When the driver is misbehaving, golfers often turn to the three wood in attempt to gain more control over accuracy and find more fairways. But does the data prove that this strategy is correct and does the trade off in distance make it worthwhile? That's what Dan Parker attempts to unpack in this video, with the help of shot data from real golfers provided by Arccos Golf.
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00:00Now for many golfers, when the driver is misbehaving or you need to hit a tight fairway, opting for the 3-wood
00:05seems like the most sensible option. A little bit more loft and that smaller head should give you more control to hit that fairway.
00:12That's the theory anyway, but does it play out in reality? Well, I've got the data that might prove it all wrong.
00:23So all of the data I'm going to be referencing in this video comes from Arcos Golf and their vast bank of real shots
00:29from real golfers on real golf courses. So far, they've logged over 750 million shots.
00:36So this is some really interesting data that we can dive into to look at whether that driver is more accurate or less accurate
00:43than the 3-wood. Now, if you've been using Arcos Golf over the last couple of years,
00:48then your driver shots and your 3-wood shots will be included in the data
00:52we're using today. And if you want to use Arcos Golf for yourself,
00:55I've put some handy links down in the description
00:57where you can find the best price in your location for a set of smart sensors.
01:01So let's start with the headline news from this data then and asking ourselves the question,
01:05are you more likely to hit the fairway with a 3-wood than with a driver?
01:10Now, in short, the answer is yes, but the results are nowhere near as resounding as you might think.
01:17So in fact, from handicaps ranging from 0 all the way up to 20,
01:21you are less than 1% more likely to hit the fairway with your 3-wood than with your driver.
01:27Less than 1%. Now, I think that's quite shocking.
01:29If I'd asked you that question before we had a look at this data,
01:32I think you might have said something like 15, 20, 25%.
01:35I don't know, but I think it'd be a lot more than 1.
01:38Now, when we're thinking about this as well, so you could be 1% more accurate,
01:41but according to the data, your average loss of distance with 3-wood to driver is 12 yards.
01:47Now, that doesn't really seem like a worthy trade-off to me.
01:50So let's delve down a little bit deeper into this data and go handicap by handicap
01:54to see how they perform with driver and 3-wood.
02:01So let's start this deeper dive by looking at scratch golfers to 5-index handicappers.
02:05Now, we're going to take a look at the percentage of fairways hit with each club,
02:08with driver and 3-wood, how far each club averages for distance,
02:12give us an idea of what that trade-off is,
02:15as well as looking at a really interesting stat that our class have given us,
02:18looking at the percentage of shots that finish under 30 yards from the centre of the fairway.
02:24So this is like, you know, not a fairway hit, but we're less than 30 yards from the centre.
02:28So it might be first cut, it might be rough depending on how wide the hole is.
02:31But I think it's a really interesting stat to bear in mind, a bit more nuanced to it.
02:35So starting with a scratch golfer then,
02:37they find the fairway just 2.4% more of the time with the 3-wood than they do with the driver.
02:44And they average 15 yards less with the higher lofted 3-wood, as you might expect.
02:49There is quite a big percentage change with scratch golfers
02:52when we're looking at that category of less than 30 yards from the centre of the fairway.
02:56Indeed, scratch golfers are missing that.
02:58So that 30-yard distance, just less than 4% of the time with the 3-wood.
03:02So there's a little bit of a gain there.
03:03Again, it's only marginal at 4%.
03:06And that 15 yards of distance you're giving up, I don't think quite warrants it.
03:10It's an interesting thing to think anyway.
03:12If we look at a 5 handicapper, that dispersion is even smaller.
03:16A 5 handicapper will hit the fairway 1.3% more of the time with their 3-wood.
03:21And this rises to 3.3% of the time for those shots
03:24under 30 yards from the centre of the fairway.
03:26So again, really not a big difference here.
03:28And much like that scratch golfer,
03:30a 5 indexer is sacrificing 14 yards when hitting their 3-wood instead of their driver.
03:39So let's move on to 10 to 15 index handicap golfers now.
03:43And while it might be expected that the performance and the
03:46percentage of fairways hit with 3-woods might go up a little bit
03:49with these higher index golfers, the opposite is actually true.
03:52So if we look at a 10 index golfer, they are only 0.7%
03:56more likely to hit the fairway with their 3-wood.
03:59Which is, you know, that's barely anything.
04:02Even more amazingly, I think here,
04:04a 15 handicapper is more likely to miss the fairway
04:08with their 3-wood than with their driver.
04:11So we're now flipping it on its head entirely here.
04:13Now, admittedly, that's only by 0.3%.
04:16So it's not a lot, but it's still interesting to note,
04:18I think, that the idea that the 3-wood is a safety club is not the case,
04:23especially for 15 handicap golfers.
04:25Now, as was the case with our scratch and 5 index handicapper,
04:28we're losing a fair chunk of yardage as well.
04:30So for that 10 handicapper, the loss of distance averages at 13 yards.
04:34And for the 15 handicapper, we're losing 11 yards.
04:37So I'm going to stop with the 15 indexer there and just say,
04:41to hit the fairway less often, you're also sacrificing 11 yards.
04:45So that myth, I guess, we're proving now that 3-wood is a safe club,
04:48for 15 handicappers in particular, definitely isn't true.
04:55So finally, then, let's look at the 20 index golfer.
04:58Perhaps a more common index, perhaps watching at home now,
05:00you're a 20 indexer.
05:01Let's see how you're getting on with this 3-wood versus driver.
05:04And again, the differences are minuscule.
05:07For a 20 index golfer, they're going to hit the fairway 0.8% of the time
05:12more with that 3-wood.
05:13So this is really not a lot.
05:16Interesting that the difference in distance is a little bit less.
05:19So you're only sacrificing 10 yards as a 20 handicapper,
05:22whereas we were at about 15 yards of the scratch golfer.
05:25So you can see the difference in the quality of striking, I guess, there.
05:28But again, for 0.8% more fairways, that sacrifice of 10 yards,
05:32I think, especially for a 20 handicapper, is quite a lot.
05:35So what happens when we put all of this together, then?
05:37Let's bring all the handicaps back together again
05:39and give ourselves an average of all golfers out there from this ARCOS set of data.
05:44Well, as you can see, if we put everybody together,
05:47you're more likely to hit the fairway with a 3-wood 0.9% of the time.
05:52So less than 1% with your driver.
05:55And that average distance drop-off with all handicaps was around 12 or 13 yards.
06:00Now, that is probably a different iron in the bag approach-wise, isn't it?
06:04A 7 over an 8 iron, which you'll have more control over.
06:06So we're thinking about, is that distance trade-off worth it?
06:11Not a lot more accuracy.
06:13If we contextualise this and say that there are 14 chances per round to hit a fairway,
06:18that's assuming that most golf courses have four par threes,
06:22that equates to finding one extra fairway every eight rounds.
06:27And that's that 12 yards you're giving up on every shot.
06:32While we're here, then, let's take a look at my data for this,
06:34because I've been using Arcos now for a couple of years.
06:37I've got 3,500 shots logged on here now.
06:39So I thought I'd be interested to compare my data
06:41with that of the larger group that we're doing here.
06:44And I fall very much into type about what we've been talking about here.
06:47So with my driver, I hit the fairway a whopping,
06:50an eye-watering 40% of the time.
06:52Not great, I know, I work on it.
06:54But I averaged 256 yards off the tee.
06:57So there's my accuracy, my distance.
06:59Now, with my 3-wood, I averaged 241 yards.
07:02So there's that drop-off of 15 yards we were seeing
07:05for some of the lower-index golfers,
07:07but I only hit the fairway 34% of the time.
07:10So the quote-unquote safer club
07:12when I want to try and find a fairway isn't my 3-wood,
07:15because not only am I missing it more than my driver,
07:17but I'm 15 yards worse off.
07:20Now, it's really something interesting to think about here.
07:22I was really interested to see mine versus the group data on here.
07:26And it would actually make a lot more sense for me,
07:28if I was thinking about doing the safer option,
07:30is to pull the hybrid out my bag.
07:31Now, I averaged 312 yards with this club,
07:34so it's obviously losing a lot,
07:36but I hit the fairway 45% of the time.
07:39Still not a lot, really, is it?
07:42I need to work on my fairways and regulation.
07:44But if I'm on a tee and I'm like,
07:46Dan, I need to hit a fairway here,
07:49the 3-wood isn't the club, as though I might have thought before.
07:52It would be the hybrid or even a 5-iron
07:54if a fairway is that important.
07:56The drop-off in distance is huge,
07:58but that real safe club is much lower down the bag than the 3-wood.
08:03So, some final thoughts then on what I think
08:05has been a really interesting dive into this part of the bag.
08:08And I think we can really walk away from this video
08:10with some interesting course management skills
08:13next time you're on the course.
08:14Now, there's no denying that across the board,
08:16the 3-wood technically is more accurate
08:19and you are going to find more fairways,
08:21but the results are so marginal, as we saw.
08:24And if you're a 15-index golfer and me,
08:27you're missing more often with your 3-wood than the driver,
08:30and you're sacrificing all that yardage.
08:31Now, there's a few reasons why this might be the case.
08:35There's a bit of a bias toward getting fitted for your driver,
08:37so maybe you feel more comfortable over it than your fairway would,
08:40and that bigger head might inspire a bit more confidence.
08:43But regardless of the reason as to why the driver
08:45isn't as wayward as the 3-wood as we thought,
08:48I think it's worth just sitting back and thinking,
08:52my fairway finder, my safe club,
08:54let's drop that a little bit further down the bag next time,
08:56whether it's a 5-wood, 7-wood, I'd move down to my 4-hybrid now,
09:00that's the next thing I'm going to do when I need to find a fairway,
09:03drop down to that 4-hybrid, even a 5-iron, a 7-iron, I don't care,
09:06whatever you need to find the fairway,
09:08but I think we've busted the myth that 3-wood is safer than driver, that's for sure.
09:14Well, I hope you've enjoyed this video and this deep dive
09:16into the specific part of the game.
09:18As I said at the top, we've got access to Arcos's vast bank of data,
09:22750 million shots from real golfers on real golf courses.
09:26If there's anything you want to see me dive into like this for specific handicap indexes
09:31or for shots on specific parts of the golf course,
09:34let me know down in the comments.
09:35I'd love to hear from you and put a video together looking at that.
09:38But for now, thank you so much for joining me.
09:40I'll see you next time.