In my time as an equipment tester for THP I have been asked to review at least 3 different kinds of tees, each time I’ve been given some tees with height adjustable stoppers to ensure I get the same tee height each time I tee up my golf ball. So far each time I have said that I understand and appreciate the concept, but so far each tee has left a little to be desired and I’ve eventually found myself back to the old trusty wooden tee. In comes Evolve Golf with their Epoch-S3 tee, what we have with the Epoch S-3 is another plastic tee that offers golfers a way to help ensure a consistent tee height for each tee shot, the Epoch S-3 offerings do not stop there however. Is this finally the tee that will supplant the trusty wood colored wooden tee for me? We shall see…
Let me preface this review by saying that I do not like plastic tees. The ground around where I play all of my golf is usually too hard making it difficult to get the tee into the tee box, teeing up my golf ball should not be work as far as I’m concerned. Now that we’ve got that out of the way I can tell you about my experience with the Epoch S-3 tee. It’s plastic so already I’m thinking “oh great” but from the minute I opened the package I could tell this was not your average plastic tee. The tee is much more sturdy and durable than any of the plastic tees I’ve used in the past, immediately I’m starting to think this thing just might stand a chance. Also different about the S-3 is there are no annoying discs or stoppers to try to hassle with while trying to determine your preferred tee height, that is good because as about any golfer knows there are way too many different variables in play that dictate how high the ball should be tee’d up on any given hole. Into the wind you’ll tee it a little lower, uphill tee shots also generally get tee’d a little lower as well in an effort to keep the flight down and gain more roll. On the flip side if you’re downwind or downhill you’ll almost certainly want to tee it just a touch higher than usual so you can get the ball up higher and take advantage of your conditions. Instead the Epoch S-3 promises you a way to gauge your preferred height without the added need of a disc; we’ll talk more about that later.
From Evolve Golf:
The Epoch is the only performance tee with radius posts that span the width of a golf ball dimple. This unique feature creates the lowest coefficient of friction of any tee, eliminating deflection at impact and increasing ball speed and control off the tee.
The head of a standard tee cannot possible cause a great deal of friction, can it? I am no scientist so I didn’t do any research on this one so I’ll just take the company’s word for it. Golfers are always looking for any little advantage in that elusive hunt for more distance. While I didn’t necessarily notice any increase in distance using the Epoch S-3 I certainly didn’t have any issues with the design of the head either.
Tour Success
The first Epoch was introduced on the PGA TOUR in January, 2004. Evolve Golf promised the tour players a better golf tee that would increase their ball launch speed, reduce spin, and provide pure control off the tee. A few players put the epoch in play that first week. Fast forward to today, Epoch exceeded 100 wins on the major tours. Evolve Golf does not pay players to play the Epoch. They simply choose to tee up the Epoch when it matters the most.
I mentioned the system the Epoch S-3 has for ensuring a consistent height; this is what they call the Sweet Spot System. On the tee are 4 stripes, go to their website at www.evolvegolf.com and input your driver model and type into their Sweet Spot System and it will come back with your recommended teeing position to help ensure contact with your driver’s sweet spot each time. I liked this system much better than the other height adjustable tees I have used, it allowed me to know which spot would be best but also allowed me to easily adjust to the elements I was playing in.
A little unexpected surprise of the Epoch tee was the inclusion of a short 1.5 inch tee designed for irons and hybrids. This little tee is really cool, plain and simple. I refuse to use a perfectly good wooden tee for a shot with an iron because I know without a doubt that the tee will be broken, I’ll usually hunt around the box until I find a broken tee that I can get to work out, sometimes even wasting time in the process. This little inch and a half tee is absolutely perfect for iron and hybrid shots, in the pack was 10 of them and they are just as durable and sturdy as the 2.75 inch tees. I did have a problem with the little ones though, finding them after I hit was almost always a chore as these babies often times popped out and flew up to about 10 yards in some cases. We joked about having a tee spotter instead of a ball spotter standing behind us whenever we used them. Most of the time I found them ok and it definitely did not take away from the fact that these little tees were great!
Overall Evolve Golf has put out the most durable and sturdy plastic tee I have ever used. I passed a few of these tees out to playing partners during my testing and everyone felt the same as I did, they loved them. I did manage to break a couple but given their purpose in life I think it’s only understandable that a tee is going to break once in a while. The Sweet Spot System is a great feature that can really help those who might struggle with getting a consistent height for their tee shots. While I did not use that system as much, I still found it nice to know my recommended position for straight away tee shots without much wind or elevation changes. One last thing about the Epoch tee that I absolutely loved was how sharp the point of the tee is, people sort of chuckled at me when I told them how much I liked that aspect but in reality it is great. During a round I use the point of my tee to clean my grooves of my irons quite often, many times with wooden tees the points aren’t sharp enough to get all the way to the bottom of my groove, not the case with the Epoch S-3 though, these tees are sharp enough to clean any groove as well as easily find their way into the teeing surface of even the hardest of tee boxes I play on. So did the tee give me that magical 5 to 10 yard increase in distance? No, I wouldn’t really say it did, but it really delivered in every other area possible, and in the end I can finally stop saying that I hate plastic tees. The Epoch tees are available in online golf shops with an MSRP of $6.99 for a 50 tee pack (40 long and 10 short).
Jason K.
man, great review! i have some of these that i’ll be unveiling at the outing. i never knew about the sweet spot system, and i’ll certainly be checking that out immediately.
Thanks for the info, Jason. This company makes a great tee.
I am looking forward to seeing these guys in person in a couple days. Until recently I have always used the “Stinger” wooden tee’s but perhaps I’ll go this route if they are as durable as reported.
Thanks for the write-up!
Great review Jason!! I have been using the original epoch tees for about 6 months and I absolutely love them and will not go back to wooden tees again. I am glad you mentioned the sweet spot system, I check it out and it is both easy and quite informative.
Very cool. I liked the epoch tees that I tried out because they were so durable. If these last the same and help me with consistent ball position they might win me over.
Great stuff J! Definitely going to check out the sweet spot system as well
Great review P4B. I cant wait to see how the sweet spot system works for me! well, once I borrow one of those tees from you this weekend. hehe
If I’m shelling out the $$ for plastic tees (which don’t offer any performance enhancement over wood in my opinion), it’s because the tee will be more durable and will last longer than wood tees which often break after a swing or two. Epoch tees often break after several, swings, and sometimes after one swing, while Zero Friction tees often can be used for several rounds, and usually much longer. I’ll take the ZFs over the Epochs anytime. No comparison on durability in my opinion.
Great review P4B. I currently use another plastic tee and love it, but can’t wait to try these bad boys. I did try the system and it keeps hanging up at “Select Year”. For some reason it wont let me past that to show results, but I’ll try these in Florida. Thanks for the info.
Excellent review and Rick I completely disagree. I used the ZF tees too and they in no way are even comparable in quality or function to the Epoch tees. Most of the time the ball will just fall off the ZF tees while this never happens with the Epoch tees. Sometimes ZF tees bend while trying to get them into the tee box, because theyre cheap. Then they get bend up easy too. Sure Epoch tees break at some point, so what. Theyre excellent tees IMO.
OEM Kevin, I agree with you. I am not the tester in this article, but I have tried both tees and the ZF’s are constantly bending, yet I can get multiple rounds out of the Epoch every single time I use one. Its a rarity for me to break one ever.
For me the difference was not even close in the aspect of getting the tee into the ground, which has always been my biggest complaint of a plastic tee. The ZF and other plastic tees I’ve reviewed always bend way too much for me. The Epoch did no such bending and I had no problem with playing 1 tee for the entire round, even the short ones survived being hit with irons!
Loved the online sweet spot system! Nice review Jason!
Great review…like you, I’ve tried plastic tees before and never cared for them. After reading this, however, I’m looking to give these a try.
I agree that the ZF tee bends more than the Epoch, and as such is tougher to insert into firm or hard turf. Also, the “prong” top is tougher to balance a ball on than the Epoch cup top. The Epochs have it all over the ZFs in those 2 areas–stiffer tees(easier to insert into turf), less flimsy, and better cup to balance the ball on. But my problem with the Epochs has been breakage and durability, and this has led to me not paying the extra $$ for them. However, I will try the new generation Epochs because if they’re more durable, it’s a slam dunk, and will justify the extra expense for plastic tees! I currently use wood tees. I’ll give tne new Epochs a try. Forgot to mention before that the review was, as usual, objective and informative !! Good work!
I like the concept of matching your club model to a specific height. Since I got the Superfast I have received a lot of unsolicited advice on tee height. Going to try these.
I love plastic tees.
Maybe you should change the page name title
Evolve Golf S3 Tee Review | The Hackers Paradise to something more specific for your subject you write. I enjoyed the post all the same.