us all here.

 

[Beezerk]

Yep... get the job done.

190 in the middle is better than 240 in the rhubarb!

Aaargh I hate that argument, it's certainly a valid stance but I'd rather have a wedge into the green than a 7 iron. Risk and reward, that's what golf is all about for me, drive well you score well, drive poorly you're scrambling around for pars ?

 

[Lord Tyrion]

It is a club we try to hit too hard and equally it is the longest club in the bag. Longer the club, the more difficult it is to control.

Even the pro's struggle with this more than any other club. Tiger with a driver is utterly random and how many majors does he have in the bag?

 

[rksquire]

I love the driver but I've reduced its use to maybe 4 times a round now as it risk / reward just wasn't reflecting good scores... getting away well would mean a good score; on days when it wasn't behaving the scores were poor. So, now it's either 3 wood or a hybrid of the tee and this leads to a more consistent round. I would however, on a good day, score much better if the driver was more trustworthy but we have so much cabbage, overgrown woods and OOBs that there's little margin for big hooks or slices (a miss I currently have both of on a bad day!)

 

[Canary_Yellow]

Because normally they try and hit them too hard.
Find out how far you hit your driver with a smooth swing, say 250yds, then try and hit it 250 every time (allowing for wind and slope)

Good advice as always, I struggle a bit with the concept of smooth though, it can lead me to try and steer, I need to have the feeling of a positive strike. However, to combat trying to smash it too hard, which is something i'm guilty of often, I make sure I'm very specific with the target I'm aiming at, rather than just trying to hit it as far as possible. E.g. choosing a specific target of 250 yards on a particular line, rather than just a line.

 

[harpo_72]

Yep... get the job done.

190 in the middle is better than 240 in the rhubarb!

BDC is kind of putting that to the test … now all the wannabes are lashing away…

 

[harpo_72]

I walked off thinking my driver was not going well, and then I had a little mental replay, and actually I hit one bad shot with it, every shot was playable not necessarily where I had aimed granted … but I had a line in and I had access to the ball .. so there is a case of stopping being negative and see the positives

what really gets up my nose is hitting where I aimed, striking it perfectly etc … but landing in a divot or it getting snagged on a bushy down hill lie ( defying the laws of physics!)

 

[Sats]

I'm beginning to fall back in love with the driver, this is 100% due to having consistent lessons and practicing what I've learnt from them.

 

[IanM]

BDC is kind of putting that to the test … now all the wannabes are lashing away…

He is... there isn't enough rhubarb in the PGA tour!

I like my driver. Nice big face, it's harder to miss the ball with that. Anyone old enough to have used wee wooden heeds would agreed!

 

[Backache]

Because normally they try and hit them too hard.
Find out how far you hit your driver with a smooth swing, say 250yds,

In my dreams

 

[Deleted member 3432]

He is... there isn't enough rhubarb in the PGA tour!

I like my driver. Nice big face, it's harder to miss the ball with that. Anyone old enough to have used wee wooden heeds would agreed!

Don't think I would be brave enough to stand on a 1st tee with a persimmon headed driver these days.

The sound and feeling of the occaisional flushed strike was something special