Iron Distances - Off the Tee vs. Off the Deck

[d0n]

Noticed something interesting yesterday. Off the deck I was hitting my 5i just short of 200yds. Off a tee I was getting around 180yds. I noticed similar results with the 6 and 7 irons. When I tee up with an iron, I try to tee up so that the ball is about 1/4" off the ground.

 

What I was wondering is it shorter off the tee because I'm hitting higher on the club face? Maybe I'm sweeping it and not driving down on it to get the ball compressed between the club and the ground? Maybe I'm just swinging different? Anyone have any ideas?

[jcrew]

How do the ball flights compare? I think most people hit a little longer off the tee? I'm just about the same off the tee and off the deck. Perhaps SLIGHTLY longer off the tee

[Shaitan]

hmm - i'm about half a club to a club longer off a tee (its like hitting off a flyer lie). I hit my 5i around 155-160m, and off the tee i hit it around the 165-170m mark

[thenewbie]

Noticed something interesting yesterday. Off the deck I was hitting my 5i just short of 200yds. Off a tee I was getting around 180yds. I noticed similar results with the 6 and 7 irons. When I tee up with an iron, I try to tee up so that the ball is about 1/4" off the ground.

 

What I was wondering is it shorter off the tee because I'm hitting higher on the club face? Maybe I'm sweeping it and not driving down on it to get the ball compressed between the club and the ground? Maybe I'm just swinging different? Anyone have any ideas?

 

you've got it exactly right. 1/4" is WAY to high to tee an iron. irons don't have nearly as much mass that high on the face, and less mass behind the ball means less energy is transfered into the ball at impact. even super GI irons aren't meant to be hit that high, their main forgiveness comes on toe or heal misses.

 

but I have good news! the fact that your hitting it off the deck further means that your doing things correctly, atleast as far as impact goes. so here's the rule for teeing up the ball.

 

THENEWBIE's rule for teeing up a ball; tee the ball according to the way the club was designed to hit it. that means, since a driver is designed to hit a ball high on the face, off a tee, you should tee it up so you'll hit it where it was intended to be hit. Irons, on the other hand, are designed to be primarily hit off of the deck. so you should tee them up as if they are on a perfect lie on the ground. basically almost on the turf. you just want the ball up just a little tiny bit, just to make it a little easier to get the ball in the air. at first it might feel like your losing any advantage you get from teeing the ball up, but you'll find that this gives you the best results which should make you feel better about it pretty quickly.

 

 

just as an add-on. . .teeing up fairway woods and hybrids REALLY depends on the club design and what you want to do with it. If you want a standard flight, than you really don't need to tee it up much at all, even with fiarway woods. however, if you want to really launch it up in the sky, then you maight be able to tee it up a tiny bit more. you'll need to experiment some to figure it out.

[soundofatrain]

Noticed something interesting yesterday. Off the deck I was hitting my 5i just short of 200yds. Off a tee I was getting around 180yds. I noticed similar results with the 6 and 7 irons. When I tee up with an iron, I try to tee up so that the ball is about 1/4" off the ground.

 

What I was wondering is it shorter off the tee because I'm hitting higher on the club face? Maybe I'm sweeping it and not driving down on it to get the ball compressed between the club and the ground? Maybe I'm just swinging different? Anyone have any ideas?

 

you've got it exactly right. 1/4" is WAY to high to tee an iron. irons don't have nearly as much mass that high on the face, and less mass behind the ball means less energy is transfered into the ball at impact. even super GI irons aren't meant to be hit that high, their main forgiveness comes on toe or heal misses.

 

but I have good news! the fact that your hitting it off the deck further means that your doing things correctly, atleast as far as impact goes. so here's the rule for teeing up the ball.

 

THENEWBIE's rule for teeing up a ball; tee the ball according to the way the club was designed to hit it. that means, since a driver is designed to hit a ball high on the face, off a tee, you should tee it up so you'll hit it where it was intended to be hit. Irons, on the other hand, are designed to be primarily hit off of the deck. so you should tee them up as if they are on a perfect lie on the ground. basically almost on the turf. you just want the ball up just a little tiny bit, just to make it a little easier to get the ball in the air. at first it might feel like your losing any advantage you get from teeing the ball up, but you'll find that this gives you the best results which should make you feel getter about it pretty quickly.

 

 

just as an add-on. . .teeing up fairway woods and hybrids REALLY depends on the club design and what you want to do with it. If you want a standard flight, than you really don't need to tee it up much at all, even with fiarway woods. however, if you want to really launch it up in the sky, then you maight be able to tee it up a tiny bit more. you'll need to experiment some to figure it out.

 

Great Advice.

[ktbfsu]

one thing to note is that you don't actually compress a golf ball between the club face and the ground. the "bottom" of a correct iron swing is slightly subterranean and slightly in front of the ball - giving you the feeling you've "trapped" it between the club face and the ground. in reality, the ball does compress, but it compresses on the club face (on the third groove from the bottom if struck perfectly) and is off to the races prior to the taking of the divot.

 

agree with newbie about how to tee it up with an iron. on a properly mown, level tee box, i tee it up just enough to give myself what would be a perfect lie if the ball were on the ground - the result is the top of the tee is practically flush with the ground and the ball, from a top view, looks like it's sitting on the ground. on three wood and hybrid tee shots, i tee it up slightly higher than what i would do for an iron shot - between a quarter and half an inch or thereabouts - and a little higher than that if i'm looking for an extra few yards of carry. not sure if that's right, but that's what i do.

[d0n]

That makes sense. Thanks guys, I'll give it a try.