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Welcome to Play Smart, a regular GOLF.com game improvement column that will help you play smarter and better golf.
Most golfers think that holding it up high and letting it fly with a driver is the way to get off the tee. While I have previously highlighted how to consistently achieve the same tee height, I also wondered how the tee height affects driving distance.
As most players can attest, when your tee also High, there’s a chance that the bat face will be under the ball, making your drive look more like a popping fly in baseball — right in the air with a short run.
On the flip side, when the tee is set too low, not only is there a chance that the larger club surface on the driver will dig into the ground—which can cause a lopsided shot—but it can also result in a low-course shot that costs you. distance.
So how does tee height affect driving distance? For today’s Play Smart lesson, I asked Jim Murphy of Top 100 GOLF Instructors to draw on his experience and give some guidance to amateurs who might have trouble figuring out where to put a tee. Take a look below for Murphy’s insights.
How equipment affects driving distance
Whether you are an amateur or a professional, everyone wants to have the ability to blow up the driver and show off their prowess from the tee box. Of course, this is easier said than done, with a lot of stuff required to add yards without losing accuracy.
In Murphy’s experiment, his students’ obsession with driver distance comes from watching championships on TV.
“Most often, when someone comes to me for a lesson, their thoughts and desires turn to ‘how can I hit my drivers farther,’” says Murphy. “It doesn’t help that every time they turn on the TV, the commentators tell them how far the players can hit the ball .”
Murphy tries to quickly temper expectations by reminding his students that there are many factors at play in why and how modern golfers smash their tee shots: better equipment, hotter balls, improved mechanics, more athletic players and faster grass conditions.
“In terms of equipment, the clubs are designed to have better starting conditions to improve distance,” he said. The balls are designed to improve spin rates, aiding in better launches without spinning and reducing rolling distance.
But don’t forget another piece of equipment that affects your tee: the tee!
Understand how tee height affects driving distance
“Holding the ball high visually will make you want to hit it more, while a lower tee will make you want to hit it,” Murphy said. “Through launch screens, we’ve learned that if you hit the ball, you’ll be able to create more clubhead velocity than if you hit it.
“We hit the iron to put more backspin on the ball, the more backspin, the less side spin, and the straighter the shot.
“When you hit the ball, it’s delivered with less speed compared to when you hit it. When we hit the ball, we get more reach, and we use the ground more to create speed.”
This is where Murphy says optimal tee height can have an enormous impact on the results of drives.
“The optimal height for the tee is to have the center of the ball at the top edge of the club with your driver,” says Murphy. “This allows you to hit the ball slightly with a lower angle of attack; creating more clubhead speed while still maintaining the accuracy required to be able to play your second shot.”
If you’re someone looking for more control, lower it, Murphy said. For more distance, tighten it a touch higher – but understand that this can lead to a much weaker result.
“If you need more control, keep the ball less than optimal, which will create a steeper attack angle, more backspin and more control,” he said. “If you need more distance, hit the ball higher than optimal, which creates more speed and less spin for distance.
“So pick it up and let it fly, but remember that speed usually comes at the cost of some precision.”
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