Ideal Tee Depth?

[kfowler]

I've seen several articles on ideal tee height, but what is the ideal tee depth into the ground? I was thinking a 1/2". Anyone know?

[leo3]

Do you seriously think it makes a difference?

[kfowler]

Actually I do. If you tee is too far in the ground, it'll cause added resistance against your driver. You're also more likely to crack your tee.

I'm also looking for consistency in my tee height.

[leezer99]

  kfowler said:

Actually I do. If you tee is too far in the ground, it'll cause added resistance against your driver. You're also more likely to crack your tee.

It doesn't make a difference on how deep you put your tee into the ground. If you want to get super specific on it though you could always start using Step Down Golf Tees... which a lot of the girls in the woman's golf club use but none of the guys I know use.

[brgolf]

Am I missing something? This sounded like a valid question until I read the responses.

Driver:teed up with 1/2 the ball above the club face at address

3 Wood: I tee this up quite a bit off the ground as well, I noticed a while back I was teeing it up too low.

Irons: tee pretty much fully into the ground

To people who say tee height does not matter, I would have thought that teeing a ball 1"-2" off the ground for an iron shot would make it difficult to compress the ball and get distance.

[kfowler]

  brgolf said:

Am I missing something? This sounded like a valid question until I read the responses.

I'm speaking more of the depth of the tee in the ground regardless of the tee height. For example with your driver, you often see the tee flying out after the balls been struck. If you place the tee deeper in the ground, the tee will stay put or lean forward from being struck by the driver.

My question is, what is the optimal depth to place the tee at? I'm guessing it's around 1/2". That's deep enough to support the ball but shallow enough to come out of the ground easily when struck.

[brgolf]

  kfowler said:

I'm speaking more of the depth of the tee in the ground regardless of the tee height. For example with your driver, you often see the tee flying out after the balls been struck. If you place the tee deeper in the ground, the tee will stay put or lean forward from being struck by the driver.

I don't really think it matters in that case.

[Yukari]

You gotta be kidding with this questions, right?
You should be worried about making a consistent swing rather than the depth of your tee in the ground.

Seems like you think too much about the small stuff and lose the focus on what is really important.

[Clambake]

  kfowler said:

If you tee is too far in the ground, it'll cause added resistance against your driver.

No, it doesn't. A little simple math will prove it:

• From a couple different sources ("Physics Fact Book", "Physics of Golf") a ball is in contact with the club for about 0.5 thousands of a second
• At 110 mph, a driver club head is moving about 1900 inches/second
• During the 0.0005 seconds the club is in contact with the ball, the clubhead progresses about 0.8 inches.
• A golf ball is 1.68 inches in diameter, so by the time the driver actually gets to the tee the ball has already compressed and rebounded off the club face - there is no longer any club/ball interaction

[kfowler]

  Yukari said:

You gotta be kidding with this questions, right?

That's a pretty presumptuous comment don't you think? It was a simple question that I've never seen addressed.

[sean_miller]

  kfowler said:

That's a pretty presumptuous comment don't you think? It was a simple question that I've never seen addressed.

Correct tee depth? How long are your tees? What are you hitting off the tee - a driver, 3-wood, a 6-iron, sand wedge, etc.

For the driver or 3-wood, you want a long enough tee that you can stick it firmly in the ground. If your teebox has loose turf or it's a windy day, you mayneed to stick it in a bit further to hold it steady. For par 3s it's a good idea to hang onto some broken tees of varios lengths - a really short one for short part 3s where you might be hittin a wedge. You don't need much of a tee - just enough to barely elevate the ball off the ground (take advantage of a consistent lie). The depth is not important as long as the ball stays in position - if you find your tee leaning over while you're in your preshot routine - get a longer one, or re-tee.

[Yukari]

  kfowler said:

That's a pretty presumptuous comment don't you think? It was a simple question that I've never seen addressed.

I don't thinks so. Some people worry too much about the small stuff that they lose focus of what is really important.

The depth of tee will have only negligible effect on the distance. Your swing mechanic will have a much more significant impact.

[mdl]

I've always assumed Yukari's answer was the truth with the driver or 3 wood. I've wondered though about par 3s. It seems it could make a difference if you're hitting with, say, 7i or less, cause if you put a full tee (even a 2" or whatever), and hit it pure, it seems that the leading edge of the club might hit the tee right around the same time as the face hits the ball...

[Yukari]

  mdl said:

I've always assumed Yukari's answer was the truth with the driver or 3 wood. I've wondered though about par 3s. It seems it could make a difference if you're hitting with, say, 7i or less, cause if you put a full tee (even a 2" or whatever), and hit it pure, it seems that the leading edge of the club might hit the tee right around the same time as the face hits the ball...

That may be true, but the force of the club would be more than sufficient enough to break the tee. The amount of opposing force provided by the tee would be negligible. It would not cause any noticeable drop in the distance that you hit the ball.

It would be different if tee didn't break. It would have a much stronger opposing force thus reducing the club head speed. But because the amount of force needed to break the tee is minute compared to the amount of force exerted by the iron, you will not see any noticeable difference.

[MX 876]

I agree proper tee height is so much more important for maximizing distance than depth in the ground. On courses with particularly firm tee boxs, I'd recommend pushing the tee in about 1/4" deeper than intended (lower than ideal), than lifting it back up to your optimum height. I feel this loosens the tee enough to come out of the ground freely on impact. I also always look for broken tees when hitting anything other than driver, but mostly because I think its a kinda silly to stick a 3"+ tee all they way in the ground when there are usually broken ones everywhere. On a final note, I also don't believe in the "gimmick" tees, like the brushes, because I like being able to vary the tee height for different conditions and shots which you aren't able to do with most of them. Not to mention the pros don't use them which is proof enough for me that they don't work.

[mc0388]

This is a dumb thread

[microcrayfish]

Guys guys guys, no need to get your knickers all in a twist.

The correct answer is 17.45mm, which equals 0.68700787402 inches.

Do this on every tee shot and you will lower your score by 6.2 shots. Money back guarantee.

[TempoIsKey]

  microcrayfish said:

Guys guys guys, no need to get your knickers all in a twist.

Sweet!!, Do you need some sort of high tech positioning system to get the tees in to this exacting specs?