Does anyone make a driver like lofted 3 wood - giving up on Driver...

I have come to the conclusion after my last couple of rounds that i simply cannot control the driver and am erratic with it off the tee.  Consciously or subconsciously, i think im swinging the 3 wood the same way and my results are infinitely more predictable and consistent.  Went again to the range today and spent 30 minutes hitting driver and 30 minutes hitting 3 wood, and came to this conclusion that the driver and me cannot co-exist.  This is even after a winter of lessons and thinking i was making strides with the driver after great simulator sessions.  Time to retire my driver along with my ego and get smart is what im thinking.

I played a 9 hole round using my 3 wood, and the next day using my driver on the same 9 holes.  The results were as follow:

Day 1 - 3 wood: 6/7 fairways hit

Day 2 - driver: 2/7 fairways hit

Played 18 holes a couple days after, and managed to hit only 4/14 fairways with the driver, yet still shot an 85, all things considered.  With that, has anyone gone through the same thing?  And furthermore, are any of the big companies who could make a 3 wood with a lower loft setting (like a 9.5 or 10.5)?  Titleist makes a 13.5 degree and im really tempted to go pick it up.  Thoughts?

Yeah... Callaway with their new Great Big Bertha Model (and I'm sure on some of the other models) offers a 13.5° head... add in the adjustability that is offered and you can get it up to 15.5° of loft.

There's also an Aeroburner mini driver too and Callaway has the XR 3Deep.

Thanks for the feedback and suggestions.  WIll head out to the store this weekend to try and hopefully test my theory. Hoping one of the options out there can get me within a reasonable distance of my 3 wood today

I just got a Callaway Bertha Mini driver with a 12 degree head. You can adjust it down one degree to 11* or up two degrees to 14*. There's also a neutral/draw adjustment.

I've only been to the range once with it today but it seems a lot more forgiving than my 15* 3 wood and about 10 or 15 yards longer. I had it set at 13* neutral today. The shaft is the same length as my current 3 wood. I got the Speeder shaft in stiff flex and really like it.

About 5 years ago I was fitted for a Henry Griffiths driver but for whatever reason I can no longer hit it and I hate the feel of a big headed driver. The Bertha Mini seems like the ideal driver for me these days.

I think sometime next week I'm going to turn a lesson into a FlightScope session to see what adjusting the head does for distance.

I have been fitted and taken lessons.  My swing speed varied on the monitor between 108 to 114 (PGA Superstore).  My club is a Nike VRS Covert 2.0, 8.5*, Stiff, with the a 45" Mitsubishi Rayon Kuro Kage 60 graphite shaft that comes with the club.  At my fitting, they threw multiple different drivers at me and mixed up the shafts.  The two best performing drivers last year were the Nike and the Cobra.  They put me a in a high torque shaft, even the really expensive shaft upgrade that would have added another $300 to the cost, but it didnt make a different.  Flights were similar, so we agreed to keep the shaft standard and instead of spending money on a shaft, we spent money on lessons to try to find my right swing path.  Like i noted, in the winter time, I felt good about my driver swing and things were clicking.  But over the last month, the driver specifically has gone to shite.

I use the same takeaway, same tempo, same feel as my wedge (I use to slice and push everything right because my swing was handsy, as i started everything with my hands and my club was behind my body right at the point in my back-swing when hands were parallel to my belt buckle on the takeaway. I was going way too much inside).

After a few months of hell, my swing starts with my shoulders and i keep my hands in front of the club at parallel, getting into a more pro like position (we used Nick Faldo, Adam Scott, and Billy Horschel as examples).  I've gotten more on plane with all my clubs and shortened my swing as i'm pretty flexible and use to get my arms vertically straight on my back-swing if i wanted to, parallel with my legs).  So i use to over-swing to say the least and sway a lot.  That's calmed down tremendously.

At this point, I have zero confidence with my driver.  I spent enough on a driver last year that i didnt want to spend more again this year to get refitted for a new driver because i loved the Titleist 915D2 driver.  I didnt go into as much research and time on the shaft as i should, and i will this winter, but Chicago has a short golfing season as is so im just trying to salvage the remainder of this year in hopes of a fresh driver start next year, or simply move to a 3wood like driver which i much more confident in.

The only problem with those high lofted drivers is they are also designed to put less spin on the ball and more spin particularly backspin is your friend that is why your having more success with the 3 wood, your swing speeds are plenty fast enough to hit primarily 3 wood without losing significant distance in fact your probably well past most players even with it. IMO anyone with a swing speed at least 100mph could easily play any track of 6500-6800 teeing off with 3 wood all day if the driver was that erratic and probably shoot lower.

I switched to a Tom Wishon 919 F/D (Fairway Driver) and absolutely love it. Good combination of carry + roll out for me. This model is designed with a hot face like many popular drivers. Historically I have never maintained consistency with longer driver clubs. Tried many brands/models over the years. So I decided to attempt a custom 3 wood like driver combo and settled on Wishon because of trust in the brand.

My goal was to build a fairway driver with the longest length in which I could while achieve center strike consistency. Additionally I wanted a feel near to my favorite fairway wood (#5). The design of this club head allowed me to add weights (multiple weight ports) to achieve proper feel. Also, I had the lie angle adjusted in the process as the hosel on this model is bendable.

I believe I have achieved my goals and driving is fun again.

I dumped my driver about 6 months ago and went with a Tour Exotic 13* off the tee and a Cleveland Black 15* to hit off the fairway and out of the rough.  This setup has helped me hit more fairways than I had ever hit with my driver...I am more interested in consistency than a little more distance.

I agree but less than a 3 wood is what I meant and it seems the spin from the 3 wood is helping him.