Tee Height

Video Transcript

Technology has really changed the game of golf to the point of how high do we tee the ball up when we go play. Well, we even have longer tees now than we used to have. Well, what is the object, why do we want to have these longer tees? With these deeper faced drivers from bottom to top, the object is that we want to have at least half of the golf ball be above the crown of the golf club. What that does is help to identify the hot spot of the club, which tends to be a little bit higher than the center of the golf club. When we hit the ball more on the top part of the club the ball is launched higher with a little less spin, which means the ball hangs in the air longer and has a longer glide path, and thus go a longer distance. So, when we are teeing it up let me show you what the difference is when we use the long tee we can really get the ball up pretty high, if we use the lower tee you can see the difference there. When I put the club down on the ground you can see that the ball is on the above the top line of the club with the long tee but when I move it to the shorter tee I have a hard time getting it to that point. Now here is another interesting thing. When we hit the ball we actually deliver spin to the golf ball, which makes the ball do what we would hopefully like. By teeing the ball lower, especially in windy conditions, you would think that would help launch the ball lower. Initially it does, but because the ball is lower you are tending to hit down on the ball more, which actually puts more backspin on the ball so the ball will take off low but then rise up high into the air, so your net distance is not as long as you think. Try this the next time you are playing into the wing: tee the ball a little higher. Your intent is that when you make your swing see if you can leave the tee standing after impact. That thought alone will help flatten out your trajectory to be able to give you the maximum launch conditions. Wind tunnel testing verifies that when hitting the ball into the wind if you hit it with a little higher launch angle with less spin the ball still penetrates through the air better than one that is launched lower with more backspin. So some of the things we have thought about in the past may be a little different because of technology. Give this a try; I think you will find some amazing difference.

Laird Small
Pebble Beach Golf Academy
1700 17-Mile Drive
Pebble Beach, CA 93953
Tel: 831-622-8650

Laird Small is Director of The Pebble Beach Golf Academy and is listed as one of Golf Magazine's Top 100 Teachers and Golf Digest's #23 instructor in the world.

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