BigBear

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Currently struggling with short par 3s and distance control. Looking for advice and a bit of data.

Should you Tee it up or hit them from the deck? Is there any evidence that one is better than the other? Does your game plan change due to the weather, seasons, wind and scorecard?


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Currently struggling with short par 3s and distance control. Looking for advice and a bit of data.

Should you Tee it up or hit them from the deck? Is there any evidence that one is better than the other? Does your game plan change due to the weather, seasons, wind and scorecard?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

It depends how short. If I have a 9 iron or more in hand I'll usually tee it up. Anything under 9 iron I'm usually just hitting off the deck. I get scared of popping the ball up off of a tee with a wedge in hand.
 
I think it comes down to personally preference. My concern is similar to KEV's, but I always tee it up on any teebox, just keep the tee low on Par 3's. I always refer back to Gene Sarazen's quote. When it was pointed out to him that many top amateurs did not use a tee on Par 3's, his response was, "who's the amateur and who's the pro."
 
Always, always tee your ball up. But just enough to get a clean strike.

For distance control I try to tee the ball just barely above the ground, not too much higher than a normal fairway shot, so that the height of ball and contact point doesn't change too much. Height of contact on the face is key to distance control.

I don't swing all out, maybe 90% or less on short holes for control, this helps me with flighting the ball as desired. It also helps in wind and bad weather. I'll take one more club before going 100% on a wedge.
 
As Jack always said, "tee it up".

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I'm going to tee it up whenever I'm allowed. I might have to aim right because I know that I'm going to pull it left, but at least I'll get a good strike on the ball.
 
You're afforded a perfect lie 18 times per round. Why turn it down?
 
Always tee it up, gives me perfect lie every time.

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I might be a minority, but on wedges, I gently slam my blade into the turf to slightly elevate it. For some reason, it works better for me than a tee. I only do that with a wedge tee shot. Tees for every other iron...
 
Always tee it up. If you are having a issue with distance control, my rule is club up and swing easy.
 
Jack Knicklaus says tee it up.
 
I tee it up on any tee box
 
I pretty much always use a tee, with any iron or wedge it’s just barely above the turf anyway. But it’s a perfect lie and I just can’t not tee it up.
 
I always tee it up. Weather as to season may impact club selection but it never affects my decision to use a tee.
 
The chance at a perfect lie? I always tee it up.
 
The mistake most golfers make when teeing it up with an iron is to tee it up too high. It should be teed up as if the ball were just barely touching the top blades of grass - i.e. barely teed up at all.
 
I use a tee every time I have an opportunity!

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The mistake most golfers make when teeing it up with an iron is to tee it up too high. It should be teed up as if the ball were just barely touching the top blades of grass - i.e. barely teed up at all.

my playing partner in our 2-man scrambles likes to tee his iron higher than anyone I have seen tees their driver, almost at long drive contestant levels. I have tried to get him not to and his answer is always "I am afraid of topping it". Well...you are doing a good job of blading it, skying it, and chunking it with that tee height, why not try a much lower tee height and see if you top it...can't be worse than what you are doing. I wish I could convince him to tee it like you are talking.
 
Yep, tee it up, just above the grass.

Now, depending on how short the par 3 is, you might need less than a full swing with one of your wedges. I’m a huge believer of Dave Pelz short game Bible. He teaches 3 different repeatable swings of varying length. Each produces repeatable distances with each wedge. Check it out, you’d be surprised at how confident you can be when you know you have a swing for 40, 50, 55, 75 etc yards.
 
Wedges no tee. Everything else tee.
 
I always tee it up, even if i use a 56 deg wedge. I tee it on short irons where the bottom of the ball is even with the top of the ground, perfect lie every time.
 
Currently struggling with short par 3s and distance control. Looking for advice and a bit of data.

Should you Tee it up or hit them from the deck? Is there any evidence that one is better than the other? Does your game plan change due to the weather, seasons, wind and scorecard?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I heard some great advice (I think from Johnny Miller actually) during a PGA broadcast that has helped me tremendously. If the pin is up front, tee the ball up and hit a high shot. If the pin is back, play a lower shot that will land short and take a hop towards the back before stopping.

The high shot teed up, with a wedge or 9-iron on a short par 3, comes a bit out of the top of the club and tends to fly straight and just stops dead (as opposed to possibly spinning off the front of the green).
 
As Jack always said, "tee it up".

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Tee it up, most pros agree and IMO, only low single digit or plus index golfers should consider not teeing up an iron on a par 3. I typically tee up a wedge only about 1/4” or less. Why not have a perfect lie if you can.
 
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