Wednesday, August 1, 2012

Golf Beginner Tips: How to Tee a Golf Ball at the Proper Height

If you're new to golf then, like any other player, you're probably asking, "How do I get better at golf?" Getting better in this game requires improvement in striking the ball - meaning your club makes solid contact with the ball on a more consistent basis so that the ball's flight carries it toward your intended target.

Consistent ball-striking on the tee box is important to any golfer because your tee shot sets the tone for each hole of golf you play. If you have a bad tee shot, your chances of scoring well on a hole are greatly reduced. If you string together a bunch of bad tee shots, then you will probably not score well for the round.

Knowing how to properly tee up a ball is one of the easiest golf beginner tips to learn for achieving consistent ball-striking. To do this, you need to know the proper height at which to place the ball for each type of club - driver, fairway wood, hybrid or iron - you hit off the tee. The longer the club, the higher you will need to tee the ball.

Driver. When hitting a driver, you want to "sweep" the ball off the tee by making contact with the ball slightly on the upswing. This will help to get the ball airborne and provide maximum distance. To do this, you'll need to tee the ball high. A general rule of thumb when hitting your driver is to have half your ball above the clubface when it's on the tee. You might even want to tee it a little higher, but no more than having the bottom of the ball level with the top of your driver's clubface. Otherwise, you run the risk of "popping-up" the ball on contact.

Fairway woods and hybrids. With these clubs, you still want to sweep the ball off the tee. However, because their clubfaces aren't as deep, you don't need to tee the ball as high as when using a driver. You will want to set your tee so the ball rests about one-half inch off the ground. A good rule of thumb for these clubs is to have one-half to a one-third of your ball resting above the clubface.

Long and mid irons. To achieve solid contact with one of these clubs (2-, 3-, 4- and 5-iron), less of the tee will be above ground than with a wood or hybrid. To make solid contact, you want to impact the ball closer to the bottom of the swing. Therefore, you should set the tee in the ground so the ball is about one-quarter inch off the ground.

Short irons. When using a short iron (any iron shorter than a 5-iron), you should press the tee all the way into the ground so only the head is above ground. This will allow your ball to sit just above the ground. This will help ensure you get the same height and distance as if you were hitting the ball off the ground, which is usually where the ball lies when hitting these clubs (usually anywhere other than the tee box). However, you give yourself a much better chance of solid contact with the ball on a tee.

If you're new to golf and asking, "How do I get better at golf?", follow these golf beginner tips to promote more solid contact off the tee. It leads to better ball-striking and lower scores, which is what every golfer wants!

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