Are You Doing These 3 Things Before Hitting Your Drive?

It’s common for most golfers to drive up to the next hole, grab their driver, walk onto the tee box, tee it up and let it fly.

But before you quickly hit your tee shot, you should first consider 3 important setup steps to help you hit better golf shots.

Surprisingly these 3 golf tee box tips can actually save you from scoring bad on a hole, just by slowing down and thinking things through better.

Tip #1: Choosing Where to Tee It Up

The first thing you need to think about on the tee box at a golf course is where to tee it up. There are tee markers placed on the tee box and the rules of golf state that you must tee the ball up behind these tee markers and within them.

This means no teeing it up ahead of the markers as this is a one stroke penalty. And if you tee up outside the width (space between the two tee markers) this is also a penalty.

But it gets deeper than just staying in the boundary to avoid a penalty. You also need to think about strategy.

Most golfers will just tee the ball up in the center between the two tee markers but sometimes it’s actually smarter to tee up closer to one side than the other.

To help you decide, start with analyzing where you are trying to aim your golf shot. If you are trying to avoid hitting it to the left side of the fairway due to water hazards or bunkers, then maybe you should tee the ball up closer to the right side of the tee box.

Tip #2: Setting the Correct Tee Height

Depending on which golf club you are using to tee off with, you’ll want to adjust your tee to the correct height to help you make a better, more accurate golf swing that maximizes distance.

For driver, you should set the tee height so that the golf ball sits half above the top edge of your driver’s face (leading edge). Half of the golf ball should be below the top edge of the driver face.

When playing fairway woods you should tee the ball lower so the ball is half above and half below the fairway head, similarly to your driver set up.

With irons, you want the tee barely sticking out of the ground so the ball is teed up slightly above the turf.

Using the right tee height will increase launch and help you hit the ball farther and with better accuracy. And if you find yourself struggling to hit the ball high, check on tee height. Maybe you’re setting the tee to low.

The one caveat for setting a tee low for your driver and fairway woods is when you’re attempting to hit a lower golf shot to fight wind. In this case, you should consider teeing the driver lower than normal.

Tip #3: Align Yourself Properly

Once you’ve picked out where to tee the ball from and you’ve set the ball at the correct tee height, it’s time to get into your golf stance and correctly align your stance to your target.

Most amateur golfers don’t take time to make sure they are properly aligned. No wonder they hit the golf ball right and then think it was pushed when in reality it was a straight shot, just aimed right by mistake.

Alignment is huge! It can really make a difference if you slow down, take your time to get alignment perfected, and make it a habit on the tee box.

To help with proper alignment, find a target to aim at out in the fairway. Next, find a blade of grass, or something laying on the ground in front of your ball that is on line with your target. Use this to help you get properly lined at your target.

Make sure your feet are properly aligned as well. Your feet line should be parallel to your ball’s target line.