The driver is the only full-swing club in your bag that you use 14 times a round (the ball retriever doesn't count). Thus, your driver sets up your entire round. Drive the ball well and it gives you an emotional boost—your round “feels” better than it is when you drive it great and score poorly. But drive it poorly and you feel like a rat, no matter what the score. So central is it to your game that you can tell when your A game is coming back because you begin to hit your driver solidly again.

One of the absolute keys to consistent driving, which is often overlooked, is a properly fitted club, and with modern fitting methods at your disposal, there’s almost no reason to buy a driver off the rack. Instead, make it a priority to take the trouble and time to do some investigation and experimentation before purchasing a new big dog. To begin, take the plunge and convince yourself that a premium-quality model is worth the investment and, if you can, try not to be overly concerned with price. Once that decision is made, pick out a few models that look good to you and also have the design characteristics that you desire (movable weights, preset shot bias, deep or shallow face, etc.). If you’re not sure what you want, or even if you are, find a shop near you that offers a wide selection of models and demo a few. Once you narrow down your choices, then get fitted on a launch monitor.