Tee Height

[NCGolfer]

So I found out the other day that lower is better for me. Instead of having the tee just barely in the ground, I put it in about a 1/4 inch more and was ripping the ball off the tee. I suppose with the ball high I felt like I needed to come up and hit it, causing me to top my shots.

Ben - you took the words out of...er...fingers off the keyboard with that statement. I went to the range today and did a quick check of my ball height on the tee...it was about 3/4ths

above the top of the club. I put it down to where it should have been and I didn't have to pull up to hit the ball. Every single shot had a high, boring flight and felt perfect. Kinda silly when you think about such a small change making a difference. I feel stupid for not catching it earlier.

[georgep]

The article is definitely BS as far as carry goes, unless they were testing in rain, wind, really heavy fog , or using range rocks (but then they should state that). In my league, there are several guys who only carry it 180 or less, but they are mainly 30+ handicappers. The 0-9 guys all carry it about 230 minimum .

[neudi]

I voted for the top of the ball at the top of the clubface, but im not certain b/c i don't ground my driver...it hovers ni the air all the way back and through...

[Jeepthrills]

I read an article about tee height in Golf Magazine the other day. It showed that players of all levels benefited from teeing it high. They had the bottom of the ball above the crown of the driver. I have always teed it on the higher side, but usually only with the equator of the ball above the crown. Where do you tee your driver?

[Diggitydog]

After personally testing drivers on the Trackman radar launch monitor I can say that using a tee height that allows for the ball to hit on the upper portion of the driver face is correct for me. This reduces backspin and increases carry. I have good hand eye co-ordination so changing my tee height wasn't an issue for me. The guys running the launch monitor increased my tee height, then I ran across the article 3 days after the fitting. Since the tee height upward adjustment I have been hitting a higher trajectory ball with more carry and roll from the angle of descent improving when the ball lands. Bottom line is that when I tee the bottom of the ball near the top of the driver face the contact is on the top third of the clubface. These shots don't feel as solid on impact but they go further. Who can argue with that?

And the distance thing is interesting. Most people do over estimate their carry distance and I was no exception. I thought I had a 285 carry before the fitting but I was mistaken, it was more like 266. After the driver fitting my carry turned out to be 278 yards.

[Sanjuro82]

Center of the ball at the top of the clubface

[Diggitydog]

I'm sure everybody is familiar with the Swingvision on CBS. Here are two clips from youtube.com that show Vijay with a 2.4" tee height (self proclaimed in the Golf Magazine article June 2006) and Phil Mickelson with an unknown tee height as it wasn't listed in the article.

If you watch the clip from the point of the ball contact closeup you'll notice where the ball is contacting the face of the driver. Three things are clear to me in that video. The first thing is that the tee is high. Second is the club is definately on the upswing and the Third is the rotation on the golf ball is almost nil. Vijay is hitting a high knuckle ball that carries a mile and rolls out on landing.

Compare the Vijay video to the Phil Mickelson swingvision clip.

In the Phil Mickelson clip you see the ball contacting high on the face but the club seems to be on the downswing. You can see a bit more rotation on the ball and if you watch closely when Phil's ball lands it actually backs up on that shot in the fairway. No roll. Phil's teeing height is much lower.

My point is basically for a long drive that carries well even into the wind you need to hit the ball on the upswing with as little backspin as possible.

Vijay's Clip
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XHcwp...ch=swingvision

Phil's Clip
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KbSY_...ch=swingvision

I'm not necessarily advocating that a high tee is required but rather whatever tee height allows for ball contact high on the face and on a level or slight upswing.

By the way, I love the Bizhub Swingvision, I'll DVR a broadcast and forward just to see the analysis of the swings.

On a totally different note, what is up with only broadcasting 2 tournaments a season on HD???? I would like to see at least 10 tourney's in HD. Watching The Masters in HD brings golf viewing to a whole new level.

[iacas]

I'm sure everybody is familiar with the Swingvision on CBS. Here are two clips from youtube.com that show Vijay with a 2.4" tee height (self proclaimed in the Golf Magazine article June 2006) and Phil Mickelson with an unknown tee height as it wasn't listed in the article.

I've seen Phil hit down on his driver, too. It's very odd...

[Diggitydog]

I haven't seen a PGA Tour player hit a ball in real life.

Could anybody who's seen long hitting PGA Tour players hit, provide an opinion on how high the ball flight trajectory is when they use their driver? I realize one persons high might be another persons low but I'm still interested to hear.

[NCGolfer]

On a totally different note, what is up with only broadcasting 2 tournaments a season on HD???? I would like to see at least 10 tourney's in HD. Watching The Masters in HD brings golf viewing to a whole new level.

Amen brother.

You know that CBS has the equipment and with the sports season winding down, you'd think that we would see a few more broadcasts in HD. I remember watching the first two rounds of the British Open in HD on TNT last year...it was frickin' sweet. Nothing like the Masters, but it was still sweet.

[Diggitydog]

I have misquoted the 2 tourney's. Right after posting I did notice on http://www.hdsportsguide.com/golf.php that the US Open has been added to the HD lineup. Also a Par 3 shootout.

Anyway, I say "More golf in HDTV!" It's good for the game.

[iacas]

I have misquoted the 2 tourney's. Right after posting I did notice on

Back to the topic, now, please...

[Maverick]

I'm between the bottom and center of the ball at the top of the face..if it has been said already I tee it down a little if there is a headwind.

[A.J.]

For me the results of the study mentioned probably hold. You can tell whether its true for you by varying your tee hight.

I tee the ball about half way above the clubface. I think it does add some yardage. For example, I hit some new drivers at a golf store on an indoor range (with a launch monitor). The stupid rubber tee was only tall enough to get about 1/4" of the ball above the top of the massive clubface. My carry distance average between 260-266 instead of 275-280 which is more like normal for me. So there's some anecdotal proof.

[golfchief]

270 in the rough and in the trees are not as good as a 240 in the fairway, the averge scoring as not change more than 2 shots in 30years. long is nice but your playing against mother par. I get out drove many times but I'm still in the 70's low 80's while the long drivers are usually 10+ strokes higher.

[thehillgolfer]

I haven't seen a PGA Tour player hit a ball in real life.

i know this is off topic but from what i saw at the wachovia championship, the ball flight is about medium...not too high, not too low, like the ball starts off low, but since they are hitting the ball 300 yards the ball ends up getting pretty high....

and my tee height varies, it used to be pretty high, then i went to the wachovia and saw everyone not teeing it up high, cuz i have a higher ball flight, so i lowered it and was killing the ball, and now all i can hit is a big big hook, so i'm raising my tee height and that seems to help.... and for how far good handicappers hit it...i think its mostly the fact that most courses have screwed up yardages, but thats just me...like i was one yard off the front of the green on a 352 yard par 4, and then at my home course we have a 290 yard hole and i can count on my hand how many times i've gotten it up by the green, so i think u have to take that into account as well.

[golfchief]

Yardage measurements are decieving, their down the middle to center of green if you have a dogleg you can knock off a lot of yardage. We have a dogleg if you go across the pond instead of around you can knock about 70 yards off the assigned yardage for that hole.

[pgonza2723]

Seem to get the best distance and launch from the middle of the ball being slightly above the top of the clubface.