"Drive for show, putt for dough"... (Bobby Locke)
I can appreciate the sentiment that Mr. Locke was trying to convey with that quote, especially considering that he may have been the best putter ever - but I can't totally buy into it. Sure, a one foot putt counts as much as a three hundred yard drive but I guarantee you that the importance, both strategically and psychologically, of that "first shot" on every hole can not be overstated. A good tee shot, especially on the first hole or first few holes, can set the tone for the entire day. If we get the tee-ball in play, we immediately feel a confidence boost and start thinking about all of the good that can happen instead of what might go wrong. Although this section pays particular attention to the "driver", know that I also mean to address the strategic play from the tee (which will/should very often include other clubs than just the driver). Unless you a true "Iron Byron" with the driver, you may want to consider increasing your arsenal of weapons off the tee. We cannot ignore the percentages here... the longer the club, all things being equal, the naturally wider our shot dispersion pattern is likely to be.
Why I favor the fade - but you may want to hit a draw: or "You can talk to a fade, but a hook won't listen"... (Lee Trevino)
The easiest clarification I can make right off the bat is - if you are a short hitter to begin with, you should stick with (or try to develop) the power-draw. If your distance is more than adequate, learning to hit a power-fade may improve your scores dramatically - especially if you are a hooker and your hook often becomes a snap-hook. In hundreds of competitive rounds over the years, I swear, I could count on two hands, the number of rounds where a consistent drawer of the ball didn't hit AT LEAST ONE fairly viscious hook that got him into trouble. Conversely, better players that I've played with who can hit the power-fade can sometimes go weeks without hitting one off the map. If you think about what the hands are doing (or are capable of doing) through impact, it becomes readily apparent why a hook can sometimes turn nasty but a fade seldom does. If we normally draw or hook the ball and for whatever reason, on a particular shot, we get a little "handsy" or too quick... well, the amount that the hands can "turn over" is dramatic to say the least - we can darn near have the clubface almost pointing at the ground at impact... it is pretty hard to have the same problem with a faded ball - you just can't anatomically turn the hands far enough... at worst, your power-fade will become a slice, while your snap-hook might still be on the rise as it carries over the OB fence. Don't get me wrong here. There are many drawers of the ball in the Hall Of Fame but I can almost guarantee all of them occasionally had visions of nasty snap-hooks buried (hopefully) deeply in their subconscious during "crunch" time. Ben Hogan, the greatest ball striker of all, was, at best, a moderately successful touring pro as a hooker... not until he moved heaven and a LOT of earth - AND DEVELOPED HIS MOST RELIABLE POWER FADE - did he finally reach the rarified level of golfing superstar.
Why not aim down the middle and try to hit it straight?
Once again, percentages are what matter. If you aim down the middle of a 30 yard-wide fairway and try to hit it straight, you have 15 yards of leeway to either side. Conversely, if you fade 90% of your shots and aim at the left edge of the fairway, you now have a 30 yard-wide target - same thing for a draw aimed at the right side of the fairway. Hogan at his best imagined an invisible, extremely high wall along the entire left side of the fairway and knew he would never hit that wall with his normal swing... he would hit it 'fairly' straight or with a few yards of fade. Being someone who has struggled with hooking the ball, almost since day-one, I can tell you after several years of hard work, there is nothing quite so confidence-boosting as being able to aim at the left edge of the fairway and knowing you can HIT IT HARD and the ball will fade back somewhere in play - time after time after time.
The driver itself and the mechanics of driving.
The 3 clubs that, I think, are the hardest to select are the 3-wood, the driver and the putter.
1. the 3-wood (because you want a club that can be your go-to club should the driver be off or not needed AND - you want a club that can easily hit the ball "off the deck" - for distance & direction - I have been searching for 40 years now and have NEVER been totally happy with any of my dozen's of 3-woods).
2. the Driver - almost as difficult as the 3-wood... unless you are an advanced golfer who has been playing for a long time, never, never, never pick out a driver off the rack and shell out (possibly) several hundreds of dollars - FOR A CLUB THAT PROBABLY DOESN'T SUIT YOUR GAME. The best advice I can give here is to get professionally fitted for your driver. Most retail stores that specialize in golf clubs will have someone who knows how to measure you and has the proper tools to do so. If you feel as though you are being rushed through the process or if you sense that the "expert" isn't really an expert at all and simply wants to make a sale, say "thank you" and walk out. Additionally, there are a lot of "mom and pop" shops that specialize in club-fitting and custom made clubs (from components) but you need to know enough to determine if who you are dealing with someone who KNOWS THEIR STUFF (see the section - "Knowing The Tools"). A driver must look right to your eye - EVEN IF IT IS A PERFECT MATCH AS FAR AS LOFT, SHAFT, LENGTH, GRIP ETC... if it doesn't "look right", you will probably not hit it well (some people are capable of overcoming this and can eventually convince themselves that they like the looks of a certain club - especially if they consistently hit it well).
The driver used to have a standard length of 43 inches but has since grown to 45 inches or even more. Don't assume you will hit a club further just because it is longer. You might hit a 42 inch driver further and more accurately. There are so many things that need to mesh with the "big stick" that you can go crazy trying to find one that is right for you. You have the main elements which are - size and shape of the head itself, length and stiffness of shaft, amount of loft and angle of clubface (open, closed, square)... as soon as you change one element, the other elements are likely to be affected as well. Once again, the best advice I can give is to preferably go to an outdoor expo put on by a club maker who can introduce you to dozens of combinations of shafts, heads, lofts etc... and you can hit however many balls it takes to determine the best setup for you... indoors on a simulator is OK but nothing can compete with seeing the actual results as they happen.
3. the Putter - just to finish the statement made above, the putter is inherently difficult to choose because THERE ARE SO DAMN MANY OF THEM AND SO MANY DIFFERENT LOOKS (see the section on putting).
I can't tell you how many people I've played with over the years who will not hit a driver - THEY PROBABLY CARRY ONE - but they don't hit it... when I ask them why, they say "I just can't hit it" or "I do better off with a 3-wood" or "all I hit with my driver is a big slice" etc... surprisingly, some of these golfers are way above average and I find myself thinking that if they would just hit the driver with "ALMOST" the same swing they use with their 3-wood, they would have one, two or three less clubs into the greens - and would possibly reach some of those par-fives in two. A lot of times, the problem lies in the fact that some golfers just have a problem with a ball that sits high on a tee (which is almost a necessity with today's huge driver heads).
These golfers have trained themselves (sometimes too well) to hit the ball with a slightly descending stroke and that is fine (definitely better than 'scooping' the ball) - they just haven't learned (or put in the effort) to make some minor setup/swing adjustments that could have them hitting their drivers just as well, or better, than their current favorite club off the tee. If you are one of these golfers and are happy with what you have going, read no further. If you want to enjoy the bliss of a crushed tee-shot that goes a lot farther than you ever dreamed possible, than you might want to try some or all of the following. A lot of times, a golfer will give up on their driver because IT IS THE GREATEST MAGNIFIER OF SWING FAULTS. Instead of allowing that to impede your progress, use it to your advantage. Since the driver is the longest club in your bag (usually) and has the least amount of loft, any sidespin imparted to the ball will be most evident with the driver (besides the obvious "fat" shots and "thin" shots, sidespin is the biggest score-wrecker in golf).
The above golfer who always hits his 3-wood off the tee may have developed a nice little fade that always seems to slide back into the fairway and he therefore is capable of playing really good golf. If he was 30 yards longer though, he just might be capable of great golf - HE TRIES TO HIT HIS DRIVER JUST LIKE HE HITS HIS 3-WOOD BUT HE SLICES IT TERRIBLY. It only makes sense that this guy, who has above average intelligence says to himself... "back to the 3-wood;at least I can keep it in play". What may be happening here is that our friend just needs to make some minor changes to his 3-wood swing and he'll be killing the driver. Since he fades the 3-wood (I'll assume he is just teeing it up very slightly or not at all) his driver, WHICH MAY NOT BE TEED UP HIGH ENOUGH, comes into the ball from the outside-in and since he has 5, 6, 7 or more degrees less loft than on his 3-wood (hence, the sidespin affect is magnified), well, the ball just does a big old banana into the right junk.
This golfer just needs to make some minor changes. He needs to forget those divot-taking swings where he "traps" the ball and needs, instead, to think "sweep the ball"... try to hit the ball just as the driver reaches the very bottom of it's arc - try to hit the ball without the tee coming out of the ground. Teeing the ball too low leads to swinging a little outside in (especially with today's 460cc clubheads), while teeing the ball so that at least half of the ball is above the top of the clubhead at address, will lead to a better swing path through the ball. Additionally, since the driver is the longest club and you are making your biggest swing, it only makes sense that you want the widest stance you are comfortable with (without impeding your hip turn too much or causing you to sway or making just an "arm" swing). Ideally, your left shoulder, club and ball should almost form a straight line PERPENDICULAR to the ground. This means the ball must be fairly far forward in your stance... you should feel as though "all of you" is to the right of the ball (except, perhaps, the left foot and the outside edge of your left shoulder)... your right foot is pulled back slightly which will help with the bigger turn needed for the driver (assuming you are trying to draw the ball). You will have slightly more weight on your right foot than your left and your right side is lower than your left - more relaxed - and all of the critical "body parts" (eyes, shoulders, hips, knees) are parallell and aimed along, or slightly to the right of, your target line.
If you can now make the nice controlled swing you know you are capable of, instead of trying to 'muscle' the ball, chances are you can produce that sweet-feeling, solidly struck drive that rises into a nice, high arc, seems to hang in the air forever, curves slightly to the left and comes back to earth just how you envisioned it in your mind's eye. Given the size of today's drivers and their built-in forgiveness-factor, the driver really should be the easiest of all the clubs in your bag to hit. As I said earlier, it will be the easiest club to point out swing faults with and should therefore help in fixing any inherent swing anomalies (see the section on ball flight characteristics). When you start to hit it consistently and love it instead of fear it, the driver will quite possibly become your best friend in the bag (don't tell the putter that, though), and before you know it, you will be capable of hitting whatever is called for - a high cut, a low draw, a 3/4 stinger to cheat the wind etc... if you never get that far though, don't worry about it - some of the best players have mastered just one type of drive (power-draw or power-fade) and that IS ALL THEY WILL PLAY - NO MATTER THE HOLE OR THE LAYOUT... YOU CAN DO IT TOO!
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Driving
