3 Wood vs Driver Off the Tee Box...

[Buckeyebowman]

On 5/24/2013 at 10:10 AM, trackster said:

Instead of just hitting a 3 wood, why not just learn to hit your driver accurately?  When I started I thought that driver was the only way to go and I was very inconsistent.  By the middle of my second year of golf I started to hit a 3 wood off the tee.  My scores drastically improved.  After a while I hit a snag.  I was constantly leaving myself 180-200 yard second shots.  I was hitting 3 wood, 3 wood, chip almost every hole.  I was tinkering around and started to learn to hit my driver.  Again I saw a huge improvement in my scores.

You read my mind! Or, find a driver that you can hit accurately. My buddy has hit the 3 wood off the tee the past few years claiming he couldn't hit a driver. Doesn't like the big heads on the modern drivers. I dug around in my old club collection and found a Cleveland Launcher Comp that I had retired a few years ago. When I re-gripped it I cut an inch off the shaft since it seemed a little long for me, and added some lead tape to the head to bring the swingweight back to where it was. It's a 460cc head, but it doesn't have that "cantaloupe on a broomstick" look to it because it has quite a deep face.

I brought it with me the last time we played, handed it to my buddy and told him to give it a try. He pretty much bombed the ball down the middle all day! He had a couple misadventures, but he was just beginning to learn the club. And he hit it quite a bit farther than his 3! In return he gave me a Taylormade R9 that I hit great, and he couldn't! I don't have a problem with big heads. Heck, I have one!

 

 

 

 

 

[gregsandiego]

Someone please explain why a 3 wood is easier to hit then the driver? Long club, tiny head?

As I read this thread I'm thinking I should remove the club from my bag for all the good it has done for me.

[boogielicious]

9 hours ago, baw1 said:

Something happened in the last couple weeks and now I am really struggling with my driver. This is despite lots of practice at the range over the off season with good results. 

I hit my 3-wood great though. It's consistent and reliable and I used it off the tee on most holes over the last couple rounds I played. I realize this is a temporary solution though and need to figure out what the issue is.

I might be over swinging. The miss is usually a slice or a pull. When I hit it well (historically) I am usually hitting a fade and very seldomly a slight draw. Will be hitting the range this week to troubleshoot.

Post a video of your 3W and driver swings in the My Swing Thread. It could be something easy to adjust like ball position or you sway more with the driver backswing vs. the 3W. Most elements should be the same, but your objective is to hit driver with a + angle of attack. 

[saevel25]

8 hours ago, gregsandiego said:

Someone please explain why a 3 wood is easier to hit then the driver? Long club, tiny head?

As I read this thread I'm thinking I should remove the club from my bag for all the good it has done for me.

Some recent statistics have shown that the 3-wood isn't that much more accurate than a driver. I think people would benefit more from learning how to hit a driver softer.

A 3-wood is typically 2-3 inches shorter than a driver. That helps. It's heavier which might help with control as well. Most amateurs hit down on the ball with the driver. So being able to tee the ball lower and hit down with the 3-wood, which it is better designed to do so, might be more beneficial.

The only time I hit a 3-wood is if I know I need to keep the ball short of trouble. Besides that it's driver.

[pganapathy]

For me the driver is an easier club to hit than the 3 wood.  Might have something to do with the fact that I have an old and not very well fitted club for my swing (in all probability for my 3W and 5W, the Slazenger woods with a regular shaft).  Also has to do with the fact that I find if I hit the driver well, it is far more forgiving and longer than the 3 wood.  For me, if I can find a good 4 wood probably, I want to remove the 3W, 5W and 3i from my bag and put in a 50* gap and then a hybrid or maybe even an utility club like a chipper.

For me a 3W off the tee is not a great club unless you need to hit it short

[dave s]

My driver is much more predictable than a 3-wood any day of the week.  I believe the larger surface area of the driver face vs a 3-wood is the likely reason I hit more driver swings near the sweet spot.

dave

[9wood]

On 2/28/2012 at 3:55 PM, mrbillinoc said:

One thing I always find interesting is this...probably a good 70% of all the guys I play with would have MORE fun and score MUCH better if they used a 3 Wood vs Driver off the tee box. Their drives go left, right, up, down, then they pull out the 'ol 3 wood and nail it straight down the middle!

 

When I play golf I especially make sure to watch other golfers during their drive. From my observations, a good many of them can't hit their big driver without hitting a big slice or hook. Until last year, I couldn't either so I always teed off using my 3 wood and found that I hit my ball just as far, and farther with my 3 wood than many people I either watch or partner with. And even more importantly I can hit the ball much more accurately with my 3 wood than most of them can with a full size driver. I noticed Henrik Stenson does pretty good with his three wood. Henrik is making quite a bit of money using his Callaway 3 wood in the PGA tournaments

Edited March 21, 2016 by 9wood

[Lihu]

My 3W is more accurate for sure.

I think it's the spin we put on it that keeps it straighter? Off the tee, I average 20-30 yards less than driver. Maybe a bit more? If I am on a narrow fairway, and I'm not feeling that confident in the driver direction I will tee off with a 3W. I also tee off more often with 3W on shorter courses.

[baw1]

6 hours ago, boogielicious said:

Post a video of your 3W and driver swings in the My Swing Thread. It could be something easy to adjust like ball position or you sway more with the driver backswing vs. the 3W. Most elements should be the same, but your objective is to hit driver with a + angle of attack. 

Thanks for the feedback. I will try and get a video up. The caveat there is that the camera angles have to be good.

I had trouble sleeping (driver anxiety) and went to the range this morning. The good news is that I hit mostly good (straight or fade) drives. I worked on the following things:

- Smooth/even tempo throughout the swing (no over swinging).

- turn around my spine (takeaway and downswing) without moving (swaying)

- I normally tee the ball up in line with my left foot and address the club head a few inches back from the ball. Focused on the bottom of the swing being where I address the club head (not the ball).

I realize the above descriptions/terminology may be different for everyone, but this really helped me.

 

[baw1]

1 hour ago, Lihu said:

My 3W is more accurate for sure.

I think it's the spin we put on it that keeps it straighter? Off the tee, I average 20-30 yards less than driver. Maybe a bit more? If I am on a narrow fairway, and I'm not feeling that confident in the driver direction I will tee off with a 3W. I also tee off more often with 3W on shorter courses.

Other than the obvious things like the additional loft (more forgiving..less slice), shorter shaft, etc..I think most just over swing when they grab the Driver. There is a mentality to swing for the fences (with the intention of generating more club head speed) and unless you are low hcp or pro level we just end up altering the proper mechanics/sequencing required. Although even Rory Mcllroy can have a bad day. He only hit 4 fairways on Thursday missing everything to the left. He then had an emergency range session to try and diagnose the issue. I don't feel so bad now :)

[Lihu]

27 minutes ago, baw1 said:

Other than the obvious things like the additional loft (more forgiving..less slice), shorter shaft, etc..I think most just over swing when they grab the Driver. There is a mentality to swing for the fences (with the intention of generating more club head speed) and unless you are low hcp or pro level we just end up altering the proper mechanics/sequencing required. Although even Rory Mcllroy can have a bad day. He only hit 4 fairways on Thursday missing everything to the left. He then had an emergency range session to try and diagnose the issue. I don't feel so bad now :)

Emergency range session???

Yeah, could be over swinging for sure, or any number of other swing flaws. . .

[onthehunt526]

I don't carry a 3-wood, instead I bag the 4-wood.

I read not too long ago in Golf Digest, that same study @saevel25 mentioned above. Paraphrasing, You are better off hitting the driver, because it is more forgiving than the 3-wood. Though the 3-wood has a shorter shaft, the Driver has more forgiveness built into it.

[chilepepper]

It depends.......on the hole and what was working or not during warm up or that week. What do I need to leave a 6 or less in, tight fairway, weird layout? It might be my driver, 3w, hybrid or iron off the tee. Once my ego accepted the fact that I really did shoot better scores by not grabbing the driver on every hole golf got a tad better

[baw1]

59 minutes ago, Lihu said:

Emergency range session???

Yeah, could be over swinging for sure, or any number of other swing flaws. . .

http://www.golfchannel.com/news/golf-central-blog/all-right-mcilroy-fixes-hook-shoots-67-make-api-cut/

"He put three more balls into the water during his opener, leading to an emergency range session and Trackman number-crunch that he estimated lasted an hour....McIlroy discovered on the range that his face angle was closed at impact, a byproduct of his recent attempt to move the ball forward in his stance with the driver."

[DrvFrShow]

I can hit either of them badly. If I really need to put it in the fairway, I'll hit a 4 iron.

[onthehunt526]

Julia,

Is there an issue with mishits and such with the Big Stick and your 3-wood? Off the tee anyway? 

 

[arturo28mx]

For years I tried to master the 3 wood to use as a replacement for the driver. I finally realized that when I'm having trouble hitting the driver  most likely I'll have trouble hitting the 3 wood too. 3 wood is NOT an easy club to hit.

Yes, try to learn to hit the driver. But when you need an alternative use a 5 wood. Much easier to hit and can still give you a lot of distance.

[gregsandiego]

3 minutes ago, arturo28mx said:

For years I tried to master the 3 wood to use as a replacement for the driver. I finally realized that when I'm having trouble hitting the driver  most likely I'll have trouble hitting the 3 wood too. 3 wood is NOT an easy club to hit.

Yes, try to learn to hit the driver. But when you need an alternative use a 5 wood. Much easier to hit and can still give you a lot of distance.

Someone please explain why a 3 wood is easier to hit then the driver? Long club, tiny head?

As I read this thread I'm thinking I should remove the club from my bag for all the good it has done for me.