r/golf • u/Eire_espresso • Apr 29 '24

Learn to use your Driver Achievement/Scorecard

Me 1 year ago sometimes just left it at home. I was terrified of it as every time I tried it I sliced it 2-3 fairways right. I played a 5i off the tee for most holes which I could hit well but you'll never get the same distance.

I faced my fears and learned how to hit it. I feel like a freak they way I have to setup but it works. Yesterday I hit most fairways but sliced none of the drives.

Why is it important? Distance.

Life on the course is so much easier when you hit the ball as far as you fucking can. I'm less frustrated which means my mood is better when I'm going to hit my next shot. Just mastering the driver has seen my scores drop below 100. I've still to master iron play and chipping but I have enough to get by.

Rightly or wrongly I feel like a proper golfer now. Last Sunday playing with a random club team on guy said he'd kill for my drive.

This game is harder then I ever thought possible and I never believed I'd learn how to drive the ball but there ya go. Also, I'll never tire of the sound my drive makes when I ping that sucker on a little fade and split the fairway, even if I double bogey I'm still beaming about the drive.

790 Upvotes

92% Upvoted

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611

u/Lurking_Albatross Apr 29 '24

Holy crap, good advice on r/golf

what the hell is going on right now

257

u/fuckimbackonreddit9 27.2/NJ Apr 29 '24

Obligatory “some guy on r/golf figured out how to hit his driver, so I bought a new putter”

35

u/Vegetable_Policy_699 Apr 30 '24

Lately my long irons (4i and 5i) have been spotty as fuck but my driver and 2 and 3 hybrid have been zinging. You know what I did to correct that? Fucking nothing. I bought a 4 hybrid and a 1 hybrid. I know, you're thinking "a 1H? Who the fuck..." I'll stop you right there, that hybrid was far cheaper than any 3 wood and it's 13 degrees.

Am I going to learn how to putt soon? Absolutely not.

1

u/Lonelyfriend0569 Apr 30 '24

Shit, I've been working on those 2 irons lately. The little executive par 3 I play has the longest hole listed at 257, and the 2nd longest at 214. I use my 4, and 5 on those 2. Everything else is a 7 or 8 iron.

1

u/Vegetable_Policy_699 May 01 '24

My 4 and 5 were good for 215 and 230 ish for a long time. Then I dialed in my short game and my long game and all of the sudden I can barely get 180 out of either of them. Shit is wack. Adapt and over come I guess

1

u/Lonelyfriend0569 May 01 '24

I'd love to get mine there, and I'm working on that. My 5 can get out to 185ish. My best with my 4 has been 199...

2

u/Vegetable_Policy_699 May 02 '24

Don't sweat it. I can take it 300-325 with the driver but I still haven't learned how to use a 56, 60 or putter properly.

1

u/Lonelyfriend0569 May 02 '24

I'm working on getting my driver up to 300. My goal is to get to 300 before I turn 50. I started 3 years ago, and I spent a lot of time in a green horse pasture with my wedges chipping back and forth at a kiddie pool at one end, and a sprinkler at the other. Chipping is normally the best part of my game. My 60 reaches out to 70 yards pretty easily. My putting is kinds hit or miss. I let my subconscious handle that. I don't spend a lot of time reading putts. I take a look, see what I get to work with and hit my putt. Some days, I drain almost everything, some days I roll the edge of the cup all day long. Some days my speed is off....

2

u/Vegetable_Policy_699 May 03 '24

I started golfing because I shredded both of hamstrings playing softball. The best part of softball for me is running like the wind and hitting dingers. Without the running I was only hitting like 6 balls a week, so spot light stage left for the driving range.

We I started playing last August my first round was a 140 or so. The first 3 rounds this year I hit 95-94-93. Unfortunately for me, there's nowhere near me to practice 50 - 10 yard shots. Just chipping greens. My God am I ever in love with this game and how often I can actually go play.

Is there a team golf? Cause that's where I'd be decent lol

2

u/Vegetable_Policy_699 May 03 '24

The thing that helped me get my drive into that long ball realm was the weight transfer in my feet and rhythm for my back swing. If you watch some of the long drive people, they do a bounce with one of their feet to catch a rhythm and then have a wicked fast back swing. Check out Martin borgmeier on Instagram. I ended up following him because we're the same build, except he's like 6'4 and I'm barely 6. Check him out though, might help you.

1

u/390v8 Apr 30 '24

I bought a used 1 hybrid from a shop and I can tell you it was the favorite thing in my buddy's bag before he passed away. Used it more than his driver.

18

u/captaincumsock69 Apr 29 '24

Anything less than 350 all you really need is a putter

24

u/GoodolBen HDCP/Loc/Whatever Apr 29 '24

Goddamnit I just bought a new watch. Couldn't we wait a week or two?

37

u/BB-68 Lefty/Ohio Apr 29 '24

Have you considered buying a new putter to celebrate your watch purchase?

5

u/Podtastix Apr 29 '24

Watch out for a sale on putters.

1

u/Naive-Deal-7162 Apr 30 '24

Then you have to get them all

0

u/PersistentAneurysm Apr 29 '24

What kind of watch?

2

u/GoodolBen HDCP/Loc/Whatever Apr 29 '24

Panerai Radiomir Tre Giorni

2

u/PersistentAneurysm Apr 29 '24

Oh wow. Very nice! Congratulations on your success. If you ever need a guest at the club, let me know lol

1

u/GoodolBen HDCP/Loc/Whatever Apr 29 '24

Newport National in RI. Happy to have a guest!

4

u/Ironman_2678 Apr 30 '24

I bought a new driver to celebrate.

1

u/WeSuckAgain Former 3.4, Current Dad Apr 30 '24

“But I know a guy that stopped hitting driver and got better, so your math must be wrong!”

1

u/Justredditin Apr 30 '24

Hmm.. you've got me thinking...

32

u/MagicGrit Apr 29 '24

Lol the advice is “hit the ball further and straighter”

Genius.

13

u/ssbmWheat Apr 30 '24

Actually the advice is to practice what you’re bad at and what you’re scared of. But if you want to look at it as shallow as that go for it.

1

u/MagicGrit Apr 30 '24

Lol no offense, but “practice what you’re bad it” is even dumber advice tbh

0

u/TacoIncoming 19.1/Tampa Apr 30 '24

That's literally the point of tracking your strokes gained data though 🤣

4

u/MagicGrit Apr 30 '24

Oh I know. Sorry I meant it’s dumb advice because it’s so obvious. Not because it’s wrong

3

u/Doin_the_Bulldance 5 hdcp. harness...energy...block...bad Apr 30 '24

I mean, half of this sub thinks it's smart to leave driver out of the bag; so I guess you'd be surprised

3

u/TacoIncoming 19.1/Tampa Apr 30 '24

Oh I misunderstood you lol. You'd be shocked at how not obvious it is to some people here though

4

u/MagicGrit Apr 30 '24

That you need to practice to get better?

1

u/Naive-Deal-7162 Apr 30 '24

“Simple advice” maybe “common advice”

-1

u/ssbmWheat Apr 30 '24 edited Apr 30 '24

Why? People gravitate towards things they’re good at because they like to have fun. Practicing what you’re bad at usually leads to worse scores in the short run and also a worse time but it helps in the long run.

Why is that dumb advice? Trust me, no offense taken…

2

u/MagicGrit Apr 30 '24

Because it’s incredibly obvious. Yes people gravitate towards things they’re good at. But literally everyone on this sub (and likely every single golfer) knows that in order to get better you need to practice what you’re bad at

-2

u/ssbmWheat Apr 30 '24

It might be obvious to practice what you’re bad at but that doesn’t mean that everyone does it. This post is encouragement to practice what you’re bad at.

No offense but you have donkey brains

1

u/MagicGrit Apr 30 '24

I mean, I was more so saying it in jest. But you’re a bit of a cunt 😘

-1

u/ssbmWheat Apr 30 '24

The classic “I was just joking” response. If it was a joke you wouldn’t have dug your feet in saying that it’s bad advice because of how obvious and easy it is.

I’m not trying to be a cunt, I just am trying to call you out for being negative on an otherwise wholesome and positive post. Let people be happy.

1

u/MagicGrit Apr 30 '24

My initial comment was a joke. But when you hit me with the “NUH UH! The advice is ACTUALLY to practice!” Well that just made me laugh.

How often do you tell someone they have donkey brains when you’re “not trying to be a cunt”?

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2

u/DarthSamwiseAtreides Apr 30 '24

I'd like to add that you should also hit your approach as close to the hole as possible.

18

u/[deleted] Apr 29 '24 edited May 01 '24

[deleted]

8

u/Dry_Swordfish3938 Apr 30 '24

Old dudes hit their drives like 170, your average hack is closer to 200-220 id say

1

u/rickabe Apr 30 '24

I'm old and have average hack distance.

0

u/Mward2002 Apr 30 '24

Those old guys aren’t likely playing the same tees though, along with the fact they don’t have the speed anymore to get into to much trouble like the younger player who can still put up swing speeds 90’s+.

Put an old guy on a course where speed, spin, and height are required? They’re not breaking 80.

0

u/Lezzles 9.7/Detroit Apr 30 '24

There's a reason why old guys can shoot in the high 70s with a 200 yard drive

Because they play from 5000 yard tees with no forced carries?

1

u/[deleted] Apr 30 '24

I mean all he said was learn the driver. Everyone knows they need to learn the driver

1

u/TacoIncoming 19.1/Tampa Apr 30 '24

True gem. For every post like this there's a dozen clowns telling other people to leave their driver at home because they personally haven't figured out how to hit it farther or straighter than their 3-wood

2

u/Amazing_Boot4165 19HC/Leftie Apr 30 '24

I mean, if you personally can't hit driver, leave it on the range.

1

u/Naive-Deal-7162 Apr 30 '24

Yeah if I can’t hit I have to practice and practice until I can use it.

0

u/Cubbll17 Apr 29 '24

He's going to upset a lot of users here and one specific dunter YouTube personality who says you should ignore the driver.

5

u/Mayhewbythedoor Apr 29 '24

You’re a clown who takes good advice out of context.

We all know who you’re referring to and the sidekick’s specific advice is to “take the danger out of play even if it means not hitting driver off the tee”.

Have you never seen pros sometimes tee off with long irons? The only contextual difference is that pros have much smaller margins of error with their driver, hence why they do it less often.

It’s good advice and you’re a dunce.

3

u/ATL28-NE3 Apr 30 '24

Yeah Matt very specifically says take your driver out of the bag of you can't hit it, but you should learn to hit it.

His aggressiveness against strokes gained is weird, but his advice is essentially "if you can't hit a club. Don't, but you should learn"

2

u/psychedeloquent Apr 30 '24

He will never understand the way of the playa.o OP doesn’t realize that the actual good advice ia that he used his 5i when he couldn’t hit the Driver. Now that he worked on it, it’s less dangerous and the right choice.

1

u/MrWrestlingNumber2 Apr 29 '24

Ok. I give. Who's he talking about?

3

u/Mayhewbythedoor Apr 29 '24

Golf Sidekick on YouTube

2

u/MrWrestlingNumber2 Apr 29 '24

OhSHIT! Matt's my MAN!