How many leave the driver at home?

Guilty as charged:    I left my driver in the garage for nearly an entire year.  Circa 1997'ish........

 

 

I wouldn't even store it in my trunk so I couldn't be tempted.  IMO......it was a bad decision.  You need to figure the problem and learn how to hit it.   yes, I did what you speak......and abandoned my driver, but doing so only set my development back a year. 

 

my 2 cents

You are right.

If you are playing short courses, then fine, but you can not score on lengthy courses if you aren't using a driver.

For a while I lost confidence and was hitting hybrids off the tee and was 100 metres behind my playing partners.

Back around 1987, the local golf pro sent my driver out to be regripped. Anyway, it got misplaced, and floated back in about August after being returned to the wrong golf course. During my driver's travels, I used my 3W off the tee, and had my best year of the decade.

 

One thing: I was in the fairway, but shorter, so on the long par 4s I used a 3W + 4W with some success. The fairway woods were more reliable than long irons, which I faced after a driver shot. (Historic note: no hybrids back then)

 

The next season I went back to the driver, and had less success overall.

 

NickD, also consider that by using the 3W off the tee, you'll hit it about three times more often than the average golfer. Off both tee and deck will give you plenty of experience hitting the club.

Years ago played a very hard and long course. I was a guest and a 25 handicap. On the range, I hit one great 5-iron after another. And then 3-woods and drivers all over the place. I had no idea where my woods were going. Back to the 5-iron and every one straight.

 

So, on the first tee, I told my caddie not to give me anything higher than a 5-iron no matter what I said later. I told him that I would likely insist later and he should just tell me no. Long story shorter, I had won every skin with three holes to play. I had honors on the tee of a 600 yard par 5 that doglegs around a river. I hit my 5-iron (by then hitting it straight and about 180 every time). One of my opponents (a 2 handicap) yelled, "He lies negative one out there. Bast**rd!" When I got to the ball, I had miles to go but it was pretty wide open to my layup area. I told the caddie that if we could get this down into wedge distance, we could win the hole and the three carry-overs. "Give me my 3-wood." "I believe your play here is a 5-iron sir." "I know what I said earlier, but this is pretty safe." "Sir, hit the 5-iron." "Give me the **#^@& 3-wood." This went back and forth for a while. Then he says, "Looks like they need help finding that other gentleman's ball. Here your club." He handed me my 5-iron, turns and walked away with my bag. I halved the hole with a six. On in four and two putts.

 

Moral of the story: unless you have a strong willed caddie, leave the driver at home if you don't want to hit it.

 

SHORTY: You can't score on any course if your driver is wild and you keep hitting it wildly. I was a 25 handicap and shot 90 that day on one of the longest and hardest course in Chicagoland.

I'm fighting a slicing problem myself, and unless you take it to the course you'll never correct it.  Sure, you can go to the range, but I feel that I learn more when I'm on a course.  Last round I used my driver on 14 holes, and I hit 5 straight.  Next time, I'll try to improve that.

I was having problems too, and didn't use mine on the course.

 

My advice:  take a lesson with a good instructor.

 

I took one lesson and now I love my driver.  It was literally night and day.  Spend the $80 for a private and you will not regret it.  You can watch 10,000 YouTube videos and you still will not get as much as you will from a lesson.

I leave my driver home when I am playing one particular course because it is no advantage to use it and it can hurt. On another course I need it, and there's no penalty for being a bit wild off the tee. On a third course I can really take advantage of several of the holes with a driver, so I pick my spots.

 

About four years ago my driver was the straightest club in my bag. I wish I could remember what I was doing back then.

 

I have to disagree with this. The range is for making mechanics changes, the course is for scoring well. If I try to fix my slice on the course... let's just say I'll be spending a lot of time in the woods.

 

Which is why I leave me driver in my car, and work on it at the range. It has gotten far less sporadic, but I can still hit my 3W 90% as far and straight twice as often, so why bother bringing the driver just yet?

These discussions tend to break down between the 90+ guys (don't need a driver) and the sub 80 guys(need a driver to score).  A driver gives you about 30 yards over a 3 wood. If that moves you from a 4 iron to a 7 iron, thats a big win. If it moves you from a 3 wood to a hybrid, it doesn't matter. You probably are not hitting the green very often anyway. There is also a break between the short guys (driving less than 220) and the long ones (driving over 250). The long guys can hit the 3 wood far enough to still have a shot at the green if they tee off with a 3 wood. The short guys don't.

 

Personally I wouldn't hit the driver if I didn't have confidence in it. But I would sure spend 20mins every practice session working on getting that confidence. I also figure if my driver swing is off, my 3 wood swing is likely to be off also.

I bought a new giant head, light weight driver last year. The modern thing. Under 300gms and long shafted. Very difficult for me to  swing well and the result was way too many massive slicing balls, all going OB or lost in the bush.  Searched for and found a traditional sized head at 11.5* which is working quite well for me now. All i needed to do was change the grip to make it handsome and functional.  Much more control and stability.  In fact, to my great pleasure, hit the longest drive in recent tourney. Until i feel comfortable with all woods off the tee box and solve the slice, i will leave the 'giant' at home.

I only leave driver home on executive courses with short par 4's.

Wish'd that I'd left driver home the day I played Pebble tho' - stinkamundo.

There's no reason to use your driver on the course if you have no confidence in it and slice it badly. But do yourself a favor and do whatever you have to do to learn how to hit it. That 30-40 yard difference between the 3 wood and driver is huge, a 3-4 club difference. Like Sandy Trap posted, take a lesson for the driver only. You might be able to straighten it out with one lesson, and then spending time on the range to hone it.

Two things that I think are a problem for golfers who can't hit the driver straight is length of the shaft and over swinging with it. Learn how to swing the driver with a nice smooth tempo, and think about cutting the shaft down to 43 inches. You'd be surprised what a difference it makes to shorten the shaft to the same length a lot of Pro's use.

I haven't used mine on the course this year. 

I should leave it at home but I'm determined to learn how to use it.  At the moment, using the driver costs me about 1.5 extra strokes during play. Last week, I started taking lessons and hitting the driving range as much as I can.  It's become clear that learning to hit the driver consistently is going to cost me a small fortune in lessons and range balls.  I envy the people who can hit the driver "naturally."

I just shot my best ever round of 93 from the tips at my home course (6800 yards). I hit driver three times the entire round and was OB right and In the adjacent fairway right on 2 and popped up for a 200 yard drive on the third swing. I agree that the answer is to learn to hit the driver. However, right now it's a penalty to bring it out of the bag.