3 wood off fairway practice?

[golfdu]

I was wondering if it is more beneficial to practice 3 wood off the deck instead of driver off the tee at the range. The 3 wood is a smaller head and because there is no tee, it forces you to level out your angle of attack and straighten your path to hit it well. 

I want to improve my driving skill vastly by practicing 30 minutes on it per day but I am confused on which club to practice, driver off the tee or 3 wood off the deck. Are the swings supposed to be different from each other or almost exactly the same? 

Edited July 23, 2017 by golfdu

[Grizvok]

When it comes to training for something I believe in specificity. So given that your goal is to get better at driving...you should probably be practicing with the driver.

[Buckeyebowman]

Why would you hit 3 woods off the deck to practice your Driver? I'm with Griz!

[DaveP043]

12 hours ago, golfdu said:

I was wondering if it is more beneficial to practice 3 wood off the deck instead of driver off the tee at the range. The 3 wood is a smaller head and because there is no tee, it forces you to level out your angle of attack and straighten your path to hit it well. 

I want to improve my driving skill vastly by practicing 30 minutes on it per day but I am confused on which club to practice, driver off the tee or 3 wood off the deck. Are the swings supposed to be different from each other or almost exactly the same? 

Two things, in reverse order from the bolded bits.  Yes, pretty much all of your swings should be the same, same mechanics, same sequences  However, the set-up will vary.  Typically, the ball is played more forward with the driver, with the goal of having a slightly upward angle of attack at impact.  For this reason, practicing with a 3-wood, with a nearly level AoA, is slightly different from practicing with a driver, and probably not the best way to improve your driver shots.  

Now I'll admit, I actually hit a couple of drivers off the deck at the end of some of my warm-up sessions.  My goal with these swings is to reinforce the idea of a steady head, which is essential to hitting driver off the deck.  Its also a confidence thing, I want the feeling that I can pull off any shot I decide to try, including said driver from the fairway.