You may think you know all there is to know about the golf tee, or maybe you’re a first-timer here for some quick tips. Whoever you are, we’re here to let you in on some secrets on how to choose the tee best suited to you. In the past buying tees was easy as there was only one style of tee and only a couple of lengths. However, as golf has progressed companies have found new ways to improve your game and make you more consistent.
There are a few things you need to consider when choosing the perfect golf tees for your game. With new designs and different materials, the classic wooden tee has some competition. How to pick the best golf tee three key features:
1. Golf Tee Material
The first thing to think about is the material of the tee. In general, there are three different types of material used for golf tees and those are:
- Wooden golf tees
- Plastic golf tees
- Bamboo golf tees
The wooden tee is what most people think of when picking equipment. However, wooden golf tees do tend to break more easily, so durability is not their strong suit. They also usually have a plastic coating, making them non-biodegradable. The resources that have to be put into growing a tree mean they aren’t our first choice. Trees that are used to make tees need to grow for at least 20+ years before they can be harvested and will not grow back once cut down.
Plastic golf tees, which offer more resilience do have a tendency of bending but are generally stronger. Plastic also takes around 450 years to decompose meaning these will be littering our golf courses for many more years to come.
Our final option is bamboo, this is a fantastic option as it’s strong and fully biodegradable. As bamboo is grass, it’s more flexible and hard-wearing than wood while also needing a fraction of the natural resources to grow it. By getting a bamboo golf tee with no coating it is then fully biodegradable and many brands have plenty of nifty ways so you still know the colour/size of the tee.
2. The Importance Of Golf Tee Length
After finding the right material the next thing to consider is the length of the tee. The average clubhead on a driver is between 440CC-460CC you will need to find a tee that allows you to set up at a correct height to hit the sweet spot and allow for maximum distance and ball control, tee lengths vary from 4 to 10 cm (1.5 to 4 inches) and each one is geared towards a specific shot and swing.
A longer tee allows you to tee the golf ball at a higher distance from the ground, while also placing enough of the tee into the ground to provide stability. A long tee is better for larger clubs like drivers while you may want a shorter tee for iron shots from the tee box. The best thing to do is get fit by a pro, or, go to your local range and spend time with different heights to work out what's best for you.
3. What Are The Different Styles of Golf Tees?
There are certainly a lot of different new styles of tees to reduce many different issues you may be facing and although some of these have bold claims and may help if you’re a beginner some of these styles aren’t legal and cannot be used in competition.
What Is A Straight Tee In Golf?
The Straight tee is the go-to with simply a straight spike and cap to place a ball. The height can be adjusted by pushing it deeper into the ground. However, it can be more difficult to get the height consistently the same.
What Size Are Castle Tees?
These golf tees are shaped like, you guessed it, a castle, and can only be pushed into the ground so far. This helps with the consistency of tee height however is not legal in competition.
What Is a Brush-t For?
These tees are very different from your usual as they have plastic bristles protruding upward. Golfers use these to reduce friction and increase distance.
Zero Friction Golf Tees
This tee has multiple prongs sticking up and like the brush tee, this is used to add some distance to your ball.
The final thing to consider is the colour and markings on the tees. Some tees on the market come with an array of markings usually in horizontal lines to help you tee up at an exact height. If you’re finding you have times where the ball flight is too high or low take a look at getting one of these. There’s also the option of the castle tee as these heights are already predetermined.