High Handicapper Thinking About Completely Replacing the Driver with a Hybrid for Now - Your Thoughts?

[BigBaffy]

Did it two weeks ago. Threw away the driver and started teeing off with a 19 degree 3 Hybrid. I'm not long off the tee, but I honestly hit this club as long as my driver, and it's in the fairway. Way easier to make solid contact and way easier to control your downswing. Never going back.

[Vinsk]

3 hours ago, BigBaffy said:

Did it two weeks ago. Threw away the driver and started teeing off with a 19 degree 3 Hybrid. I'm not long off the tee, but I honestly hit this club as long as my driver, and it's in the fairway. Way easier to make solid contact and way easier to control your downswing. Never going back.

That’s fine. But for real long term improvement you’d benefit from learning to put that 3H swing to a driver. You’d certainly gain distance which is pretty important.😀

[Alx]

6 hours ago, BigBaffy said:

Did it two weeks ago. Threw away the driver and started teeing off with a 19 degree 3 Hybrid. I'm not long off the tee, but I honestly hit this club as long as my driver, and it's in the fairway. Way easier to make solid contact and way easier to control your downswing. Never going back.

Before you throw in the towel completely consider trying an even shorter shaft for the driver. I am pretty condifent in saying you would hit a driver with a 3h length shaft further and at least as accurately as the 3h.
 

[BigBaffy]

@Vinsk , if I could transfer this swing to a driver, I would, but I'd be chunking it every time. I'm too stiff and too slow to line everything up with my driver consistently. I guess that's a common problem with once-a-week players. I completely hear what you're saying, but it felt really good to find my tee shot 210 to 230 yards in the middle of the fairway most of the time. I'm saving money of golf balls, I know that.

And to respond to Aix, I did try a shorter driver late last season, it was around 42" and had about a 300 cc head. It did work for a while, but again, not with the consistency that I wanted. So far the Hybrid is giving me that and putting me in a position to get close, either hitting it again or a mid iron.

I guess the clincher is it was way more fun hitting that hybrid than my driver. I wasn't stressing about my tee shots (maybe that's why I hit it better ).

[Hugh Jars]

I'm a 18 handicapper who for the last 6 months or so I gave up and left my driver in the boot of my car most times, favouring my 3 wood and 5 wood of the tee, thinking that this is the play. Ive watched too much Golf Sidekick videos. I have tracked the stats on almost every single round of golf I've played. I hit more fairways with my woods (45% for driver, 50% 3W and 54% 5W). I've even calculated my average score to par per hole with each club. 3W narrowly wins out. Only just. But why? Because I stopped learning to use driver. Gave up on it. Didnt even practice with it. 

The last 2 weeks I've had a complete revelation in hitting driver. I've suffered an over use back injury and, with the assistance of a pro who looked at my technique I started to employ the feeling of "dinking" my driver up the fairway with what feels like a half swing, taking the physical burden off my back. But looking at the numbers the club head speed, smash factor (and hence ball speed) and overall carry distance has not really been affected compared to what I normally hit with the club. Even on video my "half swing" still looks like a normal swing, just more free flowing and efficient. As for accuracy - its night and day to how I used to swing the club. And distance wise, Im getting 15-20m on my 3 wood on average.

I fully appreciate the stats too when it comes to tee shots - the longer the better. These stats simply don't lie. Its indisputable as far as I'm concerned. I previously thought my driver was too wild to justify hitting it, but my most recent rounds I've had more greens in regulation because I'm simply closer to the hole.

So long story short - just trying to hit the driver with a more efficient, easy technique has gained me more distance off the tee overall, more opportunities to shoot lower, and its been easier on my back. I'm just letting the huge club face and head do the work for me - like its designed to do. And driver is the play. Its the most important club in the bag. By avoiding using it for so long it has held my game back so much. I look forward to seeing how good I can get by being somewhat more competent with using it.

Edited July 21, 2022 by Hugh Jars