Your reading it right! Tee it high to hit it low. Sounds counterintuitive, right? You tee it high to hit it high, but how can you tee it high and hit it low. Well, my good friends, I am about to tell you.

What we are looking for in hitting a ball directly into the wind, or trying to keep it low in a cross wind, is a low penetrating (ball doesn’t rise) bullet that holds its line as it bores through the wind. This means we are hitting a ball with really reduced spin. It is spin, caused by the ball rolling up the clubface as it leaves the club that really gives a higher launch angle. So, we have to find a way to hit it solid with reduced spin to hit low and penetrating shots to control the ball in the wind.

Let’s start by looking at what most golfers do to hit it low. They tee it low. A good low shot still has to get airborne. Hitting a worm burner is low, but all that ball contact rolling on the ground guarantees a real short drive. Teeing the ball low makes it difficult to get the ball impact high enough up the face to get adequate loft. Because of this, golfers are then forced, when teeing it low, to hit down on the ball to get it up. And up it goes! Hitting a Balloon Ball – it starts low and then rises into the wind – then, like hitting a wall, the wind knocks it down. Or they pop it up for a really short, nowhere drive.

Teeing it low, especially in these days of monster sized driver heads of way over 400cc’s, is a recipe for failure. Many of these big heads actually have the sweet spot high up on the clubface. Why? Because higher handicap golfers, swinging outside in, are swinging down and across the ball. With a higher sweet spot, they have a better chance of hitting it solid and getting that better feeling hit. But the big issue of what we are discussing here is that teeing it low with these huge heads makes hitting a solid, penetrating low shot off a low tee almost impossible.

Teeing it high is the answer. The key to hitting it low and long is hitting the ball in the equator, its center, with a longer, more level approach to and after impact. This levelness before and after impact is the key to getting that low penetrating ball flight needed to cut through the wind and most importantly, holding its line for maximum distance and direction.

We need a change in our setup to hit this sort of knockdown driver. The one and only way is to level off your shoulders more at address. (Note: choking down a little on the grip may help.) I do not widen my stance or change my ball position, as I want to make sure I hit the ball at my normal timing. Moving the ball back as many do, invites hitting down on the ball or catching it high on the face and you get too much launch height and likely with a lot of spin for a pop up or balloon ball. Conversely, if you move it forward, you hit it later than normal. And, with trying to keep your approach path more level, the club is likely to be moving upward at impact likely causing you to hit it thin, too low or even top it.

I do make a grip adjustment. I tighten, almost lock down, my right hand and forearm. This tighter than normal right hand and forearm is the way I create and control that longer, more level approach to impact to hit the ball on the equator, and stay level longer through impact to get that low penetrating ball flight. Naturally, you will need to practice and experiment to find the exact amount of lockdown tightness you need to hit this knockdown driver. Too tight will eventually swing the club too slow for descent distance, and will making topping it highly likely.

So, for hitting a low, penetrating driver into the wind, teeing it high is the key to hitting it low.

The Surge!

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