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Driver: Tee Height and 4 Ways to Set up
There are many methods for tee height for a driver shot. But I don't think there is one correct tee height for everyone. The correct height should be different from person to person.
The proper tee height should be different depending on the type of shots you prefer to hit. For a draw, you should tee it up higher. For a fade, you might want to lower it a bit.
There was a study done to find out the tee height that promotes most distance.
The result?
The higher you tee it up, the more distance you get. Most average golfers did the best with the bottom of the ball above the top part of driver.
This is really high. But they not only got most distance with this tee height but also hit it straighter with it.
So you might want to try real high tee height as well.
4 Ways to Set Up
There are 4 ways to set up to hit your driver.
1. Tee it up high and set your driver on the ground
2. Tee it up high and hover the clubhead above the ground
3. Tee it up low and set your driver on the ground
4. Tee it up low and hover the clubhead above the ground
Most golfers think they should set the driver on the ground at address. But there are some pros that hover the driver above the ground.
When you hover the clubhead, you can hover the clubhead a little off the ground or you can hold it right behind the teed up ball.
I will explain how to hover the clubhead above the ground later.
By setting the driver on the ground, it makes it easier to hit in on the upswing, set your body and club constantly at address, or let you hit it just above the center of the clubface for higher launch angle.
You can use any of the 4 methods above. The most important thing is to hit it on the sweet spot. So pick one that will let you do that constantly.
Different Tee Height
Low Tee Height: 1/3 of the ball is above the driver
High Tee Height: more than 1/2 of the ball is above the driver
When pros want to get more distance off the tee, they tend to tee it up higher.
On the other hand, if they need to put it on the fairway, they tend to lower the tee height.
But like I said in the beginning, most average players hit it straighter with higher tee height.
In my opinion, when you have to hit it straight, you should tee it up high and swing with 60% of your clubhead speed. By slowing down your swing speed, you will reduce the side spin that you put on the ball and have better chance of hitting your shot on the fairway.
I think this will give you better result than lowering your tee height.
When players lower their tee height, golfers tend to start hitting down on the ball instead of sweeping it. This will cause all kinds of problems.