When I look over some of my best scoring rounds, I realize that one thing they all have in common is I rarely used the driver. In fact, sometimes I didn’t use my driver at all and still shot one of my best rounds. This is because it is more important to keep the ball in play than to hit it far.

I’ll repeat that point just in case you didn’t get it the first time: IT IS MORE IMPORTANT TO KEEP THE BALL IN PLAY THAN TO HIT IT FAR.

Most players who shoot around 80 can hit the driver well and they can hit it far. Those same players may not fully realize that they can hit the three wood more accurately yet still far enough. The problem with us 80′s shooters is we always want to hit the driver farther. We are still learning how to be content with a good drive because we want to hit that great drive all the time. Those drives that get us in trouble are the ones that are keeping us from shooting even lower scores. We know that we just missed it this time and the next time we will nail it on the screws.

With a driver, a slight miss-hit may find you in the woods or in a fairway bunker or all wet in the drink. A slight miss-hit with a three wood may still find you in the fairway or in the rough. In either situation, you still have a shot which is usually more critical than the 30-50 yards that you may have lost from not using the driver. It may also be another 30-50 yards to the woods, the fairway bunker or to the drink.

The fact is that if you shoot near 80 consistently then you probably don’t need to hit the driver all that often. Take a little pressure off yourself and pull the three wood. Pull the driver when you’ve determined that the risk is slight compared to the reward. It’s more important to keep it in play than to hit it far if you want to break 80.

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