Driver vs. 3-Wood Off the Tee

Practical Golf Articles
#101

Very thorough information here.

I think it comes down to what you said about penalty shots. 1 in 5 seems too frequent to me. Unless at zero penalties, I’d think that would be the first area to address. Why do they have penalty shots? What clubs are the frequent offenders.

Generally speaking, the offender will be the driver. 65 yards with the driver means you are somewhat decently straight. Even Bryson sends it sideways a decent amount of times and I imagine amateurs moreso. I think this is from @LouStagner on Twitter. I agree with the idea that we should all learn to hit it far and a 65 yards wide dispersion is a good benchmark. But if OUR dispersion isn’t 65 yards, we also need to be realistic about that and play more conservatively until we can keep the ball in play with more club.

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#102

I agree that 1 in 5 seems high, but that’s what the math says (actually it says you can potentially have even a higher penalty rate) assuming distance for amateurs is as valuable as the shotscope study says it is. Penalty strokes stick out like a sore thumb after a round, but according to the article in the OP, dropping back to any club less than 3-wood is going to be giving up at least half a stroke. Two hybrid layups basically costs you as many strokes as hitting one ball into a lateral hazard.

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#103

Just for grins here’s where I currently hit hybrid on my home course:

Hole 1 Dogleg left with a huge tree on the left side… It’s a short hole, so a good hybrid will leave me less than 150… a good drive can put me into chipping in territory, but an OK drive left blocks me out… Hybrid consistently gives me a clear look at the green.
Hole 5 2nd easiest hole on the course, and an uphill par 4. if I’m consistently carrying driver 270+ I can carry a bunker and hit a very wide portion of the fairway and have 50 yards or less into the green… If I hit hybrid I’ll have 120ish into the green… I don’t think I’m giving up much scoring opportunity hitting hybrid, but that might just be confirmation bias as I made an easy birdie going hybrid, wedge.
Hole 6. Hybrid into the fairway… it’s dumb par 5. I might need to back off my shot back up the hill as I keep losing it left and was in the fairway bunker last time… I’m going to try a 6 iron and see how it goes (on my second shot). I hate this hole… If I can get the distance to have a chance at hitting driver to the top of the hill, I will transition back to driver. There is no real trouble for 65 yards, it will just leave me an bad lie for my 2nd shot if I don’t make it (which I can safely punch to 100 yards)
Hole 9 I hit 3 wood. Driver hit well brings no advantage and a ton of trouble. This is also a nemesis hole of mine… it’s got a steep valley from 100 yards to the green, but it’s a dog leg right… I can hit 3 wood to 100 yards, so I hit three wood.
Hole 11 Par 5 with a small landing area for Driver. I get into trouble (bunkers or trees) as often as I get a look at hitting it in 2… 3 wood into the fairway, hybrid to 30 yards and a good chip seems to be the smart play.
Hole 14 I’m still contemplating this on… 240 carry over a creek, big tree on the right and OB left… I’ve missed my driver everywhere here… if I’m playing a fade, I aim at the OB and hope it moves. Hybrid leaves me 6-8 iron in… not a great option, if I’m being honest. I need to re-evaluate this shot when I’m hitting driver well…
Hole 16 It’s a hybrid. Leaves me with 120ish into an uphill green and a flat stance. Driver just brings trouble into play with no real upside. My average score has dropped on this hole since moving back to hybrid.

I need to track my stats on the course a little better and make sure these strategies make sense… but I also need to start putting my driver in play when I AM hitting it…

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#104

It is only 1 in 5 for 1 stroke penalties

There should only be a few holes per round where this is the case

If you average 1 in 5 penalties on drives there is no way you are playing optimally

OB and lost ball change the math big time

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#105

Listening to decade stuff… basically realized i suck at driving the golf ball

I hit REALLY errant shots way to often… hard to build strategy around that

I am going to devote more practice time to driving the golf ball and really get obsessed with RADICALLY increasing the % of drives i can hit inside a 45 yard fairway

I also need to decrease the really errant shots… some of this is process, some of this is mechanics, some of this is skill development

Will keep you posted but based on some of your round summaries you may have some similar boojoo going on

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#106

Yeah, my driver is on the fritz right now… it’s getting better and is usually a strength for me… I’m just suffering from a two way miss I can’t seem to get under control… I’ve hit some balls left of left, which was never a problem for me before…

It’s getting better, but if my new miss is left and not right, it’s going to be an adjustment!

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#107

Exactly…

It is a skill development issue for me… not really strategy

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#108

Yeah, the strategy stuff is good and important, but you can’t plan to smash a driver 60 yards left… that’s a shot you just need to reduce the frequency of…

I think ultimately you need to accept your dispersion pattern is always going to be bigger than you want, but the only real actionable items are choosing the best target and reducing the frequency of the big misses.

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#109

Well yeah but I didn’t say you should have a 20% penalty rate overall. I just said on any given drive the value of the extra distance from driver vs 3-wood is worth about the same as hitting it into a 1-stroke penalty situation 20% less often. Actually if you go strictly on the shotscope article in the OP it’s 30%. I mentioned for stroke+distance just divide by 2.

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