if you think you are going to get a 9 or even a 12 on a really long hole, if you use your driver & not happy with the results, then take a club you are happy with the shot from & simply live with the slightly shorter, but safer distance. I know that's at time been my fault. Taking the driver & fluffing the ball when I klnow I can get my 4 iron to get me more than as far as my driver tends to & in a much better possition.

Just pick out the driver on such holes as wouldn't make too much difference what the outcome of the first shot was, just so you are keeping using it somewhere on a game.

A well hit 4 iron, hybrid, or 3 wood shot off the tee is worth more than a misjudged driver shot no matter how long it is.

play the percentages, relax & simply enjoy the game... It gets my score down when I practice what I'm preaching now.

For instance I can hit a lovely 4 iron shot off our 257 yard 4th hole & be 20 or 30 yards from the hole, wheras if I take my driver on the same shot I could just as easily be 60 or more yards back in the deep rough, left or right.