Amateurs treat driver as the default and 3-wood as the backup plan. Better players treat it the other way around more often than you'd think.

On any hole where accuracy matters more than ten extra yards — a narrow chute, a dogleg you can't carry anyway, a green you'd rather approach with a mid-iron than a wedge from the rough — 3-wood or even a hybrid off the tee is very often the smarter play, not the safe one.

Smarter and safer aren't always the same word in golf, but here, they usually are.