Thirteen golf clubs, one swing

Many advisors say you would be better off leaving your driver at home and teeing off with a 3-wood. I am completely opposed to that idea. The driver is one of the most valuable clubs in your bag. Instead of avoiding it, learn how to use it.

The reason the driver is so hard to hit is not because it is so much longer than the other clubs, or has less loft, but because of the way you approach it. The driver hits the ball father than any other club, and you see the touring pros absolutely bombing it, so you think you have to do the same, that it's a distance club.

That makes you swing it differently from your other clubs, asking your swing to do different things, and the driver to different things, than they were designed to do.

You don't think that way with your 9-iron, do you? With that club, you're trying to hit an accurate shot to a target. No one tries to bomb their 9-iron. So why not do the same with your driver? Hit an accurate shot to a target. A very long time ago, the driver was called a "play club," meant only to get the ball in play at a distance, with "in play" being the part that mattered.

The way to hit your driver well is to hit it the way you hit all your other clubs. Here's a drill that will show how that feels.

Take two clubs to the range, you driver and your 9-iron. Warm up with your 9-iron and get to the point where each shot is a good one. Then, lay down that club, pick up your driver, and swing it with the same swing you've been using with the 9. That swing might feel a bit small, so open it up a bit, but stick to that 9-iron feeling. Hit three balls (no more!), and go back to the 9 and hit it with the driver swing you were just using. Now you will have a bit of driver feeling in your 9-iron. Hit a few balls with that swing, then go back to your driver and hit three balls with your new 9-iron swing.

What you're doing is bringing aspects of one club into the swing of the other. You're making your driver a little more like a short iron, and your short iron a little more like a driver. As you keep swapping clubs, the swing feeling with each one gets closer and closer to the feeling you have with the other. At the point where both swings feel the same, you've done it.

At that point, you should be hitting smooth, straight drives, and 9-irons that have real authority. This is the place where you want to be with your swing, where you have one swing for thirteen clubs.

In your daily life, you don't run into a problem area and avoid it. You would figure out how to solve the problem and make that area a new strength. Do the same in your golf. Learn how to hit the driver and leave you 3-wood at home. That would make room for another wedge!


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