Anyone else not use a driver?

3,578 Views | 39 Replies | Last: 8 yr ago by AustinCountyAg
khaos288
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AG
I know it's kind of a noobie trick, but I've been playing lately without using my driver. My hybrid hits about 25 yards shorter, but much straighter. I hit it off the deck, and off the fairway with a very similar stroke. This has caused me to get better and better with that specific club, and removed all the issues I had with my driver.

I'm missing the occasional great drive, and about 25 yards off the teebox. Other than that, I'm not spending a ton of time practicing the driver, and significantly less shots from the rough stuff.

Anyone else employed this strategy? If so, how long did you hold onto it before working the driver back in?

I shoot around 95 now with this strategy.
Icecream_Ag
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S
back before the hybrid craze, I couldnt hit a driver to save my life.

Probably had 4 that I would rotate trying to figure it out, but nothing worked. Just took a couple years of working on it to be able to hit a driver again.

Now I'd try to find a strong hybrid (17* or less) and hit that until I worked out the driver issues on the range.
powerbelly
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AG
I will use a 3 wood on tight holes or if my driver is getting away from me.

I hit is about 20 yard less than my driver so it really isn't a huge distance loss.
ORAggieFan
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The proper fitting and a lesson or two should fix it. Driving well will save you many shots and likely get you more than 25 yards over your hybrid. Hitting 7i to the green in long par 4s is nice.
AccountantAg
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AG
Could be because I spent the majority of my golfing years so far playing competitive golf and being obsessed with scoring but since I get out maybe 4-5 times a year now, I want to have fun. That means trying to hit great drives and take lots of chances. Unless I was in a tournament id rather score a little higher and have more memorable holes/shots.

Id rather shoot 84 with a couple birdies than 82 with just 10 bogeys and all pars.
CapCityAg89
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AG
Modern drivers are so easy to hit. You should probably try upgrading and then spending an afternoon at the range.
khaos288
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AG
quote:
Modern drivers are so easy to hit. You should probably try upgrading and then spending an afternoon at the range.


Yeah the thing is my hybrid is so easy to hit that it's hard to justify spending time practicing the driver.
Whoop04
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If you are only hitting your hybrid 25 yards less than driver, you either don't have a driver that suits you, or you are doing something in your driver swing/setup that is costing you distance. I guess if you have a slow swing speed, that could account for it as well.

FWIW, if you aren't comfortable hitting your driver (or any club for that matter), then don't. It's not a long term solution if you are really trying to get better and get your scores down though.

It's the most fun club to hit though, and I personally wouldn't give it up for that reason alone.
DannyDuberstein
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AG
Shorten your driver.
LeFraud
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Learn how to hit a driver.

Avg Joe will use it 12-14 times a round

Learn how to hit a club that can give you a huge advantage on most courses.
AustinCountyAg
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Not to steal this thread but I struggle getting loft with my drives. Any tips that might help besides telling me getting a higher lofted driver?
AccountantAg
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AG
quote:
Not to steal this thread but I struggle getting loft with my drives. Any tips that might help besides telling me getting a higher lofted driver?


A shot in the dark having not seen your swing but my guess your lifting up as you come close to contact and you end up hitting it thin or on the bottom of your driver so it ends up not going as high.

It's a common mistake because you're lifting up thinking your helping the ball up but it has the opposite effect

ETA: try to stay down through your shot and trust the club to do the work. Try aiming for a spot just underneath the ball and when you follow through make sure you're not coming up too quick
AccountantAg
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AG
And just my opinion but not using a club because you don't hit it well is not a good long term solution. It's just a bandaid to help you score right now. If you're not hitting a driver well, there's something mental or physical wrong with your swing and you should try to correct it.

My mother hates hitting over water, gets knobbly kneed every time. So she drops a crappy range ball or whatever in place of the ball she normally plays. She hits into the water no matter what pretty much every time and if she just played her normal shot she'd be just fine.
saltydog13
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AG
I was about to say try new drivers, but since you don't want to go that route maybe just a different shaft? It could just be that you hit the ball low normally so it's no big deal unless you were hitting it high up until recently. I'm a low ball hitter with the driver only, and I sucked up my pride and got a 10.5 degree Razr Hawk callaway and it was night and day for my ball flight off the tee.

As for the not hitting driver off the tee issue, I'd take it to the range to work on it instead of continuing to avoid it. If I'm not hitting the driver well, I'll take 3 iron off the tee except on a par 5 where I'll just rip a driver.
khaos288
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AG
I hit the driver a little today, but yeah, it's not long term solution for sure. It's just a way to focus on my irons, while being comfortable hitting the hybrid well enough.

Although today I wasn't hitting much well at all haha
Chipotlemonger
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AG
Hitting the driver is one of the funnest things in golf. Don't give up.

I went through a similar phase once but just hated not pulling out the wood on the big holes.
Born N Bred Ag
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AG
Agreed I could not hit my driver if my life depended on it in the past. Biggest turn around in my game was figuring it out. Honestly go to the range warm up with some shots and then hit driver after driver trying different things until you find something that works. It could be something as simple as taking the club back slower to widening your feet but once you figure it out hit shot after shot till you get it down. Trust me there's no better feeling then being able to pipe it down the fair way almost all the time( bad swings will happen to everyone). Good luck to you man keep your head up and just get to work on the range and itll come
Cowboy Curtis
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quote:
Not to steal this thread but I struggle getting loft with my drives. Any tips that might help besides telling me getting a higher lofted driver?

Buy a 14* SLDR
birdman
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I used to hit 2 iron off the tee exclusively for same reasons.
2ndGen87
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AG
In the early 1990s, I had crap clubs that I liked ok. I played a whole different golf course than the one in front of me what with my trips to the woods, the water, etc.

I finally switched to a 3 wood and bam! now that shot that went into the water stopped 10 yards short of the shore. It helped me tremendously. All of a sudden I was playing the real golf course.

But now, drivers seem so much better to me than 25 years ago. They have become one of the easier clubs to hit. I too, think you have a bad driver.
bagger05
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AG
quote:
Not to steal this thread but I struggle getting loft with my drives. Any tips that might help besides telling me getting a higher lofted driver?
DISCLAIMER: I'm not a great golfer... about a 13 right now and I have my own issues with driver. What's below are a couple things I've recently learned that helped me hitting driver and they might work for you. The real answer to your question and all golf swing questions is "TAKE SOME LESSONS FROM A GOOD INSTRUCTOR."

I'm just regurgitating what I read in the book Lowest Score Wins, so this is their info not mine. However, I've taken their advice and it has helped a ton with the distance on my drive.

According to the authors, a big problem with amateurs hitting driver is that their launch angle is not high enough. Often the cause of this is that you aren't hitting it on enough of an upswing.

They recommend a drill to help with hitting on the upswing that I can't totally remember. Something like this: tee your ball, then putting another tee a couple inches in front of the ball at the same height as the tee that's holding the ball. Then hit driver. If you're swinging on the upswing, you should hit the ball but miss the tee in front of the ball. If you're not giving it an ascending blow then you'll hit the second tee.

This is what I found works for me: I used to ground my club right behind the ball with driver. Apparently my body is pretty good at returning the club to that position because my swing was bottoming out where I addressed it -- right behind the ball. I moved my clubhead back several inches at address--right at the point where I want the bottom of my swing to be. I also raised the height I was teeing my ball. Now, my swing bottoms out behind the ball and I'm on the upswing when I get to the ball.

I know this is a little unconventional, but I've now got a much better looking ball flight and I'm getting a lot more carry on my drives. I'm also hitting it in the center of the clubface more often.

Another thing that can help you is checking your address position. It's hard to hit up into the ball if your shoulders are level. Your spine should be tilted away from the target at address like this:


Just a couple suggestions. I can tell you that hitting the ball more on the upswing has made a huge difference in my driver. Those tips from Lowest Score Wins helped me a lot so hopefully they'll be useful to you as well.
jonj101
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Bagger - thanks for those suggestions and drill. I'll try that out next time on the range.

I have a similar issue as the OP. It kills me because with my faulty swing I can good distance out of my irons and hybrids, but the lower lofts of the driver accentuates the misses. Its frustrating because as my club championship approaches I keep thinking just to have a chance I have to play hybrid off the tee.

A few months ago we played a shamble and I shot a 38 on 9 holes because we were taking other drives, but we used both of my shots into the par 3's. Once our head pro saw my score he said "Well we know what your problem is." Based on that score Im losing anywhere from 7-10 shots per 9 just from getting off of the tee box

In regards to earlier comments about the club itself, I got fitted at Club Champion for a Ping Anser 8.5 despite being a 16 handicap. Ive never felt comfortable with it, but been trying to make it work based on the professional recommendation. I'll give it some more time, but if I cant work it out this year I'll look elsewhere.
proudaggie02
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AG
quote:
If you are only hitting your hybrid 25 yards less than driver, you either don't have a driver that suits you, or you are doing something in your driver swing/setup that is costing you distance. I guess if you have a slow swing speed, that could account for it as well.

FWIW, if you aren't comfortable hitting your driver (or any club for that matter), then don't. It's not a long term solution if you are really trying to get better and get your scores down though.

It's the most fun club to hit though, and I personally wouldn't give it up for that reason alone.
I take it you've never hit an Adams hybrid? I'm kidding for the most part, but Adams has some really hot hybrids. I just replaced my Adams hybrid (17* IIRC) with an 18* Adams driving iron/hybrid. While I don't hit the new one as far, it's maybe 40-45 yards shorter than my driver.

I'll second bagger's thoughts/drills relating to launch angle/attack angle. I hit down on the ball, which is great for compressing irons but causes some distance loss with driver. The remedy for this is shoulder/spine tilt and ball position. I'll have to do the tee drill again; it's been a while.

Another drill to pick up distance & get more out of your hips and legs is to hit driver while only taking it back as high as your waist or belly button. This forces you to fire your hips if you want to generate any kind of speed and distance.

I also agree that driver is the funnest club to hit. I played 2 tight courses this pat weekend & hit a total of 3 driver over 36 holes.... not my kind of golf.
Chipotlemonger
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AG
quote:
quote:

Another drill to pick up distance & get more out of your hips and legs is to hit driver while only taking it back as high as your waist or belly button. This forces you to fire your hips if you want to generate any kind of speed and distance.

Sound advice.
Chipotlemonger
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AG
I like those kind of courses as a mix up...but would never want to make it my "home" club/most-played course.
gumby579
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AG
Anyone have opinions on the TM mini drivers? I find myself using 3 wood off shorter par 4s and less of the driver.
proudaggie02
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AG
^
Love my 12* SLDR Mini.
Whoop04
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Proud, you mentioned the Adams hybrid earlier. Have you compared the LS 3 wood and the SLDR mini? What do you think?
proudaggie02
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AG
Haven't hit the LS 3w. As for the mini, it goes really far without feeling like I'm swinging very hard.... and with a low, boring trajectory. If I swing harder & turn it over a bit, it goes almost as far as my 8* driver.
khaos288
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AG
Gave in and got a lesson from a buddy today who played collegiate golf...250 with a slight draw.

It's back on.
AustinCountyAg
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quote:
Not to steal this thread but I struggle getting loft with my drives. Any tips that might help besides telling me getting a higher lofted driver?
I went out and played on Sunday trying to use some of these tips from this thread about the lean, weight on back foot and I must say it did help with my driving....However, my iron game was nonexistent. I wanted to leave after the front 9. I think I was worried so much about the driver that it completely screwed up my iron game. I hadn't hit my irons that bad since possibly the first time I ever picked up a club. It was embarrassing. I shall return to the course to today, hopefully without the crappy iron game. I felt like tin cup when he had the yips. that bad
Whoop04
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quote:
Gave in and got a lesson from a buddy today who played collegiate golf...250 with a slight draw.

It's back on.
bagger05
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AG
quote:
quote:
Not to steal this thread but I struggle getting loft with my drives. Any tips that might help besides telling me getting a higher lofted driver?
I went out and played on Sunday trying to use some of these tips from this thread about the lean, weight on back foot and I must say it did help with my driving....However, my iron game was nonexistent. I wanted to leave after the front 9. I think I was worried so much about the driver that it completely screwed up my iron game. I hadn't hit my irons that bad since possibly the first time I ever picked up a club. It was embarrassing. I shall return to the course to today, hopefully without the crappy iron game. I felt like tin cup when he had the yips. that bad
What makes it even more ridiculous is that I bet you paid a pretty decent amount of money to feel so crappy. And what is the solution? Is it to walk away from this ridiculous habit that takes up so much of your time, money, patience, and sanity? No. The answer is that you will spend even MORE time and money on it.

All to try to put a ball into a hole that's hundreds of yards away for no reason. Yeah, this game is freaking stupid.
jj9000
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AG
quote:
Buy a 14* SLDR


If any of you guys want to buy my TP version 14* SLDR Mini Driver with a Fuji Speeder TP X Flex shaft...just shoot me a PM.

$90 shipped...or $80 DFW cash price.

It comes with a Diamana Whiteboard 73gm pull that can be installed as well.

powerbelly
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AG
I am interested.

I will be out of the country for the next 3 weeks. Could meet up in Dallas before/when I get back if you still have it.
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