tee box troubles

I am a "strive for 5" guy.  What I mean is if I had a round of bogey's, I would leave the course content that I played the game I am capable of playing.  Over the last 2 weeks, I have just had the most see saw experience in golf.

Last week, I played my favorite local course, a par 36 9 hole twice in the same day.  The first 9 I shot an average 47, then after that came back and shot a 4 over 40 coming in even par for the last 4 holes.  In between that round and the round I had today, I shot an 87 (41/46) on a par 70, so I went 6 over, then 11 over.  The holes that I shot worse than double bogey, it is ALMOST always a result of a lost ball off the tee box.

Today, every hole that I put the drive in play, I par the hole.  On the 5th hole, getting tired of waiting for the 3 "tour 120's" (guys that think they are on the tour, play the back tee's, take 5 practice swings, line up every put like they are Phil to win the british but on the score card have never broken 120)  I tee'd off and hit a full sleeve off the tee.  Each shot was a great drive, and I played all 3 into the green, and EACH ball I shot par.

Here is the worst part.  It isn't the driver that causes the problems.  Today on the 4th hole, a 185 yard par 3, I hit 5 iron.  I hit that club perfect 2 times off the fairway, off the tee, I hit it off the toe and leave it 20 yards short.  On the 8th (a 195 yard par 3) I hit a 4 iron, I hit 4" behind the ball and the worm burner skirts the grass to about 40 yards from the pin.  The previous hole I hit a beautiful 4 iron with a playable fade that carried 190 yards and landed soft just off the back of the green staying on the table top.

Does anybody else have that problem?  Something about the tee box just gets between my ears?  Take a fairway wood off the fairway, no problem.  Put a tee under the ball and my swing falls apart.  Now, I can go to the driving range, and hit driver ~ straight 9/10 times.  Last week, I played a charity scramble with a guy who was pretty consistent off the tee, and I was CRUSHING the driver.  However, the same club when it counts and I'm like a blind man playing darts after being spun around in circles.

Lot of people have that problem. I'm fortunately not one of them. I always suck.

in reference to the Jekyl and Hyde thread from a few days ago, It is just frustrating.  I played at the beginning of the summer, and for the last 5 holes, I was striping the driver.  The guy I played with was a mid single handicap (6.x) if memory serves, and I was keeping up with him.  When he asked why I wasn't playing the 4th back tee box and instead playing the one in front of it (they did like red, silver, white, blue) I explained that I was only an 18 handicap, and he told me well, you know how to get around a golf course, you should expect to see that fall pretty quickly this summer.  yeah that hasn't exactly happened.

Stop swinging your irons like your driver?

Are you putting the ball up in your stance like your driver? It could be little things. But i am guess its just that your swing is inconsistent. Try this, on the range, tee up ever iron shot, and take divots. Get use to hitting them the same.

Because driving range isn't the golf course. You can get into a good temp. Hit ball tee up ball hit ball tee up ball hit ball. On the course its tee up ball hit ball, WALK, hit ball off ground, putt.. So the whole tempo is different. Its a different thing all together.

Inconsistency in golf is tough to avoid at any level. Even the tour pros have off days. It's the ability to make those occurrences as infrequent as possible that separates all golfers. If I eliminated one WTF hole a round I'd be a single digit handicap. I don't know how to avoid it because it's always random and often not because I am in trouble. I've hit perfect drives and been faced with an ordinary 7i approach that I'd hit close most of the time only to shank it behind a tree. A punch out, chip on and 2 putts and what should have been a par is a double. Do it twice on a day you played better than usual other than those two holes and walk away thinking you blew it.

Sorry,

I think you misunderstood.  The problem is the tee box.  I know the problem is ENTIRELY mental.   I am fairly certain that on the tee box, I tend to try and over swing.  Especially with the driver, I tell myself 235 down the middle is better than 265 in the trees.  Then I get up to the ball, and my back swing becomes to long and my swing becomes disconnected, my tempo gets off, or I try to help the ball with my arms instead of letting my lower body start the process.

it isn't the wooden tee that is messing me up.  I have tried playing 4w (don't carry a 3) off the tee, hybrid off the tee, etc.  It's the tee box.   2 weeks ago, I played at a course that was short, the type of course where you leave the driver in the bag the entire round.  The Hybrid, which is always a stable go to club, nothing but trouble off the tee, lay up on par 5? no trouble, punch out? gladly.  Tee off and hit it 200 down the middle, can't do it.

I swing to hard on the tee box.  I just don't know how NOT to.

Do you have a routine that includes a meaningful practice swing? Most of the people I see that struggle from the tee do something different every time they step up there.

I have a routine where I tee the ball up, stand behind it picture my shot, take a practice swing and then hit and go.  I used to do something where I would do a continuous L to L drill for like 3-4 swings thinking just tempo and start with the lower body.  That used to work, but I don't know why I don't do it more often.  I will give that a shot on my next round.

The only thing consistent in my golf game is the inconsistency.

Put a wedge in my hand and I can hit a clean smooth stroke. Hand me a hybrid, driver or any 150 club and I feel I have to hit it as hard as I can when I know that's not the way to do things. Off the tee I come over the top and I swing faster than Nick Price in the day. any true help out there?

I agree it's mental, we place more pressure on ourselves to hit a good shot off the tee than the rest of the course.  We also tend to have too many swing thoughts flowing through our head when we address the ball in the tee box

I do a waggle with my driver and I swear it really does help.

as the original poster who still struggles on occasion off the tee, I can say that here is what works for me.

1. I do the feet together drill as my practice swing.  In my pratice swing I try to implant smooth tempo, short backswing and keeping my head perfectly still.  (I realize that none of these things are probably happening, but its the muscle thought that I am going for)

2. A waggle is important, it helps me to make sure I maintain a loose grip on the club

3. slow down my back swing.

I still take a huge back swing with my driver, but when I maintain the tempo that I have ingrained in my preswing I do better.