How high do I tee up??

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And to find the "equator of the ball", don’t forget to order the genuine R0dent Ball Jig. (see "How To Make Your Own Golf-Ball-Line-Drawing-Jig" thread) They are going fast! ) Jerry – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – I guess there’s no hard and fast rule about it, but most of the magazine articles and in most books I’ve read, the ball should be teed up such that the equator of the ball ends up as high as the top of the driver. Which in the case of a 400cc driver means you’re gonna have to find some big tees! Dave Clary/Corpus Christi,TX http://www.geocities.com/texasp38 RSG Roll Call http://u1.netgate.net/~kirby34/rsg/claryd.htm

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How high do I tee up with my driver? It seems that the higher I tee up, the further right my driver adresses the ball, I make contact most of the time but sometimes I sky the ball…anyone can help me?

All of the "golf tips" I have ever seen in the various magazines suggest that the "standard" height is to have the equator of the ball match the top of the driver. This, of course, is subject to numerous caveats. 1. All other things being equal, a ball that is teed lower than usual will tend to cut, while a ball teed higher than usual will tend to draw. I believe that it was Ken Venturi who, when faced with a pressure tee shot, actually used the heel of his shoe to kick up a tuft of turf on the tee box, and then tee up the ball on the tuft of grass to set up a power fade. One could just as easily tee the ball low to the ground. 2. The forgoing presumes that you make solid contact, and have practiced enough to make solid contact at various heights. If you practice off mats, you have probably noticed that rubber tees come in various heights. You might want to experiment and see what works for you, and then take that height to the course. 3. Players who have weak grips (adding loft) can tee the ball lower and players with strong grips (decreasing loft) *have* to tee the ball higher. In Harvey Penick’s Little Green Book, he makes reference to a player who gripped a 7-iron in such a way that it had the loft of a 4-iron and had to use four inch tees to compensate ("And if You Play Golf, You’re My Friend" pp. 43-44).

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Geo– ‘level’ refers to "plane" Not Path. Path is directional in referance to the target. Brad – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – There are theorists who say that the higher you tee your drive, the more level the swing path you create (by extremely small fractions, actually) and therefore the more penetrating the ball flight.

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Geo– ‘level’ refers to "plane" Not Path. Path is directional in referance to the target. Brad

You’re correct, Brad, but I really was using the term in reference to angle of attack, not plane. By path I meant exactly the levelness of the path of the club at impact — the minimal down direction of the club at impact, hence the most direct on-line impact. I used the word path generically, not in someone’s particular use of it in a golf book. George – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – There are theorists who say that the higher you tee your drive, the more level the swing path you create (by extremely small fractions, actually) and therefore the more penetrating the ball flight.

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It depends on the size of the club face. But a good rule of thumb is that the bottom of the golf ball should not go past the center of the club face.

– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – How high do I tee up with my driver? It seems that the higher I tee up, the further right my driver adresses the ball, I make contact most of the time but sometimes I sky the ball…anyone can help me?

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Just a suggestion… tee it to the height where you consistently hit your best drives. It will take some time on the range to figure that out (or even to see if it matters), but at least you’ll know what is best for you and your swing. Good luck! Dave – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – I guess there’s no hard and fast rule about it, but most of the magazine articles and in most books I’ve read, the ball should be teed up such that the equator of the ball ends up as high as the top of the driver. Which in the case of a 400cc driver means you’re gonna have to find some big tees! Dave Clary/Corpus Christi,TX http://www.geocities.com/texasp38 RSG Roll Call http://u1.netgate.net/~kirby34/rsg/claryd.htm

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There are theorists who say that the higher you tee your drive, the more level the swing path you create (by extremely small fractions, actually) and therefore the more penetrating the ball flight. The tradeoff is enormous jeopardy for the very thing you mention: you sky the ball. The higher the ball is teed, the more you need to stand erect in your setup, else the orbit of your club WILL pass under the ball causing ugly marks on the top of the toe of your nice new $400 driver! When the ball is teed so that you CANNOT sky it because its equator is no higher from the ground than the top of your club – or a bit lower- you guarantee at least that element – that you won’t sky it. If you hit "fat" with a driver, the bounce on the ground at least prevents digging into the ground and you lose less distance due to EITHER skying it or digging in than would be the case with an iron or with a skied shot. Wherever you DO tee your ball, you must ALWAYS take care to "measure" prior to takeaway with the shoulder-to-ball distance that you should have determined in your practice was the EXACT amount of distance that will occur at impact. This is found by trial and error using the left arm-club assembly as your measurer, taking into account both your natural elasticity and the fact that your left shoulder has turned away from the ball somewhat at impact compared with its setup position. With a tolerance of a fraction of an inch between sweet impact and bad impact on a point about 5 feet away from you, it could be said that the MOST important element of your drives is correct shoulder to ball measurement. A perfect swing with a mis-impact can be a disaster, whereas a problematic path or clubface alignment with perfect impact is something less problematic and easier to govern. You’ve opened the can of worms that IS golf, i.e., BALL STRIKING. The single most complimentary comment anyone can receive is to be called a "ball striker". It is the nirvana of golfdom. Good luck, and take it seriously, as it IS the core of "beginning" to play par or better golf! George Hibbard www.perfectimpact.com Pendulum Press

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I guess there’s no hard and fast rule about it, but most of the magazine articles and in most books I’ve read, the ball should be teed up such that the equator of the ball ends up as high as the top of the driver. Steve

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Good point, good point. I think a chopstick might do the trick for those clubs then Steve

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The old rule of thumb that Jack Nicklaus used to use was to tee up the ball so that the top of the driver, when soled, would be at the same level as the equator of the ball. In other words, you’d have about half the ball above the top edge of the driver and the other half below the top edge of the driver. But that was back in the day of persimmon drivers. Nowadays, with today’s oversized drivers, I’m not sure most of us use tees long enough to tee up the ball that high. Plus, today’s metal woods are so bottom-weighted that they tend to get the ball airborne without having to tee it that high. How high you tee it will depend in part on what kind of shot you want to hit. If you want to hit it a little higher (like, say, to ride a trailing wind), tee it up a little higher. If you want to hit it a bit lower, tee it a bit lower. But these differences are fairly small, like, maybe about 1/16th or 1/8th of an inch in height difference. The rule of thumb for me is this — I hold the ball in the palm of my hand as it sits on the tee, with the tee extending between my index and middle fingers. I push it into the ground until the ball is approximately the distance from the top of the blades of grass that is the same as the thickness of my fingers. Give or take. This puts about 1/4 of the ball above the top edge of my oversized driver. Fairway metals you’ll want to tee a bit lower. Randy Charter Member, RSG Clique My WEBSITE: www.YouGoGolf.com My RSG Roll Call profile: http://u1.netgate.net/~kirby34/rsg/brownr.htm RSG FAQ: http://ttsoft.com/thor/rsggolf.html Voiceovers/Narration/Production Services: www.RandyBrownProductions.com

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It’s a very individual thing. You’ll see guys like Chi-Chi Rodriguez tee the ball up really high, and others more like the standard (see below). I tend to tee the ball up slightly lower than most because it’s easier for me to brush the ground with my club than to pick it off a higher tee. I’d rather be a little off high and hit a low liner than to sky it. Plus I don’t use a jumbo club. The other advantage to being a little low is that there’s less of a tendency for me to hit a bad hook. But like I said, you have to do what works for you. — Jon – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – How high do I tee up with my driver? It seems that the higher I tee up, the further right my driver adresses the ball, I make contact most of the time but sometimes I sky the ball…anyone can help me? I guess there’s no hard and fast rule about it, but most of the magazine articles and in most books I’ve read, the ball should be teed up such that the equator of the ball ends up as high as the top of the driver. Steve

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George: Can you explain further what you mean by the correct "shoulder to ball measurement." Are you talking ball position forward to back, side to side, both or some other concept?

Gary: thanks for asking. It is a serious point. If I take a piece of string and stretch it at address from a point on your left shoulder to the center of the back of the golf ball, it will measure something – say it is 60 inches. This is the distance I am referring to by the term "measurement" – the actual straight line distance of your shoulder to the center of the ball! If at the same time I measure, with a piece of string, the distance from that same point on your shoulder to the center of the clubface, it may or may not also be 60 inches. For control of impact precision, you need to be aware of and manage these distances, as explained below. Your setup will NOT automatically make those two distances to correspond at IMPACT: as a matter of fact, BOTH of those distances will be different from what they were at setup, and possibly by SEVERAL INCHES. For that to be true (which it is), there are two realities that need to be known and addressed and dealt with in order for you to gain control over your impact precision: to wit 1) your body’s elasticity – i.e., the amount of stretch that occurs that MAKES THE DISTANCE FROM YOUR SHOULDER TO THE CENTER OF YOUR CLUB AT IMPACT LONGER than it was at setup. It is as though I stood opposite you and yanked the head of your club toward me, pulling your left arm straight, your left shoulderblade forward, and your wrist to a flatter angle than its at-rest postion. The distance from that spot on your shoulder to the center of the clubface may well be 6 inches longer when I pull on it than it was when you handed it to me with a natural golf grip and accustomed angle of your wrist and elbow. 2) the fact that your shoulder is in a DIFFERENT PLACE at impact than it was at setup, due to the fact that your upper body turn moves it back away from the ball during the impact inverval as compared to where it was when you addressed the ball. You do not impact the ball facing it; you impact the ball with your shoulders turned to the left somewhat. In Fuzzy Zoeller’s swing, that turn-away is so pronounced he actually places his club on the ground at setup by walking about 5 inches closer to the ball than where his club drops TO the ground, and then during his swing and turnaway his orbit will pass through the ball place and is NOT too close to the ball after all. If when you return to the ball that shoulder-to-clubface is different than the 60 inches it was at setup (and it is!), then SOMEthing needs to be done or accounted for or managed so that the center of the CLUBFACE is going to go through the ball – PRECISELY ON CENTER, instead of too far away, hence to hit fat or under the ball (skied tee shots and messed up chipping where you get surprised by hitting fat when you were so relaxed….) So there are two things that you deal with, in order to arrive at the net DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE TWO MEASURED DISTANCES, that you need to know. If you hit fat (and did not move down during your swing itself), your "measurement" to the ball did not allow ENOUGH for the stretch/elasticity of your left armclub that actually occurs. Your shoulder was too close to the ball at setup. If you hit THIN, your turnaway EXCEEDED the amount of elastic stretch that occurred. You were too FAR from the ball at setup for the actual distance you need to be! And all this assumes that you DID take care in your setup to place the club EXACTLY at the ball, or in a place that is ALWAYS relatively the same distance from you TO the ball. Willy-nilly "somewhere down there" placement of the golf club relative to the ball does not indicate a very serious approach to quality impact… Hope this casts some light on it. George Hibbard www.perfectimpact.com Pendulum Press

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It is all personal preference. I generally place it so that the top 1/3 of the ball is above the top of the driver head. – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -How high do I tee up with my driver? It seems that the higher I tee up, the further right my driver adresses the ball, I make contact most of the time but sometimes I sky the ball…anyone can help me?

Response:

Which in the case of a 400cc driver means you’re gonna have to find some big tees! Dave Clary/Corpus Christi,TX http://www.geocities.com/texasp38 RSG Roll Call http://u1.netgate.net/~kirby34/rsg/claryd.htm

Response:

George: Can you explain further what you mean by the correct "shoulder to ball measurement." Are you talking ball position forward to back, side to side, both or some other concept? – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Wherever you DO tee your ball, you must ALWAYS take care to "measure" prior to takeaway with the shoulder-to-ball distance that you should have determined in your practice was the EXACT amount of distance that will occur at impact. This is found by trial and error using the left arm-club assembly as your measurer, taking into account both your natural elasticity and the fact that your left shoulder has turned away from the ball somewhat at impact compared with its setup position. With a tolerance of a fraction of an inch between sweet impact and bad impact on a point about 5 feet away from you, it could be said that the MOST important element of your drives is correct shoulder to ball measurement. A perfect swing with a mis-impact can be a disaster, whereas a problematic path or clubface alignment with perfect impact is something less problematic and easier to govern. You’ve opened the can of worms that IS golf, i.e., BALL STRIKING. The single most complimentary comment anyone can receive is to be called a "ball striker". It is the nirvana of golfdom. Good luck, and take it seriously, as it IS the core of "beginning" to play par or better golf! George Hibbard www.perfectimpact.com Pendulum Press

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