3wood great, driver bad. Help!

[barrycuda]

why is it so hard to get consitent with the driver? 8/10 times i hit my 3wood straight 250yards off the tee. With the driver though i will either duck-hook it or get a bad slice. Sure the driver will go a little bit further but its way too inaccurate.
I just love swinging the 3wood with its small head and steel shaft, but the driver just feels terrible, the head just feels too big like im swinging a broom or something.

Is it the loft of the driver compared to the 3wood which causes the problem? or the length of the shaft and size of the driver head which is throwing my timing off?

is there anything to focus on when swinging a driver opposed to a 3wood?

thx

[tm22721]

I practice on a level surface, but on the course I encounter tee boxes that are not level or that have shallow depressions that are not obvious without a carefull inspection.

For instance on a tee box that is below the fairway, my course makes the tee box slope upwards. Unless I am conscious of the slight tilt, I may not get off my back foot completely, hitting a pull or hook.

[allin]

why is it so hard to get consitent with the driver? 8/10 times i hit my 3wood straight 250yards off the tee. With the driver though i will either duck-hook it or get a bad slice. Sure the driver will go a little bit further but its way too inaccurate.

If you are using steel in the three wood and graphite in the driver there is a big difference in the total weight of the club. You might want to experiment with a driver that is a little shorter and swing weighted higher, by adding extra weight to the head. This will give you a feel closer to your three wood. You could try a heavier weight graphite shaft also. Pay close attention to your 3 wood tempo and make sure you are not speeding up or what I believe happens even more often slowing down your backswing with the driver.

[Richie3Jack]

I would look to get similar specifications in the driver that you have in the 3 wood. Get the shaft flex tested on both of them. You would be surprised at how off shaft flexes can be when they are electronically measured. Years ago I had a Callaway driver and 3 wood with the same stock shafts both supposed to be X stiff. The 3 wood was X stiff when measured, but the driver shaft was a ladie's stiff.

Also like a previous poster pointed out, you probably have graphite in the driver and steel in the three wood which can make a huge difference (although if the flexes are the same, you're likely to be fine).

If you do have a graphite driver and steel shaft 3 wood. I would then get a new driver. Trying to put steel shaft in a graphite shafted driver causes major weight issues because graphite shafted drivers have heavier heads. So if you put the heavier steel shaft in, now you have a really heavy driver.




3JACK

[Walther]

Plus you're playing a high spin ball that is designed for high club speeds and a shallow angle of attack. Have you tried other balls?

[Shindig]

It could be a loft problem. Since you're a single-digit handicap, it's not *that* loft, but rather the loft of the club.

How lofty is your driver? Were you fit for it? Depending on the loft of your 3W and driver, there could be a 8 degree difference, which could amount to a ton of spin. My driving accuracy increased immensely without a noticeable decrease in distance when I went from a 9.5 to a 10.5 degree driver ; I hadn't been fit for the first one.

[barrycuda]

the driver has 9.5 loft and stiff flex, was not fit for it as i just ordered it from golfsmith.com. the 3wood has 15 degrees, steel R flex.

i might just do without a driver for a while. i seem to have no problem getting pars and birdies on 500yard+ par 5s teeing off with the 3 wood.

[Richie3Jack]

the driver has 9.5 loft and stiff flex, was not fit for it as i just ordered it from golfsmith.com. the 3wood has 15 degrees, steel R flex.

I'd get them checked out. Preferably with a clubfitter who has a frequency analyzer machine, which looks like this:

It probably won't cost you to just have them do that. And it's good stuff to know anyway. 3JACK

[Guest]

I think it is the loft angle. I'm in the exact same situation as you, for the past 5 years, I've been teeing off with my 3 wood because I'm much, much more accurate with it and I almost get the same distance as my driver. It finally dawned on me the problem I've been having when I decided to buy a custom fit set of clubs. It was a revelation when I found out the difference the loft angle and shaft kick point play in your swing. As you increase the loft angle, carry distance decreases due to a higher launch angle and the role after the ball hits the ground decreases due to more backspin, but there is a drastict decrease in side spin (side spin is the source of hooks and slices). So to make the point clear, a very flat loft angle, will lead to great distance and more role, but it will be must more sensitive to inaccuracies in the contact angle at impact (which means if your are a little bit off, the flight path will curve drastically.) This is why I think you hit your 3 wood better than your driver. Both clubs have a simillar shaft length, so you get similar club speed and thus similar carry distance. But the 3 wood has a much higher loft angle, so you get virtually no side spin, which means a straighter flight path, however, the higher loft angle leads to more backspin and thus no role after the ball hits the ground. My drive has a loft angle of 9.5 degrees and I have hard time hitting it straight. When I went in to get a custom fit, I found out that as I increased the loft angle, I hit it much more accurately but lost role distance. So my optimal loft angle was between 10.5-11.0 degrees, any lower, I hooked or sliced, any higher, I got no roll after the ball landed. I hope this helps.

[barrycuda]

i checked today, i was getting 250-280 yards including roll with the 3 wood. with the driver i can slightly beat that distance but instead of hitting that shot 8/10 times with the 3wood it would be only 2/10 times with the driver.
maybe i just need to visit the range more often with the driver.

as was mentioned, less loft means less forgiving shots. thats why i like the 3 wood, if you hook or slice it, the ball still ends up near the fairway instead of out of bounds or in the trees with the driver.

if i where to put the 3 wood head on the driver shaft, wouldent i be hitting it further than the normal 3wood??

[Shindig]

the driver has 9.5 loft and stiff flex, was not fit for it as i just ordered it from golfsmith.com. the 3wood has 15 degrees, steel R flex.

i checked today, i was getting 250-280 yards including roll with the 3 wood. with the driver i can slightly beat that distance but instead of hitting that shot 8/10 times with the 3wood it would be only 2/10 times with the driver.

I think it's a flex issue, not a shaft issue. Your 3-Wood is going straight with R-flex, your driver is going wild with S-flex. Your stated distances seem to indicate that S-flex might be right, but your experience indicates otherwise. If a friend has a similar driver with an R-flex shaft, try his - for a round, a hole, or on the range. I'd bet you hit it much better. Or it could be psychological. You might be trying to kill your driver but you accept 3-Wood distances.

[barrycuda]

yeah i accept it because the 3wood distance is not much less than driver distance, and i find the fairway nearly everytime.
i guess i could try a R flex similar driver.

[Shindig]

yeah i accept it because the 3wood distance is not much less than driver distance, and i find the fairway nearly everytime.

It took me a good month or two to accept that R flex is good for me and S flex isn't. Thankfully, RD had a great return policy and I was able to return it and get a good club in R flex. It's a macho thing.

[barrycuda]

and the idea of the 3wood head on the driver shaft? how would that perform?

[Richie3Jack]

as was mentioned, less loft means less forgiving shots.

That's not exactly true. Low handicappers who play with too much loft on the driver tend to have accuracy issues whereas high handicappers who don't have enough loft can have accuracy issues.

I'm thinking it's shaft flex and possibly something to do with the loft, although I think you shaft flex in the driver is much more off than the loft you may need to use. If you're only hitting the ball slightly longer with the driver than the 3 wood, that's usually a symptom of the shaft flex in the driver being off. My guess is the driver shaft flex is too strong. Like I stated before, my best suggestion is take the 3 wood to a club maker and get all of the specs. Then try to match the specs of that 3 wood into your driver. Then you should be able to hit the driver at least 30 yards longer than your three wood. YAKUZA

[allin]

That's not exactly true. Low handicappers who play with too much loft on the driver tend to have accuracy issues whereas high handicappers who don't have enough loft can have accuracy issues.

One companies regular is another often companies stiff, there are no standards which gurantee flex from company to company, tip firmness flex points etc all vary. So this is a good suggestion. As far as the three wood head on a driver shaft, the head is a different weight, once again swing weight and feel might be messed up.

[barrycuda]

well i did try another driver, although a taylormade one, some r7 460cc thing with R flex and 10.5 loft.
was prolly getting 240yards with it, shorter than my 3wood.
so this thing has less loft, bigger head and longer shaft yet i hit my 3wood further.
Does driver shaft type affect distance?

[Richie3Jack]

well i did try another driver, although a taylormade one, some r7 460cc thing with R flex and 10.5 loft.

Probably too much loft. You get arguments on kickpoints on shaft, but the kickpoint may be too low so you may hitting it too high and losing distance.

Driver shaft type can definitely affect distance. That's why you don't see long distance driving competitors ever hit with steel shafts. Graphite is best for distance and there's graphite shafts that are far better than others. I'll still go with the recommendation of finding out the shaft specs of your 3 wood (shaft flex, torque and kickpoint) and then try to find a driver shaft that matches those specs and put that in your driver. If you can't do that, then I would probably just keep trying out drivers with different lofts, shafts, and shaft flexes until you come across one you like. I think it's important to try these on an outdoor driving range. The indoor ranges don't always give you that accurate reading. 3JACK