Why do I even bother with driver?

[leftybob]

Why do I even bother with a driver!?!

Because chicks dig the long ball! I’m sure your wife would agree with that statement.

One thing the decade guy says and I agree with is don’t try and work the ball both ways with the driver. Have a single driver shot shape and don’t fight your natural tendencies. When I’m playing well I only try and hit my draw with the driver. On a dogleg that requires a fade and I can’t fly the dogleg with a draw I’m dropping down to a shorter club.

 

[4hourrule]

Early last year my Driver coat me a lot of strokes with factory Shaft. Had my guy install my old fav from my R7 and it improved. Forward to this Season and am testing/tested AeroJet Max for THP and wow, thought the G400 Max was forgiving but this Cobra is allowing me to hit 90 % of Fairways

 

[TxAggie2018]

Because chicks dig the long ball! I’m sure your wife would agree with that statement.

One thing the decade guy says and I agree with is don’t try and work the ball both ways with the driver. Have a single driver shot shape and don’t fight your natural tendencies. When I’m playing well I only try and hit my draw with the driver. On a dogleg that requires a fade and I can’t fly the dogleg with a draw I’m dropping down to a shorter club.

Curving the ball left and right on command is some really hard stuff. If you have your face control, path control and low point that dialed in, you are already playing some very good golf.

 

[4hourrule]

Because chicks dig the long ball! I’m sure your wife would agree with that statement.

One thing the decade guy says and I agree with is don’t try and work the ball both ways with the driver. Have a single driver shot shape and don’t fight your natural tendencies. When I’m playing well I only try and hit my draw with the driver. On a dogleg that requires a fade and I can’t fly the dogleg with a draw I’m dropping down to a shorter club.

Too late, I enjoy Working the Ball too much.

 

[CTRosarian]

I play an executive course with narrow fairways, trees, and really high rough.
I've also lost balls in short patchy rough when the ball falls into a hole between the weeds.
Losing balls with driver on the first three holes is not a good way to start the round.

I can hit either a draw or fade but just went through a few weeks of experimenting and tweaking my swing to hit the driver consistently straight.
Once I worked out the path I'm now consistently getting good distances.
I can consistently slice the ball around trees by eliminating lower body rotation.

 

[leftybob]

Too late, I enjoy Working the Ball too much.

I would always hit crazy shots on the driving range to get them out of my system

 

[hoganben]

Just signing off of on my round from yesterday on Shotscope so looking at tee shots. I knew I was having a bad day off the tee with driver anyway and stopped hitting it at all after hole 11. Here are a few examples. (note, this course has a lot of holes that are less than driver holes)
Hole 4 felt like I hit this one pretty decent. Left it in the trees on the right trying to fade one around the dogleg.
View attachment 9258089
Hole 5 Made decent contact here to only hit it 223? yes it was into wind, but not a huge wind - splashed it in the fairway bunker on the right side of the fairway
View attachment 9258094
Hole 7 par 5 downwind, darn near shanked it right
View attachment 9258095
Hole 8. Pulled first drive OB into a back yard, felt like I absolutely smoked the second to only get 235 yards out of it
View attachment 9258096
Hole 9 - downwind, smoked this one - only driver shot all day that found the fairway
View attachment 9258098
Hole 10 - tried to go over the trees on the edge of a dogleg, hit it really poorly left it in the trees on the right
View attachment 9258101

At this point I was frustrated with driver and witched to 3w the rest of the day
11 - center of the fairway
View attachment 9258102
Hole 12 - have to play to a position here but coppied it for the distance
View attachment 9258103
Hole 15 - kind oc crescent shaped hole that bends to the right the whole way. Hit a tree limb and dropped straight down. Worst shot with the 3w
View attachment 9258104
Hole 18 - smoked this 3w
View attachment 9258105

Even the bad 3w hits left me in better playing position than the bad drivers. The 2 well hit 3w shots went every bit as far as even the best hit drivers of the day. Why do I even bother with a driver!?! I think I might try to put the mini-driver back in the bag for a few rounds soon.

I don't understand why guys who can't hit their drivers (what do you think 75% of golfers) don't just skip wasting money on silly overpriced trendy supposed high end graphite driver shafts (that will go for ten bucks next year because graphite is just graphite) that they are just going to cut down anyway don't just put a dynamic golf stiff or extra stiff steel shaft in their driver....Tiger had a 43" steel DG shaft and had 180mph ball speed.in 1996.. he won 8 majors with a steel shaft in his driver..but you wouldn't be trendy if you didn't have a stupidly overpriced overmarketed graphite shaft on the driver you can't hit. You wouldn't pick up as many ticks if you weren't in the trees all day.

 

[collegefbfan]

I have a 12* all black TaylorMade AeroBurner driver. I haven't hit it much because the lessons I have had, the instructor focuses mainly on swing mechanics and using 7 iron of course. I am of the thought, if I ever hit the course, and driver isn't working, I have no issues with hitting another club. I don't care if it is my 5 hybrid or 5 wood. I just purchased these two clubs due to the super deals I got on them, brand new no less. I am in the process now of seeing which clubs I actually hit better/best. Heck, I even say if driver messes me up too much I will hit 7 or 8 iron straight as I can until I get close. I will look back at the driver and say, "You see, that's how it is done, and until you learn better, you will stay there in the corner". Because we always know it is the club not the guy swinging the club.