Deciding what club to hit off the tee

[Ben Sims]

Speaking mostly about non-par 3 holes, do you use lateral accuracy or longitudinal accuracy (distance) as the primary factor in deciding which club to hit off the tee?


I realized recently that many people I play golf with take shorter clubs off the tee “for accuracy” on narrower golf holes. What they mean is lateral accuracy. It struck me that I almost never make this distinction. I make my tee shot club decisions based almost entirely on distance.


I’m interested in how others view this seemingly basic decision and how architecture plays into it.

[Wayne_Kozun]

I am with you, I almost never hit less than driver due to a narrow fairway.  I occasionally do so at the 6th hole at my club which is a par 5 with trees/lost ball on the right and a creek on the left.  Many players do lay up with 3W, hybrids or long irons off the tee.


But I often hit less than driver off the tee to leave a full club into short par 4s, or when I can drive through the fairway with a driver.

[Ally Mcintosh]

Ben, do they take shorter clubs for lateral accuracy when the narrowness is consistent along the length of the hole? Or are they taking a shorter club to dial back from hazards they might reach with a driver?


Quite a different reason I think.


In the former case, it really all depends on whether you have significantly more accuracy with clubs other than your driver. A lot of people don’t. Hence keep on bombing driver.

[Peter Pallotta]

B -- I've tried to find a compromise, and have now pretty much settled on a middle ground. I'm not nearly a good enough golfer *not* to play from the fairway; but, while I don't mind coming into Par 4s with longer clubs, like everyone else I prefer to have -- and score better with -- shorter irons for my approach shots. So for two years now my go-to 'compromise club' has been an old Ping G10 driver with 12 degrees of loft that I have cut down to 44 inches. It gives me only decent and not great distance off the tee (especially since I've never been a long hitter anyway), but it keeps me in play/on the fairway better than any alternative I've ever tried. And generally speaking, that shows up on my card/in lower scores. I find that it's usually only once or at most twice a round that the lack of distance off the tee is costing me strokes, eg when I have to come into the longest Par 4 / number 1 stroke hole with a fairway wood; but even then, I feel that, for me, I still have a better chance of putting for par than if I was 30 yards closer to the green but not in the fairway. I'm no good at all with the bomb and gouge approach, neither the bombing part nor the gouging.
 

[Erik J. Barzeski]

Speaking mostly about non-par 3 holes, do you use lateral accuracy or longitudinal accuracy (distance) as the primary factor in deciding which club to hit off the tee?

Both, but primarily… the longest club I can hit with the right level of "safety."

People are less accurate with their shorter clubs than they think.

But I often hit less than driver off the tee to leave a full club into short par 4s, or when I can drive through the fairway with a driver.

Statistics would tell you to look at possibly changing that. Unless you have the yips or something for partial wedges… or you play the firmest greens possible, you're going to hit it closer from 60 yards than you are from 110.

[Kalen Braley]

Ben,

I'm the complete opposite of you.

Its all about safety in the form of avoiding trouble on the sides and keeping it in play. But I may take less club to avoid a nasty bunker or hazard otherwise that's in or near the line of play, but that's fairly rare.

As a general rule, I will always take as much distance as I can get because even when i'm hitting the driver it ain't going very far. 

[cary lichtenstein]

I always tried to play smart, risk/reward was my calculation. When I watch the pro tournaments on TV, I sometimes find myself almost yelling at the TV when during the final 9 holes, a pro does something stupid. This weekend's tournament was a perfect example.


If I couldn't safety hit the shot 8 out of 10 times, I didn't take it. Hitting over a pond with a 3 wood off a tight lie was a no go for me, but I'd go with a 5 or 7 wood.

[Joe_Tucholski]

I typically tee off with driver on every hole but par 3's. 

Being back at USAFA I'm confident the Blue is the course I hit the fewest drivers of any course I've played.  In addition to the par 3's #1, #4, #14 are all typically less than driver (#14 depends on the tee I'm playing).


All 3 holes have a turn where my drive can run through the outside leaving a poor approach to the green.  The direct line to the green also usually results in problems so I hit 3 wood or less.


I'm guessing there are other courses that might have similar results if I played them more often but my other former home courses have at most 1 par 4 where I take less than driver.  When playing the tips at NCR South I'd occasionally hit driver on 16 holes.

[Thomas Dai]

Based on these stats the difference in accuracy is now so marginal that these days you might as well bomb away and likely be further up the fairway with your bad 'uns and fairway misses.


A modern era Driver size issue. Once, and it's not that long ago, the Driver was probably the hardest club in the bag. Now it's likely the easiest. And the modern ball flies straighter than the previous era version. Rather sad.
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[Michael Felton]

Based on these stats the difference in accuracy is now so marginal that these days you might as well bomb away and likely be further up the fairway with your bad 'uns and fairway misses.


A modern era Driver size issue. Once, and it's not that long ago, the Driver was probably the hardest club in the bag. Now it's likely the easiest. And the modern ball flies straighter than the previous era version. Rather sad.
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And yet - this is driver shot pattern from mygolfspy's driver testing:

[Ben Sims]

I typically tee off with driver on every hole but par 3's. 

Being back at USAFA I'm confident the Blue is the course I hit the fewest drivers of any course I've played.  In addition to the par 3's #1, #4, #14 are all typically less than driver (#14 depends on the tee I'm playing).


All 3 holes have a turn where my drive can run through the outside leaving a poor approach to the green.  The direct line to the green also usually results in problems so I hit 3 wood or less.


I'm guessing there are other courses that might have similar results if I played them more often but my other former home courses have at most 1 par 4 where I take less than driver.  When playing the tips at NCR South I'd occasionally hit driver on 16 holes.

That’s funny Joe, I probably bang away with driver on every non-par 3 at the Blue Course. Silver is where I probably only hit it 8 times.


An aside, we are permanent here now, in Monument. If I read your post correctly, perhaps it’s time for a round after years and years of being on this site together.