Leave the Driver in the Bag?

[Grinde6]

20 minutes ago, tsdugger said:

Thanks for the valuable input.

The point of the post is to survey this membership with the following: If I am able to hit another club (in this case, my hybrid) extremely well, and only lose 30 yards to my driver (which is extremely sporadic), should I leave the driver in the bag when I am on the course until I figure out how to hit with a higher accuracy?

Look I am a double digit hcp still, I am going to mess up shots with anything. Just so happens the hybrid is my most confident club and I hit it a long way.

But 30 yards is 2 and maybe even 3 clubs difference...how far do you hit your irons?  How many club difference for you is 30 yards?

[DaveP043]

35 minutes ago, tsdugger said:

The point of the post is to survey this membership with the following: If I am able to hit another club (in this case, my hybrid) extremely well, and only lose 30 yards to my driver (which is extremely sporadic), should I leave the driver in the bag when I am on the course until I figure out how to hit with a higher accuracy?

I'll chime in, and probably echo what many others have said.  When you're playing for score right now, hit the longest club that you can reliably put in play.  This selection may change if there are bunkers or hazards or doglegs, make the right choice for each shot.  For the future, learn to hit the longest club in your bag reliably.  Its not that much different hitting a good driver than it is hitting a good hybrid, learn to do it!

[tsdugger]

16 minutes ago, Grinde6 said:

But 30 yards is 2 and maybe even 3 clubs difference...how far do you hit your irons?  How many club difference for you is 30 yards?

It can be 2-3 clubs different. P-7 are 15 yards between but 6-4 are around 10 yards between. I play my 7 iron 180.

[jkelley9]

55 minutes ago, tsdugger said:

It can be 2-3 clubs different. P-7 are 15 yards between but 6-4 are around 10 yards between. I play my 7 iron 180.

I imagine you take a large divot, too.

[tsdugger]

30 minutes ago, jkelley9 said:

I imagine you take a large divot, too.

What would ever make you think that?

P.S. this is something I'm working on (:

[p1n9183]

As i read Mark Broady said, for a 10 handicapper an extra 20 yards  from the tee reduces 1,2 strokes over 18 holes (14 driver). In your case you hit your driver 50 yards farther than your hybrid. If you learn to keep your driver shots in play with your driver then you can reduce your score by 3 strokes, that´s a lot !! Youd better practice more your driver instead of keeping it in the bag.

Driver insn´t my best club, one day tryed to play only with 3 wood and leave the driver at home. It was a good day from the tee, but when i came home and compare the round stats of the 3 wood agains the driver and I lost 1 stroke. So i decided that leaving the driver at home it´s not an option even when it´s not your best club and motivate me to improve it.

[Kalnoky]

@tsdugger It's seems you're a good enough golfer that a driver lesson would be highly beneficial. More than any other club the downswing has to start from the "ground up" - you really gotta lag that baby. As you have noted the driver will pimp slap anyone who hangs on for too long. 

Another thing is maybe get fitted.. It's $50 well spent. I wish I had done it sooner. You will see your swing speed, spin, smash factor, all kinds of stuff.. IMO the driver is the #1 club where an equipment change can make an immediate difference. 

Sorry if my response is cliche (i.e., lessons + fitting) but man, no need to reinvent the wheel. I am really starting to enjoy the driver and I look forward to hitting it. I never thought it would be this good for me - and I am just an average hacker. 

Edited July 27, 2017 by Kalnoky

[tsdugger]

55 minutes ago, Kalnoky said:

@tsdugger It's seems you're a good enough golfer that a driver lesson would be highly beneficial. More than any other club the downswing has to start from the "ground up" - you really gotta lag that baby. As you have noted the driver will pimp slap anyone who hangs on for too long. 

Another thing is maybe get fitted.. It's $50 well spent. I wish I had done it sooner. You will see your swing speed, spin, smash factor, all kinds of stuff.. IMO the driver is the #1 club where an equipment change can make an immediate difference. 

Sorry if my response is cliche (i.e., lessons + fitting) but man, no need to reinvent the wheel. I am really starting to enjoy the driver and I look forward to hitting it. I never thought it would be this good for me - and I am just an average hacker. 

That's good advice. Just need to get with the club and get a shaft fitted. They can do all that with the Trackman, right?

[Kalnoky]

4 minutes ago, tsdugger said:

That's good advice. Just need to get with the club and get a shaft fitted. They can do all that with the Trackman, right?

Yes. The better pro shops and some of the box stores have them. 

 

[kpaulhus]

On 7/25/2017 at 0:26 PM, DeadMan said:

You should check out this thread:

If you're a 12 handicap, you probably shouldn't have this much trouble with the driver. In addition to that thread I linked, I wonder if your driver doesn't fit you at all.

 

I can vouch for @tsdugger as I play several rounds a week with him. The only reason he is here is that I brag about all my online friends  ....and he wants to get better at golf. In a year Tabor has gone from a 25 to a very scary 11 handicap in match play. He is a rare 11 in that he can shoot 38-50 and by the time the match is about to even up you've run out of holes because of the strokes he gets. 

#1. Tabor bought his driver on eBay, it is cut down. He needs to be fit. We have discussed this. There isn't a club in my bag that wasn't fit for me, and now I know I can't say a terrible shot was the damn clubs fault. 

#2. Tabor could easily be a single digit index because of his length off the tee. Putting, and keeping the ball in play are the main issues. We have talked about this. 

On 7/25/2017 at 9:07 PM, jsgolfer said:

I'm not sure I've ever played with anyone who hit a hybrid 230-250 pure.

We've played together!

On 7/25/2017 at 6:34 PM, allenc said:

Well, op hits his driver like shite and claims to hit his 3 hybrid 230-250, nutted every time.  I hit my 3 hybrid about 210 and for awhile I was hitting my driver about 110 more often than not.  It's not all that odd we would want to keep our drivers in the bag.

OP has the distance he claims. Not every time. Nobody can say that. He is longer than every 11 index I've played with. 

3 hours ago, jkelley9 said:

I imagine you take a large divot, too.

If we ever need to start digging a hole to China Tabor is your guy.

 

@tsdugger we will get some swings on video, and you can create a My Swing thread. Lots of free, quality, help on here. The club pro is great, but video is the best so you can see what you need to work on.

Edited July 27, 2017 by kpaulhus

[GolfLug]

@tsdugger, glad you are now on TST. @kpaulhus is a good friend and have played with him multiple times.

My input is that lot of folks like yourself who can hit hybrids/irons well that do it primarily well because they are tad bit more aggressive in hitting down and through, may find hitting driver bit more challenging since driver impact area move is bit more on the upswing. If you think about it it does take a slightly different 'dynamic' set of body forces compared to the shorter clubs you can hit down to scare our friends in China. 

Obviously you will greatly benefit from good pro instruction, but I can suggest for short term, if you want to humor the idea, you can try teeing it really low to get closer to your hybrid swing until you get the hang of hitting driver on a more higher/normal driver tee height. Maybe it will get you more comfortable mental frame hitting driver.  

Good luck and it is always good to hear somebody making huge improvements in relatively short time frame like yourself!

[Hategolf]

7 hours ago, Jack Watson said:

A lot of people think the swing is different with driver.  IMO that's a mistake.

I rarely if ever hit driver on he range.  To me,  there's no driver swing and separate swing for an iron.  If you don't believe me I suggest hitting smooth pitching wedges for maybe ten or fifteen shots hen pull out driver and swing it once with exactlythe same feel.  The setup is different on driver but hats all imo.

One basic swing...

Hmmmm technically speaking I can see that.. Yet, I hit my woods pretty well, even of the fairway and I can assure you that the swing feels and looks different than my irons. Perhaps only slightly but enough to have to make the necessary adjustments. 

 

[Jack Watson]

2 hours ago, Hategolf said:

mmmm technically speaking I can see that.. Yet, I hit my woods pretty well, even of the fairway and I can assure you that the swing feels and looks different than my irons. Perhaps only slightly but enough to have to make the necessary adjustment

The driver is longer so the swing will be a bit longer than an iron swing.  I definitely do not make adjustments in terms of takeaway or downswing intention.

RE Drivers vs 3 wood or less off the tee...

On some of the tougher courses in my area I have scored some of my best rounds challenging the par fours with driver even when a lay up could easily get me to 150 in.   I know where I can miss there. 150 in is a benchmark of sorts for me.

That said when traveling and playing even tougher courses that I am playing for the first time I usually play conservative off the tee.  Often for me on serious courses going for a par five in two is by far the wrong decision.   Really with game I have I just am not going to get at par fives It's so obvious where they give you room just looking at the scorecard.  Often driver off the tee same thing.  Just depends on the course/hole and ones capability.  90 percent chance of a good lie 155-160 out is way better than a 50 percent chance at getting to 120-130 in without being in trouble.  Often with elevated multi tiered greens you need to be able to land it correctly for a two putt par.

Driver is a very important club

 

 

 

 

[saevel25]

11 hours ago, Jack Watson said:

A lot of people think the swing is different with driver.  IMO that's a mistake.

Depends on the golfer. To maximize distance a golfer wants to hit up on the ball with the driver. 

Spoiler

A golfer never want to hit up on the ball with an iron. So there is slight different in the two swings, especially if a golfer want to hit up and hit a draw. A golfer can just move the ball more forward in the stance and hit a slight pull draw. By moving the ball forward a golfer moves it forward in the swing arc which also means a positive angle of attack.  

Of course a golfer could just hit down with the driver, but they will be sacrificing a lot of distance because of it. 

36 minutes ago, Jack Watson said:

Driver is a very important club

Yep 

 

[Denny Bang Bang]

@tsdugger I think it's a good idea to play with what you got, whatever helps you score best.  However, that doesn't mean just forget the driver.  It's a great asset to ones game to play the driver well.  So you may not take it out of the bag for current rounds, but continue to resolve your issues with it so eventually you can take advantage of letting the big dog get a little action.  My two cents...

Now a question for you... where did you catch that beauty of a smallmouth?!?!?!

 

[Jack Watson]

Word,  Saevel,

For me I haven't been on a launch monitor in quite some time but my intent on driver is a level strike. 

I think I hit up a bit but cannot confirm.  Ball position.  Plus,  I have actually hit quite a few really nice drives with my relatively low tee where my clubhead kisses the turf pre impact.  My prob is speed is somewhat low anymore.  Level intent but not sure on my numbers.  I like my traj.  

That's no smallie.

[gmc1950s]

On ‎7‎/‎25‎/‎2017 at 6:08 PM, jkelley9 said:

I always found it odd that people want to leave driver in the bag. It's the biggest faced club, you don't make contact with the turf, and it's nice and light. 

I think most people struggle with it because they try to hammer it. They can't hit it far, so they try to swing harder. When people try to hammer it, the most often thing I see is a massive slice. 

Honest to God, I can hit a 250 yard drive (with avg roll out, not sure what my carry is) with a 3/4 back swing and it be almost effortless. It's the most butter feel in the golfing world, to me. 

I also cut my driver shaft down by 3/4" shorter than standard.

I agree, a turn (not swing)  that is "almost" slow motion will get you 200 yds. of  carry with varying degrees of rollout. No tight muscles to slow your turn down.

[Valleygolfer]

I feel you. Driver is the worst club in my bag. I can hit my 3 wood as far as the driver is going at the moment, much more consistent too.

My experience is the "open endedness" that is perceived as far as distance goes with the driver causes you to swing too hard and get out of your mechanics. I have tested this on the range but can't seem to incorporate it on the golf course. If you can swing the same swing as your hybrid, the driver could stay in the bag.

This being said, sometimes the driver needs a vacation to freshen up. Keep practicing with it but let it rest a few rounds (I'm almost to that point myself). Nothing says it has to be there forever.