Par 3s

[Cizzle]

In Golf magazine, Retief Goosen did an article on how to be more sucessful on par 3s. One thing he said was to tee the ball up about half way up the face thus hitting a more pure shot and not creating a divot.

This method seems unorthodox, and seems that you would need to sweep instead of hitting down on the ball. I have always put my tee all the way in the ground, with the ball maybe being a 1/4 of an inch off the ground, and still creating a divot. That has worked fine so far, but next time I am at the range I am going to try this approach to see if it works better. Does anyone else do this? I have never heard about this before, and I always see a bunch of divot marks at the tee boxes on par 3s.

[TourSpoon]

I saw that too. I do about the same as you and I will take a very slight divot as compared to a bigger divot in the fairway. I am sure that I hit the ball a little higher on the face but I don't tee it up halfway. I see the par three as a chance to always have a perfect lie.

[Big_M]

I also tee the ball pretty low, and take a small divot (not as big as my fairway, unless I hit it fat).

Also, I never tee up a wedge, including my PW, and sometime not my 9-iron.

[Ben]

I was at the Nissan Open a few years back and when I payed attention I noticed the pros teeing the par all higher than I'd expect. Since then I have done the same. 'Cause I wanna be a pro. I still take divots though.

[wolverine318]

This sounds interesting and something I have thought about since reading this thread initially. I am thinking that, in my long irons I tee the ball up a bit higher than my short irons, and I hit my irons very well off of the tee. And I dont hit my short irons as good as I do out of the fairway. So I am gonig to tee the ball a bit higher in the short irons and see what happens.

[mikelz]

I never tee up anything shorter than a 6 iron. That's the way I practice.
It doesn't matter as long as you are committed to what you are doing.
I guess it does matter if you can't hit the ball off the deck.

[albatroz]

For short par 3's i rarely use tees . Long par 3 i give my tee height 1/3 of an inch above the ground . This gives enough room for the club to strike the ball squarely and a shallow divot is created in front of the ball as an end result .

[marpr]

I like hitting short par 3's by teeing up real low (so it feels like its off the deck). long par threes i like to tee them up mid face too (so i cant work left-to right a little easier).

[Ringer]

I think it's not bad advice but may not be for everyone.

It will cause the ball to go on a higher trajectory because there will be more energy applied below the balls CG. A higher trajectory will cause the ball to land more steeply and stop quicker on the green.

[yamhang]

My swing plan is steep and always hit down and take a divot disregarding the length of irons. May be should try to shallow out a bit, see if that would improve my score on Par3's. What do you guys think? Please share your thoughts.

[JonnyGolf]

Since most amateurs sweep rather than hit down, it's probably not bad advice. I know that when I'm feeling the pressure, I'll tee it up higher and take a smaller swing with a a less lofted club. It's just easier.

[Stuart]

On shorter Par 3's I rarely tee up the ball at all. On longer ones (5,4,3 iron) I tee up the ball about a 1/4 inch. I haven't yet found my "way" of doing things and do quite frequently change up my routine depending on how I'm feeling that day. Not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing.

[b_diddy746]

I like to tee up the ball about 1/8 of an inch off the ground. That gives me enough space to make a swing on a perfect lie. It also gives me a little room for error incase i hit it fat.

[lamebums]

In Golf magazine, Retief Goosen did an article on how to be more sucessful on par 3s. One thing he said was to tee the ball up about half way up the face thus hitting a more pure shot and not creating a divot.

I always tee it up. Jack Nicklaus once said something along the lines of "I learned a long time ago that air offers less resistance than dirt." Thing about teeing it too high and sweeping the ball off the ground is you're not transferring much power to the ball. It's a glancing blow at best, and you're not going to impart nearly as much spin on the ball. At least that's my experience - the ball goes twice as high and finishes about 25 yards short of where I intended to hit it.

[Jarhead3079]

I tee the ball up slightly as I have a tendency to hit my irons fat. But all the experts say to hit down on the ball and take a divot to generate backspin. My ultimate goal on a par 3 is just to be on the green with a reasonable birdie putt.

[Crafty]

I think it's not bad advice but may not be for everyone.

I couldnt agree more. I NEVER tee up a 7 iron or below. However, I've hit 3 iron and up off the deck also in order to keep it below the wind. So i guess this strategy is more of a "when" as opposed to an "if". It shouldn;t be done all the time, but it would be great on a par 3 that is downwnind and you are between clubs. This strategy would allow you to hit the shorter club and still get it to the pin because of the higher flight.

[Lost Ball]

Lost Ball sometimes doesn't even use a tee because Lost Ball hits it so well off the ground on Par 3's