Is there anything worse than trying to take less than driver off the tee and still ending up in the rough or worse?
Any advice for hitting a hybrid off the tee? Something a little more reliable for those days with driver trouble is probably one of the biggest holes in my game (usually a solid driver, but we all have those days)
My advice would be donāt layup.
If you canāt keep a layup in play, thereās no point in doing it. Thereās a couple really narrow holes I play where I just hit driver because Iāll still put it in the hazard with any reasonable club. Now if itās OB on both sides you pretty much just have to hit whatever will stay in play even if itās a half swing pitching wedge, but Iāve never seen a hole like that.
All the data really does say if rough is the only concern, just hit the driver. Hitting less is really only for shots where your driver dispersion would bring hazards/OB into play a high percentage of the time.
Iāll have an article this week that will help answer that question
Iāve heard the DECADE system has a lot to say about the benefits of ripping driver as often as you can (and that Bryson used to be a DECADE player in collegeā¦wonder where his ānewā strategy came fromā¦ 
).
Looking forward to the article!
Donāt lay up! The only time you should ever take less than driver is when driver brings a penalty hazard into play. Scott Fawcett has done a lot of work on this.
Iāve said this elsewhere, but I have a 3/4 driver swing in the bag that I practice and am confident withā¦ It still requires a good turn and driving the ball, it just tends to go straight.
If Iām having an off driving day, Iāll switch to that for a few holes and then try a āfullā swing when I either need the distance or have an open hole.
The 7th hole at my course has a 245m par 4 dogleg left with OB down the left side and a lake on the right. No wind/Tail wind I hit Pw in to the wind I hit 8i. That leaves me a 3/4 pw or sw to the green.
Par 4 9th a dog leg right with the same lake now on the right. I can only hit draws/hooks so tail wind/no wind I only hit 6i. Leaves me 5-6i to a raised green
Par 4 12th 90deg dogleg right with OB down the right. with the wind a 6i then another 6i to the green.
Also 13th par 3 150m 2 bunkers left and one right and past the bunkers on the left it slopes left towards the fence. Hit a 8 or 9i to leave myself a chip to a treacherous sloping back to front. Course management 101
Sounds like a really interesting course that forces those shots on you! I donāt think Iāve ever pulled a PW from the bag off the tee on a par 4 during a real round (I did play an entire round with just a PW once).
Visit www.mogc.com.au You can go out of bounds on 15 different holes plus 3 holes have lakes. Built on top of a hill running along the ridges with houses in the gullies and the 9th green the furthest green from the clubhouse. Short at 5565m but reasonably tight and very up and down. Barely a straight putt across the course with some devilish side hill putts on sloped greens.
Pretty sure Iād put up a very large number at that course 
. Thanks for sharing!
I joined and played on the same day after only playing once in the previous 20 years. Shot 151 of the stick. Par 70 That was Dec 17. Feb this year shot an 80. 9p 8b 1d with only 30 putts. Plus missed two 2ft putts. I play off 18 or 19 and average 92-93 strokes a round. Even with all the OB you have to hit a pretty big hook to reach it on some of the holes. All the OB on the right is fairly close.to the tee
I read recently that, in general, most players only sacrifice a few percentage points in fairways hit when they use a 3-wood or hybrid, as compared to driver. So its not uncommon to miss a fairway with a hybrid, I know I definitely miss a few. My advice, make sure you have a specific plan for the shot youāre trying to hit, just thinking about āsomewhere in the fairwayā doesnāt work for me.
This thread has me thinking about a hole on my home courseā¦ Itās 350 yards, fairway narrows slighty and goes uphill after 250 yards and there is a hazard on the rightā¦ Iāve usually just hit a hybrid towards the 150 (I hit it about 230) and then have a 120-130 yard shot up the hillā¦ the green is a monsterā¦ I recently two puttedā¦ first putt too hard, down the false front, chip back onto the ārightā tier and made the 2nd puttā¦
I could hit driver 265 into the hill and have a wedge into the greenā¦ but would have an aggressive uphill lie and it brings some more risk from hazards into play.
Maybe something to toy with whenever I return to golfā¦
Iād have to see a better picture of the hole, but if hitting driver brings that hazard (do I say penalty area now???) into play, then it might not be worth taking on the additional risk to be closer to the hole. Tee shots are as much about avoiding big trouble as they are about advancing the ball as far as possible. Striking the balance is the key!
If you draw a line from the right edge of the bunker straight down, thatās marked hazardā¦ its basically all side hill, so Iām not sure if a small miss would bounce back into play.
This might also need to be re evaluated if I manage to achieve hulk status next year and can hit the ball fartherā¦
Left side over those trees is fine to play out ofā¦
Great idea. Havenāt tried less than a full swing with the driver, but par 3s from the forward tees are definitely too short for a full driver swing!
If you donāt trust the club, OP, why is it in your bag? Unless youāre telling me, āJayjay, the landing area really narrows down in the projected landing area of my 80% typical driver shot. Iāll put it behind a tree, get it wet, or find some other way that I canāt get it on the green with my second (third if P5) shot. But if I use 3W/5W/driving iron, I can get on the green with my approach.ā
Laying up then, Iād say is fine. But if itās a case of, I just donāt trust the SOB. Then it shouldnāt be there. Iāve banished plenty of clubs because I donāt trust them when my throat tightens. Even if theyāre useful otherwise.
Consequently, those still there, I trust. I swing freely, and at my target. I mean, they still fā#* me on occasion, because this is golf, but I trust them. Might have to put in a lot of work (and a few fittings) to get to that point, but itās gettable.
Just look at our hostās articles on how he learned to really lean on his driver to improve his game. Iāve found them quite inspirational.
I kinda get tired of listening about DECADE says donāt layup. Thatās not what it says. It says do the math and play as close as you can to the hole without hitting into major trouble. When driver isnāt an option, or the Big Dog doesnāt wanna stay on the planet. Hit something that will carry or keep you short of the trouble, and play the longer club in. Iād rather hit an 8 or 9 in from 150 fairway or rough, than be chipping out of the woods from 110 or go through 2 sleeves, which is what I did all last week. So instead of probably shooting a smooth 75, I hit driver every chance I got, and shot 88. I hit 1 FW, I had 4 OB, 6 chip outs and 3 in the hazards. But I enjoyed great weather, spent 6 hours with a friend who shot lites out that I could root for and got out of doing yardwork. DECADE doesnāt work at all when you canāt keep it on the planet with a 2way miss going all day long, actually nothing does except weāll be back at it next week, I did hit all the par 3s in reg and played them -2, so it wasnāt all crappyā¦lol.
This is correct. Play aggressively at a conservative target.
I think the big difference is hitting driver into the rough 50 yards past hitting hybrid into the fairway us encouragedā¦ donāt play driver if itās going to lead to penalty strokes or punch outs.
