When to use the driver

[kilbyman]

What criteria do you guys have of when to pull driver and when to leave it in the bag? Eg. What distance to pin do you aim for?

[GaijinGolfer]

For me if its more than 230 and I have a fairly large margin for error I pull driver.  If its a tight fairway though I will pull 3-wood or 2-hybrid.

[Shindig]

It isn't a strictly distance thing.  There are obvious reasons to leave it in the bag:  tight hole with trouble on both sides, or when a good shot leaves you in trouble (e.g., water you need to lay up short).  Sometimes you have other options.  Now, I'm a short hitter and reasonably accurate with my driver;  I rarely leave it in the bag.

Instead of looking from the tee and deciding about the driver, think backwards.  If you've played your course a few times, you probably know how you want to play each hole.  If you play the same course regularly, take 20 minutes and sit down with a piece of paper and a pen, and think about each hole.  Write your thoughts about how you think you'll best score there -- obviously, a long drive, a tight approach, and a tap-in will get you a birdie, but what are you likely to do?  Where is a good place to approach from?  Where do you want to avoid?  Where is it better to miss the green?

At my home course, for example, missing a drive on #9 left is deadly - rough, trees, and it borders the driving range, so you're looking through range balls to find yours.  On the other hand, despite it looking from the tee that there are too many trees right, there are actually some good approaches to be had from there.  Finally, missing the green right is lighter rough, and gives you a good look at just about any pin position.  So my plan there is always to miss right if I'm going to miss either the fairway or the green (both of which I miss on that hole with regularity).

Let me give you some situations where you want to use and not use the driver.

Let's say your favorite club is your 8-iron.  If a decent 3-wood leaves you an 8-iron out, hit 3-wood.  I bet the difference in accuracy between your 8-iron and PW/AW isn't worth the risk of driver (unless, again, you're very accurate with it).

If your only chance to reach a hole in 2 involves hitting driver, and there isn't much risk to hitting driver, be sure to hit it.  Think of hole 15 at Augusta;  if you hit a bad drive, you have to lay up.  If you don't hit driver, you have to lay up.  Unless your plan is to not go for it in 2 anyway, there's no sense not hitting driver in this case.

Let's say that the hole is relatively short, but not so short that you can drive it.  For me, that's about 275 yards (I once drove a 240 yard par-4.  Once).   If I hit my average drive on that hole (215), I'll be about 60 yards out -- my least favorite distance.  So, if I'm facing a 275 yard par-4 and don't feel I can add 10-15 yards to my drive on that hole (elevation, wind, whatever), I'll lay back to a full pitching wedge.   In short, there's no reward for me on that for a GOOD drive, so I'm not going to hit driver.

How about this?  Let's say you get to a 480 yard par-5 on a day when you aren't hitting your drives well.  Maybe your 5-iron is 160 yards.  Three 5-irons get you to the green in regulation -- when I was a 27 handicap, if you offered me green-side in regulation on almost any hole, I'd have taken it -- you could almost choose where I put the ball for that.  And I bet even your mediocre 5-iron shots (meaning mediocre for you, I'm not trying to insult your ball-striking) will be placed better than my adversarial placement.  You might even make birdie, and I can't imagine this strategy gives you worse than bogey.  And if you're comfortable with a hybrid, you might hit two of those and then have a short iron in, or 3-hybrid off the tee, 5-iron down, and 8-iron approach.

In summary, it's not just distance.  It's penalty for a bad drive, risk/reward, other options, and so on.

[Zeph]

I hit the driver on most long holes. On shorter par 4s I hit whatever club will get me around 110-130 yards from the green. I used to struggle a lot with the driver, but it has shaped up very well. As long as I can confidently hit it, I'll use driver all the time. If it's narrow or I by all means don't want to miss it too bad, I'll choke up on the driver and hit it easier. Still flies long, but easier to control.

[dsc123]

I hit a driver on any hole over 280 yards that doesn't have a dog leg where i can overshoot the fairway and end up in the woods.  I've also decided that this strategy is at least 25% of the reason that I suck.

HOWEVER, I am committing, as of today, to 4-Iron (3W might be my worst club) every hole under 375.  For me, that would put me about a 7i out.  A par 4 that's 275-400 i may consider doing the same.  But once I go past 400 it would require 2 very good 4-irons to reach, which might be asking too much.

Of course, there are always exceptions.  As Shindig explained, other things can come into play, but I'm going to try going with this general rule.

[Sean Dainty]

I agree with the risk/reward analysis above, however, I'd like to add that you should play to your biggest strength. For instance, my favourite distance is 110 to 150 yards, so I will try and hit whatever club that will get me there (I average about 290 off the tee, so unless the course is really long, I usually find myself hitting a lot of 3-woods). Play to your strengths and it will allow you to make easier decisions about what club you use off the tee.

[anthony]

I'll pull my driver on any hole that I won't drive over or has a dog leg that I may drive through. Personally, I feel like I'm just as likely to mishit my 3 wood as I am my driver. Hybrids are generally more accurate and a better choice on shorter holes with small margins for error.

[darkhunter139]

I hit my driver better then my hybrids off the tee usually so I use it on anything longer then 240ish.  I am not sure why this is but I am more confident in my driver.