Tee shot

[Bert]

I am after some advice.

I have had three lessons to date all about my swing and hitting irons & hybrids off the floor which have been great and my consistency has improved greatly in the last couple of weeks

My next lesson is not for another three weeks so thought I would ask here before I visit my pro.

I can not tee off for toffee and I do not mean using my driver or woods as we have not gone their yet. I am mainly "trying" to use my 4 & 5 Hybrids for par 4's and a shorter iron for par 3's but i would say 75% - 80% of the time (I may get lucky) I seem to top it and the ball dribbles off the tee. It has started to become a frustration as my other facets of the game are coming on and I feel this is holding me back. I don't expect to be booming drives 300 yards not just yet anyway but 150 - 180 yards in play would be a start. I use red/blue castle tees for your info.

This will be the basis of my next lesson, but any ideas?

Apologies if I waffled on

 

[Pin-seeker]

Don't use a tee.

 

[Huwey12]

Sounds like you're trying to hit the ball too hard. Slow it down, you'll be amazed how far it goes with a smooth swing

 

[rosecott]

For hybrids I would tee it right down to ground level - which is where you would normally be playing hybrids.

 

[the_coach]

where do you feel your weight is after the strike, left or right?

if it's a true top.
try to make sure as you start down, your upper body/head isn't moving laterally left over top of, or past the ball target ways.


so work to keep upper body & head behind the ball as you swing & rotate through the ball, just after impact feel the clubhead is as far away from the head as it could be, head/upper body isn't moving to the target 'with' the clubhead.

wouldn't worry overmuch that's it's something you gotta fix before the next lesson, the Pro will have seen pretty much all kinda of things before.

 

[the_coach]

gotta to be sure though where the weight is through the swing.

as another thing you can do off a tee is when you're swinging down from the top, is that the weight stays too much on the trial leg so you kind of falling backwards in the motion.
so to avoid the ground both the body straightens up some. losing the posture angles from address, with that the arms as a reflex action get pulled up back into the body some.

so the low point of the swing arc has happened before the clubhead arrived at the ball, clubhead a good ways higher off the ground coming into impact, so you contact the top half of the ball with the lower part of the face, sometimes the bottom of the face.

if this is happening weight on the trailside leaning backwards some into impact.

then from the top of the swing you need to put the weight in the lead leg, keep the head behind the ball & swing through to a balanced finish with weight through onto the lead heel, trail foot is up on the toes showing the sole of the foot back.

 

[the_coach]

thing is to work out is where weight & the upper body/head is into the strike, take it all laterally towards target you swing steep into the ball leading edge coming down to contact the ball ... you get what would be called a 'thin'.

weight & upper body/head falling back on the trailside into the strike, clubhead rising upwards bottom edge to contact top of the ball ... so 'top'.

thin can travel a good way low. top will tend to be a bouncing ground hugger.
doesn't have to be teed for either to happen.

need really a 'quiet' level head behind the ball to help stop both.
figure out where the weight is going in the swing motion, & where & what the upper body is doing.

if you are 'topping' then get the weight into the lead foot but with the head behind the ball & swing through to a balanced finish.

with a thin, you still need the weight in the lead foot but without taking the upper body/head left as you do. often the cause of the thin can be a pretty violent transition towards target from the top.

 

[Huwey12]

I see you're using blue castle tees, I use these for teeing off with my 5 wood which has a tall face and I'm hitting the ball on the up slightly, i would suggest they're too long for for irons and hybrids
I use tees for irons & hybrids just tall enough to give me a good lie otherwise inconsistent strikes will probably occur, also teeing it higher will send the ball higher messing up your distances you know you can hit with each iron
As rosecott says tee down near enough to ground level, pretty much like a fairway shot but with a really good lie

 

[Bert]

Many thanks for the replies.

Would the green 1" tees be an option as they are almost at ground level or are these still to high?

 

[Huwey12]

Many thanks for the replies.

Would the green 1" tees be an option as they are almost at ground level or are these still to high?

Just use an ordinary tee and push it right into the ground, it's ok to use castle tees for 1,3 & 5 woods for a consistent height, but saying all this if the grass in the tee box hasn't been cut for a while you might have no choice tee it up higher or preferably just place the ball on the grass

 

[Bert]

Just use an ordinary tee and push it right into the ground, it's ok to use castle tees for 1,3 & 5 woods for a consistent height, but saying all this if the grass in the tee box hasn't been cut for a while you might have no choice tee it up higher or preferably just place the ball on the grass

i shall purchase some wooden tees and give this a try. Do i become a proper golfer now lol

 

[Huwey12]

Plastic ones are best, they don't break so easy and very cheap on ebay. Keep plugging away

 

[Dan2501]

Definitely go for plastic ones, the smallest non-castle plastic ones you can get. They're perfect for irons and hybrids.

 

[SugarPenguin]

Like most people have said. I would literally get normal tee and put it a quarter of an inch off the floor to give it a great 'lie'.


Additionally, I always visualise my shot before hitting it. It does help with confidence if you can picture exactly what you want to do. Think about the shot and what swing you are going to make before hitting the shot to achieve what you have visualised.

 

[Bert]

I purchased some the lower castle tee and the results were so much better and in turn shot my best score of 102 with horrendous weather. Thank you so much

 

[ScienceBoy]

You have one job from the tee, find the fairway.

You don't swing out of your shoes to find a fairway do you?

Get your target in mind, pick the right club and swing smooth as you would as if you were hitting an 80% 7 iron into a green.

 

[Bert]

Used nothing more than a 5 iron but mainly a 6 and hitting it a steady 150 yards majority of the time.

 

[MrBrightside]

I was having exactly this issue, struggling to get of the tee with irons and it purely down to tempo and tension which had seriously negative effects.

although my driver goes 20 yards right, it has the fist forgiving head for nerves when tee'ing it up!

seeing my pro Tuesday and hopefully he point me In the right direction with the driver.

 

[SocketRocket]

Practice hitting balls with your feet together, it will reduce sway and stop you getting on the back foot. When you can do this well then try to get the same centred feel when swinging with a normal stance.