Who doesn't carry a driver?

[Blades4me]

  rockin johny said:

Just curious who doesn't carry/hit a driver?

I really like my driver, but when I play my 78 Wilson Staff Tour blades I'll play the 1-pw with SW & LW. With the putter, that makes 13, so I'll leave my 12.5* 3 metal in the bag. Its a strong 3, (I really like strong 3 woods) and its damn near as long as my driver off of the tee. Its a little more accurate also.

Since golf comes down to being confident and comfortable over the ball, do whatever it takes to get confident & comfortable over the ball. In my mind, its about getting the ball into the hole with a minimum amount of strokes. What I found was when I was not that good with my dirver I went to the 3 wood. After I got used to really going at it with the 3 wood, the driver just kind of fell into place.

[trumps4]

I do carry a driver but my father-in-law doesn't. He carries a TM V-Steel 3-wood with a steel shaft. He can kill that thing! He hits it straight and almost as far as i hit my driver. He is also about 10-12 strokes better than me.... Go figure.

[bobsuruncle]

i've just given up on my driver. tee off with my 4W now. 220 yards and straight in the middle of the fairway. until i can find a replacement driver that goes straight (via a proper fitting rather than off the shelf), I'll stick to this strategy. If there's a (low index hole) long par 4, I'll just play it as a "par 5". that suits my 18-hcap just fine.

[CarlSpackler]

The driver is the only club I am hitting reliably now. Perhaps I should carry 14 of them.

[sam004]

I am somewhat surprised by the number of responses.
Does anyone here feel that it is the size of the driver
that causes a problem for most ?

[Laxplayer201092]

Went a very long time without one... I commonly play A 5 club with my friends, so it's all three wood from there


But from an equipment junky standpoint, the hibore and nv might be the most inconsistent combo ever!! It may do you well to pick up something different like a v2 in whatever head..

[TomK82]

i never could get used to the size of the modern day driver have little to no control with one even with a proper fitting

[TidePride50]

For several years my Driver was just a passenger as well (teed off with 3 wood) but the last couple years I have gotten fairly consistent with it, plus I just enjoy swinging it. The way I look at it is I'm paying to play and even if I don't hit it well, I enjoy swinging it so I'm gonna let the big dog eat regardless. Lol. RTR '12!

[MrSandman]

Why not just spend a week at the range and learn how to hit a driver? Driver is the easiest club to hit. It is ginormous and you get to use a tee. I understand the 3w back in the persimmon wood days. But not carrying a driver now is just plane laziness. Give it 30 solid hrs over 6 days and, if you can hit a 7 iron well, you can hit the driver.

[B-Con]

When I first started I didn't hit my driver for a long time. I think I played for about two years (of on and off golfing activity) before I even tried to hit it. It was disastrous (although, so was the rest of my swing). I stuck to my 3-wood for a while longer. It was definitely a good decision and it kept me in the fairway. My driver still gets me into trouble, but I play a course with wide fairways so I can afford to be less than terribly accurate with it. Being comfortable with the 3-wood for holes where the driver is iffy is definitely a good option to keep, IMO. I use it off the tee 3 or 4 times per round on my home course.

[TomK82]

  MrSandman said:

Originally Posted by MrSandman

Why not just spend a week at the range and learn how to hit a driver?

Driver is the easiest club to hit. It is ginormous and you get to use a tee.

I understand the 3w back in the persimmon wood days. But not carrying a driver now is just plane laziness. Give it 30 solid hrs over 6 days and, if you can hit a 7 iron well, you can hit the driver.

I dont think its being lazy i just think its how people prefer to play the game and i prefer 3w off the tee.

[mhancock]

I probably need to take my driver out of the bag after the way I played today. I have found that the larger the heads on drivers get, the shorter I hit it. My best round ever was a 67 and I never touched the driver. Like others have said, I often hit a 14° 2 hybrid and can pound it off the tee or of the deck. It really makes my playing paftners scratch their heads when I fly past their driver with a steel shaft hybrid. I tried a new combo today in both my driver and hybrid. I put graphite in the hybrid and a new shaft in the driver. Boy was that a mistake. I couldnt hit either of my longer clubs. Im playing again tomorrow and will have my older Ping driver and 16° backup hybrid with a tried and true steel shaft. I hit my hybrid as a go to shot and its plenty long at 245. I dont carry a fairway metal at all now. Both of my 2 hybrids have similar loft to my 3 wood but I hit the hybrid lower, longer, and more accurate. I can work the ball either way with all my steel shafted clubs but have trouble with the big headed graphite shafted driver. I dont think Im Tiger but honestly havent found any shafts that I like in the bigger head drivers. I have a stock x flex in my 9° Ping driver and hit it better than anything Ive tried in my r9. I found a smoking deal on an 8.5° Supertri with an x flex 75g Rip shaft and will try that if they ever ship the dang thing. Not sure whats going on with the driver. I have scheduled an appointment with a club fitter that is also a teaching pro. Hopefully he can help me get it straightened out. I had shoulder surgery last year and physically dont swing the same now so it may be more me than the equipment. I just hit high ballooning shots with all the shafts Ive hit in the r9. I dont feel like I swing fast enough to really need an x flex shaft but Im tired of guessing and buying shafts off ebay that all produce the same shot. Its almost embarrassing to not hit my driver because I used to just bomb it way down the fairway......or just farther into trouble..lol. even when I played pretty good golf, I still scored better without it. I shot that 67 before hybrids were common and I just used a Callaway 1 iron off the tee. Im still a pretty decent iron player but would like a driver so I can reach the par 5's in 2 without having to hit 2 perfect shots with the hybrid. That little club does work though and my putter has been hot so until Im comfortable with my driver I probably wont hit it much on the course. I played worse today than I have since I started back playing. Testing new things on both of my long clubs was a huge mistake and I paid the price today. If I would have played smart I could have played much better. 2 six irons still equals a 420 yard par 4 but I just kept trying to hit the long clubs. Course management was not in use...lol

[Tuflehundon]

I think the driver is one of the most important clubs to get fitted, but most buy an off the shelf club. I have always carried a driver, but didn't always hit it well. I never gave up on it though, I tend to be stubborn. I am (was) lucky enough to have a friend that was an Instructor. (he moved away unfortunately) He was helping me fix a lot of my issues, and a big one was driver inconsistency. He helped me change a lot of things about my swing. He also recommended that I get fitted for my clubs.

Turns out I was using the wrong flex of shafts, the wrong size grips, and the shafts were the wrong length. I had a set made to fit me and my game changed dramatically. I'm still not perfect by any means, but I really did notice the difference with clubs that were fitted.

Went and got fitted again, just to make sure, and bought a new (to me) driver. Went to golfsmith during the week, and the guys were bored, and let me try every kind and flex, etc, of driver I wanted. I must have tried 40 club combinations. Ended up settling on the club that I hit the best. I have played 2 rounds with it, and I hit it better than any of my other clubs in the bag now. Wish I could hit the other ones as good.

[Pro Z 1]

I didn't carry one for a long time, but I recently got to borrow (and bought) a friend's used Titleist driver, and it just clicked with me. I don't know/understand the shaft options out there, all I know is that thing works for me better than anything else I hit now. I agree with everyone else that's saying the same, hit what's comfortable for now, but try to get fitted/find the right one. When you do, you will know.

[GaijinGolfer]

At one point in time I didnt carry any woods and only had irons (1-9 irons) and it was OK but even at my best I could only hit the ball 250 yards off the tee and that was back in my early 20s when my swingspeed was faster than it is today.

Id suggest learning how to reliably hit driver.  Its a great shot to have in the bag if you can master it.

[Jason M]

Where I am playing depends on whats in my bag. I have 2 drivers- Nickent 4DX Evolver 10.5* or 12*- that I use on longer courses. I do have a full set of hybrids 1-6, 14*-29*, that I play on more standard or shorter length courses. Most courses I play don't have too narrow of fairways, so the drivers don't cause me too much trouble. If I am struggling to hit them on the range, I switch over to my Nickent 3DX 3/fw, 4/fw, or 5/fw until my swing evens out.

Like a previous poster, I used to use Calloway Warbird drivers and still do at the range when I need to practice on more consistent striking.

[Jimdangles]

For a while it was off and on but lately it has definitely been on. Countless times saturday playing with my brother and his friend (10 years older and 10 strokes better) I outdrove them a few times and shaped the shot exactly that I wanted to. I had to hit a draw and can only do it sometimes and when I do all I got from them was "thats a pro drive you should hit that off the tee everytime" Really made me feel good. But with a fade I feel more confident and can swing harder. The next hole I showed them why I played a fade and just crushed it down the middle. But no more than 3 weeks ago I was hitting a 3wood off the tee on a par 5. Lately I just lack confidence with it so much. especially off the deck. I want every hole to be driver followed by nothing longer than a 7 iron. Another reason I dont like hitting 3 wood is it just leaves too long for my next shot and I get inconsistent.

[Jimdangles]

IMHO avoiding the driver is not fixing the problem it is avoiding it. I think the driver is an important club to have in your bag. Can be very helpful if you can hit it.