[Mike_Young]

the college kids keep saying they are more comfortable hitting driver off the tee for accuracy  than the three wood because of larger head etc.....what do you say?
I say yes they are correct.....

[Ken Moum]

It doesn't work that way for me, but then I have always been a terrible driver.

Ken

[David Stamm]

the college kids keep saying they are more comfortable hitting driver off the tee for accuracy  than the three wood because of larger head etc.....what do you say?
I say yes they are correct.....

I would agree. If the hole is that tight anyway, I'll hit my hybrid. Come to think of it, I've been considering going to a 1 hybrid since they are easier for me to hit off the deck anyway and replacing my 3w.

[Jim Nugent]

Is that true for pro's as well?  Seems like Tiger, for one, sometimes hits 3 wood on tight holes.  

[A.G._Crockett]

A 460 cc driver with 10.5 or more loft is a pretty darn easy club to hit, and the misses are so much better than with almost any other club that about the only reason to hit anything else is when the driver would go to far.  I think using a 3W or anything else to hit it straighter is not really done that much any more by most ordinary golfers.  The vast majority of new technology is in drivers, and it shows.

It may be a little different for the tour guys because their vectors are so big.  But I've suspected for a long time now that "bomb and gouge" wasn't exactly what the tour players are doing.  They may feel like their drivers are the straightest club in their bags, too.

[Patrick_Mucci]

Mike,

For me it is.

I also think the same holds true for most decent golfers.

The margins for error are so much greater with the driver.

Jim Nugent,

When Tiger hits his 3-wood, it's because he wants to end up in a predetermined LZ, not because he's more accurate.

[Mike_Young]

I think most tour players and better ams play the three wood when they need to draw the ball now because so many have the driver where it is a block....
Mike

[A.G._Crockett]

Just to continue the idea of all the technology being in the driver, I think most "serious" golfers who aim to compete even at the club level now have a shaft in their driver that they have "optimized", at least to some extent.  They've done things like pure the shaft, tip an R to make the flex be between an R and an S, or whatever they need.  They've spent time on a launch monitor with relative experts in club fitting, checking spin rates and launch angles, and often even select their golf ball accordingly.  

I don't think nearly as many players do this with their 3W, or any other club in the bag, for that matter.  No shock, then, that players are confident with the driver in their hand, and get results that reflect both the confidence and the technology.

[John Kirk]

I dropped 3-wood for the last couple years, and just hit a "baby" driver for short holes.  Before that, I carried 3-wood for draw shots.

I'm amazed when I see 10-20 handicappers play 3-wood or 5-wood off the tee, because they can't hit driver.

I recently read an article in a major golf publication, where the stats say the driver is statistically longer and more accurate.

[Garland Bayley]

I think the length of the club is a key. If your driver is built longer than you can control, you are better off with the 3 wood. If you driver is built to a decent length as Tom Wishon advocates in his book by saying that most drivers are too long for the average player, then driver is best.

[Jim Thompson]

Wait till Andy Silis lets you hit one of his three woods.  I now hit that club further and straigher than my driver, with more confidence.  It makes no sense but its true!  I'm still trying to figure out how to get my hands on the exact same shaft that was put in that club!  Andy.... Heeeeeeeeeeeeelp!!!!!!!!!!

JT

[John Keenan]

Garland

Doesn't shortening the existing shaft in a club make it in effect stiffer? If so would the better solution be to re-shaft with a shorter shaft with the correct flex?

John

[Garland Bayley]

Garland

Doesn't shortening the existing shaft in a club make it in effect stiffer? If so would the better solution be to re-shaft with a shorter shaft with the correct flex?

John

I wasn't advocating shortening an existing club. I was advocating getting a new club of an appropriate length. However, to answer your question, I believe shortening a driver would be done at the butt end and in effect have no effect on the stiffness.

[Kevin_Reilly]

Shortening a club will not change its flex if you keep the swingweight constant.  In other words you need to add a bit of lead tape to the head if you shorten the club.

[David Stamm]

John, from what I've been told, butt cutting it won't really effect the stiffness. It's tip cutting that will.

[A.G._Crockett]

Shortening a club will not change its flex if you keep the swingweight constant.  In other words you need to add a bit of lead tape to the head if you shorten the club.

Not to get all Bombsquad.com or anything, but swingweight and flex are totally unrelated.  SW is the way the club "feels", regardless of flex, and shortening the shaft (from either end) will reduce swingweight.  That's why the shafts for fairway woods are significantly heavier to begin with than a driver shaft.

[George Pazin]

I'm amazed when I see 10-20 handicappers play 3-wood or 5-wood off the tee, because they can't hit driver.

I recently read an article in a major golf publication, where the stats say the driver is statistically longer and more accurate.

Those same magazines that state the driver is statistically longer and more accurate having been telling 10-20 handicappers to hit 3 wood or 5 wood for as long as I can remember.

I generally tee off with one of 3 clubs: driver, hybrid 2 iron, or 4 iron. Can't say I see a big difference in accuracy, other than the driver goes further off line on mishits.

[Garland Bayley]

Shortening a club will not change its flex if you keep the swingweight constant.  In other words you need to add a bit of lead tape to the head if you shorten the club.

Not to get all Bombsquad.com or anything, but swingweight and flex are totally unrelated.  SW is the way the club "feels", regardless of flex, and shortening the shaft (from either end) will reduce swingweight.  That's why the shafts for fairway woods are significantly heavier to begin with than a driver shaft.

Not to get all Bombsquad.com or anything, but shafts for fairway woods are the same weight as driver shafts until you do the trimming to the appropriate length, and then they are lighter! It is the clubhead that changes in weight. The driver weighs less than the 3 wood, 3 wood less than 5 wood, etc. all the way to the wedges which are the heaviest clubheads.

[A.G._Crockett]

I'm amazed when I see 10-20 handicappers play 3-wood or 5-wood off the tee, because they can't hit driver.

I recently read an article in a major golf publication, where the stats say the driver is statistically longer and more accurate.

Those same magazines that state the driver is statistically longer and more accurate having been telling 10-20 handicappers to hit 3 wood or 5 wood for as long as I can remember.

George,
They did, and they WERE right.  Things have changed FAST, though.  

One thing we haven't mentioned yet is that driver lofts are typically higher than they were just a few years ago to get optimum launch angles for the ProVI generation of golf balls.  That has translated not only to more distance, but to a much higher and more accurate trajectory.

So, now the proper advice is "Get a 460 driver with at least 10.5 degrees of loft (and probably more) with a quality shaft in the proper flex and whale away."

[George Pazin]

What I haven't seen - but is probably out there, because every idea I have seems to have already been done by someone - is a club with 3 wood or 5 wood loft, and a much larger head. That would not work as well off the deck, but it would probably be a better driving club for most lesser golfers.

[Kevin_Reilly]

Shortening a club will not change its flex if you keep the swingweight constant.  In other words you need to add a bit of lead tape to the head if you shorten the club.

Not to get all Bombsquad.com or anything, but swingweight and flex are totally unrelated.  SW is the way the club "feels", regardless of flex, and shortening the shaft (from either end) will reduce swingweight.  That's why the shafts for fairway woods are significantly heavier to begin with than a driver shaft.

Shortening the shaft will decrease the swingweight and if you don't do anything the club will play stiffer.  That's why you need to add weight to the clubhead to get the swingweight back to its original measurement.  

Bombsquad is not a reliable place for golf club information, unless your query is how to quickly spend lots of money on the latest must-have club that the board owners have in inventory.

[wsmorrison]

Not for me, Mike Y.  I urgently need your help!  I wait by the front door and watch the FedEx guy drive on by  

[Ken Moum]

What I haven't seen - but is probably out there, because every idea I have seems to have already been done by someone - is a club with 3 wood or 5 wood loft, and a much larger head. That would not work as well off the deck, but it would probably be a better driving club for most lesser golfers.

There are lots of drivers out there with more than 13* of loft, and not all of them say it on the bottom. I have one that's marked 11.5*, but measures 14*

Just about every OEM makes a HL (high launch) driver with 13-15* of loft, and the component companies are on board as well.

Some will sell you 460cc drivers with 18* of loft, and several now offer "fairway drivers" of slightly smaller size (350-400cc) with proper weight to build at three-wood length.

Ken

[Garland Bayley]

Shortening a club will not change its flex if you keep the swingweight constant.  In other words you need to add a bit of lead tape to the head if you shorten the club.

Not to get all Bombsquad.com or anything, but swingweight and flex are totally unrelated.  SW is the way the club "feels", regardless of flex, and shortening the shaft (from either end) will reduce swingweight.  That's why the shafts for fairway woods are significantly heavier to begin with than a driver shaft.

Shortening the shaft will decrease the swingweight and if you don't do anything the club will play stiffer.  That's why you need to add weight to the clubhead to get the swingweight back to its original measurement.  

Bombsquad is not a reliable place for golf club information, unless your query is how to quickly spend lots of money on the latest must-have club that the board owners have in inventory.

Why will the club play stiffer? Because the club head speed will be slightly less? How significant can that be compared to the effect of having that chunk of metal hanging out there on the end of the shaft?

[A.G._Crockett]

Shortening a club will not change its flex if you keep the swingweight constant.  In other words you need to add a bit of lead tape to the head if you shorten the club.

Not to get all Bombsquad.com or anything, but swingweight and flex are totally unrelated.  SW is the way the club "feels", regardless of flex, and shortening the shaft (from either end) will reduce swingweight.  That's why the shafts for fairway woods are significantly heavier to begin with than a driver shaft.

Not to get all Bombsquad.com or anything, but shafts for fairway woods are the same weight as driver shafts until you do the trimming to the appropriate length, and then they are lighter! It is the clubhead that changes in weight. The driver weighs less than the 3 wood, 3 wood less than 5 wood, etc. all the way to the wedges which are the heaviest clubheads.

Garland,
I don't want to quibble, but manufacturers now use much, much lighter shafts in drivers than fairway woods.  Driver shafts run somewhere between 55 and 65 grams (Tour players MUCH heavier), while FW shafts start at 65 grams and go all the way to 85 grams.  Lots of manufacturers now show specs on their websites if you want to see them.

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