Played without a driver this weekend

[amcquay]

I dropped my driver off to have a new shaft installed Friday morning, so I played 18 Saturday afternoon without the big stick. It was actually quite enjoyable, I think I only missed two fairways all day. The extra 20-30 yards would have been nice on several occasions, but playing from the short grass so much sure was nice! Not to mention I hit probably the best tee shot of my life on a 230-yard par 3 to reach the green in one. What a fun round, and now I've got a ton of confidence in my fairway wood.

Anyone else put their driver away for a day, or maybe not play with one at all?

[buykrux]

i was forced to play without one twice
once in a tourny i caved in the face of an intergra head on the 4th hole, the other time was last year during the skins game on the 7th hole my shaft snapped
i had the same results as you, always in the short stuff but it makes for some of those 450 yard par 4's pretty tough when your hitting a 5 wood or 3 iron in
this year when i was getting my irons reshafted i played with my 3 wedges, a ping demo 6iron, driver, wood and all the demo hybrids and woods the proshop had
to be honest, i think i used the 6 iron on all the par 3s and 3 or 4 times on the 4s and 5s, the rest was drivers and wedges
makes you think if you really need all your clubs

[295yards]

I played my first 3 years of golf without ever playing driver out on the course.

Wouldn't go so far as to eliminate it now, but it can help the game to hit other clubs for awhile.

[SilverUberXeno]

I've come to the conclusion that if you buy a driver off the rack, you're probably better off NOT hitting it. If you are fitted, specifically LENGTH-WISE for a driver, which will usually be SHORTER than standard, driver becomes a much easier club to hit.

But if you're playing a long driver and trying to hit it 50 yards farther than your 3W... You're going to cost yourself penalty strokes.

[mddubya]

If you want a really interesting experiment, take everything in your bag over a 3 hybrid out. Bet you'll shoot about the same if not a lower score than usual.

[FATC1TY]

I'll play with just a 2-hybrid and irons and wedges.. I mean, 17* hybrid off the tee's aint bad. Short stuff, and then a mid-iron/long-iron on the approach. Chances are, I'm still gonna miss the green like normal, and I can pitch and putt my way around for par and bogey.

[limpalong]

Mentored some teenage beginners, some years ago. (Before the ultra-forgiving drivers of today.) The youngsters were all interested in drivers and hitting the ball as far as they could. I had a cold, fast rule! No driver in a bag until you can play one round of 18 holes and hit every fairway with your 3-wood. Made a number of them mad. But, if they wanted to play... those were my rules. It was amazing how much better they could play than many of their friends who began their "career" with driver in the bag.

You'll see my signature includes a HiBore 2-wood. That club has a quite large head, ~440cc, but is 16 degrees of loft. The 16 degrees is what many 3-woods are. It is my go to club on narrow par 4's or late in the round when I can't get the old body to stay behind the driver.

I love my FTi!!! Honestly, the easiest driver to hit I've ever owned... and that's a big number of previous drivers! It's a fairway finder. But... if I get the least bit lazy or tired, I will attempt to overpower it and come over the top! The first hint of that and I'll use the HiBore the remainder of the round. With the larger clubhead and longer shaft, it will put the ball out there a long, long ways!!

[TheTrueReview]

Originally Posted by amcquay

I dropped my driver off to have a new shaft installed Friday morning, so I played 18 Saturday afternoon without the big stick. It was actually quite enjoyable, I think I only missed two fairways all day. ....

amcquay, I made a recent post about this very topic. Yes, I went through a similar experience. The pleasure of a long drive hitting the fairway & being within wedge distance from the hole can be fleeting where the driver is concerned. The feeling of being on the short stuff consistently is much better. I only recently got my driver under control after having played my 3 wood for a number of rounds. I shot my recent best score for a 9 (42) by leaving the driver in the bag & only hitting my 3 wood off the tee.

Some of the other posts in this thread have been excellent also. If I've started to go a bit wayward during a round, there have been times when I've finished off the round with a 3 iron & it didn't hurt the score one bit.

[295yards]

Originally Posted by limpalong

Mentored some teenage beginners, some years ago. (Before the ultra-forgiving drivers of today.) The youngsters were all interested in drivers and hitting the ball as far as they could. I had a cold, fast rule! No driver in a bag until you can play one round of 18 holes and hit every fairway with your 3-wood. Made a number of them mad. But, if they wanted to play... those were my rules. It was amazing how much better they could play than many of their friends who began their "career" with driver in the bag.

You'll see my signature includes a HiBore 2-wood. That club has a quite large head, ~440cc, but is 16 degrees of loft. The 16 degrees is what many 3-woods are. It is my go to club on narrow par 4's or late in the round when I can't get the old body to stay behind the driver.

I love my FTi!!! Honestly, the easiest driver to hit I've ever owned... and that's a big number of previous drivers! It's a fairway finder. But... if I get the least bit lazy or tired, I will attempt to overpower it and come over the top! The first hint of that and I'll use the HiBore the remainder of the round. With the larger clubhead and longer shaft, it will put the ball out there a long, long ways!!

I definitely am not a great golfer by any means but I think I owe alot of my driving abilties to the fact that I only hit 3wood off the tee for three years before putting a driver into play.

That being said it is still very hard to hit a long ball straight.

[Manavs]

similar game we used to play in college - (yes we were very bored) - if you normally hit driver followed by an 8 iron into the hole we'd reverse it and hit 8iron off the tee and driver into the green (or 7 iron and 3wood - drivers weren't so big back then)

[Clugnut]

I play my local goat track with only irons. It is a par 64 executive, and like 5200 yards I think. One of my best was shooting an even par 31 on the front with nothing longer than a 3 iron. Hit a 230 yarder with the 3. Great bounce!