How high should I tee the ball?
Choosing the right tee
On many occasions, I have seen people using the wrong tee especially when using their driver. Using the wrong tee can cause you to hit the wrong part of the club face therefore giving a mixed range of shots.
When hitting a driver, the main aim is to strike the ball as the club moves on an upwards arc. An extremely common fault people have when using a driver is that they hit down on the ball like they should when hitting an iron or a wedge. If the tee is too high to start with and they strike down on the ball the club makes more contact with the tee causing the golf ball to strike the top edge of the club and send the ball straight up in the air.
When this occurs, the tendency is to want to lower the tee. By doing this you are basically giving yourself permission to hit down on the ball. By lowering the tee you may limit how bad the high shot may be but you are still restricting yourself from getting the best results your capable of. Striking the ball with a descending blow when using a driver can also cause the ball to spin more during its flight and become more uncontrollable.
If you watch the professional’s hitting a driver, they use a very high tee. Once they have hit the ball often you will see the tee still in the ground that is what you should be trying to achieve. If you think back to being on the golf course, try and picture the amount of times your tee ends up halfway down the fairway or breaks half way down the tee.
For example, if you have a current up to date driver there will likely be a 460cc head on the club. The face on the club will be around 2 ¼ inches deep so the size of tee you should be using will be around 2 ¼ inches tall minimum. The aim is to hit the top of the tee where the ball is not half way down.
When I give lessons, or am playing with people on the golf course I see a lot of golfers doing practise swings before their shots. When they are preparing to hit a driver during their practise swing they are brushing the ground at impact. If you think about hitting the actual shot their driver should be nowhere near the ground so doing the right practise swings can be a great benefit to achieving the desired swing when hitting the ball.
The opposite is required for all other shots. If your ball is on the ground why make a practise swing and not contact the ground. Many golfers don’t even realise they are doing this until it is pointed out to them so have a think next time you are out playing or at the driving range.
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