Driver vs. 3-Wood? Hit Driver.

[iacas]

24 minutes ago, saevel25 said:

Why you should almost always hit driver off the tee

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Hitting a shorter club off the tee might seem like the smart play, but it doesn't...

2022 and it became mainstream! 😁

Ugh.

[lastings]

On 12/27/2021 at 7:29 AM, coachjimsc said:

Based on my stats for all rounds played this year, I hit my Driver straighter then my 3 Wood anyway so...🤷‍♂️

This is likely a bit of skewed data….    Simply because you are likely hitting your 3w into tighter spots.    Fairways tend to narrow as they get closer to bunkers and other such trouble.     And likely the reason you are hitting 3w and that driver gets to the trouble.  
 

not saying your general idea is wrong…. Just saying if you hit driver and 3w in equal situations, you’d probably hit more fairways with the 3w because it’s shorter.      (Though not an amount that would justify hitting 3w over driver). 
 

or, maybe I’m off and that 19.8% left with your 3w means you have a tendency to uncontrollably hook that thing, which is an issue you don’t have with your driver..    🤷‍♂️

[lastings]

Also, @coachjimsc, since you brought some Arccos data out, I thought I’d add a bit..  

driver is the only club in the bag that I gain strokes on a 5 handicap.  
 

fortunately, I chip away at those stroked by pounding driver every chance I get. 
 

also, those driver/3w discrepancies don’t even look as skewed as they actually are.   At my home course, there are 3 par-fives where I hit 3w with my 2nd shot almost every time.  Also, 4 short par 4s where driver goes through the fairway.  
 

if I can hit driver, I hit driver.

Edited April 19, 2022 by lastings

[pganapathy]

I don't even have a 3W in the bag.  I had a Driver and then 4h, but found a good deal on a used 2h so picked that up in between the two clubs.  I find that loft is my friend and unless I connect the 2h perfectly, the 4h is longer or equal in length.  I can generally hit the driver very well because it is always a good lie and level ground off the tee.

For me it is driver always off the tee unless I need less distance in which case it is 2 or 4 hybrid

[Shindig]

There were a few par-4 holes on my previous home course where, for a year or so, I'd hit 4W off the tee instead of driver.  One had a narrowish (compared to the rest of the course) fairway with O.B. left and a fairway that angled right.  Another had a bunch of bunkers on one side and trees on the other.  I can't even remember which hole the third one was.  Anyway, I hit driver off the tee whenever I can.  I periodically think I'll try to develop a "bunted driver" (I have no idea if that's even a reasonable description) for when I might otherwise be tempted to hit a shorter club off the tee for accuracy reasons.  

Amazingly, the person who convinced me to do this is one of the best players in the club and he hits his 3W off the tee on those holes every time he plays.  However, I stopped the above pattern when I realized that (a) my scores were higher with wood off the tee, as I was typically hitting now a hybrid into the greens, and (b) when he hit 3W off the tee on those holes, he still had a wedge in for his second shot.   Of course, I think he'd get it closer to the pin from 20+ yards closer, but I'm not going to try to give advice to someone whose handicap is over a dozen lower than mine.

[iacas]

On 4/19/2022 at 5:34 AM, lastings said:

This is likely a bit of skewed data….    Simply because you are likely hitting your 3w into tighter spots.    Fairways tend to narrow as they get closer to bunkers and other such trouble.     And likely the reason you are hitting 3w and that driver gets to the trouble.

not saying your general idea is wrong…. Just saying if you hit driver and 3w in equal situations, you’d probably hit more fairways with the 3w because it’s shorter.      (Though not an amount that would justify hitting 3w over driver).

It could also be that the 3W is a smaller head so you can get more gear effect, or mis-hit it a bit more easily, too. It might not literally be just about distance = hit more fairways under the same conditions, because the conditions aren't the same even because the head shapes and sizes are different.

[DoubleAce]

I don't hit many 3 woods off the tee. But 90% of the time I choose a 3 wood (or something other than driver), it's for distance reasons. The other 10% would be for keeping out of trouble. But even that is kind of distance related. 

But broad strokes, I agree with the premise of swinging driver whenever you can. 

[KMP]

I hit driver longer AND way more accurately than a 3 wood. There are very few reasons I would hit 3 wood on my tee shot and none of them are more accuracy.

[Esox]

I only used a 3 wood for tee shots in recent years. So instead of a 3 wood I recently started carrying two drivers on a couple of my regular courses, a 10.5 degree Ping G425 and a very spinny, high flying, quick stopping 12* Mizuno STX220 set to 13.25*. Fanning it open a bit at address keeps it from drawing too much. It is a fairway finder and works great on some uphill tee balls and tree lined doglegs I like to carry.