3 wood off the tee

moycullen14 wrote: »

In the interest of scientific research, I decided to ditch the driver yesterday (the fact that I can't hit the bloody thing may have also had something to do with it )

Accuracy was much better, distance a bit down (200-220 yds in general, about 20 yds down) although downwind, I was getting more distance - a whopping 275 yds on one hole!!!!! Not sure why that was, maybe the ball flight.

Must say that it improved my score. Still it does feel a bit wimpy leaving the bata mor in the car

Out of interest in this thread, I left my driver in the boot during practice last week. I have frequently seen, read and heard this analogy of how drivers cause so much problems for amateur golfers, and that a 3wood or something else allows you to score much better. I've alwyas looked at it as one of those rubbish analogies from people that accept problems, rather then go fix them and be better.

But for the heck of it I said I'd try. I don't carry a 3wood, cause I can't find one that works for me. So I have a 21* hybrid and a 4iron I hit just about the same distance.

Went about only using my 4iron of the tee. It was interesting to say the least. I hit all the fairways, but it was a bit of a slog with the longer shots into greens. Big difference. I don't generate a lot of spin of my irons which sucks, only when I get down to 8's/9's and wedges am I able to get some spin. On plenty of par4's I went from where I'd normally take a Pwedge or 8 or 9, back out to using 7's,6's and even 5's. It was rough going with a lot of shots running through the greens.

Thinking about it afterwards, it first of made me think that I don't need to find a 3wood I can hit, or even a 17* hybrid, that my 4iron is consistent and long. And secondly, to keep working on keeping my driving up ( it's in a pretty good place at the moment) because being able to hit a good driver brings a world of benefits for me in terms of attacking pins.

It also I guess on a seperate note, made me realise I can't ignore my low irons like my 5 and 6, just because I don't use them a lot. They felt alien during that round and I kinda struggled.

Still a part of me wants, more then needs, to find a 3 wood that really works. 3 wood looks to be a comfort club for a lot of people. Personally I've struggled with confidence when it comes to woods and rescues/hybrids, but I can see a big benefit of being able to hit one accurately, and more importantly reliably.

TheDoc wrote: »

That's a bit contradictory :P

The key point was "massive" slice or hook.
I didn't want to be too controversial and say something like: that for someone who is relatively normal and is using, again, a relatively standard shaft, while it might not be optimised 100% for them, its not the shaft that's causing their destructively bad shots.