No driver

sweetswing

How do you think your score would be affected if you had to play without your driver???? I know some people would be lost without it ,me being one of them, I also know some people who should never hold a driver in their hands with the amount of shots it costs them.
I'm going to try it out when this weather breaks, I recon I could end up taking another 4 or 5 shots.

alxmorgan

I've been thinking for a while of something I read about playing a round with only 4 clubs.
I was thinking 19' rescue, 6 iron, wedge, putter.
Would be very interested to see what a round would turn out like

strokes1

Up until 2 weeks ago, I never had a driver in the bag! Just didnt want the inconsistency! Also wasnt losing mush distance by using by 3W! Had a great year in 2010 and knocked 8 shots off the Hcap!

.......However 2 weeks ago I bought an R9 driver, and I have never hit it longer or straigter!! Nearly 30 yards extra on each drive compared to where I was with my 3W!! Thats my two cents!!

WHIP IT!

I'm not sure it would make all that much difference for most club golfers. Let's say your average club golfer drives the ball between 230-260 off the tee with varying degrees of accuracy.

How well do you think you would score in an experimental round if you placed the ball 190/200yds (3wood/rescue club/long iron distance) in the middle of the fairway on every hole (par threes excluded, needless to say) and played your 'second' shot from there??

I think I'd score about the same as I do as when I use the driver on every hole.

stockdam

If I'm playing a match then I use my 5 wood or rescue wood a lot off the tee and only use my driver when I need it. I'd rather keep the ball in play and have a longer 2nd shot.

In the past the driver was a much harder club to use than it is today and so it was an easier decision to make.

Aesop

I think the course you play would have a lot to do with it. There are two courses in Adare. One of them (Adare Manor) you would knock a couple of strokes off your score playing with a 3 wood (short narrow course). The other one (Adare Golf Club) would be a monster without a driver. You'd end up playing a lot par 5's and 6's

stockdam

Aesop wrote: »

I think the course you play would have a lot to do with it. There are two courses in Adare. One of them (Adare Manor) you would knock a couple of strokes off your score playing with a 3 wood (short narrow course). The other one (Adare Golf Club) would be a monster without a driver. You'd end up playing a lot par 5's and 6's

So in a way you should play the hole "backwards". If you can hit a 7 iron after hitting a rescue wood then that should be your first choice; you could hit a wedge if you hit driver but which is riskier? It's much easier to think this way if chipping and putting are your strengths........just keep the ball in play and then single putt for your par.

dvemail

For me it would depend on the type of course, if it is narrow id stick to the 3W / Rescue.
But if its wider and more room for wayward drives id use the driver as id rather be 100 yards from the hole in the rough than 130/150 yards from it and down the middle.
Although i am very seldom down the middle with my 3W either. :rolleyes:

stockdam

dvemail wrote: »

Although i am very seldom down the middle with my 3W either. :rolleyes:

That's the main problem.......sometimes the driver isn't much more risk than a 3 wood.

moycullen14

Very interesting.

My experience is that I didn't use a driver up to 3 years ago. I just couldn't hit one at all. My handicap varied between 8 and 10. My rounds used be very consistent. Almost never on a green in regulation but rarely in huge trouble either. Scoring was simply a matter of how many 'up and downs' I got. Given that I was always chipping and putting from about the same distance, I got very good at it; to the point where I would expect to get up and down from within 20 yards of the green all the time. So > 50% up&down => good round, =50% played to handicap, <50% => varying degrees of badness. The key, I think, was playing the same shots over and over. The other thing is that par3s were the same distance as approach shots on par4s so more similar shots.

I then got a Callaway 460 which I can hit quite well, probably as accurate as the 3W and 30-40 yds longer, but when it goes wrong, it does get me into a lot more trouble - it's the only club that I can slice

Now I get on more greens in regulation but a lot further from the hole and I have a tendency to 3 putt a lot on long putts. There is much more variety in the shots I get to play but the scores remain the same, even if the standard deviation is a lot higher. Handicap fluctuates exactly the same as it did without the driver.

So, in summary, it makes a lot of difference to my game using the driver, but very little difference to my score - a hot short game is the best thing for low scores - mind you, you gotta keep it in play.