Golfers: True or False - You can hit a Driver if you can hit a 3W

[notherbob]

Could be something as simple as the want to swing too hard and getting everything out of sequence.

However, I'd be willing to bet that the driver is probably too long for him. Drivers should be the same length as about from the floor to 1" above your belly button.

I'm 6'4" tall. 1 inch above my belly button is 45 inches. Bubba Watson carries a 44.75" driver.

Yet, most drivers off the rack are 46 inches or 46.5" long. And then you get 5'9" tall guys trying to swing these things.

So what happens is that with that driver being so long, they have no waist bend at address. That causes them to turn the shoulders too flat in the backswing and throws off everything on the downswing (path will go too far outside-to-in, face gets open, big slice).

With the 3-wood...i think most of them are at 43 inches long these days. So, the 3-wood isn't too long for him and he can swing it 'better' than that long driver.

3JACK

I vote for this one. I used to have this problem and found a smoother, more overhead swing with a shorter driver solved the problem.

Too long of a club makes most people flatten the swing and that imparts an outward spin to the ball. If one's backswing were more vertical, that would impart an underspin and straighten out the shot. May need to choke up slightly on a too long driver. Not trying to kill the ball helps straighten drives out and gives better loft, too.

As Lee Trevino said once when I attended his golf seminar, "The problem with trying to kill the ball is that you usually succeed."

A smooth rhythmic swing can usually hit a ball further and straighter than brute force and under better control.

 

[IowaCowboyFan]

I had the same issue in high school, so during tournaments i would just usethe 3 wd and would regularly outdrive my opponents. My issue with the driverslice turned out to be me over swinging which affected the club face, my advicewould be to shorten the backswing and slow the speed down. Once he is hittingthe ball straight at maybe 150 then start adding speed but keep the back swingshortened, this helps keep the same plane for the shaft.

 

[Doomsday]

I am far from a good golfer, but I had the same problem. Last year was the first season I started to use a driver after playing for about 5 years. For some reason the extra length of the shaft threw me off. I think the biggest think that helped me was realizing the swing plane is much more rounded with with a driver. I was taking too steep of a back swing which made me swing it inside out which made me push or slice it pretty much every time.

 

[CowboyDan]

Thank you, all of you, for your suggestions and advice.

 

[Doomsday101]

I had the same problem. Last year was the first season I started to use a driver after playing for about 5 years. For some reason the extra length of the shaft threw me off. I think the biggest thing that helped me was realizing the swing plane is much more rounded with with a driver. I was taking too steep of a back swing which made me swing it inside out which made me push or slice it pretty much every time.

I was having the same thing happen a few years back and what got me to be more consistent was starting the club back with my left arm which caused the club to start back lower and more rounded than up and down. That and slowing the back swing down.

 

[Yakuza Rich]

Also remember that quality control of OEM's isn't exactly perfect. It's improved by multifold from yesteryear. But, I'm still a bit skeptical.

When I was a freshman in college I had a Callaway Big Bertha Warbird driver and 3-wood.

I could absolutely crush the 3-wood. Hit it long and straight. Got to the point where I couldn't hit the driver at all that I would just play rounds with a 3-wood.

Eventuallly I decided to get the shafts measure at the advice of my friend. I played X-Stiff shafts. The 3-wood measured in right at X-Stiff. The driver? Ladies Stiff Flex.

Again, the QC is a lot better these days with OEM's, but it can happen. I had a guy tell me the other day that he had a 9.5* driver that got meassured in at 11* of loft.

I think the problem is the length of the shaft in the nephew's case, but OEM's are not exactly trustworthy and it's a big reason why most of the PGA Tour pros don't use stock shafts in their drivers. And the ones that do usually make sure that the specs are on the up and up.





YR

 

[DIAF]

Not always true. I hit a 3W off the tee because i suck with the driver. I've been golfing on and off since 1994 and I still don't hit a driver well.

To the poster that mentioned shortening the backswing - that's the #1 thing you can do to improve your swing. When I stopped going back as far, I hit the ball straight much more often.

 

[CowboyDan]

Also remember that quality control of OEM's isn't exactly perfect. It's improved by multifold from yesteryear. But, I'm still a bit skeptical.

When I was a freshman in college I had a Callaway Big Bertha Warbird driver and 3-wood.

I could absolutely crush the 3-wood. Hit it long and straight. Got to the point where I couldn't hit the driver at all that I would just play rounds with a 3-wood.

Eventuallly I decided to get the shafts measure at the advice of my friend. I played X-Stiff shafts. The 3-wood measured in right at X-Stiff. The driver? Ladies Stiff Flex.

Again, the QC is a lot better these days with OEM's, but it can happen. I had a guy tell me the other day that he had a 9.5* driver that got meassured in at 11* of loft.

I think the problem is the length of the shaft in the nephew's case, but OEM's are not exactly trustworthy and it's a big reason why most of the PGA Tour pros don't use stock shafts in their drivers. And the ones that do usually make sure that the specs are on the up and up.





YR

The shaft is an Aldilla, probably 6 years old. I'll have to measure it and see what length it is. I found your info on shaft length interesting.

 

[Doomsday101]

Not always true. I hit a 3W off the tee because i suck with the driver. I've been golfing on and off since 1994 and I still don't hit a driver well.

To the poster that mentioned shortening the backswing - that's the #1 thing you can do to improve your swing. When I stopped going back as far, I hit the ball straight much more often.

Just be careful you don't shorten it too much. Funny thing with this game is it takes so little in terms of changes to create big difference in hitting the ball and not always for the better.

 

[Doomsday101]

The shaft is an Aldilla, probably 6 years old. I'll have to measure it and see what length it is. I found your info on shaft length interesting.

I have to say the guys at Golf Galaxy did a great job of fitting my clubs for me. When I went there I went through 4 sets of different clubs once I found the clubs I liked they fitting the clubs for me and I could not be more pleased with the results.

 

[CowboyDan]

I have to say the guys at Golf Galaxy did a great job of fitting my clubs for me. When I went there I went through 4 sets of different clubs once I found the clubs I liked they fitting the clubs for me and I could not be more pleased with the results.

That reminds me....I have to check out Golf Galaxy. I've never been to one, but I frequent the Golfsmith that's relatively close by.

 

[Doomsday101]

That reminds me....I have to check out Golf Galaxy. I've never been to one, but I frequent the Golfsmith that's relatively close by.

I use to go to Golfsmith but was not satisfied with their service. All they were interested in was selling me clubs, they took no time to answer question or offer to fit the clubs to me. When I went to Golf Galaxy those guys really were helpful and for that they now have a loyal customer who will continue to shop with them.

Maybe it was just the Golfsmith near me and their employees but none the less if I'm going to drop a good chunk of change with you I expect service


I would advise anyone buying clubs take the time to have those clubs fitting to you, it does make a difference.

 

[Yakuza Rich]

The shafts I had in my old Callaway Warbirds were Aldila as well. Although again...Quality Control has improved across the board quite a bit since then.

You usually get what you pay for in club fitting although I think there are some club fitter philosophies and theories that are detrimental to golfers willing to put the time in to improve their swing.

Lie angles are the big one. Almost every clubfitter out there will put you on a lie board to measure what lie angles you want, then inevitably tell you that you need more upright lie angles and all that will do is ingrain a bad swing. I'm 6'4" tall and play with lie angles about standard or 1* flat with clubs only about a 1/4" longer than standard. The 'standard' lie angles were made that way for a reason, to not allow the swing to get too upright on the downswing. Now OEM's make these upright lie angles so they can help hackers take hacker swings and not slice it as bad. The hackers won't get any better, but they'll reduce the size of their slice by 20% or so.

Golf Galaxy isn't bad with driver fitting because they have FlightScope launch monitors which measure the ball data very accurately. Their new model, the FlightScope X2, is supposed to be the bees knees. Not sure when that comes out.

But for now, Trackman launch monitor is the best one out there today, particularly if you want to get fit for a driver.

Currently, I'm working on a few things with my swing but once I get them done I'll be getting a high end fitting with Trackman which will run me about $225 for the fitting alone (for woods, hybrids and irons). The way I look at it is I'll pay extra if I am confident in the quality of my clubs and how they fit my swing. If I can keep a set of irons and a driver for 5+ years, I'll pay extra because in the end it saves me money and aggravation compared to buying new equipment every year or so.

But, I don't think there's any reason to get fitted for new equipment until your swing is reasonably close to where you want it.



YR

 

[Yakuza Rich]

I use to go to Golfsmith but was not satisfied with their service. All they were interested in was selling me clubs, they took no time to answer question or offer to fit the clubs to me. When I went to Golf Galaxy those guys really were helpful and for that they now have a loyal customer who will continue to shop with them.

Maybe it was just the Golfsmith near me and their employees but none the less if I'm going to drop a good chunk of change with you I expect service


I would advise anyone buying clubs take the time to have those clubs fitting to you, it does make a difference.

I agree in general. I wanted to get 1 shaft installed in a club once at Golfsmith. it was a true temper dynamic gold shaft X100...so it's a pretty basic shaft that they should have in stock. They didn't.

Took them a week to get the thing shipped in and then the shaft and the club stayed there for 4 days without being touched. But, they wouldn't tell me what the ETA was. I eventually went and just grabbed my 5-iron and the shaft and paid for the shaft (they tried to charge me for some of the service and I had to point out that they didn't do anything). Finally I got the club and sent it to another clubmaker to get the shaft installed and they had the wrong shaft size. (club was .355 tip, shaft was .370 tip).

It was an old club I was experimenting with so I told the clubmaker make to drill the hosel to .370 to get the shaft in. Took him all of 30 minutes for him to do that and install the shaft and walk out with the club. At that particular Golfsmith, we were going on over 2 weeks.

Anyway, I sent a couple of clubs to be re-shafted with Golf Galaxy and the service is really top notch. Now I'm starting to do the re-shafting myself, but I really appreciate the jobs they've done for me.

There's another Golfsmith that I go to and those guys are pretty friendly and helpful there, but I'd say the majority of GolfSmiths I've been to the service has been poor.





YR

 

[Doomsday]

I use to go to Golfsmith but was not satisfied with their service. All they were interested in was selling me clubs, they took no time to answer question or offer to fit the clubs to me. When I went to Golf Galaxy those guys really were helpful and for that they now have a loyal customer who will continue to shop with them.

Maybe it was just the Golfsmith near me and their employees but none the less if I'm going to drop a good chunk of change with you I expect service


I would advise anyone buying clubs take the time to have those clubs fitting to you, it does make a difference.

I think it depends on the store, the Golf Smith by my house is just the opposite. Friendly, knowledgeable and willing to help make sure you get the right clubs for your needs.

 

[Doomsday101]

I agree in general. I wanted to get 1 shaft installed in a club once at Golfsmith. it was a true temper dynamic gold shaft X100...so it's a pretty basic shaft that they should have in stock. They didn't.

Took them a week to get the thing shipped in and then the shaft and the club stayed there for 4 days without being touched. But, they wouldn't tell me what the ETA was. I eventually went and just grabbed my 5-iron and the shaft and paid for the shaft (they tried to charge me for some of the service and I had to point out that they didn't do anything). Finally I got the club and sent it to another clubmaker to get the shaft installed and they had the wrong shaft size. (club was .355 tip, shaft was .370 tip).

It was an old club I was experimenting with so I told the clubmaker make to drill the hosel to .370 to get the shaft in. Took him all of 30 minutes for him to do that and install the shaft and walk out with the club. At that particular Golfsmith, we were going on over 2 weeks.

Anyway, I sent a couple of clubs to be re-shafted with Golf Galaxy and the service is really top notch. Now I'm starting to do the re-shafting myself, but I really appreciate the jobs they've done for me.

There's another Golfsmith that I go to and those guys are pretty friendly and helpful there, but I'd say the majority of GolfSmiths I've been to the service has been poor.





YR

As I said considering the money I spend in golf at these stores I do expect good and timely service if Golfsmith can't do it Golf Galaxy will get my money instead. Acadamy still gets my Golf ball money. :laugh2:

I bought some Callaway Tour i(s) I like them but given the price I'll stay with my Titleist NXT. The performace of both were about equal and I can get the NXT at a better price.

 

[Doomsday101]

I think it depends on the store, the Golf Smith by my house is just the opposite. Friendly, knowledgeable and willing to help make sure you get the right clubs for your needs.

The staff is what makes the difference. I have had more than just a couple of bad experience with this particular store and yet have been 100% satisfied with the service of Golf Galaxy so needless to say I'll continue to give them my business.

 

[silverbear]

This is a very good point.

If he's pushing his tee shots, rather than slicing them... they're two very different swing flaws, even though they both result in the shot going right of target...

Basically, a slice starts to the left of target, then goes to the right, sometimes way right... meanwhile, a push just goes straight right of target...

They are caused by two very different sets of swing flaws, and I'd guess your friend is fighting the push, not the slice... I say that because if you slice the driver, you almost certainly slice all of your long clubs...

 

[silverbear]

I gotcha, but what are some likely things that cause the face of the driver to be open at contact, when the face of the 3w isn't?

Swaying off the ball as you reach impact...

Not allowing your wrists to release fully at impact...

He should work on freeing up his wrist action, and staying behind the ball at impact...

 

[Yakuza Rich]

Not allowing your wrists to release fully at impact...

He should work on freeing up his wrist action, and staying behind the ball at impact...

This can make golfers hit even bigger slices. If he tries to 'release fully' all he's doing is closing the clubface....which can work. But, now you're just making the swing even more timing based. He's more apt to pull the ball now and to counter that pull, he's may try to cut across the ball even more so he can hit a playable shot. Or he'll try to do the opposite. He'll start hitting snap hooks and then try to swing way inside-to-out to counter that...but that actually just promotes a hook.

The clubhead on the downswing travels on an arc. We want the clubface to be 'square' to that arc. When we 'fully release the wrists' the clubface gets closed to that arc. So it's not a smart idea to do that.

The pros that fully release the wrists and get the face closed to the arc are usually doing it with longer clubs because they are so long and they can swing them faster that it's tough to control the face. But, they have to make sure that when the face is closed to the arc, it's well after impact. Otherwise the ball is going left. Or they will aim their body well left of the target and cut across the ball enough so that they can hit a fade.

Hogan in this pic is a great example of a swing with the clubface square to the arc.

I've seen some old swings of Hogan before 'The Secret' and his clubface was closed to the arc. And it's no small wonder that he struggled with the snap hook until 1946.





YR