Your Driver is Failing You, So Put the Boom Stick Down

Of all the club in your golf bag, the Driver is without a doubt the sexiest.  The feeling of power that flows through you from a good, clean, straight drive is an endorphin rush that is as addictive as a riding a tube is for a surfer.  Yet, the driver is the most fickle club as well.  When you hit it wrong, a new level of challenge is added to the hole.  Despite this betrayal, we will continue to hit this club well into the back nine.  I played a round at Twisted Dune Golf Club and faced an emotional and strategic dilemma: stop hitting my driver and switch to my 4 hybrid or continue to try to solve my slice on the next tee box. 

My round of golf usually starts with a power fade on the first three holes and bleeds into a fade and then a slice if I don’t stop the bleeding.  On this day, it when full blow slice in three holes.  Each new tee box, I tried another lesson element I learned or saw on YouTube.   Here is my front nine Grint scorecard:

Ignoring the Par 3s, only 1 drive on the front nine found the fairway.  Everything else went right.

On the back 9, I swapped my driver for my 4 hybrid on the 11th tee.  Here is the difference in drive accuracy:

The 11th hole was incorrectly marked as a right shot.  It went left because I was expecting the fade to appear in my 4 hybrid but I shot it straight down the left side.  After that, I stayed straight off the tees.  On the 18th hole, I felt sassy so I pulled out my drive and popped it straight down the middle of the fairway.

If we look at the holes I used my driver, I hit 2 out of 8 fairways (25%).  When I switched to my hybrid plus the 18th drive, I hit 5 of 6 fairways (83%).  Paid the price in loss distance facing 180 to 200 yard second shots.  This did not bother me as I played to get within 20 to 50  yards from the green for a chip.  This leads to my bogey golf style of play.

It was not easy putting my driver away but it paid dividends by allowing me to keep balls in play.  Are you strong and brave enough to put your driver away?