Mental Mondays: Abandon The Driver

or players without the mad recovery skills of a Woods or Mickelson, a big key to scoring low is keeping the ball in the fairway.  Using the three wood off the tee is a strategy more
weekenders should employ.

Over the years, studies have shown that the average golfer hits a three wood just as far—if not further—than the driver. That, combined with the greater accuracy of a club with a shorter shaft and higher loft makes the three wood a perfect club off the tee. Even if you were to give up ten yards, the greater probability of hitting the fairway still generally makes the three wood a better play.

Giving up the driver is tough, though. We’ve been conditioned by both the pros and advertising to believe that the driver is the proper tool for the teebox. The best thing to do is to go cold turkey and just leave it in your trunk.

Occasionally, as an exercise with the high school golf teams I coached, I would confiscate their drivers for a practice round. It caused a great deal of consternation at first, but it made them realize that there are many ways to play a golf hole—and some smarter than others.

This tip is an excerpt from The Five Inch Course: Thinking Your Way To Better Golf. The complete book is available in Kindle format at Amazon.com.