So my question for you this week is – “How often are you hitting your 3 wood each round of golf?”

Nearly every Golfer that we see on the golf course is in the habit of using their 3 wood too often during a round of golf. In fact we believe that most Golfers could improve anywhere between 3 to 7 strokes by leaving their 3 wood at home! Now there are some Golfers that hit their 3 wood well … however, there are millions upon millions of Golfers that don’t.

Let me paint you a picture – I’ve written one paragraph for the ladies and one for the men …

The female version – it’s a Saturday morning and Nancy is playing with her regular group. The 1st hole is a fairly long Par 4 of 350 yards … and she hit’s a mediocre drive, that doesn’t go as far as she would have liked, but it’s in play. So after her drive; Nancy still has 200 yards to the green. So without thinking twice, Nancy reaches into her golf bag and pulls out her 3 wood as she thinks to herself – “I didn’t hit that ball far enough; I need to make it up for that lost distance! I’ve got a long way to go to the green, the longest club I have in my bag is my 3 wood … so that’s what I’m going to hit!”

The male version – Earl is on the first tee, it’s a Saturday morning and he’s playing with his regular group. On the 1st hole he hit’s a mediocre drive that doesn’t go as far as he would have liked, but it stay’s in play. The 1st hole is a fairly long Par 4 of 420 yards, so after his drive, Earl still has over 240 yards to the green. So without thinking twice, Earl reaches into his bag and pulls out his 3 wood as he thinks to himself – “Those other guys hit their Driver much better than I do; I need to make up for my lack of distance off the tee. I need to get up by the green in two, so I’ll hit my 3 wood!”

Whoever said – “Men are from Mars and Women are from Venus” – wasn’t a Golfer! On the golf course – regardless of gender, we all want to hit the golf ball up by the green on our second shots. Unfortunately Nancy and Earl both flubbed their 3 wood about 25 yards on the first try and then hit into the trees on their second try … and each ended up taking the maximum for the hole.

The good news is that if that sounds like your current golf game – then you need to come to GMS.

Unfortunately most Monkeys use the 3 wood strategy far too often on the golf course. That type of thinking leads to silly decisions – which leads to trying to hit your 3 wood every time you’re “a long way out” – which leads to blow-up holes – which leads to frustration – which leads to bad golf swings the rest of the round.

Would you agree that it’s easier to keep a 7 iron in play as opposed to a 3 wood? Would you agree that it’s easier to make solid contact with a 6 iron as opposed to a 3 wood? Would you agree that you are more consistent with your hybrid than your 3 wood?

If you agree with any of those statements … why would you even think about hitting your 3 wood off the fairway when you’re still too far away from the green to reach it? If you can’t hit your 3 wood to the green – it doesn’t matter how well you hit the shot, it’s still going to take you 2 shots to get on the green. And for many Golfers, their 3 wood is a 50/50 gamble. Now a 50% chance in Las Vegas might be good odds – but 50% on the golf course is a losing hand!

Listen, I’m not telling you that you need to hit your 6 iron all the time when you’re a long way from the green. The point I want to make is that you shouldn’t be automatically reaching for your 3 wood. Do you have a 7 wood? If not, maybe you should consider it! Your 7 wood will give you almost the same distance as your 3 wood, but with much more control.

When you’re playing golf – you should always be focused on hitting your shot in the best position to make your next shot easier. Though many Golfers continually hit their 3 wood into difficult spots on the golf course. For example: for the men – if you’re 240 yards away from the green – that’s only two shots of 120 yards. Or one shot of 150 and one shot of 90. For the ladies – if you’re 200 yards away from the green – that’s only two shots of 100 yards. Or one shot of 130 and one shot of 70.

And with using an easier club than a 3 wood – you have a better chance of hitting your ball into a position to give yourself a good angle to the green. With the 3 wood, you can’t play for good angles because you don’t have as much control. So you end up hitting into trouble (water, trees, sand, high rough) or hitting your next shot from awkward lies, having to hit your next shot over the greenside bunker with the risk of not hitting far enough and ending in the sand, or being scared of ending in the sand and hitting the next shot well over the green

Blow-up holes happen because of the bad positions you put yourself in and these bad positions cause you to make bad golf swings. And there isn’t a club in the golf bag that causes more Blow-up Holes than hitting your 3 wood off the ground!

Look at it this way – the percentage of times you’ll be on the green in two shots from a long distance when playing smart will be much better than the percentage of times you’ll be on in 2 shots when hitting your 3 wood for the first shot. How can that be? Because the number of times you’ll hit your 3 wood into the trees, water, sand bunker and all the assorted bad spots you could end up in will help you to accumulate strokes faster than you can say Monkey.

Try it – go an entire round without using your 3 wood from the fairway or rough. Make a PLAN based on not using your 3 wood – then write me and tell me how you did going cold turkey.

If you ever find yourself in a situation like Nancy or Earl, your goal should be to keep your golf ball out of trouble and find the best angles to attack the green with your next shot … it should NOT be to hit the golf ball as far as you can!

Use your PLAN more than your ego!

The Monkey often uses their 3 wood because they think they need to go a far distance on their next shot

The Player isn’t worried about hitting the golf ball far; the Player is focused on playing to their Strengths

Go ahead, come to GMS and learn to become a Player

Regards,

Marc Solomon