Can a Tee Make a Difference?

Earlier in the year at the PGA Merchandise Show in Orlando there was quite a few companies displaying tees promising extra distance and better dispersion. I picked up a selection of the tees just to see how effective they might be.

Here's a selection of some of the tees. In order to test the tees I kept a few of the variables constant. I used the same golf ball, Titleist Pro V1 2011 version, for all shots. Used the same driver Titleist 913 D3 9.5 degrees of loft and a Graphite Design Tour AD Di-7 S-Flex 45 inch shaft and kept the tee height constant with all shots.

The shots were hit on the evening of the 9th of June with little wind and a temperature of around 19 degrees celsius. Excellent conditions for testing.

All shots were recorded using the Trackman 111 launch monitor. I hit 12 drives with each, the reason being balls are normally sold by the dozen and in a standard round of golf you might expect to hit 12 drives, taking away 4 par 3's and a couple of holes where a fairway wood might be used.

The Trackman figures that are of interest are Club Head Speed, Ball Speed, Spin Rate, Launch Angle, Carry, Total Distance and distance from target. An average was taken of the parameters and compared to see if there would be a difference between the various tees.

Testing

The first tee tested was the traditional 2 3/4 inch wooden tee. It would be also used as the control to compare the tees to.

Tee	Club Speed (mph)	Ball Speed (mph)	Launch Angle	Spin Rate (rpm)	Carry (yards)	Total Distance (yards)	Lateral Distance from Target (feet)
Wooden	103.1	152.4	11.8	2332	243.7	269.7	25.95

The second tee tested was the Epoch tee by Evolve Golf. www.evolvegolf.com

From the website.

'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.'

Tee	Club Speed (mph)	Ball Speed (mph)	Launch Angle	Spin Rate (rpm)	Carry (yards)	Total Distance (yards)	Lateral Distance to Target (feet)
Epoch	103.4	151.1	11.7	2421	242.9	267.7	25.58

The third tee was the Zarma Fly Tee Pro from Champ. http://champspikes.com/products/golf/accessories/fly-tees/zarma-flyteepro/

From the website

'The new CHAMP FLYteePro is a well-engineered high performance golf tee with a soft shock absorbing color tip on a low friction 6 prong head. With exceptional distance and accuracy golfers of any caliber will see improvement in their game. Designed with a virtually indestructible polymer this is the last golf tee you will ever need.'

Tee	Club Speed (mph)	Ball Speed (mph)	Launch Angle	Spin Rate (rpm)	Carry (yards)	Total Distance (yards)	Lateral Distance to Target (feet)
Fly Tee	103.4	152.4	11.3	2337	245.7	273.7	16.16

The fourth tee was the Totem Tee, www.totemtee.com

From the website

Totem Tees offer the following benefits:

• Legendary distance due to significantly reduced spin rate
• Unparalleled accuracy as a result of a tighter dispersion pattern...even in strong winds
• Less club head deflection
• More accurate ball strike
• Promotes a better angle of attack
• 
  
   
  
  

Tee	Club Speed (mph)	Ball Speed (mph)	Launch Angle	Spin Rate (rpm)	Carry (yards)	Total Distance (yards)	Lateral Distance to Target (feet)
Totem	102.7	152.2	11.7	2375	246.3	272.5	22.47

The fifth tee was the Firecracker Tee from Kiwi Golf. kiwigolf.com

From the website

'Straighter and Longer with maximum smash factor.'

Tee	Club Speed (mph)	Ball Speed (mph)	Launch Angle	Spin Rate (rpm)	Carry (yards)	Total Distance (yards)	Lateral Distance to Target (feet)
Firecracker	103.3	153.1	11.4	2499	248	273.7	30.04

The sixth and final tee in this test was the Flex Head Tee, http://www.flex-head.com/

From the Website

'Consistent Heights, Flexible, Unbreakable for Life.'

Tee	Club Speed (mph)	Ball Speed (mph)	Launch Angle	Spin Rate (rpm)	Carry (yards)	Total Distance (yards)	Lateral Distance to Target (feet)
Flex Head	103.1	153.2	11.2	2570	247.2	272.2	36.74

Collated Results

 

Tee	Club Speed (mph)	Ball Speed (mph)	Launch Angle	Spin Rate (rpm)	Carry (yards)	Total Distance (yards)	Lateral Distance to Target (feet)
Wooden	103.1	152.4	11.8	2332	243.7	269.7	25.95
Fly Tee	103.4	152.4	11.3	2337	245.7	273.7	16.16
Firecracker	103.3	153.1	11.4	2499	248	273.7	30.04
Totem	102.7	152.2	11.7	2375	246.3	272.5	22.47
Flex Head	103.1	153.2	11.2	2570	247.2	272.2	36.74
Epoch	103.4	151.1	11.7	2421	242.9	267.7	25.58

With the results collated into one table above we can compare easily. The club head speeds are very consistent with only a variance of 0.68% between the top speed and bottom speed, this would give an indication that a similar swing was put on all the shots.

The tees do give a slight variance in results.

The Fly Tee and the Firecracker were the longest, giving a total distance of 273.7 yards, 6 yards longer than the Epoch. The Firecracker gave the longest carry of 248 yards, 5.1 yards longer than the Epoch.

The highest ball speed came from the Flex Head tee 153.2 mph, 2.1 mph faster than the Epoch.

The lowest spinning tee was the traditional wooden tee with 2332 rpms, 238 rpms less than the Flex Head.

The Fly Tee had the best dispersion averaging only 16.16 feet from the target line and 20.58 feet closer to the target than the Flex Head.

Conclusion

The question which needs to be asked is how much of the differences in results are down to the tees and how much are down to the striking of the player? You might surmise that hitting 12 shots with each driver would deliver a consistency to the results but with a small sample size this mightn't be the case.

Also the last tee tested was the Flex Head which had the worst dispersion results, this could be attributed to the test subject tiring, having had hit close to 100 drives at over 100mph at that stage.

One of the advantages of the Epoch, Fly Tee, Flex Head tees are their durability, lasting much longer than the wooden and Totem tees. The Firecracker didn't seem to that durable at the start with a couple breaking easily but the third tee lasted easily for the rest of the test.

The Firecracker Tee, which has the ball sitting in a nice cradle, seems to invite the player to launch the ball and did give the longest carry.

The best performing tee was the Zarma Fly Tee Pro with excellent distance results and even better dispersion results. Even with potential test inconsistencies isn't it worth trying a simple piece of equipment that would give a yard or two more distance and a yard or two more accuracy!!

Any questions or comments are always welcome.