How many of you play without a Driver?

[Dave2512]

The guy that won the longest drive in the tournament I played in yesterday hit it with a 3w. It was a monster.

[TomK82]

I don't even own a driver currently and i doubt i have one any time soon. Just not as good when i use one so i stick to clubs i hit really straight.

[Mattplusness]

Originally Posted by Mattplusness

My dad's last round he played without a driver, and surprise surprise, he shot the best round of the season so far.

It's a club that's more trouble than it's worth when there's no control. Sure you can be 300+ yard away, but that's no good if it's 3 fairways over in a bunker, under a tree, and over water.

Just thought I would update on this.

My dad took his driver with him today, being cocky about "feeling good today". I think maybe 2 of his shots landed in a place where he could get a club on the ball.

[logman]

I reckon most guys having trouble with their low loft, long driver should do the thriver thing. 43 or 44 inch long and with 14 or more degrees of loft. The science is in on this stuff. The shorter clubs are easier to hit in the sweet spot and the loft is your friend. Tests have proven that you have to be swinging at a very high speed to get benifits from anything under 12 degrees, and even then the loss in distance is small. Don't get all macho about drivers. Find something that finds the fairway and watch your total game improve. And another thing , don't think of the thriver as the end of your driver life. I found that the thriver trained me back into using the long/low loft driver. So now I carry the long bomber......47 inch 9 degree.....and the 14 degree 44 inch driver all the time. 2 drivers means you can play conservatively and still have the option of trying to make a cheap birdy on par 5's and short par 4's. Just one more thing.....don't confuse the thiver with a three wood......totally different animals.

[brettski01]

But if you have a 14deg thriver and a 3 wood which is say 15deg surely theres not gonna be much difference in length?

[Goonsidious]

I use a 45inch 9 degree driver, Callaway ft-iz, i'm 6'2" and it hits like a dream. I don't swing at a very high speed either.. 136ish ball speed.

I do want to try a shorter driver though, to allow myself to use the same type of swing and setup as my other clubs..

Anyways.. I do use a Driver now.. and currently am very very confident with it. It feels good.

[logman]

Originally Posted by brettski01

But if you have a 14deg thriver and a 3 wood which is say 15deg surely theres not gonna be much difference in length?

Don't think of the length that you can hit the ball with either club think of that huge 460cc, super forgiving club head on the end of a three wood shaft. It makes hitting fairways easier and gives me a copletely different mindset as to hitting the ball. Fairway woods are low centre of gravity small headed clubs..

[stenvee]

I left my driver in my car yesterday and played my 3 wood or 3 hybrid off the tee's, what I lost in distance with them I gained in accuracy, more so with the 3 hybrid. If I take my driver which is very inconsistent i can hit dead straight 230+ yards or slight fade 200 yards or a really wild slice more often than not resulting in lost balls or dropped shots from bad positions, what i noticed with the 3 wood was my bad shots were not resulting in lost balls and were keeping me in play more. I plan to work on my driver consistency at the range and play my 3 wood for the time being.

[ZigZag]

I get too much loft with my driver. Been using 9.5 degree drivers.

[Chris Stewart]

I've really been debating leaving my driver at home lately. However, I feel like if I don't keep working on it I'll never "get it". I've also thought about getting my existing driver fitted, as I've heard it's extremely too long from the factory, so maybe that will help out as well. So yeah, I still hit my driver and I'll still debate whether that's a good idea or not. :-) Today I actually hit 46% (71% on the back 9) of the fairways. I work on my driver constantly at the range and of course there I nail it and hit it pretty consistently.

[Meddle]

I find that if I'm hitting my driver poorly, I'll be hitting my fairways and hybrids poorly as well, so might as well just use the driver.

As far as shortening shafts and raising driver lofts producing longer or straighter drives, I think that is on a case by case basis. I tried shortening the shaft on my driver a few years ago and saw no difference in my driving consistency, just reduced distance. Plus cutting down shafts changes their properties, like making them stiffer.

[darkhunter139]

I carry one but I hit my 3 wood a lot more lately.   There are just some par 4's that I don't even have a chance at reaching with a 3W so I will usually give my driver a go on those.

I can hit my 3 wood far enough that I can use it on a lot of par 4's though.

[Paradox]

Originally Posted by Meddle

I find that if I'm hitting my driver poorly, I'll be hitting my fairways and hybrids poorly as well, so might as well just use the driver.

As far as shortening shafts and raising driver lofts producing longer or straighter drives, I think that is on a case by case basis. I tried shortening the shaft on my driver a few years ago and saw no difference in my driving consistency, just reduced distance. Plus cutting down shafts changes their properties, like making them stiffer.

cutting down a shaft in terms of going from 46/45 to 44/43 would change the stiffness so little that you wouldn't even notice.  The biggest change in shortening a shaft is swingweighting..which you want to get back to the original swingweight.

[trackster]

I think playing with out a driver will help your scores in the short run, but won't do anything for your scores later on.  I use to not carry a driver.  I could consistently hit my 3 wood on the fairway, but left myself with many 175+ yard second shots.  This did however beat balls in the tree/ water/ deep rough etc, and so my scores did drop.  However once I learned to hit a driver my scores dropped even more.  I now have usually less than 150 to the green, even on 400+ yard holes.  My friend has been teeing off with a 21* hybrid as of late.  He hits almost every fairway and hits it about 200 yards.  However, he leaves himself with many long second shots, and the 400+ yard holes are very challenging for him.

Learn how to hit your driver, it will drastically help your game.

[3PuttKing]

Originally Posted by darkhunter139

I carry one but I hit my 3 wood a lot more lately.   There are just some par 4's that I don't even have a chance at reaching with a 3W so I will usually give my driver a go on those.

I can hit my 3 wood far enough that I can use it on a lot of par 4's though.

I'm in the same boat. If a par 4 is any less than 400 yards (which most are on the courses I play) I'll tee off with the three wood since I know i can get 220+ out of it and leave myself a 5 iron or less to the green. Any longer than that and I'll give it a go with a driver (as long as there isn't any trouble on the right hand side of the hole). I won't even use a driver on a par 5 longer than 500 since I know it'll take me 3 shots to get there with or without a good drive. Just like others have said, I'd much rather be hitting a mid-long iron out of the fairway with a look at the green, than a mid-short iron out of the trees or a fairway bunker.

[Callie in MI]

The experiences noted here are different from my personal experience - I'm wondering if it's gender-physical thing?  (I've only been golfing for over six years now, FYI.)

When I first started golfing, I used a very light-weight Ping driver that my husband had (an extra one, of course).  I really liked that driver and quite honestly, it was one of the few clubs that I could hit consistently.  Eventually (like the next golf season), I got my own "ladies" driver (Callaway high trajectory loft) and to this day, the driver is one of my favorite clubs in the bag.  (Now granted, I don't hit the ball as far you guys, but I'm long enough off the tee and usually somewhere in the fairway .)

The 3W, on the other hand - HATED IT!!!  I finally sold the darn thing - after coming to the realization that I couldn't hit it AT ALL (let alone consistently).  I was told by one instructor that my swing speed would never be fast enough to hit the 3W well.  Before I sold it, I would pull out my 5W, thinking, ok, I'd rather have a good 5W shot than a crappy 3w shot.  I don't think I really lost that much distance.  (Funny thing is, now that I don't have a 3W, my 5W has become the "new" 3W - find I can't hit that very consistenly in the fairway, short rough.  So now, I just use my 9W in the fairway and only use the 5W off the tee on the long-ish par 3's).

Cindy

[lostine]

I agree.  My current driver is 43.5 inches long and I had lead tape added to bring the swingweight up to where I want it.  If you try a shorter driver shaft make sure to experiment with the swingweight to get a feel that you are comfortable with.

Originally Posted by Paradox

cutting down a shaft in terms of going from 46/45 to 44/43 would change the stiffness so little that you wouldn't even notice.  The biggest change in shortening a shaft is swingweighting..which you want to get back to the original swingweight.

[darkhunter139]

The experiences noted here are different from my personal experience - I'm wondering if it's gender-physical thing?  (I've only been golfing for over six years now, FYI.) When I first started golfing, I used a very light-weight Ping driver that my husband had (an extra one, of course).  I really liked that driver and quite honestly, it was one of the few clubs that I could hit consistently.  Eventually (like the next golf season), I got my own "ladies" driver (Callaway high trajectory loft) and to this day, the driver is one of my favorite clubs in the bag.  (Now granted, I don't hit the ball as far you guys, but I'm long enough off the tee and usually somewhere in the fairway  :-) .) The 3W, on the other hand - HATED IT!!!  I finally sold the darn thing - after coming to the realization that I couldn't hit it AT ALL (let alone consistently).  I was told by one instructor that my swing speed would never be fast enough to hit the 3W well.  Before I sold it, I would pull out my 5W, thinking, ok, I'd rather have a good 5W shot than a crappy 3w shot.  I don't think I really lost that much distance.  (Funny thing is, now that I don't have a 3W, my 5W has become the "new" 3W - find I can't hit that very consistenly in the fairway, short rough.  So now, I just use my 9W in the fairway and only use the 5W off the tee on the long-ish par 3's). Cindy

You have a 9W??? I hit my 3 wood pretty well off the tee but after that I only use it if I have a great lie. Have you tried hybrids?