How do you play a course with tight fairways?

[iWALK18]

Just hit your... 4 iron....

Honestly, if you are asking us how to play these courses, but refuse to hit anything but driver, you aren't actually asking us how to play these courses. You're asking how to hit driver straight, which isn't something we can tell you.

[pittpanther]

Just hit your... 4 iron....

Nice response! Nothing more needs saying in this thread.

[Bump-n-MI]

Just hit your... 4 iron....

LMAO

To be quite honest, not every shot has to be hit with a driver. I don't like to hit a draw with my driver. I like to hit it dead straight, or with a slight fade. I can aim down an O.B. line left and know it's not going there. So if a hole requires a draw, I'm hitting my 3-wood every time. If I really catch it, it's not going to be that much shorter than my driver anyway.

Wow, my approach...exactly!

[PiKapp23]

One thing I always do in those cases is take aim at a point that allows for my normal miss, a fade. I'll move to the right side of tee box and choose a point in the distance on the left hand side of fairway (or sometimes even a little left of that point) and swing with conviction. I do not want to try to take something off the driver because that often leads to bad. I know almost always choke up on driver about 1 1/2 inch as well for more control. These things help we control the shot and give me as much room for my miss as possible (and still allow a room for a straight shot or even a slight draw or pull).

[billm408]

from the rough.

Best answer so far!

If you insist on hitting driver that is. For me? Long irons are your friend.

[Lebowski]

My only advice would be to try to keep a smooth swing tempo throughout the round and avoid the temptation to try and blast a drive farther then you should. That way your shot pattern should be narrowed down and you can allow for some of your misses and miss on the right side of the fairway and not in the trouble side.

[Shorty]

When you absolutely got to hit it straight off the tee, what should you do?

It's a pretty weird question which implies a lack of insight.

Apparently Jack Jnr handed his dad the driver on the 10th hole at Augusta in ‘86 when Jack was about to charge to his 6th win. The crowd were getting pumped- people were yelling. Jack handed the driver back to his son and said- “Let’s stay aggressive, give me the 3 wood” Meaning I can make an aggressive 3 wood swing and draw it around the bend and not steer a driver because i normally fade that etc etc. He knew his capabilities and what was best.

[prutkows]

you really don't have that many options..
1. choke up on driver
2. take a lesser club
3. hit it normal, dont be a pansy :)

[TheNatural]

Wow, you can hit your 8 iron 200 yards, thats right up there with phil mickelson, im lucky to get 130 yards out mine. I guess if you can hit your other irons equally as far, you wouldnt need a driver very much.

I deloft the hell out of it.

[TheNatural]

well i kept the driver in the bag for 3 or 4 holes and couldnt stay away. awful round.

[Greg]

I deloft the hell out of it.

I wish i knew how to do that, i do it sometimes by mistake, as yesterday I hit my 9 iron about 20 yards farther than i wanted to and flew it past the green.

[alf174]

well i kept the driver in the bag for 3 or 4 holes and couldnt stay away. awful round.

lol, been there done that.

[topspin4hand]

When I find that I am having some accuracy issues with my driver during a round, I grip down on the club and

I am playing a very tight tree-lined course this weekend. To make matter worse, the a large number of the woods are OB, so you don't even have much opportunity to scramble out of trouble. Last year - my 1st summer playing on courses - my swing from the tee was off, and let's just say I was on track to shooting the worse round in the history of my golf group after the 1st 9 holes. Mainly because of my wayward drives being exacerbated by the OB ( and normal poor putting).

UÜber$winG's post got me thinking because I had just seen on a Golf Channel show ( The Fix ?) that teeing the ball higher will lower sidespin because you're now hitting the ball at a slightly lower point and thus imparting more underspin and helping your control. My question, is what do people think on this: Tee it higher or lower ? I have adjusted my schedule to practice this evening and tomorrow evening to work on making any adjustments if my normal drives aren't clicking this weekend.

[imtomtomim]

smack it down the middle, simple as that. Or rather, if you have a natural shot, use it there and shape away from the boarders. I do like that statement someone else made about slicing it to the other fairway. I've made some pretty impressive shots from the wrong fairways but they've seen easy just because i"ve had a good lie. nothing wrong with thinking outside the box. If you're looking for more driver control, I'd hate to tell you but use that 3 wood. You gotta trust your shot and if you don't trust that you can make a good drive, you gotta fall back on the longest club you can trust. I feel like I can thread a needle with my 4 wood, but I don't think I've ever not trusted my driver, even when it fails me time and time again, just that dumb I guess. Confidence.

[lumpuckeroo]

Lately when I have been in a tight driving hole, I have been using the Anthony Kim driver. Choke up an inch or two and then just swing with confidence.

[ScottL]

im not good enough yet to intentionally fade, etc on will. If Im not hitting it straight that day and I MUST get on the fairway, Ill tee off with my 6 iron or hybrids and sacrifice the distance.

[MI Rob]

Whenever I am playing a tight fairway hole and really need to be on the fairway I will use a shorter club that I have more confidence in. But only if I cannot hit my driver that round.

[Stuart]

I go to my 3 wood to see and just see how the first few teeshots go. If i'm feeling confident I'll go to my driver. If not, I'll stick with my 3 wood. It's not much shorter anyways.

To be quite honest, not every shot has to be hit with a driver. I don't like to hit a draw with my driver. I like to hit it dead straight, or with a slight fade. I can aim down an O.B. line left and know it's not going there. So if a hole requires a draw, I'm hitting my 3-wood every time. If I really catch it, it's not going to be that much shorter than my driver anyway.