Best Drive - Broken Tee, Leaning Tee, or Clean Pick?

[pittpanther]

The last two weeks I have made a complete turnaround with my driver, finally able to hit it mostly where I want it to go. After a year and a half, it feels good to have that part of my game reaching a comfortable point.

Anyway, I notice that my "best" drives (longest and straightest) appear to be the ones where I pick the ball cleanly off the tee. Is this "clean pick" what I should be trying to achieve? I always thought that the goal was for the tee to go flying in the same path as the ball!

Does a broken tee or a leaning tee point to any particular swing fault (other than the obvious - the clubhead is below the ball).

[BigBoy]

Broken tees have more to do with how firm the ground is and/or how far you have the tee stuck into the ground. Case it point, I don't tee my driver much higher than 1/4 of the ball above the grounded club, and I was given a bag of 4 inch tees for Christmas, and I broke those tees about 90% of the time.

I would suspect that clean picks are probably OK, but would indicate that you are hitting the ball with the bottom half of the club. Modern drivers are "hotter" just above the center (so I've been told) so you might be losing some distance

[ChvyKc]

Like BigBoy said, it's mostly has to do with how hard the ground is but I break those cheap tees consistently. I recently started playing with a Stinger tee and I very seldom break them.

Anyway, back to your question. My best drives generally just flip the tee out of the ground and it lands somewhere near by. Sounds like you are driving a lot better so I wouldn't worry about it. Just keep it in the fairway. That's the important part. :)

[PiKapp23]

For me my best drives usually result in the tee coming out of the ground unbroken. that usually means I have struck the ball on a slight upswing and just catch the bottom of the 'cup' on the tee. Sometimes they will break, but unbroken, dislodged tees are usually the result of my better drives.

[sp33d]

My tees on good drives some how land 10 feet directly behind me. My friends say it looks cool but I never get to see it :(

[Crafty]

If you have ever seen the swing vision segments during PGA Tour coverage, you will tend to notice that their tees almost always come out of the ground unbroken and spinning through the air a bit.

[goblue107501]

For my well struck drives the tee will usually be leaning forward a bit or pop up out of the ground. I use a longer tee and about half of it is in the ground so they usually don't go too far, if anywhere. I have the same experience as the others with broken tees, it is usually only when the ground is hard for me. I can pretty much tell if a tee is going to break when I put it in the ground.

[ComftaBill]

I would imagine as many have said that it depends on the ground and length of tee you have buried.

I had one a few days ago pop up spin and land upright about 4 feet in front of me! I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me!

[whip_it_out]

If you have ever seen the swing vision segments during PGA Tour coverage, you will tend to notice that their tees almost always come out of the ground unbroken and spinning through the air a bit.

They have PERFECT ground,so I wouldnt worry too much about that.

You will never get that on the course I play, because once the tee gets in the ground, its gonna break. I've broken a new tee trying to put it in the ground. Tees almost always break when hit where i play.

[DavidFehertysBike]

My tee comes out of the ground every time, but i rarley break them unless i swung too steep. I can go through an entire season with just one of those little bags of tees you get in the pro-shop.

[ChvyKc]

They have PERFECT ground,so I wouldnt worry too much about that.

That's how one of the courses here is. Once you get the tee in the ground it's either going to break or stay right where it in. I broke a tee trying to put it in the ground and the part that was in the ground stabbed me in the finger. Made the rest of my round great

[David in FL]

With a driver, unless I'm trying to play a low shot, my tee should be coming out of the ground unbroken. That indicates a slightly upward sweep.

With an iron, the tee will usually break due to the downward blow. A good reason to use an already broken tee.....