Does Tee Height really make a difference?

[GaijinGolfer]

When hitting driver, teeing it higher does help. To get the maximum distance, you need the ball to impact the clubface high and in the middle.
You typically want to tee your ball so that the "equator" of the ball is even with the top of the clubface. You may want to tee it even higher than that, depending upon how big your driver is and what works best for you.
Be careful of how far foreward you tee the ball. Teeing it too far foreward can result in a pull or a slice.

[Damien45]

PS- Is this a bad habit of me playing to my misses, or am I just doing the right thing for me here? Opinions, anyone?

I think playing to your misses is the way to go. Golf is a game of misses, so play your best....miss? lol

[SasQuatch<3]

Skymarks suck! Whatever you feel comfortable doing.. To high, you might hit under it, but to low it might his the bottom of the driver against the ball. The good thing about a 4 inch tee, you can still stick it on the ground to make it a 2 inch! haha

[CG031]

It makes a difference, as others have mentioned you want to get it somewhat right so you can hit it square on the face and on the right part of the face...

But, to an extent, it's a lot of personal preference. I know some people who tee it very low, and others who tee it extremely high. Both people hit the ball about the same distance. I would consider myself average.

[soloredd]

What a coincidence this question is. So, for the past year my good friend started using one of those brush-T tees. It's the yellow one, which is very high. He hits bombs with his driver and even uses his 3 wood with it. Me, I'm stubborn. I would use a regular ol' white tee and not get any kind of drive. I went to my 3 wood full time and kept giving him crap about him teeing it too high!

Well, about a month ago, I decided to try and get my driver going again (one of my '09 goals). I took a long tee out and tee'd the ball about 3/4 higher than the top of my driver. I played it off the middle of my left foot and just let my club lie in the middle of my stance. Pretty good gap between the club and ball. But I saw a youtube video of this setup (Shawn Clement) and said what the hell, I'll try it. Freaking smoked the drive! On my round today - on a course I've never played and required staying in the fairway, I hit 11/18 fairways. For me that is fantastic, especially with the driver. There are times when I pull one way left (from losing the spine angle and coming up) and I will fade one on accident as well (usually from me not fully extending through the shot). But damn, what a difference!

[itzzzberny]

i make it simple. i tee up to the ball so that the middle of the ball is at the top of the driver head. so if get too aggressive and hit make contact with the floor, 50% of the ball is still in the path of the ball. a straight pop up.
but when i swing i try to focus on not letting my head move left/right or further/closer to the ball. i haven't hit a fat drive shot or top in a long time now...
fix the swing and don't change set ups to fix a bad swing...

[JBK]

I've just purchased a 460cc driver after getting back into golf for the first time in a few years. What tee length do you recommend I use? 2 3/4? 3 1/4?

[M2daRizzle]

Taller? Yes. But as with most things in life you can go too far. If the ball's perched too high in the air you might just swing under it. I tee it up high enough to have a comfortable gap between the driver and the ground at impact, and no more.

I do this exact same thing. If I am going for distance I usually tee up the ball so that the equator of the ball is even with the topline of my driver, however its easier for me to lose it left or right when I do this. If I am looking for accuracy I tee it lower.

[PiKapp23]

The modern thinking is that you want a longer tee because you want 1/3 to 1/2 of the ball above the top of the face at address. This helps launch the ball higher and with low spin because of something called 'Gear Effect', which leads to longer driver (one of the golf magazines tested this theory last summer or fall and found it was true). Personally, I still prefer a shorter tee and to tee the ball a little lower (ball more centered in the clubface), because my swing launches ball high anyway and this helps me control the trajectory a little more. The length of tee that works best for you depends somewhat on the profile of your driver, but based on the studies the longer one would seem to be the best (maybe even longer than 3 1/4).

[goblue107501]

With a new driver you just have to play around with tee height and where to place the ball in your stance. There is no right or wrong answer. Take a bucket of balls to the range and experiment until you find the height and stance that works best.

[TomDonS]

I use a 2 3/4 zero friction and just touch it into the ground. It seems to be just right. Plus you never have to worry about it being TOO high with that length. Don't seem to break as often either.

[TheNatural]

Watching my drive is no example, but last round.. 12 drives were hit well but pushed a little. I use a 4 inch tee.. barely in the ground and have the tee just inside front foot. I stand a good distance from my ball and dont pull but have a small fade towards the end of its carry. SS is 115 and I still rarely hit sweet spot so launch is low...impact is on the middle to lower part of club face, it provides a boreing type of drive with tremendous roll. Drives went 250 plus and pushed a little but Im still learning with this drive shaft combo, the last drive of the day I hammerd and went 290 uphill in wet fairways. it pushed a hair. I say nothing wrong with experimenting...the bad drives were pulls due to being too close to ball at address. that stopped after my 4th drive made adjustmnts thereafter....I came close to skying one ball but 240 carry im happy with ..better than a top IMO.

[Iowa Hawkeye]

I always buy the long tees, then if I want it high it can be, but if not I can always just push it down more.

[whip_it_out]

I have found that most broken tees work quite well for me. I really want to middle of the ball to be about 3/4 up the club face, just a comfort thing. I tend to pop it up if I have it teed any higher.

[Montezumasdaddy]

I work for the largest tee manufacturer in the world. That certainly doesn't qualify me to say what tee length is best but I can tell you what most of the golfing world is using. We basically manufacture 4 sizes of tees - 2-1/8, 2-3/4, 3-1/4 and 4. About 45% of what we sell are 2-3/4, 25% 3-1/4, 25% 2-1/8 and 5% 4". Not sure that will help too much but it can be used for reference anyway. We do sell to many tour pros and most of the top courses all over the world.

http://www.pridegolftee.com/