Teeing up a ball whenever you can with a fairway wood or driver is a no-brainer. But what about on a par-3, when you tend to be hitting shorter clubs? Some players — especially those with steep swings and who are comfortable taking sizable divots — prefer to give the ball a good lie without using a tee. But should they?
I posed this question to Brian Manzella, a longtime GOLF Top 100 Teacher, at this week’s Top 100 Teachers Summit at Cabot Citrus Farms in Brooksville, Fla. His answer was quick and definitive: Yes.
“If you tee it up pretty low, like it’s just a really good lie, and as long as you can’t make a great swing and hit it way up the face — which isn’t going anywhere no matter what club — as long as you tee it low enough that that’s not the issue, it probably triples or quadruples [your chance of success] from the tee,” Manzella said.
Manzella said that some players think that because they practice their irons off the grass, they should hit shots that way whenever possible during rounds, but using a tee gives you an advantage that you shouldn’t ignore.
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“Whenever they made those original rules, they knew that [using a tee] was an advantage,” Manzella said. “You should absolutely do it, because I’ve done it both ways and there’s really no contest.”
There is one caveat, though: don’t go crazy with tee height. The key is to try to replicate a great lie. Manzella said the ball should ideally be almost imperceptibly hovering on the top of the grass.
“When you look at that ball, you go, boy, that’s the best lie I could have ever gotten in the whole world,” Manzella said. “Not: It’s on a tee.”
Ultimately, there’s one primary reason Manzella says using a tee is preferable.
“It just increases your chance to not hit a terrible shot, which at the end of the day, that’s why people shoot 80 instead of 70 or 90 instead of 80,” he said.
As Manzella noted, it’s not the good shots that often make the biggest difference in your score — it’s avoiding the disasters. And if teeing up the ball will help you do that, then it’s a good practice to adopt.
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