Tee it high to let it fly ...!!

G'day folks, hope you are all well and happy and getting ready for the weekend. Since I joined this site I have been absorbing so much information about the game I have become a real student of it and can't thank you folks enough.
I was having a look at the long drive comps in the US and was amazed at how high these folks tee the thing before letting it rip. ( I understand they use bigger tees than allowed by the PGA and custom built drivers etc)I thought there must be something to it so I have been giving it a crack. I bought a packet of the longest tees I could from the Pro shop so that now when I tee it up the equator of the ball is actually above the top of the driver.... and I must say the results have been bloody amazing!! The thing has been going like a bullet and going a mile (well 250m+) being off 21 there is the occasional "what the hell" as one disappears over the fence but this is a rarity now as compared to previous. Anyway my point is that since I started teeing it higher my overall swing has become more consistant with a nice in to out feel to it and this has flowed into my general iron play as well as I seem to have eliminated my slice and the thing seems to go straight if not with a very pretty (if I do say so myself) draw, so if there is anyone else out there who has been struggling with the "Big Dog" and swinging the club you might want to have a crack at "tee it high to let it fly" Cheers folks, Wayne

Glad to hear its working for you .. If i tee it too high I tend to sky it .. but I guess you are hitting it right on the upswing, getting less spin and out the screws

I do agree that with a higher tee you get more distance, carry anyway. I play with a guy who uses 2 tees, he puts one into the other and the ball is so high above the driver I would just break the tees and the ball would drop straight down, but he takes the ball off it clean and will use the same tees through out the whole round. He gets the ball so high in the air and is easily hitting 350 yards. I myself tee the ball up so no more than half the ball is above the driver and this works fine for me.

Hey fellas,
I have been reading through some of the other threads particularly the one & two plane swing and swinging OTT, and I think what I have inadvertently achieved through my teeing it high antics, is converted my swing from two plane to one plane, which seems to be the plane I should be on and by taking the advice of the guys and girls on this site and keeping the elbows under control (my coach picked me as a cricketer the moment he saw my old swing as I tended to keep my left elbow up as if I was hitting a cover drive ) With this "new" one plane swing my ball striking has been much more consistant with nicer shape and better distance without having to smash it. PAR comp tomorrow at my club hopefully I can keep the positive thoughts and steady swing I would love to finish with a plus score for a change,
Cheers folks have a good week end

Mr. Change how does your friend tee up with one tee on another that is quite the picture, why so damn high.... Just had to ask, I guess if it works use it right.

Jason

Mr. Change how does your friend tee up with one tee on another that is quite the picture, why so damn high.... Just had to ask, I guess if it works use it right.

Jason

personally i tee it so that the ball is a mm or so above the head. i use the USGA regulation 4" tees. my driver is a 9 deg driver with a x stiff tip and i have had my launch angle measured to be about 28 deg. i know i could get away with a 0 deg loft if they made clubs that low. the only thing to watch is that the lower the backspin you get the more the sidespin is amplified and it is alot harder to hit it strait so i have adopted a slight fade so i can be consistant. so when the wind is with me i can crush it! but if the wind is against me i can play i tlike a normal person and with my low loft i can hit it with a low launch and let it pierce through the wind. if anyone knows where i can get a negative loft driver i would be interested to try one out an see what happens. i figure with a negative 5 deg loft my launch angle would still be 14 which is supposeldy optimum but with very low backspin or maybee even some foward spin and i think that ball would roll pretty far.

quick question Wayne,

used to tee it high but feel like I am losing distance,

1. what is you loft on the driver?

2. do you have more of a 1 plane swing with a strong grip?

3. do you have am aggressive follow thru?

I'm using a 10.5 cobra 440sz, stiff 45g shaft and it seems that teeing it lower is better? I have always been a tee it high guy but cant seem to get distance from it now.

Thanks!!!!!


Mike

Hey Mike,
How's things in tropical Singapore....
Well mate my driver is one bought straight of the shelf and it's specs are

1. PGF
2. Full Ti Head
3. 10.5* Loft
4. Mens R Flex
5. Not sure of the size I guess only around 400cc or less as it is no where near the size of the 460cc which seems to be the standard today.
6. My follow is well... I don't know if you call it agressive but it goes all the way through and beyond parrallel.

Guy I play with tees it low and smashes it a mile, mind you he is off 3, and it has that classic launch angle that seems to curl upwards as it takes off, my typical launch is a bit higher but what I am extremely happy with is the consistancy of direction I have developed, I am off 21. Previous the thing would go left right or straight I really didn't know when which was going to occur. I think swing has changed and become more in to in which seems to provide a straighter ball flight if anything with a draw which has helped me with maintaining distance... Now I just need to learn to putt

Cheers, Wayne

another reason teein it high may help is beacause then you have to hit it on the upswing or you pop it up..... when you get that spine tilt to help you hit it on that upswing (for me anyway) it helps me keep my head behind the ball

thanks buddy!!

Hi Wayne,

Here is my view on teeing high for a driver:

To achieve your best distance with a driver you will need to apply as little backspin as possible to the ball, backspin causes the ball to fly higher with greater air resistance, this will aid in reducing the effects of sidespin but will loose distance. When the ball lands with backspin it will resist forward rolling as the reverse spin direction works against the direction of the roll.

Teeing a little higher will enable you to hit the ball with a slightly ascending blow that sweeps the ball off the tee, this will impart much reduced backspin in comparison to hitting down at it, thus creating less lift and air resistance that will let the ball travel further, on landing the ball will roll end over end resulting in better roll distance. Hitting with a slight draw to the ball will also encourage this end over end roll that gives those extra yards.

__________________
Best Regards
Brian

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Funny o'l game!

i have to disagree (somewhat) with you on tha one brian...... the reason dimples are on the balll is to give it that mangus affect which allows it to rise, if backspin was bad then the ball wouldn;t need dimles. the harder you hit the ball then the less spin you want, but if you don't hit it very hard then spin is your friend. but i do think that too much spin is always bad because that causes it to float way up and it seems to just hit a wall and fall striat down.
i found this somewhere, can't remember where

Ball speed Optimum launch Optimum spin
130, 14 to 16, 3500 to 3800
140, 13 to 15, 3300 to 3550
150, 12.5 to 14, 3000 to 3300
160, 12 to 13.5, 2750 to 3200
170, 11 to 12, 2500 to 2700
180, 9.5 to 10.5, 2350 to 2600
190, 8.5 to 10, 2000 to 2400
200, 7 to 9, 1950 to 2150
210, 6 to 8.5, 1700 to 2000

a ball speed of 150 is about the equivalent of swing speed of 100ish if tht helps. but that depends on smash factor which is basically how much on the sweet spot you hit it 1.5 is seen exellent, but i have seen longball comps hit with SF of 1.6 before. it could have to do with club head weight too and shaft flex.

here is a link you can also try the same swing speed launch angle and other constants but change spin and see what happens

but according to the sonic boom website if you hit the bal with 210 speed and 21 deg lau angel and 900 rmp then it will go 50yds further than if you hit it at 7deg and 1800 (suposed optimum) accoriding to the avobe post.

so acording to that site, if you hit it low you need spin to get good distance, but if you hit it high you don't want spin

I just got a new Cobra driver ( I like it a lot) and I was told to tee it high. I usually tee the ball up to the mid point of the driver (with a high tee)

When you tee it high how do you hit the ball square with the club.... or does that matter... I consider teeing it high - if the driver can fit under the tee....

Thanks,


James

i think the avg advice for where to tee it is so that half the ball is above the club head, that is seen as normal...... i would say anything above that is considered high.