No driver, no woods, no problem!

[patriot07]

Alot of the questions about whether or not you should use a driver should depend on 2 things, in my opinion:
1. How much shorter and how much more accurate is the club you'll replace it with?
2. What is the penalty of a bad drive?

I really came to realize this when I moved from the Dallas area to go to college in east Texas several years ago. When I was playing in Dallas, I was shooting mid to upper 70's and did not ever get cheated on a driver swing. I didn't hit a ton of fairways, but most of the courses in that area don't really penalize you for missing the fairway because there aren't enough trees to block your approach shots. When I came to east Texas, a missed fairway might as well have been a 1-shot penalty on most holes because of all the darn pine trees, so I went immediately from 75's to 85's. So I learned to hit the driver with more control, and now I'm back down in the upper 70's. I never took it out of the bag, because I didn't have a swing that would allow my 3-wood to be significantly more accurate, so it didn't make any sense. But I can certainly relate to those who put away the "big dog" if you're more comfortable with something else. It's insanely frustrating to lose your chance at scoring well on a par 4 or 5 right on the tee box because you can't put a driver in play.

[Caddyshack]

I recently went away on a golfing w-end i wasnt hitting the driver too well so i left it at home so i wouldnt even be tempted to use it. 2 rounds of stableford over the w-end 39 and 37 points... won the w-end, since then the driver has only come out on very open and long holes!!
I only see a 20 m difference between the driver and 3 wood anyway and it is much easier to hit the green 20 m back but on the fairway...