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Expert Research: How High To Tee Your Driver?
- Patrick Corley
- 06/15/2023
As golfers, we are forever searching for perfection in our games. Whether we are trying to find more fairways or want to add yardage to our tee shots, we are always looking for the right equipment and technique. We only get to hit our drivers fourteen times in a round of golf, so keep reading on how to make those drives count.
Tell Me More Golf is going to help you find the perfect tee height to play your golf game. We will provide you with some fundamentals to help you make the right choice in driver tee height. As experts, we know that your golf swing is unique, and we will guide you through how to start teeing at the right height so you can find the consistency you have been searching for.
Teeing the Ball High With A Driver
Typically, a golfer is going to want to follow a well known tip on how high to tee their driver. For how High To Tee Your Driver: Our tip is is to have half of the ball above the top of the clubface and half should be below. Ideally, this allows a player to swing the golf club with the ball up in their stance and create a strike that hits the sweet spot with a positive angle of attack (meaning you hit up on the ball). This is a great starting point for hitting a driver with the same technique a PGA Tour player would use.
When the tee height and ball position with our driver is just right for your swing, it will minimize backspin and provide a consistent ball flight. That makes the golf course a lot more fun. Of course we all have different swings and varying ball speeds. If you are struggling with consistency in your driver, try different tee heights.
Beginners especially should develop good habits with their driver from the start. To play your best golf as a beginner, you are going to need to learn how to get the ball airborne and keep it in play. The driver tee height for those just starting out should be a little higher than the face so they can build the habit of hitting up on the ball with the driver head through impact.
Mid-range handicap golfers should try and focus on teeing their golf driver slightly above the ball as mentioned before. Typically mid-range players can keep the ball airborne but sometimes struggle with consistency. Before a round, spend some time on the practice area finding the golf tee height that lets you hit the sweet spot and provides a repeatable ball flight.
Low-handicap golfers can generally hit a wider range of golf shots. This caliber of player has likely developed their own tendencies over the course of their golf journey. Playing golf is both a science and an art. We know that the rule of thumb is that we usually want less spin with a high launch angle. However, for golfers that were around before the club heads grew to 460CC’s, many continue to tee it lower out of habit. Whatever height allows you to feel comfortable on the tee box to make your best swing, is the correct tee height. If you are still searching for the right tee height, follow the below tips to gain more reliability with your driver.
We can all improve our driving if we commit to focusing on some fundamentals practiced by the best players in the world.
Here are 5 golf tips to help you drive it better from the experts at Tell Me More Golf:
1) Tee up the ball according to the advice we have provided above. If you are not sure of the proper tee height for you, tee up the ball so that the top half is above the top of the driver and the bottom half is below.
2) Your takeaway should be wide. Try to keep the club low on the takeaway to promote a wider arc with your hands further away from your body.
3) Finish your backswing. You should make a full shoulder turn and rotate your hips as well. Focus on rotating and not swaying.
4) Unwind on the same path as your backswing. Instead of swaying towards the ball, turn back towards it in the downswing. This will give you the best chance to catch it on the upswing.
5) Finish your golf swing in balance. If you have turned back and turned through, you should have a nice balanced finish. If you are not balanced, you have either swing too hard or you need a more balanced setup.
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How Does Tee Height Affect Driving Distance
Tee height has a direct correlation to driver distance. However, it is important to note that high tee does not mean long drives. What will get you a consistent strike with your driver, to provide maximum distance, is finding the center of the clubface. If you hit up on the ball, you can more easily get away teeing the ball higher because you are presenting the full clubface to the ball through impact. While it is fine if you hit down on the ball, it requires a little more experimentation to find the tee height that gives you the best results.
The Professionals
PGA Tour professionals, including Tiger Woods, are known for teeing the ball lower when accuracy is more important than distance. This is because teeing the ball lower forces you to stay down through the shot which is always helpful for keeping the club square through impact.
If you are looking for good guides for technique, watch an LPGA Tour event. The LPGA Tour players are some of the most consistent and accurate drivers in the game. Note that so many of them hit their drivers so straight and far because they have great tempo and balance which helps them to hit up on the ball with their drivers.
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Correct Tee Height For 460cc Driver
This is a timely topic to discuss as I was just testing the new Taylormade Stealth driver in the simulator this weekend. The reason this is relevant is because generally I tee the ball lower than most. I found that when I tried it low with the new Taylormade, I was not getting the same contact at impact as compared to my Cobra driver. There are some subtle differences in the profile of the face and they are not exactly the same dimensions so I expected to have to adjust a little.
What happened was that I was making the same swing with a different club. The driver face on the Stealth has a different profile, therefore teeing the ball higher made it easier to catch it in the center of the face.
Both clubs, the new Taylormade Stealth and my Cobra Speedzone, are 460CCs. This is the maximum size allowed by the USGA and R&A, which are the governing bodies for club design. As you experiment with different tee heights, keep this in mind because some faces may have a slightly shorter face from top to bottom and in contrast some have a taller face with less mass behind the clubface.
Recommendation:
Many times when we are trying to find something in our golf games, we can use other clubs as a test to help us figure things out. That said, our fairway woods can offer great insight into how high you should tee your driver. On the range, hit 10 fairway woods with varying tee height. Starting with the ball teed higher than usual, hit 2 golf balls. After 2 balls, lower the height of the tee. Continue this and with the last 2 golf balls, hit them without a tee. Throughout this process, take note of when you start to connect with the center of the clubface. Fairway woods have smaller heads and help tell us how high the ball should be.
Frequently Asked Questions: Too High?
How High Should You Tee A Golf Ball For A Driver?
Start with teeing it up with half of the ball above the top of the driver’s face. If you are hitting the ball too low and not catching the sweet spot, then you need to try a little higher tee. Conversely, if you are hitting the ball on the top of the face, start teeing it lower until you find the sweet spot.
How To Tee Up A Driver for Beginners?
Beginners should try teeing the driver up higher to start out with. As you are developing your swings and games, a higher tee will help with your confidence in getting the ball in the air. In addition, I would suggest to many beginners that they hover the driver behind the ball when they are starting out. This helps with your takeaway and downswing through impact.
Why Am I Hitting The Ball High With My Driver?
It is likely that this is cause by one of two main problems:
- You have the ball teed too high
- You are hitting down too much with your driver creating more backspin which will cause the ball to balloon.
What Causes High Spin On Driver?
The main cause is hitting down on the golf ball with your driver. When you hit down with any club, you create more backspin and this could be the case with your driver.
Conclusion: Research by Tellmemoregolf.com
Tell Me More Golf has a team of experts with decades of experience and is always well positioned to help you get better. Tee height with your driver is a key to consistency which makes golf more fun.
Try varied tee heights on the range and find what works for your swing. Once you’ve found consistency, don’t change it because your clean strikes will fly how you want them to and your misses will be less penalizing.
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