Instruction

Should you tee the ball lower when hitting into the wind?

Published

9 years ago

Aug 3, 2015

If you’ve ever played golf in strong winds, you’ve probably heard someone tell you to “tee it lower when hitting into the wind” with the driver to “cheat” the wind. For as long as I can remember, I said and did the same thing when it was windy regardless of the fairway conditions — but was this actually correct or just an old wives tale?

Thanks to Trackman and swing robots, we can actually test this old postulate and see if teeing it down does indeed help, or rather hinder, your distance production in windy conditions.

Let’s examine a study done by Trackman regarding this fact and see what the data actually shows.

For the experiment, the robot hits shots with a ball speed of 168 mph, which is the speed produced by your average PGA Tour player. The only thing manipulated for this test was the robot’s tee height, everything else being constant. As we know, altering tee height can influence many other things in real life, but it is interesting to see how this changes things within the “lab.”

A normal shot hit with perfect launch conditions gives us the following numbers:

168.0 ball speed
14.0 launch angle
2100 spin rate
294.2 carry
39.4 landing angle
317 total yards (on the average PGA Tour fairway)

Reducing the Tee Height and hitting the ball with perfect launch conditions gives us the following numbers:

168.0 ball speed
7.0 launch angle
2250 spin rate
266.2 carry
26.8 landing angle
300.6 total yards (on the average PGA Tour fairway)

As this shows us, with the lower tee height, you see that the ball has an obvious reduction in carry but will land much flatter than the normal tee height.

Now let’s look at how different wind speeds affect launch conditions from a normal tee height versus a lower tee height.

Trackman’s testing results: Normal tee height (left) vs. low tee height

Based on the results, if you’re playing in calm conditions, or even 10 mph of wind, you should tee the ball as you normally would. But as the wind speed increases to 20 to 30+ mph, you should experiment with the lower tee height. However, a lower tee height must be used only on hard and fast fairways in order to have any chance to “run” out to the total distance achieved with the normal tee height. If you try to tee the ball lower and hit it flatter into soft fairways, you’ll have an issue achieving normal distances.

NOTE: This study does not factor in impact conditions — more specifically spin loft and smash factor.

Take this study to heart if you consistently make solid contact and have near perfect launch conditions most of the time. But remember, if you adjust tee height and begin to hit the ball all over the face, with different lofts and different angles of attack, your results will differ drastically. As your spin loft increases, compression is lost and the ball will spin more, which can raise your spin rates into the wind.

Related: What is spin loft?

Producing too much spin in the wind hurts both your overall distance and dispersion. Also, if you impact the ball too high or too low on the face, you will lose ball speed, reducing distance as well.

I encourage you to take the time and experiment on a launch monitor with different tee heights in varying wind conditions. Don’t cost yourself distance and control just because you’re teeing the ball up at an incorrect height for you.

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Tom Stickney II

Tom F. Stickney II, is a specialist in Biomechanics for Golf, Physiology, and 3d Motion Analysis. He has a degree in Exercise and Fitness and has been a Director of Instruction for almost 30 years at resorts and clubs such as- The Four Seasons Punta Mita, BIGHORN Golf Club, The Club at Cordillera, The Promontory Club, and the Sandestin Golf and Beach Resort. His past and present instructional awards include the following: Golf Magazine Top 100 Teacher, Golf Digest Top 50 International Instructor, Golf Tips Top 25 Instructor, Best in State (Florida, Colorado, and California,) Top 20 Teachers Under 40, Best Young Teachers and many more. Tom is a Trackman University Master/Partner, a distinction held by less than 25 people in the world. Tom is TPI Certified- Level 1, Golf Level 2, Level 2- Power, and Level 2- Fitness and believes that you cannot reach your maximum potential as a player with out some focus on your physiology. You can reach him at [email protected] and he welcomes any questions you may have.

13 Comments

Rob

Aug 7, 2015 at 6:41 pm

I high tee might produce better distance into the wind in all conditions, but keep in mind that the wind is never directly head on and the ball never flies exactly straight. High tee = higher launch = more hang time = more time for the ball to be blown into the woods. Lower tee = lower launch angle = less hang time = less time for the wind to blown into the woods. When playing in strong wind choke down and swing smooth to ensure solid contact, keep the ball low and get it rolling as soon as possible.

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MHendon

Aug 6, 2015 at 11:42 am

Here’s the problem with this test. Perfect contact with a robot ever time. In the real world where all of us play we don’t make perfect contact flighting the ball straight every time. If you curve the ball at all you will see a more drastic effect on both distance and direction with the higher flight. Thats the real reason for teeing the ball lower to try and keep your tee shot in play.

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talljohn777

Aug 5, 2015 at 3:14 pm

Sorry, but I do not see that conclusion. The driver into the wind chart shows that the normal tee height in all conditions is longer.

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Scott

Aug 5, 2015 at 2:09 pm

I’m a little confused at the analysis. In every scenario the ball teed higher had longer carry and total distance. The numbers got tighter as the wind got stronger, but still surpassed the lower tee numbers. Wouldn’t this indicate that there’s not much need to tinker?

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Cliff

Aug 5, 2015 at 9:14 am

Tom – Good info! Any chance you could do a piece on tee shots into the wind with a left or right spin bias. I typically hit a 5-10 yard cut on calm days but into the wind it turns into 15-30 yards depending on the wind speed. Teeing it down helps me keep the ball in play and find more fairways because it doesn’t stay in the air as long.

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William

Aug 4, 2015 at 3:48 pm

I’ve found that just a small amount lower tee height with a slower swing speed and solid contact keeps the flight lower with just a minimal loss of distance.

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jcorbran

Aug 4, 2015 at 2:12 pm

teeing it lower and getting a lower launch angle helps keep the ball out of the wind that may be at higher altitudes to begin with.

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dapadre

Aug 4, 2015 at 5:17 am

Bingo! Thanks for this Tom.

In Holland most courses have hard wind. Its very common to have 20 mph winds, in fact here when its around 10 mph its not even considered windy so we need to know how to play in the wind.

My Golf pro said that most amateurs should tee it up at their normal height but should concentrate on SOLID CONTACT ( so you may need to slow it down a notch) with a SHALLOW attack. Teeing it low will cost most amateurs to hit down imparting spin.

Also you should simply accept the fact that you will get less distance. I have tried this adn its works like a charm. Ok wont get my usual 260/270 avg but 240/250 also works.

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Graham

Aug 4, 2015 at 3:40 am

Tom, thanks for the article–very informative to get some numbers behind this! Any chance you can you show what the numbers look like for non-tour type ball speeds? I think it’s pretty unlikely that the majority of people reading this article have ball speeds in the high 160s, meaning that assuming a properly fitted driver they also are working with a baseline of more than the depicted 2100rpm (which of course means more vulnerability to the wind already). As John says, it’s also very difficult for a real non-robot person to change tee height without altering AoA, and thus increasing spin rate perhaps more than is illustrated here. If you were to start with a ball speed of around 150 and spin around 3,000rpm, does the math end up working out the same?

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john

Aug 3, 2015 at 9:30 pm

teeing the ball down increases the chance of a downward angle of attack thus increasing spin, as your graph shows – teeing the ball down will make the ball go shorter into any kind of wind.
key is to launch the ball lower using a shallow angle of attack to play the shot with the same amount of low spin, any increase in spin will create resistance (and any wind will increase that).

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Barack

Aug 3, 2015 at 8:24 pm

Interesting, our how about someone who has a slower ball speed (99.5% of golfers)?

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- prime21
  
  Aug 5, 2015 at 6:40 am
  
  Then go play the Ladies Tees & the #’s will remain the same from a % standpoint. You all do realize that the man works right? Every study cannot be duplicated for 20 different swing speeds in right & left handed models. However, if you were to part with a few of the bills currently being protected by the benji moths in your pocket, and received a proper club fitting for your driver, your #’s would be similar because your launch/spin/land angle #’s would resemble those given above. How bout a “thank you Tom, this is great information” instead of a whiney reply admitting that you hit it like an infant? Even better, why don’t you pay the man for a lesson & BAM, any #’s you would like to know about will magically be revealed to you. In life, as in golf, you get what you pay for.
  
  Reply Report comment
  - Double Mocha Man
    
    Aug 7, 2015 at 11:39 am
    
    Prime 21… have you been taking “Politically Correct” lessons from Donald Trump?
    
    Reply Report comment

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Instruction

Clement: Laid-off or perfect fade? Across-the-line or perfect draw?

Published

1 day ago

Apr 24, 2024

Shawn Clement

Some call the image on the left laid off, but if you are hitting a fade, this could be a perfect backswing for it! Same for across the line for a draw! Stop racking your brain with perceived mistakes and simply match backswing to shot shape!

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Instruction

The Wedge Guy: The easiest-to-learn golf basic

Published

4 weeks ago

Mar 29, 2024

Terry Koehler

My golf learning began with this simple fact – if you don’t have a fundamentally sound hold on the golf club, it is practically impossible for your body to execute a fundamentally sound golf swing. I’m still a big believer that the golf swing is much easier to execute if you begin with the proper hold on the club.

As you might imagine, I come into contact with hundreds of golfers of all skill levels. And it is very rare to see a good player with a bad hold on the golf club. There are some exceptions, for sure, but they are very few and very far between, and they typically have beat so many balls with their poor grip that they’ve found a way to work around it.

The reality of biophysics is that the body moves only in certain ways – and the particulars of the way you hold the golf club can totally prevent a sound swing motion that allows the club to release properly through the impact zone. The wonderful thing is that anyone can learn how to put a fundamentally sound hold on the golf club, and you can practice it anywhere your hands are not otherwise engaged, like watching TV or just sitting and relaxing.

Whether you prefer an overlap, interlock or full-finger (not baseball!) grip on the club, the same fundamentals apply. Here are the major grip faults I see most often, in the order of the frequency:

Mis-aligned hands

By this I mean that the palms of the two hands are not parallel to each other. Too many golfers have a weak left hand and strong right, or vice versa. The easiest way to learn how to hold the club with your palms aligned properly is to grip a plain wooden ruler or yardstick. It forces the hands to align properly and shows you how that feels. If you grip and re-grip a yardstick several times, then grip a club, you’ll see that the learning curve is almost immediate.

The position of the grip in the upper/left hand

I also observe many golfers who have the butt of the grip too far into the heel pad of the upper hand (the left hand for right-handed players). It’s amazing how much easier it is to release the club through the ball if even 1/4-1/2″ of the butt is beyond the left heel pad. Try this yourself to see what I mean. Swing the club freely with just your left hand and notice the difference in its release from when you hold it at the end of the grip, versus gripping down even a half inch.

To help you really understand how this works, go to the range and hit shots with your five-iron gripped down a full inch to make the club the same length as your seven-iron. You will probably see an amazing shot shape difference, and likely not see as much distance loss as you would expect.

Too much lower (right) hand on the club

It seems like almost all golfers of 8-10 handicap or higher have the club too far into the palm of the lower hand, because that feels “good” if you are trying to control the path of the clubhead to the ball. But the golf swing is not an effort to hit at the ball – it is a swing of the club. The proper hold on the club has the grip underneath the pad at the base of the fingers. This will likely feel “weak” to you — like you cannot control the club like that. EXACTLY. You should not be trying to control the club with your lower/master hand.

Gripping too tightly

Nearly all golfers hold the club too tightly, which tenses up the forearms and prevents a proper release of the club through impact. In order for the club to move back and through properly, you must feel that the club is controlled by the last three fingers of the upper hand, and the middle two fingers of the lower hand. If you engage your thumbs and forefingers in “holding” the club, the result will almost always be a grip that is too tight. Try this for yourself. Hold the club in your upper hand only, and squeeze firmly with just the last three fingers, with the forefinger and thumb off the club entirely. You have good control, but your forearms are not tense. Then begin to squeeze down with your thumb and forefinger and observe the tensing of the entire forearm. This is the way we are made, so the key to preventing tenseness in the arms is to hold the club very lightly with the “pinchers” — the thumbs and forefingers.

So, those are what I believe are the four fundamentals of a good grip. Anyone can learn them in their home or office very quickly. There is no easier way to improve your ball striking consistency and add distance than giving more attention to the way you hold the golf club.

Clement: Stop ripping off your swing with this drill!

Published

2 months ago

Mar 4, 2024

Shawn Clement

Not the dreaded headcover under the armpit drill! As if your body is defective and can’t function by itself! Have you seen how incredible the human machine is with all the incredible feats of agility all kinds of athletes are accomplishing? You think your body is so defective (the good Lord is laughing his head off at you) that it needs a headcover tucked under the armpit so you can swing like T-Rex?

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