It’s the start of another round of golf at your local club. You are full of optimism that today is going to be the day that you finally crack this incredible but frustrating game.
You reach into your bag to grab a tee for the first hole to find that you have less than you thought. Why might this be? Well, its probably because they snap incredibly easily but should they?
If you are wondering why golf tees break so easily then you’ve come to the right place. Today we are going to be looking at why tees break and how you can fix the problem. Let’s take a look.
Are You Supposed To Break The Golf Tee?
Breaking your golf tees during your swing is not necessarily a bad thing. However, it can be a sign of problems in your swing during the impact with the ball.
If you have been struggling in your game and have noticed that you are breaking more tees, it may be time to reassess your swing.
Keep reading below to understand why you break your golf tees. But first lets take a look at the different golf tees and their impact on your game.
Different Types Of Golf Tees
Before we look at why golf tees break and how to avoid breaking them, it’s important to recognize the different types of golf tees and how easily each one snaps. 99% of golf tees are made of either wood or plastic, however, there are certainly more variants when it comes to plastic tees.
Wooden Tees
Wooden tees are fairly standardized across the board and usually measure up at around 2-4 inches. These are the choice for many golfers due to how easily they slot into the ground and the fact that they don’t do as much environmental damage as plastic tees. However, wooden tees break far easier than plastic tees and can snap in various sections.
Plastic Tees
There are various types of plastic tees, including anti-slice tees and brush tees. The standard plastic tee works much in the same way as the standard wooden tee except they can be slightly tougher to slot into the ground but far more durable and reusable. They can sometimes snap through the middle but they are more likely to break at the top than anywhere else.
Graduated Golf Tees
Graduated golf tees come in both plastic and wood and are golf tees that have ridges in them to give golfers the perfect height for their tee shots.
You can get graduated tees for both woods and irons, meaning you don’t need to worry about the height of your tee ever again.
Three Reasons Why You Break Golf Tees
Now that you are clued up on the different tees available to you and where they are most likely to snap, it’s time to look at why they snap. Here are the three most common reasons:
1.) Hitting Down On The Ball
The most common reason for breaking your tees is because you are hitting down on the ball, instead of hitting through the ball.
Not only is this going to lose you yards on your drives but it will also result in multiple broken tees.
When you hit down on the ball from your tee shot then you are going to hit the ball AND the tee which causes the snap.
When you hit through the golf ball, you aren’t going to hit much of the tee at all meaning it is more likely to stay intact.
The interesting thing here is the fact that when you are teeing off with an iron, you are going to want to hit down on the ball.
Therefore, if you are teeing off with an iron (usually on a par 3) then the sight of a broken tee will usually mean that you have hit the shot properly.
However, if you see one after you’ve teed off with a driver, then you will have either not hit it very far or sliced your shot massively.
2.) Your Tee Height
Another common reason for breaking your tees is to do with your tee height. The height of your golf tee is important for many reasons.
Not only will golf tee placement impact if you break your tee, more importantly, it will have a major influence on your shot.
Placing your tee too high may prevent tees from breaking, but it can also lead to mishits. Place your tee too low and you may end up chunking your shot.
Proper tee placement can make all the difference in your game as well as influence how many tees you break.
With so many different types of clubs, it can be hard to determine the proper tee height for each shot.
A general rule of thumb for tee placement for woods is a third of the ball should be above the club.
This tee height will be the best for your shot as well as prevent tees from breaking.
Tee placement for irons should be much closer to the ground. Your tee should be positioned to allow just enough space to get your iron underneath the ball. Teeing your ball too high will help prevent tees break but will also lead to mishits.
3.) The Ground Is Too Firm
The final reason for your tees breaking is to do with the ground at the course you play on.
When you play golf after a few days of no rain, the ground is naturally going to be very firm.
In fact, sometimes it can even seem impossible to get a tee properly into the ground to take your shot.
When you do finally get it into the ground, it is going to feel like it is almost wedged in and incredibly stiff.
This means that any sudden movement to the tee is going to cause it to snap in half. During your swing, this sudden movement will occur and the tee will break.
How To Stop Breaking Golf Tees
To stop breaking golf tees, you need to address the issues we’ve discussed above and look at how to prevent each one from occurring.
The first thing that you can do is perfect your swing so that you stop hitting down on the ball with your clubs.
To do this, we recommend setting up with a wider stance and teeing off with the ball in line with your left heel. Get down to the range to practice until this feels natural.
The second thing you can do is invest in those graduate tees that we discussed earlier. These will guarantee that you tee off on every hole with the optimum tee height, meaning that you are unlikely to break them due to incorrect tee height/placement.
In regard to firm ground, the only thing you can do is stop playing when the ground is particularly hard. However, for the sake of a couple of broken tees, this really isn’t worth it as you can’t beat a round of golf on a nice summer’s day.
Final Thoughts
To summarize, there are three key reasons why golf tees regularly break:
- Hitting down on the ball
- Incorrect tee height
- Firm ground
We hope that you now have a better understanding of why your golf tees keep breaking and the steps you need to take to fix the issue. If you liked this article, check out our other blog posts!
