My driver wasn't working well ..so i decided to play 1 round yesterday with only my 3 wood for teeing off..
After the 1st few holes, i noticed my teeing off distance is almost same and in some instances , further than my pals using drivers... i took a note of the distance by subtracting the distance from the box to the point i hit to from the green , and i was surprised that my average distance is 220 yards using my V-steel 3 wood !
My driver normally goes around this distance also ..
is it a sign that i should stick to my consistently straight 3 wood at teeing off and junk my driver ?
If this is my 3 wood distance , what is the distance my driver should be achieving ? This is to give me something to work towards to..
More than likely there are a few factors working against you with the driver. First, the shaft is probably too long and you don't catch it on the sweet spot often enough. Second, you probably have a loft (9.5) that is too low for your swing to get enough carry and not a high enough launch angle. Third, the shaft in your driver is probably not the right flex for you as well and with a 9.5 degree loft, you aren't going to hit it as far.
I know nothing about your swing speed or swing style, but you should look at all of those factors if you are hitting your 3 wood as far as a normal drive with the driver. Hope that helps.
03trdblack is right!!! You need to figure out why you aren't acheiving the distance you should from your driver....
When I have had guys with the same situation I will have them go 1" shorter on the Driver and found the smaller (under 400cc) and/or lower centered weight (Taylor Made R7, SMT Spectrum, Infiniti Propulsion 440) seems to help them swing the ball more consistantly.
The reason I choose these decisions with the golfers is because the 3wood is 1)shorter and 2)weighted where they can feel the head (all around more consitant center faced shots).
If you have any questions give me a call or shot me an email and I will be glad to help.
Hi guys ..thanks for the advice..
i solved my problem by
a) changing driver from stiff flex to regular and with higher loft
b) went back to my pro for some refresher . He also made the same point as you ... the Cleveland launcher head seems too light for me to feel where the clubhead is on the upswing .. And the shaft is too longer.. causing me to feel unbalanced at the top (my head was moving on the way up too )
solved most of the faults ..so it's more consistent now.. though its on the range so far..i'll bring the driver down to the course this weekend and see what it'll do ..
Distance is all well and good however you must remember that in order to shoot par golf all you have to be able to do is hit the ball 150 yards 3 or four times
Distance is all well and good however you must remember that in order to shoot par golf all you have to be able to do is hit the ball 150 yards 3 or four times
Hmmmmm...it's that easy huh. Sorry, but I've never seen anyone shoot Par playing that way. Have you?
00ttik: what you are getting with your 3 wood and driver is totally normal for receational golfers. It's a matter of not having enough ball speed with the driver to launch the ball high enough. Your 3 wood I notice is 15*. that why you hit it okay. With the driver, you should try a higher loft head, as high as 15* would be a good idea. Try a 12* or 13* driver and see if that helps. My swing speed is 105 and I gained 30 yards going from a 10.5* loft to a 12* loft. May not be right for you, but most expert agree, 95 percent or more of golfers have not enough loft in their drivers. Try hitting some drivers on a launch monitor and you will see what your launch angle is. You should be looking for about 15*, depending on ball speed and spin rates.
My swing speed is 105 and I gained 30 yards going from a 10.5* loft to a 12* loft.
I have almost exactly the same swing speed as you, but my R5 is lofted 8.5 degrees. When I bought it they put me on the monitor at Dick's and we tweaked it until the guy said it was right. I can't remember the stats, though - it was over a year ago.
How far are you hitting it with 12*? What kind of driver? I hit good drives around 280, but most are more around 250-260.
Am I robbing myself of distance? The reason I went to an 8.5* from 10.5* is that I hit the ball very high.
Maniac7: my driver is a SnakeEyes 600TC with a NV65 R flex shaft. This is a head design that launchs the ball about 2 degrees over what the loft is. So the lauch angle for the 10.5* head is more like 12.5*. What you want is a launch angle around 15*, with a low spin rate for maximum carry distance. When you say your normal drive is around 250-260, is that total yardage or carry distance? Total distance doesn't mean much, because you can get 50 yards of roll one day and zero the next, depending on condition. You also say you hit the ball very high. Well, that is exactly what a lot of golfer tell me, but when they hit a ball on a launch monitor, it turns out they are not hitting the ball high enough. I've got a guy at the driving range near me, and he hitting the ball really really high, I mean way high. And you know what? His carry distance averages 350 yards. Not kidding you here, He's hitting the ball a long ways, and straight most of the time. What I'm trying to get across, is that you need to find out what your launch angle is and go from there. You may have heard about Bubba Watson, he lead the Nationwide tour last year with an average distance of 334 yards. His launch angle is right around 15 degrees. That's what you should be after. As for me, I'm 58 years old and my drives average around 260 carry on a good day. I tend to hit the ball too low, which is why I went to a 12* driver. And now my lauch angle is around 14.7* and I'm quite happy with it. I'm still working at getting it a little higher and when I do launch one higher, it goes even farther. Here's a fact for you to think about. The higher you launch the ball, the farther it will carry, assuming the same ball speed, and spin rate. That's a scientific fact. And it's been proven. So, learn to launch the ball higher with a spin rate under 2500, and you will be in business. I'm working on using longer tees, positioning the ball farther farther in my stance, and hitting the ball on the up swing. That launches the ball higher , with less backspin and that means more carrry distance and good roll.
Do not forget to take different characteristic swing flaws into consideration. Also remember that with the certian amount of ball speed you only want to launch the ball so high or it will increase your spin rate too much causing you to balloon the drive and when trying to give your launch more height might also increase your spin too much with the combination of shaft and head. If going for optimal launch angle and spin its always best to get fitted before assuming and then purchasing alot of clubs trying to find that perfect combo. JMHO
January 15th, 2006, 08:05 PM
Sorry, but I've never seen anyone shoot Par playing that way. 
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