Why would tou hit a driver of the tee box ....

[Gerald]

Last week I played with one of our club's lowest handicappers, at the first par 5 (535 yds) I had the honour and hit a perfect draw, that ended up about 270 yds away in just the left rough, which made it impossible to even try to get to the green in two ....... and he asked me why I took a driver out of my bag and if I intended to reach the green in two ?

NO I said, I just like to hit the driver, sometimes the result is great, sometimes in the woods, etc.....

He told me it would make more sense to hit about 180-200 yds with a 3 or 4 iron, middle of the fairway, another 3 or 4 iron and a shorter iron to the green, make two putts and write down another Par. It makes no sense hitting a 260 yds drive, a 200 yds. Hybrid and a hard to hit 30% wedge ..... not to mention the possible in the rough or in the woods result of the 260 yds drive.

He about played a very colourless round, no risks, only two above par after 18 holes, I missed a few fairways, had some escape from the woods shots, got myself in nasty bunkers trying to reach 230-240 yds to the green and I played well above my handicap.

Maybe it is at some holes better to be defensive, if you want to get to single handicap.

Today I played all par 5's as par 5's and at our two short par 4's I used a 4 iron off the tee ....... 5 pars 1 bogey at these holes and my first under 80 round in several years.

I am not going to tell this will allways work, but it sure makes sense to think about club selection off the tee !

[golfro]

i like playing aggresively. its add for a more fun round. A par five is a great eagle opportunity if you can get it on the green. On a good day, I'll drive 270-280 yards and in some case, a nice 3 wood hit onto green puts me at eagle or atleast birdie opportunity. Sure I can play it safe every round btu then I'm missing otu on the opportunities I have to drop my score.

[TourSpoon]

It sounds like you got a great lesson in course management.

[Leftygolfer]

If your shooting better scores that is great. I don't know about not ever trying to give yourself chances to get on 5 pars in two if you have the length. The issue I have with being conservative off the tee is what if I miss the conservative club?? Then I am going to have to do something great to make a par where if I hit a lousy driver in play I still have a chance to hit the green. If you can play it works b/c the chances of missing the shot that bad are slim, but if you are like me the chance is there of not getting all of the club and having it instead of going 190 it goes 170. That makes a 350 yard par 4 play like one that it is 430.

[sean_miller]

. . . and he asked me why I took a driver out of my bag and if I intended to reach the green in two ?

Were you soliciting his opinion? If you hit a 260 yard drive an 8 iron and a wedge or if you hit two 3-woods and a lob wedge, who cares, hit whatever you want.

[saevel25]

Driver baby... though i should pull out 3-wood more often, but rough doesn't bother me that much, so i rather just jack it somewere out there a good distance and take the shorter club. Just my styles since i can hit it a good ways.

[elvis14]

I would have told him that my 3 and 4 iron are in my garage . Seriously, to each his own. Personally, I hit my driver more consistantly than the other choices I have for going off the tee (it has a club face the size of my head, afterall) so it's a good choice for me . You have to balance course management with your style of play with what you have fun with. If you enjoy hitting your driver more even though it might cost you a few strokes, it might still be the club for YOU to hit. Of course 'bomb and gouge" vs. "control tee to green" has been discussed for 50 years now.

[goblue107501]

I play a course that has a 575+ yard par 5's. It has an elevated green and creek in front making it virtually impossible for anyone not on tour to reach in two. You have to have two perfectly struck shots and one of them would have to be all carry to reach the green since there is no way to 'run it up'. On this one I will usually play a 3-wood off of since the landing area is pretty narrow. The second shot is the key, so as long as you keep it in play (creek down the right the entire length) off the tee, it can be a managable hole. There are a lot of par 5's that can possibly be reached in two with a good drive, this isn't one of them.

I can see his point. Although having played par 5's that way before, you can also run into some trouble. You could hit 4-4-W into the green, but what if you mishit one of the 4's? Then your looking at 4-4 and then maybe another 4 just to get on the green. That makes a hole really hard.

I usually like to give myself the option based on what my drive does. If I hit a good drive, then I have a decision to make. Get as close as I can, or play to a specific distance. If I hit a bad drive then the decision is easy and I lay up to a good distance. At least I have the options. By hitting a 3-wood or 4-iron, you eliminate some of the options. Sure it can usually be a safe play, but it can also make it hard since there will be less room for error should something go bad.

Par 4s are a different story, I hit as many hybrids and 3-woods as I do drivers. It just depends on the length and layout of the hole.

[delav]

The main thing here is playing with purpose rather than just whacking away. If a par 5 is long enough to always be a 3-shot hole, and you care more about your score than simply busting a big drive, it makes sense to play cautiously and guarantee a fairway off the tee. On par 5's without much trouble, or those within 500 yards where an on-in-two is likely, I'll hit the driver off of the tee.

Either way, having a methodical approach to club selection will improve your scores. Swinging a driver off the tee of a tight 350 yard par 4 is often something you'll only see higher hdcp players do. At some point, the thrill of pars and birdies outweighs the long ball for most players.

[brgolf]

In theory if you could play the hole with driver 100s of times, then play it with an irons 100s of times and see when your average score is best, you would have the answer. Perhaps the hole is equally rewarding with either approach, perhaps the hole is tight and the green well protected- rewarding accuracy or perhaps it is open with players often reaching the green in two.

[jamo]

I take it on a hole by hole basis, to me there is no real other way to do it. If I think I need to hit 3 iron 3 iron 9 iron, I will.

[mad max]

The main thing here is playing with purpose rather than just whacking away. If a par 5 is long enough to always be a 3-shot hole, and you care more about your score than simply busting a big drive, it makes sense to play cautiously and guarantee a fairway off the tee.

How do you guarantee a fairwayoff the tee?

I guess being a 2.8 HC your can guarantee a fairway with a long iron but for some of us nothing is guaranteed. I think the hole layout is important to factor in, if the hole narrows up and brings a hazard into play at 250 by all means keep yourself out of trouble and lay up but if it is a fairly open hole I would prefer to get it as far out as posible. I know personally I have had more pars on par 5's by hitting one in the trees punching out and then hitting a good third shot than I have hitting 3 solid shots in a row.

[SpacklersEdge]

I purposely put myself in the penalty box the last 3 rounds. I have not been striking the ball well lately, so I played without my D or 3W the lat 3 rounds. I actually shot my two lowest rounds of the year the last two. Not only did I stay in the fairway more (playing everything from 5w to 5 iron, last round I hit 12 of 14 fairways), but i found it made me really concentrate on hitting it solid and pure since I knew I needed to get every last yard with a shorter club. Not by swinging harder, but by hitting better.

[clam fist]

I just like bringing out the big gun. Too much fun to leave it in the bag.

[Mattplusness]

I can totally see where he is coming from if he has a good wedge game. Personally, my long irons are the weakest part of my game at the moment. Play to YOUR strengths I guess.

[Shindig]

Certainly, if your goal is to hit driver, it's better to do so at the range.

However, most of the par-5s I play are out of reach for me in 2, but not out of "driver something half-wedge" range. And I like my chances to hit the green better with a half wedge than a full wedge. I also think I get it closer on a half wedge than a full wedge. All par-5s really do is take the pressure of a long drive off, because I need only an easy drive and an easy hybrid or 4-wood shot to be able to go for it in three.

[macman756]

I always play aggressively. Much more fun.

[brgolf]

If the worst outcome was driver in the rough and you could have it out to leave yourself a similar approach as you would have if you had hit an iron off the tee, then going with driver would be win win.