Epoch Tees

[Shanks A Million]

Mine must be defective, because I've broken at least three Zero-Friction tees during one round.

Or it could be that you're swinging down at a sharp angle on them. How tees perform is a good way to look at your swing. If I'm snapping tees, I know my plane is far too steep. I generally don't break tees, ever, even with irons. If my plane is good, I pick the ball right off the top of it, and it leans forward a touch.

Snapping any tees often is generally a bad thing. I just use Wilson 3" wood tees.

[Gordon McTavish]

Or it could be that you're swinging down at a sharp angle on them. How tees perform is a good way to look at your swing. If I'm snapping tees, I know my plane is far too steep. I generally don't break tees, ever, even with irons. If my plane is good, I pick the ball right off the top of it, and it leans forward a touch.

Thank you. I've probably learned more from this one comment than all the "tips" from GolfDigest!

[JML22]

With your driver maybe, oor maybe its just too deep
You dont want to always be picking the ball off the tee
Breaking tees with irons and wedges is unavoidable
If you're picking it perfectly without touching the ground i dunnoooooo

[Shanks A Million]

With your driver maybe, oor maybe its just too deep

No, picking the ball off without breaking the tee is actually a good thing, even with irons. It shows that you're swinging on a flat enough plane, and that you're not coming down too steep.

[James_Black]

No, picking the ball off without breaking the tee is actually a good thing, even with irons. It shows that you're swinging on a flat enough plane, and that you're not coming down too steep.

how do you generate spin then?

[iacas]

No, picking the ball off without breaking the tee is actually a good thing, even with irons. It shows that you're swinging on a flat enough plane, and that you're not coming down too steep.

No it doesn't.

Whether you break a tee depends something like 90% on how hard the ground is (assuming you contact the ball near the sweet spot - if you thin it maybe the tee isn't moved). You can't tell whether you came into a ball "too steep" if it breaks or not. That's silly talk.

[JML22]

I thought the Tee should break on irons wedges
unless you tee it up stupidly high

[iacas]

I thought the Tee should break on irons wedges

Well, that's why I just use tee stubs on par threes. I can hit a tee shot with a full tee on a par three though and not break the tee if the ground is soft. After all, you just barely clip the tee - the goal is to hit the ball first, after all.

[JML22]

Yeah but if its a new tee and you clip the top, 99% of the time it'll break
ya Its just annoying when you goto the tee box and there isnt a stub lol

[Shanks A Million]

No it doesn't.

Well, you'll have to tell that to the pro here. He has a drill when the swing gets too steep to try and pick the ball off without breaking it. If you can do that, odds are you're swinging shallow enough.

Maybe I'm just interpreting it wrong though, but he has me tee it up high, and try to pick it off without breaking the tee (I.E. going under it and snapping it). He's a good instructor, and he generally agrees with a lot you say. But I find, when my plane gets too steep, I break driver tees, but when it's proper, I don't. Recall Moe Norman never broke tees.

[iacas]

Well, you'll have to tell that to the pro here. He has a drill when the swing gets too steep to try and pick the ball off without breaking it. If you can do that, odds are you're swinging shallow enough.

Stupid drill. I can fake a shallow swing by pulling my arms apart, standing up, or tilting to the right on the downswing. Again, stupid drill - and to hit the sweet spot of any club you're going to clip the tee. Whether it breaks depends on how hard the ground is for the most part.

People who swing "too steep" need to push forward more and get secondary axis tilt the proper way.

Maybe I'm just interpreting it wrong though, but he has me tee it up high, and try to pick it off without breaking the tee (I.E. going under it and snapping it). He's a good instructor, and he generally agrees with a lot you say.

Again, the problem with that is you can fake it by doing things really badly.

[goblue107501]

I would agree completely on the ground hardness being the #1 barometer on tees breaking. I play on a course with soft zoysia grass tee boxes. I rarely break a tee when I play here and I use regular wooden tees. In fact, I have played twice in the last couple weeks and have used one tee so much that the white paint has worn off most of the top. When I go to the crappy driving range near my work, I will break a tee every other shot or so just becuase the ground is so bad. Even there, if the ground is soft, I won't break many at all. I hit the ball the same in at both spots, the ground is just usually much harder at the range. Sometimes I hit all ball, sometimes I catch a bit of the tee. One place they break, the other they don't.

[Shanks A Million]

Stupid drill. I can fake a shallow swing by pulling my arms apart, standing up, or tilting to the right on the downswing. Again, stupid drill - and to hit the sweet spot of any club you're going to clip the tee. Whether it breaks depends on how hard the ground is for the most part.

I see, I believe he was telling me to do it because he knew I wouldn't fake it, and he was watching as I worked on it. As I've said before, golf instructors are generally amazed at how much I exaggerate what they tell me to do, so I may be biased. I think most golf instructors ask for a mile, and get an inch.

He wanted me to clip the tee, but the ground here is so soft that it leans forward when you do it right.