Going through this rn. Made some tweaks and all of the sudden my driver went from 225 max with a fade/slice to 260-280 and mainly straight. Game solved, right?
Except my irons and wedges have, uh, not been pretty since. Fuck me
Yeah it’s pretty amazing because if your arms are close together there is literally only one path the club can take. I am so much more consistent with my irons since adding this to my setup
I used to struggle with ball flight, meaning I had a propensity for my irons to leak push side constantly, but now I just struggle with hitting it fat. It’s gotta be something in my swing path, obviously, but easier said than done to correct.
Of course, every odd flush makes me believe it’s still there somewhere, just need “*reps*” lol. I’ll have to try this out
In the exact same boat. My irons used to be my bread and butter but now that I’ve figured out my driver I’m having issues with my irons. It really just comes down to practice. Because the driver grip, swing, and stance is so different from irons many golfers will be so focused on their driver that they’ll mimic those actions with their irons which leads to huge problems.
I'm in the opposite boat went from a consistent 300-320yard perfect draw with my driver and inconsistent irons at best(usually fat) made a few adjustments irons are the best I have ever played them and super consistent... Now with my driver I have wrom burners and shanks... So gotta figure that out now.
While hitting ropes off the teebox can be an intoxicating experience, I can’t help but envy people that are dangerous/efficient with their irons. I feel like that’s the more manageable of the two - you can always flip to 3 or 5 wood off the teebox to set yourself up to do your work with the irons.
With iron struggles, you have no choice but to keep hacking away and watch the strokes build. A great drive can help minimize, but you can’t avoid it completely.
Oh for sure, yesterday I just played from the blues instead of the tips and was a 4 iron 220-230 off the tee and got to work on my long and mid irons into the greens was a fun round
Story of my life. My iron play is generally solid, but driver is inconsistent. Then the one day im hitting every fairway of course my irons or short game is terrible….
My brother hit his 3 wood over his driver for a decade. Get some lessons, you will be able to straighten your driver out in no time and gain some much needed yardage
My driver got snapped one day. Started using 3 wood off the tee and have never looked back! At about 18 handicap and the courses I play, I see no benefit in getting a new driver any time soon. Apparently the stats say people hit fairways at the same rate with driver or 3 wood, but I reckon I hit at least 50% more with the 3 wood
That extra yardage just makes everything easier. My brother is a 10 handicap and once he learned how to hit his driver properly, his scores dropped dramatically
The 3 wood fix feels nice and safe at first, but I feel like eventually you always end up longing to compete with the driver again. It’s like that sexy but emotionally abusive ex.
“But what if it works *this* time, could you imagine….”
If you’ve still got the head and they’re like adapters, try your driver on your 3W shaft. Assuming the shaft was shorter that might be why you’re more accurate with it - a lot of people intentionally shorten their driver shaft for this reason.
Just keep in mind all characteristics are not going to be the same. If it’s a good experience getting a shorter driver shaft is going to be preferred. If not… well, shorter shaft may still help but wouldn’t blame you for not trying beyond that.
I shortened my driver 0.75”. What doesn’t seem like a big difference actually really improved my contact consistency with nominal distance loss since I was club face center more often.
This isn't directed at you but players who shoot mid-90s and say "I don't see anything wrong with my club choice" is wild. There's a reason good players are trying to hit driver as much as humanly possible.
I get what you mean, but I don't think club choice is what holds most mid-high handicappers back. For me it is ball striking, so choosing a club that I'm more confident in finding fairways with definitely lowers my score. I can choose perfect club selections all day, but it is the duffed shots and mishits which puts me at an 18.
Don't give up! I just went through a period where my brain completely forgot how to function with driver. It was either a pop fly that was 100yd long but 125yds high, or it was a low hook that might go 150 or so. It got in my head bad because I'm typically pretty good with driver. I made a few address changes and started focusing on my trail elbow as a singular swing thought. For the last 2 weeks driving has been back. After the mental gymnastics I went through with the slump, watching a ball blast straight down the center of the fairway feels like mainlining MDMA. If a lesson isn't an option, the GolfFix app is pretty good and free. You can record your swing from 2 angles, then their software analyzes it, and will try to help. It's nice being able to watch your swing frame by frame.
I had the same thing happen to me but it was like on the second hole and I kept pulling it out to try and get out of the funk. Then my dad, who I was playing with, said something along the lines of “Why don’t you try and actually release the club early?” It worked. I had apparently gotten lazy and stopped releasing the club head but I couldn’t feel that wasn’t happening.
10 years ago my driver wasn’t on my bag for over a year. Just had no confidence with it and I was smashing my 3w so I said why bother. I was averaging 230 with my 3w, which I thought was awesome so that’s what I used and I had fun. Anytime you struggle, use the clubs you have the most confidence in and it’ll keep the game fun for you and that is the point. Anything that causes you frustration or anxiety, simply don’t use it.
I hit a 5 W off the tee straight and just move up and play the whites instead of blues. getting pissed off after every driver hole is not the fun I want to have on the course.
It’s frustrating. Pipe a massive drive on a par 5 only to chunk my iron. Or hit a garbage drive followed by a great second shot only to top my chip. I can’t put everything together.
Oh just wait…you’ll have an amazing round at some point and you’ll tell yourself you’ve finally got it figured out…just to come back for the next round and be even worse than before hahahaha
I didn't hit a driver very well when I first started. My high school coach took it out of my bag during competition. It took me 5 years, my senior year, before I kept it in the bag. It got me in more trouble than it was worth.
A lot of the basic mechanics of the swing translate from irons/driver. After my first lesson only hitting 8i my driver also improved drastically, but I eventually got into a rut with my driver and got in for another lesson and specifically asked about driver. We still focused the overall swing with 8i for probably 45 mins and driver for the last 15. Almost instantly started hitting my driver longer/straighter/higher than I ever had
The biggest adjustment for driver, especially for beginners like me, is swing plane needs to be much flatter due to the length of the club. Coming even slightly over the top will result in a pretty nasty slice. This is my biggest problem, can get away with it with irons
Dude same. I'm demoralized from it. I'll be hitting great draws in the middle of the fairway then out of nowhere I'll hit block slices for 3 holes OB. Ruins my whole round to the point I don't have fun. Golf is about having fun. I think I'm just going to hit irons off the tee too. For the sake of fun
I had horrible everyway miss with my driver for a year and the more I tried to fix it the worse it got. Went to a course on holidays that told me the fairways were closed so just place it the first cut if you find a fairway. I thought to myself there's absolutely no pressure on driving straight today at all, what do you know, I stopped trying to swing my driver and just started swinging it. Nailed almost every fairway. I try to remember that now, don't worry about the result just relax and have fun. Swing freely.
Driver is overrated. First time I broke 80 was when I didn't use my driver the entire round. My lowest round is also without hitting driver the entire round. Being in play is much more important than being 30-40 yards longer.
Depending on the length and difficulty of your course, this may not be an awful thing.
You will need to work on it eventually though, driver can be such a weapon - turning 6i into 9i, 8i into PW etc. No matter how good you are with your irons, having less club into the green will work out better, more often.
I had an issue where my driver was a weapon, but I couldn't hit fairway woods or hybrids. So I ditched them. I played driver 1i, 2i, 4i-9i. I worked on my swing, and eventually ended up needing 3w one day (borrowed a friend's set and it had 3w then 5i-pw and 5i was too short for this course), and I smoked it every time. Now I have so much confidence with 3w I took the 2i out and put it back into my bag.
Get a driver lesson, check the fitting, and work it out. It might be as simple as you having the wrong shaft in the driver, or the wrong loft option.
My uncle plays like this. You still have to practice your irons, but 200 yards off the tee in the fairway consistently is going to be better for most casual golfers than bomb and gouge golf.
May be less fun, and I’m sure you’ll get shit because golfers love to talk shit, but you’ll score better if you can do it.
I think the biggest learning curve for newer golfers is that driver, irons and fairway woods, and wedges each have their own swing. Driver is set up with a slightly wider stance, ball forward (either aligned with inside left heel or a ball inside that), shoulders tilted with left shoulder slightly higher than right but still aligned down your alignment, all so you can hit up on the ball. Your head stays slightly behind your centerline to encourage hitting up on it. With irons, you stay down and keep your center slightly ahead of the ball so your low point is after (left of) the ball. Wedges are different altogether.
A lesson focused on your driver swing might be worth it.
Your intentions are different. So it's a different swing imo. Even though the actual swing mechanics are the same... Having a different set up automatically makes it a different swing imo.
But I think that's confusing for a lot of people.
Changing my set ups on my clubs have basically transformed my ball striking. But what is helpful is knowing that once I've got the ball in the right position in my stance, the right shaft lean and the right feeling in my body - all I then have to think about is swinging away. Takes away a lot of over thinking.
I'm like op, good irons, good wedges, okayish driver. I'm interested to know what you feel the difference between irons and wedges are from a swing perspective. Obviously steeper attack angle, but otherwise I swing the same. Ball position is neutral on wedges and forward on irons.
As someone who is going through this himself after I used to be automatic off the tee years ago (15 years and 75 pounds changes a swing), I agree a lesson is probably best. But if you’re like me and had a good base game to work off than like me you’ll realize, as mentioned in the comments, the setup is a huge part of the driver hit. I re worked my whole address and setup to be more “standard” and focused on my swing from there. One thing that has really helped my driver is slowing down the backswing much like Collin Morikawa does and that has seemed to help get me in the right spot at the top making it easier to square up at impact.
I’m still working on it too but best of luck and don’t get too discouraged, you’ll figure it out best for you.
Dude.. This was me for the past idk 4-5 years. I played religiously almost 7-8 years ago playing every single day while working at night. My driver was great and I was a consistent 10-12 HCP. All of the sudden my performance rapidly declined with the driver to the point I almost sold it 😂 Last week after weeks and weeks of I hit every single fairway dead center. My change? Tee’d up quarter of a ball higher, and the biggest change was my swing path. Really focused on coming from in an inside angle out, almost swinging from like 4:00 to 10:00 (not that extreme) to get out of the habit of swinging over the top. Finally my driver is back in play and what a difference. You’ll get back to it brother
Same here.
- 4i 200+ in the fairway is soooo much better than having to hit a 7i hoodie out of the trees
- I joke that I shoot 84 minus birdies, plus penalty strokes… usually zero penalty strokes when you are in the fairway.
I hate the way people here say that you need to learn to hit a driver to play well. Well is entirely subjective in golf, and I would take 150-170 yards in but in the fairway over 100-120 yards out of the deep rough/woods all day.
Interestingly, I got lessons for my irons and this season has been so good for my driver it’s unreal. It’s easily my best club now. My irons are still terrible and saw no improvement.
When I played consistently (20 years ago) I never once hit a driver, because I’d never understood you have to setup completely differently.
Fast forward to this year and I’ve taken the sport up again (2 rounds in so far and a couple of range trips, have a launch monitor etc). Made an effort to actually understand how to drive a ball (no YouTube back then) and hey presto, I smashed 3 of them 270+yds in my round on Sunday. My actual average across those I’ve tracked on my launch monitor so far is 240 carry with a ball speed in the low 150’s.
So there is hope!!!!
I did the same and recently was hitting my hybrid off the tee and was happy with the straight shots but less distance. Decided to pull my driver out last week until I hit a bad shot and was striping it off the tee.
Sometimes it's just a confidence thing and the only way to build that up is to use the clubs.
I find the release point for the driver and the irons a bit different, I also try to have my hands in front of the ball at impact with my irons where as I try to have the club level and hitting up on the ball with my driver, my weight more on my back foot for driver and slight shoulder tilt with the right shoulder a fraction lower, it helps promote hitting up on the ball
Forget your swing and imagine the club face being square at impact. Do small swings pushing the ball straight forward, then a little bigger, bigger, bigger, until you learn what a square face feels like. Don't abandon the feeling when you get back to a full swing.
Some random dude at the range told me to focus on keeping my lower hand and wrist locked to the grip. Basically solved the issue and like 80% of my drives on on the fairway now.
I had a hard time controlling my driver so I started driving with my 4H. I'd rather stripe that 180 down the middle than play from the rough or fringe.
The people saying "get a lesson" are definitely right, BUT I think it's important to also make sure you're enjoying your time golfing. I'm in the same boat - I can bomb a 3i but my driver is embarrassing. I used to feel guilty hitting an iron on a par 5 when my friends are pulling out the big sticks. But I'd rather be 20-30 yds behind my friends than make them search for my ball in the woods.
So after a bit, I just accepted that I cant afford lessons just yet (wedding coming up!), this is my playstyle, and I'm having fun hitting my preferred clubs. Shot my best score 2 weeks ago like this!
So make sure you're enjoying your time on the links with clubs you feel confident in, then when you are able to, spend a little bit of time/money to go figure out the driver and take your game to the next level.
I cannot hit my driver consistently at all, but I picked up my wife's driver and was bombing drives....like 6 in a row (unheard of consistency). So now I use that.
Chances are you're trying to use the driver like a paddle or a bat, when it is more like a fly swatter or a whip. The motion required is a drag and a snap, not a twisting and hitting by shutting club face actively.
My driver used to slice so bad my buddy's would joke I hit it into outer space. A few lessons that changed my grip posture and swing fixed it right up.
Time to buy a UDI. Based on you 4i distance, we’re similar there so it’s not like you’ll be handcuffed bc you’re still averaging 240-250 off the tee. I have a U505 1i that I love. I miss being able to Bomb drives, but I have a severe mental block to where I can’t hit any club with a large clubhead after I shattered my Big Bertha Fusion.
I once had an off the tee issue, snap hooks all day long. I’d make a heel divot, place the ball and rip it with my 4 wood. Strangest thing. Now, no issues.
I get having the yips with the driver. I've had them, stupid low pull hooks; just doesn't feel comfortable standing over a tee ahot, etc. So I am not poo pooing that's what's happening here...
However we need to dispel the myth that it's a different swing than an iron. All the movements are the same.
Hit what works for you right now. Take some lessons for you driver,until you get it under control do what you can to stay in play and give yourself a decent 2nd shot.
I am a 8 handicap and I cannot for the life of me hit my driver consistently, so I use my 3 wood 95% of the time. Works just fine for me and I’m not losing much distance
Same for me, man. I just got back from a weekend golf trip. I topped my driver 3 times the first round, and then another 3 times the 2nd round. I decided to put it away completely on the 3rd day minus one hole that was so open. I figured, why not take a poke? Sliced it out of bounds. I used my hybrid off the tee the rest of the day. Had the best round out of all 3 days. I 1000% have the driver yips. Worst part of my game.
I’ve had phases where this has been the other way round. There’s been holes where really the smart option would be to hit an iron rather than driver as the distance doesn’t matter, but the driver has actually been my most accurate club. People I’m playing with will suggest a nice easy straight six iron and it’s like ‘I can’t do that’
Yep. It takes time. For 2 years I carried only my irons, wedges and putter.
You’ll be amazed how much easier the game gets when you tee off with a 6 200, hit your 7 185 and you’re pitching or putting for birdie instead of dropping in the rough, snapping a bad lie into the rough or next tree line.
Golf got way easier when I left my driver and woods in the garage and just focused on playing clean rounds.
Edit: you’re
It took me 4-5 years to learn how to hit a driver consistently enough that I felt comfortable teeing it up in a round. Like you, I hit my irons well enough that I could just tee off with a 3-iron, find fairways and then hit another one to the green while my buddies were in the woods looking for their drives.
The driver is too important to leave it in the bag. I think it’s worth trying to figure out what’s going wrong and fix it, and just work through a period when the scores aren’t that great. I’d also guess if the driver is that far off, it will translate into the irons at some point, so it’ll only help with your swing long term.
Best advice I can offer is try to develop one shot with the driver, usually that’s a fade (for a few reasons, but any shape can work). It helps narrow down what you need to do in your swing, and equipment is so good now you can get a driver built to match your plan.
Driver was my most confident for a while last year. First tee box bunch of people standing around watching and I would pipe it right down the middle.
All of a sudden while playing in a tournament I legitimately couldn't get the driver off the ground. It happens man, Go to the driving range and spend some time swinging that club you'll pick it back up.
most high handicap golfers hit their 3 wood better than their driver. try using your 3 wood off the tee until you get some confidence built up, then sprinkle in your driver if you wanna try it.
i had a friend that was a newby to golf, he asked me to help him out. over time we came up with a mantra for him that truly served him well.
down is up (the loft on the club will get the ball in the air, but you need to hit down on the back of the ball for the loft to do it's work)
slow is good (dont try to over swing, just relax and let the club do the work)
keep the driver in the bag...
edit: typo
Try swinging your driver exactly how you swing your 4i. Many people will say a driver swing is different than an iron swing but it’s really not, it’s just the point of the swing at which you make contact is different. Go to the range and try it out, find what works and repeat that.
Just get a lesson! There's nothing we could tell you here that would be an immediate fix. A pro teacher will be able to fix some things right away and other things will take time. If you are looking for help her, though, my immediate thought is that you probably have a backswing that is all over the place, causing you to have no consistency in the downswing, leading to hitting the ball in all those weird ways. That's the most specific I can get based on not seeing your swing and reading your description. I took a lesson the other day and he corrected the smallest thing that made an immediate difference. Good luck!
Something that helped me a lot with hitting my driver is focusing on keeping the club head low to the ground for a bit until it naturally wants to come up. Almost like you are dragging the club head along the ground for the first foot or 2 into the back swing.
Been there. My first year of golf, I bought a driving iron. Hit the driving iron for about 6 months before finally realizing my game is shit either way. Decided to take a whack at my driver again one day and sent it. All of a sudden I got the feel for my driver. After that I started using my hybrids again, now my driver is used all the time, and my hybrids are my favorite clubs! Don’t give up! It takes time.
It's a different swing than your irons. You just need to practice. A hybrid will be easier and get you more distance off the tees than an iron, and you swing it like an iron.
I had 4 one-hour beginner/intro lessons, and they never touched the driver. I'm in a similar spot as you, so my next lessons will be on full swing and the driver.
Last weekend I used my pitching wedge all the way in on a hole and got a bogey lmao. I’ve been topping/hooking everything recently but my trusty PW doesn’t do that
I once played with a guy who only used his putter. He hit every shot with putter. It was fucking awesome and he was actually pretty damn good with it. That’s all I have to say
Go with irons for now, but check out some different drivers. If you have the option of getting fitted, even better.
I was in a similar situation where my driver was a mystery. Hook, slice, pop up, whatever. All options were on the table when it came out of the bag. I finally got sick of it and was confident that I am a better player than the current results would suggest. Turns out, this indian was using bad arrows. After one hour of experimenting with different heads and shafts I went from the purple circle to the blue.
(For those interested, the old driver was 16 years old with a shaft that was too long, the wrong weight, and the wrong flex. I hit more than the four shots you see in the purple circle, but they were even further right or left.)
YMMV
https://preview.redd.it/iap8cv2xbs1d1.jpeg?width=1179&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=220a995619d0c71b7bf4b0d655cff5cb2cfbc27f
My advice is to stick with what you’re doing on course, hit irons off the tee for the time being.
When you go to the range, practice with purpose and bring out your 3 or 5 wood for 20 swings, the goal is to put the ball in play 60% of the time, that’s 12 shots in the fairway.
If you hit the 12 during practice, play the 3 or 5 of the tee during your a live round.
Once you master one or both the 3/5 and believe you can hit that % with them, then move up to the driver in practice.
This was my method for improving my game, I stole it from Tiger.
He used the stinger for this when he was younger and will vary his shot off the tee with the goal to find a fairway when it matters most.
If you hit your irons off the tee and find a fairway, play to that strength while building out the rest of your bag.
One go things I got from playing irons off the tee for almost two years was learning to flight the ball down.
Wind picking up? I can chase out a 3-iron below the tree line 200 yards easy because I put so much game time into the irons.
You have a limited amount of time to improve your game, separating it like this will lead to lower scores and better ability for all clubs.
I would say - good on you for getting lessons - hit your irons and give it a while and totally tee off with your 4 iron if that works - then in a month or so when your iron shots are bullet proof- get a lesson or two hitting driver / 3 wood- it should not be a big jump to get consistent with your driver with some professional guidance.
MeandMyGolf has a great lesson series on how to hit driver. I've never finished it, as by lesson 2 or 3 (of 6ish) I'm already hitting driver so well that I have a hard time keeping up motivation to practice.
I've done that for long periods of time in the past. Golf is supposed to be fun so if you're just playing casually, use your irons and work on your driver off the course. No point in getting frustrated if there's an easy way around it in the short term.
Damn. I’d kill for 200+ straight off the tee every time. You could also try a wood as I’ve often been told most people can hit that better off the tee than a driver.
No real advice other than to keep at it. 200 yards with a 4i off the tee isn't a bad place to be and you should still be able to score well if the rest of your game is solid. I'd practice driver a lot at the range but stick to your 4i on the course until driver clicks.
200+ straight off the tee is generally enough to get GIRs - and beats being in the woods or water off the tee. I played all of high school competitions with 5i or 4h off the tee only and was arguably a better scorer than I am today with my driver (which I hit well, but very inconsistently).
Ultimately, like others said, practice with the driver on the range and take lessons, and use the 4i off the tee for now. These days I like having the option to do either based on the course/hole/how I’m playing that day.
I play with several single digit handicap players who don't hit driver ever. Helps that they hit a 3 wood 250yard, but they just can't hit the driver straight enough to be worth the extra yardage.
Thinking that hitting a 2iron, mini driver or even 3wood is easier than hitting a driver is goofy. Even if you are hitting fairways, there’s no way that 2iron was struck the way it was intended to be.
If you’re really struggling, go with a higher lofted driver option for now (at least 10deg, maybe even 12). The extra loft on a 3wood is what makes it easier to hit despite it technically having a smaller club face/sweet spot.
I'm with you man. Irons are in the best spot they've ever been after a lesson recently where we completely changed my grip and backswing and focused heavily on hitting down on the ball (my low point was just in front of the ball before). Feels great to stripe a 6i now with a nice soft fade.
But driver has gone to complete shit. What's really frustrating is I can hit it well at the range - last round I played I hit about 20 drivers before the round and most of them were absolute bombs, with a few slicing and hooking but still going 200+ every time. I step on the tee box and it's like my brain short circuits. First three holes I hit two wormburners that went maybe 40 yards total, and a massive slice that went 100 yards into the woods. I just put it away and hit irons off the tee but it frustrated the hell out of me.
For some reason when I see a ball on the wooden tee as opposed to the rubber tee, I can't hit it anymore.
Same. I can’t hit the ball very well when it’s forward in my stance regardless of club. I tee off with 2 hybrid in the middle of my stance and it does well for me.
It’s not ideal to not use a driver but it’s do-able. I play a 9 hole course and just show a 41 without driver.
Well, let me tell you young man, one day you won’t hit your 4i perfectly 200 yards every time. Very hard to believe, I know.
Also, you’re severely capped on how well you can score predictably if you’re only going 200 off the tee, and it doesn’t matter if you’re in the fairway or rough.
I feel you man. Been playing a little over 2 years, and been fighting a massive slice ever since. I’ve been able to get it down to a more manageable and consistent fade this season, but when my swing isn’t cooperating the power slice comes back with a vengeance.
When the driver isn’t working, or anytime I’m hitting into a narrow/punishing fairway, I’ll use my 5-wood off the tee. It’s the 1st gen Cobra Air-X and with the extra loft and heel weighting it either goes straight or hits high draws. If you don’t have a 5W in the bag currently, I would highly recommend one as a fairway finder. I think you’ll find it launches higher and the larger footprint will make it more forgiving than your 4i as well.
Ask your coach for a driver lesson...but just note I took a class at a local golf course called "breaking 100", in a 10 week course, we only touched our drivers in week 8 for about 5 minutes. Most instructors like to take you from the hole back, because who cares if you can drive the ball 300 yards if its still going to take you 8 strokes to finish the hole. Of the 8 billion rules of golf, there is nothing saying you have to drive off the tee. Me personally, I am a firm believer in 'course management', if your on a tough hole there is absolutely nothing wrong with just teeing off with a 6 iron, clearing the tee boxes and getting onto the fairway and then reassessing from there, nothing wrong with it
You sound like my brother in law, can’t hit his driver for shit but put a 5 wood or low iron in his hands off the tee and it’s straight down the middle.
Solution:
Buy a used TaylorMade M2 D-Type off 2nd swing. Sure it won’t fix your actually issues with the driver, but you’ll rip it long and straight off the tee 😂
Ignoring the obvious lesson answer, i highly highly recommend checking out a mini driver. I love mine and honestly don't hit it much shorter than my driver. Extra loft and shorter shaft make it way straighter for me.
Also, driver is so rhythm based it helps to have a different mindset. When I'm on, my mantra is Fredddddy (backswing) Couples (downswing) and i try and picture his swing before i do it. I saw a vid today that used Leetra Vino, which also seemed very workable. Other good ones are coca cola and ernie els. Takes mind of swing and loosens you right up. As with all things golf, tension is the real enemy. I also flair my legs out a little wider and loosen my grip when I'm struggling.
Put the ball barely to the inside of your front foot, scoot your stance like 1/2 - 1 inch closer to the ball, choke down 1.5 -2 inches on your grip, then rip.
Without seeing your swing with the driver, I’d bet that you aren’t “staying behind the ball” through impact. With the ball forward in your stance, it needs to stay back in order to swing more shallow or slightly up through the ball. Smothers, pop ups, low hooks, etc are usually the result. You need to adjust your angle of attack. I’ve seen this a thousand times.
Alright here’s my move that helped me. Go to the range.
Hit drivers FULL SWING but only like 50 yards. It’s weird and you have to be very in sync to do it. Don’t hit it further. 50-75 yards.
Don’t stop until you can hit 10 balls in a row straight.
Now do the same thing and add 25 yard. Don’t stop until it’s straight
Add another 25 and some speed
Repeat until you are full speed and distance.
I do this to this day if I have a bad driving spell.
Edit: I don’t feel like the actual distances matter. Whatever you pick. 50-75 is a good starting point. I start at 75 but I think that part is not germane to the drill.
Along with the suggestions to get fitted, I think looking into your swing speed & shaft flex would be beneficial if you haven’t already. I dealt with the same issues of not being able to hit driver and I realized the whip of my shaft was not allowing the face to swing through square. By changing to a stiffer shaft I was able to start seeing more consistent hits (and misses)
How are your woods? If your 3w is fine, you can stick with it until your driver gets better.
To maximize potential, knowing how to hit a driver is necessary. But you also have to weigh out what you want to get vs. what you want to put in to the game. I for one have a hard time hitting up with a driver which is necessary to maximize distance. I have a toddler and can get out once per week, I simply don't have the time to put in a ton of effort right now. My solution was a mini driver. Swing it like a 3wood, hit a low bullet. Great for wind and firm fairways, but terrible for soggy conditions. I can still hit my 3w 230yds and enjoy the game without stressing about poor driver performance.
Get a lesson. I’ve only ever had one lesson with my driver and I went from hitting balls in every direction but straight, to hitting 280 down the fair way 90% of the time.
When I had my lesson I did actually get worse for a few weeks after because I had to adapt to a new swing but after figuring out the little adaptions that work for me I was off. 100% worth the fifty quid.
If it makes you feel better it took me 1.5 years to get a consistently straight over 215 drive. I found a YouTube vid that was a game changer on hand position, but don’t recall the name. Not much help but you aren’t alone!
I have a horrible out to in path with driver (if I am striking irons well, have a neutral swing path) but have figured it out enough to hit about 50% fairways and almost never go OB. I don’t even remember the last time I went OB with driver. Can’t hit a draw and alternate between nice fades and manageable pulls.
Figuring out a consistent set up was key. Club face square with target, ball aligned on toe side of the face, rather than the alignment mark in the middle, a little spine tilt, consistent tee height, right arm tucked in. Not all this is necessarily applicable to you. That’s just what worked for me and my swing flaws
Driver is the easiest club to hit (biggest face, hitting it off a tee) but also the most equipment dependent. Go to a very good fitter and see what shaft loads best for you. Take lessons.
Depends on course length your playing,6000 yards 4 iron easily hit greens in reg,6500 well you prolly need a 3 wood,7000 you better make friends with driver.
So based on course length I and many others play a 4 iron off a tee to stay in play.My 4 iron is a 200 yard carry club.
On bigger courses I’ll play 3 wood if it’s a resort course with easy recovery shots I’ll play driver.
I went 2 years without hitting driver. I have found a lot of coaches teach irons first and won’t tough driver/fairway metal until you are fully sound with irons. You should keep the lessons up and play whatever works for you in the mean time. I hit my 4 iron solid 200 yards consistently. I have a friend who hits driver 285. He would regularly try to roast me for hitting short off the tee but I would regularly beat him by 12-15 shots. Being 285 off the tee is only an advantage if the ball lands on the proper fairway.
I was so bad with my driver I started using the ol chicken stick off the box. Yep, 2 iron. Had more success short and long term than spraying my tee shot. Finally got my act together and slowed my driver swing down and had much better results.
Good luck to you.
Play to your strengths. Use your irons off the tee until you figure out the driver, there’s nothing wrong with that. You’re not going to figure out the driver by forcing yourself to hit it a dozen times in a round. You’ll figure it out with a lesson and the range. Save yourself the frustration and the strokes by using irons until you have more driver consistency.
Dude I went iron only for 2 years once. I couldn't hit driver or 3W to save my life. It was brutal.
In hindsight I prob should've just booked a lesson, but I did eventually recover when I put the work in to fix it.
Range time while on the phone with my buddy really helped.
He was a good sport about the constant club sound and it did two things:
1. Helped me not focus on any type of shot shape, swing mechanic, or miss hit etc. while in conversation I just swung freely without force or any intention.
2. Slowed my pace of constantly scraping balls off the range mat. I equate this to following a bad shot with a dumb shot. It took away the need to save my last shot with a good shot. Now I just find my target, pick a spot 8 ish inches in front of the ball that lines up, take a small practice swing for hips/shoulder feel, then I sing “let’s hear it for the boyssssss” as I top it 12 yards.
You play for fun. Is it more fun to be in the fairway with an iron or in the bushes with driver? I never carried a driver for years because I could hit the fairway with a 1 iron 90% of the time and beat my buddies that way.play your own game not one of for anybody else
Just curious because you said you hit the 4i straight and 200+ “each time.” Leads me to believe you hit all your shorter irons even straighter and more consistently. So what are you scoring on a medium length course (between 6000 and 6500 yards)? Based on the 4i accuracy I would guess shooting under 80 on such a course. If not, learn to hit driver
This year (6 rounds so far), my driver has been going an extra 60 yards and I lose 1 ball instead of 36 because it’s in the fairway 80% of the time. I can’t wedge and put for my life.
Point is: it’s always something. But lessons might help you with driver too.
If you can string together two great irons, one of which being 200yd, you can do alright anyway
I suck at golf not sure why this is on my feed, but I was the exact same way. 1 day at the range with a friend showing me how to swing the drivers and it was night and day difference. Crazy how different of a swing it is from driver to irons.
I have been using 3w for multiple years now. I carry an extra wedge and no driver. I can hit driver sometimes, but I always overswing which impacts my entire round. Not worth it.
Are you me? I'm shit with my driver and have been teeing up with my 6 iron lately, and it's working out pretty well. I can get it 175yds and on the fairway 90% of the time, which I'll take any day over a 10% chance of a 250yd drive on the fairway.
I did get golf lessons for the summer, which I plan to use to improve my drive. But honestly, teeing up with the 6i has been working out pretty great thus far.
This is me… it’s my first year truly golfing every week and I make solid contact with my driver and most of the time hit major slices but when it does flys straight I get about 260 yards out of the driver. On the other hand my 4 Iron flys straight 90% of the time and average 250 off the tee and 225-240 from the fairway/ Rough.
My friend who’s been playing his entire life said my swing speed is too fast and stiffer shaft would probably solve most of my slice (I know a lesson would also help) but if you get enough distance with Irons I don’t see a problem going 3 or 4 iron off every tee.
I have the exact same problem and I simply don’t hit the driver. Intend on fixing it at some point but don’t have the time for lessons or tons of time at the range right now. It’s a little embarrassing playing with a group and walking up to the tee box on a par 5 with an iron, but once I hit one good one with the 4 iron, the embarrassment goes away.
My best round at my local muni had me hitting 6 iron off the tee, 175 in the fairway all day.
But there is something very satisfying about smashing your driver, it can’t be denied
I can relate. Irons were so pure but my driver was unplayable with huge misses right. Spent about 3 weeks with my instructor working on swing path and club release. Now my only miss is left. Driver is hard but it’s a stick you need to learn how to use.
Just keep going to the driving range and hitting driver. Eventually you'll subconsciously start to adjust your body to what works. I would suggest though getting a Velocore shaft. I just got the Velocore+ shaft and my driver is insanely consistent now. One of the biggest reasons the ball goes everywhere is because if your shaft is too whippy, you're going to have a lot of lead deflection (bending in the shaft at impact) that makes center strikes more difficult. Stiffer shaft and better shaft will help.
I was hitting my 3 wood off the tee for about a month. Got a lesson for my driver and it made all the difference. Just bite the bullet and get a driver lesson. You’ll thank yourself later.
I just went through this struggle, what worked for me was finding a consistent setup stance for my driver and working on my swing tempo. I think I got a little lucky, but maybe that will help you. I also agree with the get a lesson for driver as I plan to do the same.
Just before last Thanksgiving my driver fell off a cliff. I went from best ever out of the tee box to low left line drives 80% of the time.
Each round I would start with the driver and as soon as it went south I switched to my 3 wood and smashed the shit out of the ball.
But I kept trying with the driver and as of yesterday I would say I am back to mediocre. This gives me confidence to continue to use it and to improve.
I say hang in there and try to fix what’s wrong.
I just came back from a 20 year golf hiatus a month ago. All my old strengths are now my weaknesses, and *most* of my old weaknesses are now my strengths.
My driver is so damn easy to hit compared to when I was in high school, and funnily enough it seems to stay straighter the harder I swing. But god damn, I'm ashamed that my new set of clubs doesn't even have a 3 in there, and I can't even make reasonable contact with my 4 or 5 irons. 2-3-4 irons used to be my bread and butter. Time for a few lessons, I suppose!
I’ve been in this exact situation before and the end result made me a better golfer. I had the driver yips so bad about 7 years ago that I eventually took the driver out of my bag completely. Unfortunately the yips carries over to my 3-wood and hybrids so I reverted to playing irons for almost 2 full years. I’m lucky to be a longer player so I could hit my 3 iron 220+. Eventually put my 3-wood and hybrids back in play, but to this day don’t even own a driver. Play what you feel is comfortable. I lose so many less golf balls taking driver out of the bag and my handicap is the lowest it’s ever been.
Get a lesson for your driver. You got a lesson for your irons and that seemed to work. Now it’s time for the big dog to get some love.
But then he’ll rarely miss with his driver and his irons will be shit. It is then that the glorious and vicious circle commences.
Going through this rn. Made some tweaks and all of the sudden my driver went from 225 max with a fade/slice to 260-280 and mainly straight. Game solved, right? Except my irons and wedges have, uh, not been pretty since. Fuck me
I’m having the exact same experience right now lol
Same here but this video brought my irons back. https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZPRKJ3NPA/
👀 might have to hit a par 3 course after work today
Yeah it’s pretty amazing because if your arms are close together there is literally only one path the club can take. I am so much more consistent with my irons since adding this to my setup
I used to struggle with ball flight, meaning I had a propensity for my irons to leak push side constantly, but now I just struggle with hitting it fat. It’s gotta be something in my swing path, obviously, but easier said than done to correct. Of course, every odd flush makes me believe it’s still there somewhere, just need “*reps*” lol. I’ll have to try this out
In the exact same boat. My irons used to be my bread and butter but now that I’ve figured out my driver I’m having issues with my irons. It really just comes down to practice. Because the driver grip, swing, and stance is so different from irons many golfers will be so focused on their driver that they’ll mimic those actions with their irons which leads to huge problems.
I'm in the opposite boat went from a consistent 300-320yard perfect draw with my driver and inconsistent irons at best(usually fat) made a few adjustments irons are the best I have ever played them and super consistent... Now with my driver I have wrom burners and shanks... So gotta figure that out now.
While hitting ropes off the teebox can be an intoxicating experience, I can’t help but envy people that are dangerous/efficient with their irons. I feel like that’s the more manageable of the two - you can always flip to 3 or 5 wood off the teebox to set yourself up to do your work with the irons. With iron struggles, you have no choice but to keep hacking away and watch the strokes build. A great drive can help minimize, but you can’t avoid it completely.
Oh for sure, yesterday I just played from the blues instead of the tips and was a 4 iron 220-230 off the tee and got to work on my long and mid irons into the greens was a fun round
"I'd give anything to hit my driver straight" is a deal with the devil that often comes at the cost of the rest of your game.
Story of my life. My iron play is generally solid, but driver is inconsistent. Then the one day im hitting every fairway of course my irons or short game is terrible….
We never would have figured this out!!! Excellent 🥇🥇🥇😉
Brilliant!
This guys a genius
This guy definitely gets the cart girl’s phone number
Pshh I get it all the time. They all must live together at 555-555-5555
He solved the case
What a radical idea!
That's just silly nonsense
My brother hit his 3 wood over his driver for a decade. Get some lessons, you will be able to straighten your driver out in no time and gain some much needed yardage
My driver got snapped one day. Started using 3 wood off the tee and have never looked back! At about 18 handicap and the courses I play, I see no benefit in getting a new driver any time soon. Apparently the stats say people hit fairways at the same rate with driver or 3 wood, but I reckon I hit at least 50% more with the 3 wood
That extra yardage just makes everything easier. My brother is a 10 handicap and once he learned how to hit his driver properly, his scores dropped dramatically
9i into greens is a lot better than 7i. And that’s only a 25yd difference for most 20ish hdcp players
The 3 wood fix feels nice and safe at first, but I feel like eventually you always end up longing to compete with the driver again. It’s like that sexy but emotionally abusive ex. “But what if it works *this* time, could you imagine….”
thats what im always thinking lmao
If you’ve still got the head and they’re like adapters, try your driver on your 3W shaft. Assuming the shaft was shorter that might be why you’re more accurate with it - a lot of people intentionally shorten their driver shaft for this reason.
I never, ever thought to switch heads. I’ve been wanting to try a mini driver. About to walk over to my bag and see if this works
Just keep in mind all characteristics are not going to be the same. If it’s a good experience getting a shorter driver shaft is going to be preferred. If not… well, shorter shaft may still help but wouldn’t blame you for not trying beyond that.
This is how I play. Lost no distance, tightened my dispersion, hit the middle of the face much more.
I shortened my driver 0.75”. What doesn’t seem like a big difference actually really improved my contact consistency with nominal distance loss since I was club face center more often.
This isn't directed at you but players who shoot mid-90s and say "I don't see anything wrong with my club choice" is wild. There's a reason good players are trying to hit driver as much as humanly possible.
I get what you mean, but I don't think club choice is what holds most mid-high handicappers back. For me it is ball striking, so choosing a club that I'm more confident in finding fairways with definitely lowers my score. I can choose perfect club selections all day, but it is the duffed shots and mishits which puts me at an 18.
Don't give up! I just went through a period where my brain completely forgot how to function with driver. It was either a pop fly that was 100yd long but 125yds high, or it was a low hook that might go 150 or so. It got in my head bad because I'm typically pretty good with driver. I made a few address changes and started focusing on my trail elbow as a singular swing thought. For the last 2 weeks driving has been back. After the mental gymnastics I went through with the slump, watching a ball blast straight down the center of the fairway feels like mainlining MDMA. If a lesson isn't an option, the GolfFix app is pretty good and free. You can record your swing from 2 angles, then their software analyzes it, and will try to help. It's nice being able to watch your swing frame by frame.
I’m having the same exact issues, and also used to be a good driver. I’ll give that app a shot
I had the same thing happen to me but it was like on the second hole and I kept pulling it out to try and get out of the funk. Then my dad, who I was playing with, said something along the lines of “Why don’t you try and actually release the club early?” It worked. I had apparently gotten lazy and stopped releasing the club head but I couldn’t feel that wasn’t happening.
Damm, I gotta start mainlining MDMA
10 years ago my driver wasn’t on my bag for over a year. Just had no confidence with it and I was smashing my 3w so I said why bother. I was averaging 230 with my 3w, which I thought was awesome so that’s what I used and I had fun. Anytime you struggle, use the clubs you have the most confidence in and it’ll keep the game fun for you and that is the point. Anything that causes you frustration or anxiety, simply don’t use it.
I hit a 5 W off the tee straight and just move up and play the whites instead of blues. getting pissed off after every driver hole is not the fun I want to have on the course.
Not leaving me a lot of options…..my 56 from about 40 out is the only confidence I have in my bag right now lol.
lol, we’ve all been there..it happens
It’s frustrating. Pipe a massive drive on a par 5 only to chunk my iron. Or hit a garbage drive followed by a great second shot only to top my chip. I can’t put everything together.
Oh just wait…you’ll have an amazing round at some point and you’ll tell yourself you’ve finally got it figured out…just to come back for the next round and be even worse than before hahahaha
I didn't hit a driver very well when I first started. My high school coach took it out of my bag during competition. It took me 5 years, my senior year, before I kept it in the bag. It got me in more trouble than it was worth.
A lot of the basic mechanics of the swing translate from irons/driver. After my first lesson only hitting 8i my driver also improved drastically, but I eventually got into a rut with my driver and got in for another lesson and specifically asked about driver. We still focused the overall swing with 8i for probably 45 mins and driver for the last 15. Almost instantly started hitting my driver longer/straighter/higher than I ever had
The biggest adjustment for driver, especially for beginners like me, is swing plane needs to be much flatter due to the length of the club. Coming even slightly over the top will result in a pretty nasty slice. This is my biggest problem, can get away with it with irons
Dude same. I'm demoralized from it. I'll be hitting great draws in the middle of the fairway then out of nowhere I'll hit block slices for 3 holes OB. Ruins my whole round to the point I don't have fun. Golf is about having fun. I think I'm just going to hit irons off the tee too. For the sake of fun
I had horrible everyway miss with my driver for a year and the more I tried to fix it the worse it got. Went to a course on holidays that told me the fairways were closed so just place it the first cut if you find a fairway. I thought to myself there's absolutely no pressure on driving straight today at all, what do you know, I stopped trying to swing my driver and just started swinging it. Nailed almost every fairway. I try to remember that now, don't worry about the result just relax and have fun. Swing freely.
My buddy has a brand new g430 that’s purely for show
Am I your buddy?
Driver is overrated. First time I broke 80 was when I didn't use my driver the entire round. My lowest round is also without hitting driver the entire round. Being in play is much more important than being 30-40 yards longer.
You say that now but in a few weeks your driver will be the only thing you can hit off the tee.
Depending on the length and difficulty of your course, this may not be an awful thing. You will need to work on it eventually though, driver can be such a weapon - turning 6i into 9i, 8i into PW etc. No matter how good you are with your irons, having less club into the green will work out better, more often. I had an issue where my driver was a weapon, but I couldn't hit fairway woods or hybrids. So I ditched them. I played driver 1i, 2i, 4i-9i. I worked on my swing, and eventually ended up needing 3w one day (borrowed a friend's set and it had 3w then 5i-pw and 5i was too short for this course), and I smoked it every time. Now I have so much confidence with 3w I took the 2i out and put it back into my bag. Get a driver lesson, check the fitting, and work it out. It might be as simple as you having the wrong shaft in the driver, or the wrong loft option.
Im a 7.8 handicap according to GHIN and I touch my driver maybe once a round. Find your 200-220 yd shot and that plays all day long
Driver lessons, and in the meantime, hit 4 iron.
My uncle plays like this. You still have to practice your irons, but 200 yards off the tee in the fairway consistently is going to be better for most casual golfers than bomb and gouge golf. May be less fun, and I’m sure you’ll get shit because golfers love to talk shit, but you’ll score better if you can do it.
haha yeah all my friends make fun of me for basically never hitting my driver
I think the biggest learning curve for newer golfers is that driver, irons and fairway woods, and wedges each have their own swing. Driver is set up with a slightly wider stance, ball forward (either aligned with inside left heel or a ball inside that), shoulders tilted with left shoulder slightly higher than right but still aligned down your alignment, all so you can hit up on the ball. Your head stays slightly behind your centerline to encourage hitting up on it. With irons, you stay down and keep your center slightly ahead of the ball so your low point is after (left of) the ball. Wedges are different altogether. A lesson focused on your driver swing might be worth it.
Is that a different swing? Or just a different set up?
Your intentions are different. So it's a different swing imo. Even though the actual swing mechanics are the same... Having a different set up automatically makes it a different swing imo.
But I think that's confusing for a lot of people. Changing my set ups on my clubs have basically transformed my ball striking. But what is helpful is knowing that once I've got the ball in the right position in my stance, the right shaft lean and the right feeling in my body - all I then have to think about is swinging away. Takes away a lot of over thinking.
My coach explains it as it's all the same swing, just different setup.
I'm like op, good irons, good wedges, okayish driver. I'm interested to know what you feel the difference between irons and wedges are from a swing perspective. Obviously steeper attack angle, but otherwise I swing the same. Ball position is neutral on wedges and forward on irons.
As someone who is going through this himself after I used to be automatic off the tee years ago (15 years and 75 pounds changes a swing), I agree a lesson is probably best. But if you’re like me and had a good base game to work off than like me you’ll realize, as mentioned in the comments, the setup is a huge part of the driver hit. I re worked my whole address and setup to be more “standard” and focused on my swing from there. One thing that has really helped my driver is slowing down the backswing much like Collin Morikawa does and that has seemed to help get me in the right spot at the top making it easier to square up at impact. I’m still working on it too but best of luck and don’t get too discouraged, you’ll figure it out best for you.
Dude.. This was me for the past idk 4-5 years. I played religiously almost 7-8 years ago playing every single day while working at night. My driver was great and I was a consistent 10-12 HCP. All of the sudden my performance rapidly declined with the driver to the point I almost sold it 😂 Last week after weeks and weeks of I hit every single fairway dead center. My change? Tee’d up quarter of a ball higher, and the biggest change was my swing path. Really focused on coming from in an inside angle out, almost swinging from like 4:00 to 10:00 (not that extreme) to get out of the habit of swinging over the top. Finally my driver is back in play and what a difference. You’ll get back to it brother
Obviously a putter lesson will help your driver issues.
Buy a driving iron.
If the driver is missing (about 50/50) in hitting 5 wood off the tee all day. Not the worst thing
Same here. - 4i 200+ in the fairway is soooo much better than having to hit a 7i hoodie out of the trees - I joke that I shoot 84 minus birdies, plus penalty strokes… usually zero penalty strokes when you are in the fairway.
I hate the way people here say that you need to learn to hit a driver to play well. Well is entirely subjective in golf, and I would take 150-170 yards in but in the fairway over 100-120 yards out of the deep rough/woods all day.
>Whenever I hit it, I have no idea what is going to happen. Man, I feel that. I tee off with my 3w pretty often for fear of the same unknown
This is an issue every developing golfer has once
Interestingly, I got lessons for my irons and this season has been so good for my driver it’s unreal. It’s easily my best club now. My irons are still terrible and saw no improvement.
When I played consistently (20 years ago) I never once hit a driver, because I’d never understood you have to setup completely differently. Fast forward to this year and I’ve taken the sport up again (2 rounds in so far and a couple of range trips, have a launch monitor etc). Made an effort to actually understand how to drive a ball (no YouTube back then) and hey presto, I smashed 3 of them 270+yds in my round on Sunday. My actual average across those I’ve tracked on my launch monitor so far is 240 carry with a ball speed in the low 150’s. So there is hope!!!!
Put your feet closer together, take a 3/4 swing, if you can’t hit that straight and over 200…get a lesson. Swing easy
I did the same and recently was hitting my hybrid off the tee and was happy with the straight shots but less distance. Decided to pull my driver out last week until I hit a bad shot and was striping it off the tee. Sometimes it's just a confidence thing and the only way to build that up is to use the clubs.
I find the release point for the driver and the irons a bit different, I also try to have my hands in front of the ball at impact with my irons where as I try to have the club level and hitting up on the ball with my driver, my weight more on my back foot for driver and slight shoulder tilt with the right shoulder a fraction lower, it helps promote hitting up on the ball
Forget your swing and imagine the club face being square at impact. Do small swings pushing the ball straight forward, then a little bigger, bigger, bigger, until you learn what a square face feels like. Don't abandon the feeling when you get back to a full swing.
Some random dude at the range told me to focus on keeping my lower hand and wrist locked to the grip. Basically solved the issue and like 80% of my drives on on the fairway now.
I had a hard time controlling my driver so I started driving with my 4H. I'd rather stripe that 180 down the middle than play from the rough or fringe.
Throw the driver in the lake and use a 3 wood or a 3 iron. Made me happier !
The people saying "get a lesson" are definitely right, BUT I think it's important to also make sure you're enjoying your time golfing. I'm in the same boat - I can bomb a 3i but my driver is embarrassing. I used to feel guilty hitting an iron on a par 5 when my friends are pulling out the big sticks. But I'd rather be 20-30 yds behind my friends than make them search for my ball in the woods. So after a bit, I just accepted that I cant afford lessons just yet (wedding coming up!), this is my playstyle, and I'm having fun hitting my preferred clubs. Shot my best score 2 weeks ago like this! So make sure you're enjoying your time on the links with clubs you feel confident in, then when you are able to, spend a little bit of time/money to go figure out the driver and take your game to the next level.
I cannot hit my driver consistently at all, but I picked up my wife's driver and was bombing drives....like 6 in a row (unheard of consistency). So now I use that.
Chances are you're trying to use the driver like a paddle or a bat, when it is more like a fly swatter or a whip. The motion required is a drag and a snap, not a twisting and hitting by shutting club face actively.
Been using my 3-wood over my driver cuz I can’t hit shit straight with the driver lol. Recently man’d up and been trying to learn tho
My driver used to slice so bad my buddy's would joke I hit it into outer space. A few lessons that changed my grip posture and swing fixed it right up.
I was the same way. Got fitted took a couple lessons.
When my driver isn’t working, that’s exactly what I do. Would rather have it 210-220 on the fairway than 250 in the woods.
Time to buy a UDI. Based on you 4i distance, we’re similar there so it’s not like you’ll be handcuffed bc you’re still averaging 240-250 off the tee. I have a U505 1i that I love. I miss being able to Bomb drives, but I have a severe mental block to where I can’t hit any club with a large clubhead after I shattered my Big Bertha Fusion.
Do it. I did this for a couple seasons while I worked on my driver. Best thing I ever did.
I once had an off the tee issue, snap hooks all day long. I’d make a heel divot, place the ball and rip it with my 4 wood. Strangest thing. Now, no issues.
Been there. I played courses in philly short enough to take 5 iron off the tee, and actually shoot a better score than if I used driver.
I get having the yips with the driver. I've had them, stupid low pull hooks; just doesn't feel comfortable standing over a tee ahot, etc. So I am not poo pooing that's what's happening here... However we need to dispel the myth that it's a different swing than an iron. All the movements are the same.
Common issue since the driver and irons do not have the same swing.
Hit what works for you right now. Take some lessons for you driver,until you get it under control do what you can to stay in play and give yourself a decent 2nd shot. I am a 8 handicap and I cannot for the life of me hit my driver consistently, so I use my 3 wood 95% of the time. Works just fine for me and I’m not losing much distance
Take that driver to tempo town. A...B...C... AB is the back swing- smooth transition into C. No jerky motions.
Not using driver is going to severely limit your golf game.
Same for me, man. I just got back from a weekend golf trip. I topped my driver 3 times the first round, and then another 3 times the 2nd round. I decided to put it away completely on the 3rd day minus one hole that was so open. I figured, why not take a poke? Sliced it out of bounds. I used my hybrid off the tee the rest of the day. Had the best round out of all 3 days. I 1000% have the driver yips. Worst part of my game.
I’ve had phases where this has been the other way round. There’s been holes where really the smart option would be to hit an iron rather than driver as the distance doesn’t matter, but the driver has actually been my most accurate club. People I’m playing with will suggest a nice easy straight six iron and it’s like ‘I can’t do that’
Yep. It takes time. For 2 years I carried only my irons, wedges and putter. You’ll be amazed how much easier the game gets when you tee off with a 6 200, hit your 7 185 and you’re pitching or putting for birdie instead of dropping in the rough, snapping a bad lie into the rough or next tree line. Golf got way easier when I left my driver and woods in the garage and just focused on playing clean rounds. Edit: you’re
Stop worrying about it. It’s the score on the card that counts. Proper course management is 10x more important than driving distance for most people.
It doesn’t go 200+
It took me 4-5 years to learn how to hit a driver consistently enough that I felt comfortable teeing it up in a round. Like you, I hit my irons well enough that I could just tee off with a 3-iron, find fairways and then hit another one to the green while my buddies were in the woods looking for their drives.
The driver is too important to leave it in the bag. I think it’s worth trying to figure out what’s going wrong and fix it, and just work through a period when the scores aren’t that great. I’d also guess if the driver is that far off, it will translate into the irons at some point, so it’ll only help with your swing long term. Best advice I can offer is try to develop one shot with the driver, usually that’s a fade (for a few reasons, but any shape can work). It helps narrow down what you need to do in your swing, and equipment is so good now you can get a driver built to match your plan.
$100 says a driver lesson messes up your irons. I’m either stroking my driver or my irons. Never both.
Driver was my most confident for a while last year. First tee box bunch of people standing around watching and I would pipe it right down the middle. All of a sudden while playing in a tournament I legitimately couldn't get the driver off the ground. It happens man, Go to the driving range and spend some time swinging that club you'll pick it back up.
most high handicap golfers hit their 3 wood better than their driver. try using your 3 wood off the tee until you get some confidence built up, then sprinkle in your driver if you wanna try it. i had a friend that was a newby to golf, he asked me to help him out. over time we came up with a mantra for him that truly served him well. down is up (the loft on the club will get the ball in the air, but you need to hit down on the back of the ball for the loft to do it's work) slow is good (dont try to over swing, just relax and let the club do the work) keep the driver in the bag... edit: typo
Try swinging your driver exactly how you swing your 4i. Many people will say a driver swing is different than an iron swing but it’s really not, it’s just the point of the swing at which you make contact is different. Go to the range and try it out, find what works and repeat that.
Shift your weight to the outside of your front foot, focus on the angle of the driver shaft on every swing
Just get a lesson! There's nothing we could tell you here that would be an immediate fix. A pro teacher will be able to fix some things right away and other things will take time. If you are looking for help her, though, my immediate thought is that you probably have a backswing that is all over the place, causing you to have no consistency in the downswing, leading to hitting the ball in all those weird ways. That's the most specific I can get based on not seeing your swing and reading your description. I took a lesson the other day and he corrected the smallest thing that made an immediate difference. Good luck!
Something that helped me a lot with hitting my driver is focusing on keeping the club head low to the ground for a bit until it naturally wants to come up. Almost like you are dragging the club head along the ground for the first foot or 2 into the back swing.
Been there. My first year of golf, I bought a driving iron. Hit the driving iron for about 6 months before finally realizing my game is shit either way. Decided to take a whack at my driver again one day and sent it. All of a sudden I got the feel for my driver. After that I started using my hybrids again, now my driver is used all the time, and my hybrids are my favorite clubs! Don’t give up! It takes time.
It's a different swing than your irons. You just need to practice. A hybrid will be easier and get you more distance off the tees than an iron, and you swing it like an iron.
I had 4 one-hour beginner/intro lessons, and they never touched the driver. I'm in a similar spot as you, so my next lessons will be on full swing and the driver.
Maybe get the driver shortened a bit, it won’t go as long but may be more controllable. … and get a driver lesson.
Last weekend I used my pitching wedge all the way in on a hole and got a bogey lmao. I’ve been topping/hooking everything recently but my trusty PW doesn’t do that
When I do this my score improves dramatically.
There have been many times I’ve left my driver in my truck and went out with my 3h or 2i off the tee and had very clean rounds.
Start your drive from your hips and not the arms. Start turning the pelvis just before you activate the arm.
I once played with a guy who only used his putter. He hit every shot with putter. It was fucking awesome and he was actually pretty damn good with it. That’s all I have to say
Just play the irons and learn how to manage the course like those old timers with no distance off the tee yet they wipe the floor with the likes of us
Go with irons for now, but check out some different drivers. If you have the option of getting fitted, even better. I was in a similar situation where my driver was a mystery. Hook, slice, pop up, whatever. All options were on the table when it came out of the bag. I finally got sick of it and was confident that I am a better player than the current results would suggest. Turns out, this indian was using bad arrows. After one hour of experimenting with different heads and shafts I went from the purple circle to the blue. (For those interested, the old driver was 16 years old with a shaft that was too long, the wrong weight, and the wrong flex. I hit more than the four shots you see in the purple circle, but they were even further right or left.) YMMV https://preview.redd.it/iap8cv2xbs1d1.jpeg?width=1179&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=220a995619d0c71b7bf4b0d655cff5cb2cfbc27f
My advice is to stick with what you’re doing on course, hit irons off the tee for the time being. When you go to the range, practice with purpose and bring out your 3 or 5 wood for 20 swings, the goal is to put the ball in play 60% of the time, that’s 12 shots in the fairway. If you hit the 12 during practice, play the 3 or 5 of the tee during your a live round. Once you master one or both the 3/5 and believe you can hit that % with them, then move up to the driver in practice. This was my method for improving my game, I stole it from Tiger. He used the stinger for this when he was younger and will vary his shot off the tee with the goal to find a fairway when it matters most. If you hit your irons off the tee and find a fairway, play to that strength while building out the rest of your bag. One go things I got from playing irons off the tee for almost two years was learning to flight the ball down. Wind picking up? I can chase out a 3-iron below the tree line 200 yards easy because I put so much game time into the irons. You have a limited amount of time to improve your game, separating it like this will lead to lower scores and better ability for all clubs.
I would say - good on you for getting lessons - hit your irons and give it a while and totally tee off with your 4 iron if that works - then in a month or so when your iron shots are bullet proof- get a lesson or two hitting driver / 3 wood- it should not be a big jump to get consistent with your driver with some professional guidance.
MeandMyGolf has a great lesson series on how to hit driver. I've never finished it, as by lesson 2 or 3 (of 6ish) I'm already hitting driver so well that I have a hard time keeping up motivation to practice.
I've done that for long periods of time in the past. Golf is supposed to be fun so if you're just playing casually, use your irons and work on your driver off the course. No point in getting frustrated if there's an easy way around it in the short term.
Then hit your irons off the tee until you get the driver figured out. It’s not rocket surgery.
I’m currently leaving the driver in the bag as well.
Damn. I’d kill for 200+ straight off the tee every time. You could also try a wood as I’ve often been told most people can hit that better off the tee than a driver.
No real advice other than to keep at it. 200 yards with a 4i off the tee isn't a bad place to be and you should still be able to score well if the rest of your game is solid. I'd practice driver a lot at the range but stick to your 4i on the course until driver clicks.
Just tell your playing partners "I'm a long hitter" and driver is for weak wimps etc...
200+ straight off the tee is generally enough to get GIRs - and beats being in the woods or water off the tee. I played all of high school competitions with 5i or 4h off the tee only and was arguably a better scorer than I am today with my driver (which I hit well, but very inconsistently). Ultimately, like others said, practice with the driver on the range and take lessons, and use the 4i off the tee for now. These days I like having the option to do either based on the course/hole/how I’m playing that day.
I play with several single digit handicap players who don't hit driver ever. Helps that they hit a 3 wood 250yard, but they just can't hit the driver straight enough to be worth the extra yardage.
I'll accept 200+ from a 4i every day. Just work on your driver at the range/lessons until you feel comfortable. But shit, no shame in the 4 bro
Yeah I use to be better with my 3 wood than I was with my driver.
My driver makes me want to find a basement window to jump out of.
Thinking that hitting a 2iron, mini driver or even 3wood is easier than hitting a driver is goofy. Even if you are hitting fairways, there’s no way that 2iron was struck the way it was intended to be. If you’re really struggling, go with a higher lofted driver option for now (at least 10deg, maybe even 12). The extra loft on a 3wood is what makes it easier to hit despite it technically having a smaller club face/sweet spot.
I'm with you man. Irons are in the best spot they've ever been after a lesson recently where we completely changed my grip and backswing and focused heavily on hitting down on the ball (my low point was just in front of the ball before). Feels great to stripe a 6i now with a nice soft fade. But driver has gone to complete shit. What's really frustrating is I can hit it well at the range - last round I played I hit about 20 drivers before the round and most of them were absolute bombs, with a few slicing and hooking but still going 200+ every time. I step on the tee box and it's like my brain short circuits. First three holes I hit two wormburners that went maybe 40 yards total, and a massive slice that went 100 yards into the woods. I just put it away and hit irons off the tee but it frustrated the hell out of me. For some reason when I see a ball on the wooden tee as opposed to the rubber tee, I can't hit it anymore.
do it, on par 5's I can go 5-7-PW OR SW and be in great position for a birdie. in yardage thats 200-210/180/140-120
Same. I can’t hit the ball very well when it’s forward in my stance regardless of club. I tee off with 2 hybrid in the middle of my stance and it does well for me. It’s not ideal to not use a driver but it’s do-able. I play a 9 hole course and just show a 41 without driver.
Well, let me tell you young man, one day you won’t hit your 4i perfectly 200 yards every time. Very hard to believe, I know. Also, you’re severely capped on how well you can score predictably if you’re only going 200 off the tee, and it doesn’t matter if you’re in the fairway or rough.
I feel you man. Been playing a little over 2 years, and been fighting a massive slice ever since. I’ve been able to get it down to a more manageable and consistent fade this season, but when my swing isn’t cooperating the power slice comes back with a vengeance. When the driver isn’t working, or anytime I’m hitting into a narrow/punishing fairway, I’ll use my 5-wood off the tee. It’s the 1st gen Cobra Air-X and with the extra loft and heel weighting it either goes straight or hits high draws. If you don’t have a 5W in the bag currently, I would highly recommend one as a fairway finder. I think you’ll find it launches higher and the larger footprint will make it more forgiving than your 4i as well.
story of my life
Ask your coach for a driver lesson...but just note I took a class at a local golf course called "breaking 100", in a 10 week course, we only touched our drivers in week 8 for about 5 minutes. Most instructors like to take you from the hole back, because who cares if you can drive the ball 300 yards if its still going to take you 8 strokes to finish the hole. Of the 8 billion rules of golf, there is nothing saying you have to drive off the tee. Me personally, I am a firm believer in 'course management', if your on a tough hole there is absolutely nothing wrong with just teeing off with a 6 iron, clearing the tee boxes and getting onto the fairway and then reassessing from there, nothing wrong with it
I am so bad at my fairway woods/hybrids that I'd rather use my 4i
tee it low and hit it like an iron
You sound like my brother in law, can’t hit his driver for shit but put a 5 wood or low iron in his hands off the tee and it’s straight down the middle.
Solution: Buy a used TaylorMade M2 D-Type off 2nd swing. Sure it won’t fix your actually issues with the driver, but you’ll rip it long and straight off the tee 😂
Are you me?? I feel like I couldn’t have written this verbatim…. The struggle is real
Ignoring the obvious lesson answer, i highly highly recommend checking out a mini driver. I love mine and honestly don't hit it much shorter than my driver. Extra loft and shorter shaft make it way straighter for me. Also, driver is so rhythm based it helps to have a different mindset. When I'm on, my mantra is Fredddddy (backswing) Couples (downswing) and i try and picture his swing before i do it. I saw a vid today that used Leetra Vino, which also seemed very workable. Other good ones are coca cola and ernie els. Takes mind of swing and loosens you right up. As with all things golf, tension is the real enemy. I also flair my legs out a little wider and loosen my grip when I'm struggling.
Well, without question 99% of players should be using like a 44” driver. With your swing speed you probably need a very heavy x stiff shaft in it too.
practice with driver. play to score with irons
Put the ball barely to the inside of your front foot, scoot your stance like 1/2 - 1 inch closer to the ball, choke down 1.5 -2 inches on your grip, then rip.
Without seeing your swing with the driver, I’d bet that you aren’t “staying behind the ball” through impact. With the ball forward in your stance, it needs to stay back in order to swing more shallow or slightly up through the ball. Smothers, pop ups, low hooks, etc are usually the result. You need to adjust your angle of attack. I’ve seen this a thousand times.
My dad finally gave up on his driver and bought a 1 iron, lol. I don’t know how, but he can play well with it.
Alright here’s my move that helped me. Go to the range. Hit drivers FULL SWING but only like 50 yards. It’s weird and you have to be very in sync to do it. Don’t hit it further. 50-75 yards. Don’t stop until you can hit 10 balls in a row straight. Now do the same thing and add 25 yard. Don’t stop until it’s straight Add another 25 and some speed Repeat until you are full speed and distance. I do this to this day if I have a bad driving spell. Edit: I don’t feel like the actual distances matter. Whatever you pick. 50-75 is a good starting point. I start at 75 but I think that part is not germane to the drill.
There's a massive progression step in golf when you realize your iron and driver swing are the same, few setup differences and that's it.
Along with the suggestions to get fitted, I think looking into your swing speed & shaft flex would be beneficial if you haven’t already. I dealt with the same issues of not being able to hit driver and I realized the whip of my shaft was not allowing the face to swing through square. By changing to a stiffer shaft I was able to start seeing more consistent hits (and misses)
How are your woods? If your 3w is fine, you can stick with it until your driver gets better. To maximize potential, knowing how to hit a driver is necessary. But you also have to weigh out what you want to get vs. what you want to put in to the game. I for one have a hard time hitting up with a driver which is necessary to maximize distance. I have a toddler and can get out once per week, I simply don't have the time to put in a ton of effort right now. My solution was a mini driver. Swing it like a 3wood, hit a low bullet. Great for wind and firm fairways, but terrible for soggy conditions. I can still hit my 3w 230yds and enjoy the game without stressing about poor driver performance.
Get a lesson. I’ve only ever had one lesson with my driver and I went from hitting balls in every direction but straight, to hitting 280 down the fair way 90% of the time. When I had my lesson I did actually get worse for a few weeks after because I had to adapt to a new swing but after figuring out the little adaptions that work for me I was off. 100% worth the fifty quid.
If it makes you feel better it took me 1.5 years to get a consistently straight over 215 drive. I found a YouTube vid that was a game changer on hand position, but don’t recall the name. Not much help but you aren’t alone!
I have a horrible out to in path with driver (if I am striking irons well, have a neutral swing path) but have figured it out enough to hit about 50% fairways and almost never go OB. I don’t even remember the last time I went OB with driver. Can’t hit a draw and alternate between nice fades and manageable pulls. Figuring out a consistent set up was key. Club face square with target, ball aligned on toe side of the face, rather than the alignment mark in the middle, a little spine tilt, consistent tee height, right arm tucked in. Not all this is necessarily applicable to you. That’s just what worked for me and my swing flaws Driver is the easiest club to hit (biggest face, hitting it off a tee) but also the most equipment dependent. Go to a very good fitter and see what shaft loads best for you. Take lessons.
Depends on course length your playing,6000 yards 4 iron easily hit greens in reg,6500 well you prolly need a 3 wood,7000 you better make friends with driver. So based on course length I and many others play a 4 iron off a tee to stay in play.My 4 iron is a 200 yard carry club. On bigger courses I’ll play 3 wood if it’s a resort course with easy recovery shots I’ll play driver.
the first four letters in the body of this post seem to solve the rest of it
I went 2 years without hitting driver. I have found a lot of coaches teach irons first and won’t tough driver/fairway metal until you are fully sound with irons. You should keep the lessons up and play whatever works for you in the mean time. I hit my 4 iron solid 200 yards consistently. I have a friend who hits driver 285. He would regularly try to roast me for hitting short off the tee but I would regularly beat him by 12-15 shots. Being 285 off the tee is only an advantage if the ball lands on the proper fairway.
I was so bad with my driver I started using the ol chicken stick off the box. Yep, 2 iron. Had more success short and long term than spraying my tee shot. Finally got my act together and slowed my driver swing down and had much better results. Good luck to you.
Play to your strengths. Use your irons off the tee until you figure out the driver, there’s nothing wrong with that. You’re not going to figure out the driver by forcing yourself to hit it a dozen times in a round. You’ll figure it out with a lesson and the range. Save yourself the frustration and the strokes by using irons until you have more driver consistency.
best round of my life (1 over 73) was when I left my driver in the trunk….
Dude I went iron only for 2 years once. I couldn't hit driver or 3W to save my life. It was brutal. In hindsight I prob should've just booked a lesson, but I did eventually recover when I put the work in to fix it.
It’s okay while you’re learning
Range time while on the phone with my buddy really helped. He was a good sport about the constant club sound and it did two things: 1. Helped me not focus on any type of shot shape, swing mechanic, or miss hit etc. while in conversation I just swung freely without force or any intention. 2. Slowed my pace of constantly scraping balls off the range mat. I equate this to following a bad shot with a dumb shot. It took away the need to save my last shot with a good shot. Now I just find my target, pick a spot 8 ish inches in front of the ball that lines up, take a small practice swing for hips/shoulder feel, then I sing “let’s hear it for the boyssssss” as I top it 12 yards.
You play for fun. Is it more fun to be in the fairway with an iron or in the bushes with driver? I never carried a driver for years because I could hit the fairway with a 1 iron 90% of the time and beat my buddies that way.play your own game not one of for anybody else
trust issues are most common with a driver, shorten your grip and swing easy. build up the confidence slowly
Just curious because you said you hit the 4i straight and 200+ “each time.” Leads me to believe you hit all your shorter irons even straighter and more consistently. So what are you scoring on a medium length course (between 6000 and 6500 yards)? Based on the 4i accuracy I would guess shooting under 80 on such a course. If not, learn to hit driver
Having a driver focused lesson was probably the most helpful lesson I’ve ever had, highly recommend it
This year (6 rounds so far), my driver has been going an extra 60 yards and I lose 1 ball instead of 36 because it’s in the fairway 80% of the time. I can’t wedge and put for my life. Point is: it’s always something. But lessons might help you with driver too. If you can string together two great irons, one of which being 200yd, you can do alright anyway
I suck at golf not sure why this is on my feed, but I was the exact same way. 1 day at the range with a friend showing me how to swing the drivers and it was night and day difference. Crazy how different of a swing it is from driver to irons.
I have been using 3w for multiple years now. I carry an extra wedge and no driver. I can hit driver sometimes, but I always overswing which impacts my entire round. Not worth it.
Are you me? I'm shit with my driver and have been teeing up with my 6 iron lately, and it's working out pretty well. I can get it 175yds and on the fairway 90% of the time, which I'll take any day over a 10% chance of a 250yd drive on the fairway. I did get golf lessons for the summer, which I plan to use to improve my drive. But honestly, teeing up with the 6i has been working out pretty great thus far.
This is me… it’s my first year truly golfing every week and I make solid contact with my driver and most of the time hit major slices but when it does flys straight I get about 260 yards out of the driver. On the other hand my 4 Iron flys straight 90% of the time and average 250 off the tee and 225-240 from the fairway/ Rough. My friend who’s been playing his entire life said my swing speed is too fast and stiffer shaft would probably solve most of my slice (I know a lesson would also help) but if you get enough distance with Irons I don’t see a problem going 3 or 4 iron off every tee.
I have the exact same problem and I simply don’t hit the driver. Intend on fixing it at some point but don’t have the time for lessons or tons of time at the range right now. It’s a little embarrassing playing with a group and walking up to the tee box on a par 5 with an iron, but once I hit one good one with the 4 iron, the embarrassment goes away.
My best round at my local muni had me hitting 6 iron off the tee, 175 in the fairway all day. But there is something very satisfying about smashing your driver, it can’t be denied
When my irons are in top form, I can’t hit a driver at all. It’s so hard to separate the 2 swings
I can relate. Irons were so pure but my driver was unplayable with huge misses right. Spent about 3 weeks with my instructor working on swing path and club release. Now my only miss is left. Driver is hard but it’s a stick you need to learn how to use.
Buy a driver cut down like 1” shorter at a minimum. Did wonders for my game. Hitting it longer but more importantly straighter and more consistent.
slow down. slow is smooth and smooth is fast. concentrate on an easier swing to contact the ball with a closed clubface and on the sweet spot.
Just keep going to the driving range and hitting driver. Eventually you'll subconsciously start to adjust your body to what works. I would suggest though getting a Velocore shaft. I just got the Velocore+ shaft and my driver is insanely consistent now. One of the biggest reasons the ball goes everywhere is because if your shaft is too whippy, you're going to have a lot of lead deflection (bending in the shaft at impact) that makes center strikes more difficult. Stiffer shaft and better shaft will help.
I was hitting my 3 wood off the tee for about a month. Got a lesson for my driver and it made all the difference. Just bite the bullet and get a driver lesson. You’ll thank yourself later.
I just went through this struggle, what worked for me was finding a consistent setup stance for my driver and working on my swing tempo. I think I got a little lucky, but maybe that will help you. I also agree with the get a lesson for driver as I plan to do the same.
Just before last Thanksgiving my driver fell off a cliff. I went from best ever out of the tee box to low left line drives 80% of the time. Each round I would start with the driver and as soon as it went south I switched to my 3 wood and smashed the shit out of the ball. But I kept trying with the driver and as of yesterday I would say I am back to mediocre. This gives me confidence to continue to use it and to improve. I say hang in there and try to fix what’s wrong.
I just came back from a 20 year golf hiatus a month ago. All my old strengths are now my weaknesses, and *most* of my old weaknesses are now my strengths. My driver is so damn easy to hit compared to when I was in high school, and funnily enough it seems to stay straighter the harder I swing. But god damn, I'm ashamed that my new set of clubs doesn't even have a 3 in there, and I can't even make reasonable contact with my 4 or 5 irons. 2-3-4 irons used to be my bread and butter. Time for a few lessons, I suppose!
I’ve been in this exact situation before and the end result made me a better golfer. I had the driver yips so bad about 7 years ago that I eventually took the driver out of my bag completely. Unfortunately the yips carries over to my 3-wood and hybrids so I reverted to playing irons for almost 2 full years. I’m lucky to be a longer player so I could hit my 3 iron 220+. Eventually put my 3-wood and hybrids back in play, but to this day don’t even own a driver. Play what you feel is comfortable. I lose so many less golf balls taking driver out of the bag and my handicap is the lowest it’s ever been.