Driver vs. Wood 3 distances

Hello all,

i have a question regarding Driver vs. Wood 3 distances.

I hit my driver about 220 m on good shots (about 240 yards) - problem is - i hit my Wood 3 around the same distance.
I have Taylormade R7 460 9.5° Standard Flex and the R7 Steel Fairway Wood 3 15° Standard flex. My swing speed is about 95 - 100 mph (with my driver). Everybody i talked to says they hit their driver definitaly longer than their 3 wood.

Nobody came up with a conclusion whats wrong here - any suggestions what could be the problem here. The only thing i could think off is, that the loft might be 1 - 1,5° to low - even i get them airborne nicely.

Any hints appreciated, thx,
Juergen

Juergen,

Usually with slower swing speed players below 90mph, a 3 wood is longer than their driver since it helps increase their launch angle and spin rate. Without seeing you swing or any launch monitor numbers, making a wild dumb guess, I'd say that either you would need to go up in loft to get a higher launch angle or spin rate, or you are having difficulty finding the center of your club face, or angle of attack issues. The latter two are easy to diagnose. To see where you are hitting the ball on the face, simply get some impact tape and place it on the face of your club, then hit some shots and see where you are hitting the ball on the face. Although drivers these days are more forgiving, heel and toe shots still penalize both distance and direction. Angle of attack can be determined by using ball flight, steep angle of attack usually has a "ballooning" ball flight where the ball starts low and shoots up all of sudden. This is exaggerated into strong winds and is caused by excess spin rate produced by steeper angles of attack which robs golfers of distance. Either of these issues needs is best addressed by a golf instruction professional. I would also get to a competent clubfitter and get on the launch monitor to see what your launch angle, spin rate, and ball speeds are. That will be a good way to determine if you need to go up in loft or if a shaft change might be able to help fix your distance woes.

its all in the head i used to think the same think you just have to practice more with your driver tahn 3 woood to get it moree precise

I have about 10 yards more carry with driver then my 3 wood, however I have allot more roll with the driver..

Thanks for the responses - didnt knew there was something like impact tape, i will definitely try this out. I also will go to a clubfitter to get my swing-stats checked when getting the new Callaway-Driver and get the right driver (as a beginner i bought this one from Golfbidder with a approximation of loft/flex i would need).

I heard a lot of people saying they hit it longer in the summer - whats understandable is that fairways probably offer more roll and so shots with the driver profit most - another argument was, that the air is dryer what makes the ball fly farer - does this really has an impact?

Precision is not really a problem - at the moment i would estimate that about 50 percent of my hits with anything from Driver up to Irion 4 has a fade / slight slice (problem here still is the followthrough) and the rest goes quite straight

Regards
Juergen

I have about the same #s.....
driver...240
3w......230

the difference here is my driver will go
further on a good hit and roll too.....
my 3w is really straight and I can hit
it from the fairways...
and if its a tight fairway or a 230yd par 3
that is going to be my 3w....
so for me, 3w is a usefull choice...

what else would you hit from the fairway 220yds....?

hi,

I can recomend a place to get what you need. http://www.geotechgolf.de/xtcommerce...ark-Spray.html they sell it in a spray form, spray it on wipe it off.. I have it works great use it all the time when fitting customers. Im a clubfitter in NRW Mönchengladbach to be exact. if you want to check out another site, there prices are pretty good.. www.asbs-shop.com Mfg

This is an odd one for some people,

I recently bought a second hand V-steel 4 wood with a grafalloy blue tour stiff shaft and it's perfect!
I'm hitting this 250yards easly, my drivers longer but not much considering the club difference the main thing is ease of use.

Although I love the roll a low lofted driver gives I'm having second thoughts about trying a 10 or 11 deg model just to see what happens.

drier air is not the biggest factor that makes the ball go further during the summer time. in warmer temperatures, a ball will compress better than it would in the cold, giving it more distance...how much more distance? depends on the ball...i've read from what looked like a reliable study that with a high end ball, a drive that carries 250 yards in 90 degree heat would carry 15-20 yards less (i forgot the exact number the study came up with), in 40 degree weather. seems pretty significant to me...when playing in 50 degree wehther (like it is now where i live), i'll add half a club (to a full club sometimes) on par 3 and approach shots.