Irons off the tee

[SinkLikeAStone]

Do you tee it really low so you hit the ball on your downswing like normal iron off the grass or do you tee it up a little bit and hit the ball on the upswing?

i'm thinking i should be teeing it just barely off the grass cuz i'm pulling it all over the place.

why is this shot so tough for me?

[honorerdieu]

I tee it slightly above the ground for iron shots and hit with a descending blow.

[meantime]

Personally I never use a tee with an iron,only with woods(short) and a driver(tall).
Perhaps you have trouble with teed up irons because it takes you out of your comfort zone with your irons.That is the reason I dont tee them up.I tend to actually skull the ball alot because the tee changes my perspective of the ball and I feel I have to compesate with my adress and swing.Best results are the good results so I keep my irons grounded.

[neverman]

Just go with your gut and tee it up VERY low, don't neglect to use a tee when able... it's bad practice in my opinion as you're only given a perfect lie on tee shots and greens. Use the rules to your advantage.

[emc]

Just get a rescue club and your problems will be solved! Personally i tee the ball down so that my baby finger can barely get between the tee and the ground

[Spaingolf]

I tee it low, and hit a lot of 5i's off the tee. ITs a comfort club for me, and I am not too good with the Driver --

I tee it about half a finger up...and play it slightly back (1/4 ball or so).

I think the idea about getting hybrid is a better idea though. I recently purchased a 21 Makser, and am having great results, I'll take the 230-240 and straight over a 270 drive slicing off to the next fairway.

[Ltildragon]

I tee the ball so just the head of the tee shows. Its low enough to have the feel its on the ground and it flys nice and high since its on a tee. Its 1000 times easier for me to hit a ball that is on a tee than on the ground.

[philfrance]

If you tee the ball too high, you may make it easier for yourself as a beginner, but are likely to generate a lack of confidence when hitting off the turf without a tee.

Try to use the tee as a constructive advantage (that's what it's there for), by teeing up just barely above the grass. It should be visually close to hitting off the grass, but give you just enough to be able to hit it clean without a serious divot, if any.

I usually tee up about two mm above the fairway ( 1/10th of an inch?).just the round part of the tee above the ground (but not in the ground). Usually, don't use a tee in a tee box when hitting shorter irons ( PW or 9 iron on very short par threes). Be careful no to give too much tee height when hitting a long iron (3 or 4), as it will bolster confidence, but youmay lose the distance you are wanting to have if hitting a 3 or 4i....

[Boomhauer]

I agree. The tee is there to give you an advantage, so why not use it? I also tee the irons and woods very low - if I tee it too high for an iron shot I tend to hit very high shots.

[Spaingolf]

Totally agree, hitting out of the Tee box and not using a tee is foolish.

Everyone is different, but teeing for Irons makes sense just as it does for woods. I really like the idea of teeing them down good and low. When I play the local Pitch and pUtt course here, I take broken tee heads and shove the nub down into the grown so that the ball looks more or less like is "in the grass". I do it for two reasons. 1) I am allowed to and ANY advantage I can take under the rules I will, and 2) I think, as stated in an earlier post, it helps with learning to play the ball of the turf.

One thing rhough, if the tees boxes are in particularly bad shape, I will just drop and hit. Trying to take advantage of the "crap lie" situation....

[dorkman53]

One thing rhough, if the tees boxes are in particularly bad shape, I will just drop and hit. Trying to take advantage of the "crap lie" situation....

I don't get it. If the tee boxes were irregular and the turf wasn't good, isn't that when you would want to use a tee more than any other situation?

[PA Jayhawk]

I don't get it. If the tee boxes were irregular and the turf wasn't good, isn't that when you would want to use a tee more than any other situation?

Thought the same thing, A couple of the courses I play have a tee box or two that doesn't get much sun, and therefore are more or less hard dirt. I actually tee it a little higher on these boxes to avoid the possibility of the club bouncing or being thrown off at impact. One is particularly annoying because it is an elevated par 3 and you are hitting SW or GW, not sure how many I ended up blading well over the green. Then after teeing it higher, you really have to watch so you do not go entirely under the ball with a SW

[Spaingolf]

I know it sounds odd. But most fairways are in pretty good shape, as are practice ranges that have grass to hit on...

Why I do this is to get practice on poor lies. I have to ammend my statement slightly. I do that ONLY when i am just playing for practice. If I am play for something (money, tournament etc) I tee it...for sure.

Keep in mind this is on a Pitch and putt par 3 course. So the point is to learn how to get up and down from bad lies...which is a situation I find myself in more than occasionally on normal par 72's.

[golfaholic]

The only time I dont use a tee on a par 3 is if i am straight into a strong wind.

Just tee it up high enough to give you a perfict lie.

I tee my irons and woods low.

[Calinada]

On my longer irons I'll just barely tee it up. For shorter irons like on par 3's and such I'll make my own grass tee. I'll smack my club down into the ground barely pushing up some earth and set my ball on that.

[meantime]

Hey Spaingolf please explain to me "Hitting out of the Tee box and not using a tee is foolish".That statement seems odd to me.If the desired results are to achieve maximum potential and consistency upon every strike of the ball and not using a tee out of a tee box delivers said results,then would it not be foolish to use a tee when aforementioned results cannot be achieved with the previous mentioned device.
To outright dismiss something as foolish completely misses the crux of the forum.
addendum 1 it was pleasant to see you included the line "everyone is different"
addendum 2 it was troubling though to have you go onto say ,in a paraphrased version,that using a tee helps in teaching you to hit it off the turf.How the f**k does anything other than hitting it off the turf teach you to hit it off the turf?!
Please have your people contact my people and we can form a panel based on progress and mutual understanding to rectify the current issues to maximize potential of all further discussions.

[shiva]

-- Dont mean to interject too much on that... but IMHO you shouldn't be practicing 'in game' and expect to leave with much. I've played lots of different sports, not just golf, and it holds true for all. If you're worried about not being able to hit off the turf, practice on turf. Go to a range, hell chip around if you have a large yard... practice in different types of grasses and at different angles.. but the few hits you get during a game off the tee box arent going to dramatically improve your long term game. On the other hand, your scores may lower a bit if you're setting yourself up for a perfect lie (ie using the tee when you have the chance) instead of robbing yourself of that opportunity.

Really if you think about it.. Hitting 200-300 shots from the turf in a row a few days a week or hitting 5 balls once or twice a week off the tee box... Whats going to improve your iron game more dramatically?

[SinkLikeAStone]

i get the tee part ... more important is where you're hitting the ball - downswing or upswing like a driver?

and someone brought up another good question --- how the hell do you hit SW off a tee?

[Spaingolf]

Meantime -- it's not that diffcult to understand really.
1. If you are playing a round for score, then tee the ball where you want it. I, and others, suggest to tee it lower so that it is "similar" to your more usual iron shot, which is off the grass. This does two things -- one,gives you the advantage per the rules, and two, allows you to continue to develop the VISUAL reference that is ALSO important when playing golf...

2. If you are NOT playing for score (and here is where I disagree Shiva) then when you are playing from the tee box then play it on the ground. As I said later, I do this to get more practice is Real golf situations, and to continue to build confidence with my irons from both regular and more importantly bad lie situations.

[meantime]

Spaingolf
I understand completely, you and many others feel teeing up an iron is advatageous.That is fine and acceptable.
What I fail to see how not using a tee is foolish.I play for personal best everyround and history has proven for me not using a tee is optimal.It provides me with the cleanest shots consistently.
Perhaps you have failed to see the point I was making.SinksLikeAStone posted his problem and wanted advice and I as well as many others offered it.And any advice within reason is good advice and warrents consideration.Obviously SLAS was having difficulty with the tee maybe he should try the advice offered by all and see what works for him.Golf is a very personal game and personal comfort is what will lead to success.To dismiss any reasonable idea as foolish is short sighted one way thinking.
I would assume that SLAS does not play in the masters and has nothing really riding on his rounds so what is one or two par threes without a tee.Duffing it without a tee is no different than duffing it with a tee.
By the way SLAS if you are playing for the masters congradulations and please disregard all advice and do whatever the heck you want.
My people feel that these were progressive and productive talks and reccomend future collaberations.

[Spaingolf]

Ahh...there you go...now wouldn't it have been easier to simply write this post instead of the smartass one you posted earlier.

Your point is well taken, and you are right, I should be more careful with generalisms.

I do believe that using a tee is the right way to go when you can and when you are trying to score. I have never seen a professional not use a tee when they could, it allows MOST people to pick the ball cleaner, and defentily will insure a "better" lie.

So I guess your people got back to my people about your peoples thing about not getting my peoples thing regarding the you know what.

[SinkLikeAStone]

heh. no not playing for the masters.

i think i figured out my problem with teeing up the iron on par 3s. I was trying to hit the ball on the upswing for some stupid reason and not hitting down. For a long while this resulted in me hitting it thin, probably hitting the ball on the ridge beneath the face of the clubhead.

what's nice about figuring this out is that since I've started hitting down on the ball off the tee it seems to have helped a lot off the turf as well. felt pretty good with my irons yesterday. felt like I was squeezing the ball between the face of the club and the turf and it would pop out of there with a ton of velocity.

what's better is that after several months of missing greens on par 3s I hit both of them yesterday when I played 9.

[meantime]

Good to see problem(s) solved.Cheers.

[philfrance]

One other thing is when teeing up a fairway wood /hybrid off the tee, I always keep the tee quite low, not as low as with an iron, but still quite low, otherwise I end up not controlling my shot ( height in particular) if it's a little bit high (tee is maybe a quarter inch above sole of club at rest). We have a long par three I sometimes use my 3 wood on, app. 210 yards (on one course here there is one that is 227 meters ( 250 yards), and if i tee up a little bit high, I want to swing like an iron, and shot is always too high, and breaks into a high slice. If I keep the ball low off the tee, generally ok.

Obviously, teeing up drivers really depends on the driver face and conditions of play ( wind, desired shot type...).