Which Tee Height Produces The Longest Distance? We Found Out (Hint - It's Not The Highest)

For years, ‘tee it high, let it fly’ has been a golfing proverb many of us have lived by in hopes of maximising distance when hitting a driver. But does this one-size-fits-all approach to hitting the ball further actually carry any truth or is there more to this old adage?

As someone who plays golf in varying conditions throughout the calendar year and often plays around with tee height, I wanted to run a test to see just how much tee height influences driver performance.

I gathered my Foresight Sports GC3 launch monitor and six different heights of castle tees, ranging from 1-inch green tee to a 2 ¾ inch orange tee and took them to the Golf Monthly Performance Lab in order to see what the data actually says and eliminate any external variables.

Latest Videos From

Watch full video here:

The Experiment

For this test, I hit 5 drives with each off the specific tee heights and took the averages in order to reach a conclusion. The heights of the tees tested were as follows:

Green - 1", Red - 1.25", Blue - 1.5", White - 2", Pink - 2.25", Orange - 2.75".

I was looking closely at how tee height affected key metrics, including ball speed, spin rate, peak height, carry distance, and total distance.

The Low Tees

Starting with the lowest tee in my experiment - the 1-inch Green tee, and straight away it felt like a compromised setup, where the ball almost appeared as though it was on the deck. For this experiment, I was using Titleist Pro V1 golf balls and my TaylorMade Qi4D driver, which, like many of the best drivers on the market these days, is 460cc, and so naturally I was likely to see the strike somewhat low on the clubface.

The numbers reflected this struggle. My ball speed clocked in at 155.9 mph, and the spin rate was incredibly low at 1949 rpm, with the peak height measuring a mere 58 feet. The result? A shorter (for my standard) 258-yard carry and 284 yards total.

Moving slightly up to the 1 ¼-inch Red tee clawed back some of the ball speed I had lost on the shortest tee (160.6 mph) and moved the spin into a far more playable window of 2475 rpm, enhancing the total distance up to 293 yards.

The Middle Ground

As we moved into the middle ground of tee heights, the 1 ½-inch Blue and 2-inch White things started to stabilize, and I saw the metrics fall much closer to what I would typically see when using my 'standard' tee height (half a ball above the crown of the driver). My ball speeds settled in the 161 mph range, and the carry distances consistently hovered in the low 270s.

This is the height of tee where a lot of amateur golfers tend to live, where finding the center of the clubface requires little manipulation and simply returning the club to the address position at impact - easier said than done, I’m aware. The club did seem to find the center of the face fairly consistently, albeit, I knew there was still meat left on the bone.

The Sweet Spot

When I moved to the 2 ¼-inch Pink tee, that’s when I really saw the performance leap, and I felt truly back in my comfort zone. This height provided the absolute perfect recipe for my specific launch conditions and angle of attack - typically hitting the ball around 3 to 4° on the up with the driver.

My ball speed jumped to the highest that I’d seen so far in the session (162.8 mph), but more importantly, I was striking the ball ever so slightly higher on the face, which dropped the spin rate down to a far more efficient 2349 rpm. Due to the height of the tee, I was able to launch and fly the ball higher (104 feet peak height), and it was this combination of launch and spin that saw my yardage creep up to where I would like to see it out on the golf course.

My carry jumped to 283.7 yards, and the total distance maxed out at a massive 304.9 yards. By simply moving from a 1-inch tee to a 2 ¼-inch tee, I gained a staggering 25 yards of carry and 20 yards of total distance. No change in the driver, shaft, or clubhead speed (all between 111-113mph), simply teeing the ball up at a different height, saw me pick up yardage that most golfers would kill for!

The Tipping Point

Now I’ve hit what I would consider my usual/fairly optimum launch conditions with the 2 ¼-inch, I thought, surely I could only make more gains by using the tallest tee - the 2 ¾-inch Orange tee?

This is where I truly felt as though I’d busted the ‘tee it high and let it fly’ mantra. When I pegged it up to 2 ¾ inches, I all of a sudden really struggled to find consistency in strike and began changing my swing to compensate and try to make solid contact. In order not to just strike the ball off the top of the head, my mechanics shifted, and the data showed exactly that.

My ball speed dropped slightly, but it was the spin that was the real killer. My spin rate spiked to 2750 rpm, and the ball reached an average peak height of 125 feet. While you would think I could hit more up on the ball, effectively dropping spin, I found myself actually hitting slightly down on the ball to purely ensure contact, which was what was causing the spin to actually creep up.

Because I was searching for strike, I wasn’t hitting the ball efficiently, spinning it up and causing the ball to fly too high, which saw my carry number fall to 277.3 yards. The total also then plummeted to 297.3 yards - over 7 yards shorter than the Pink tee.

The Verdict

So, how much does tee height matter? The answer is quite simply, a lot.

I think the most important takeaway from this test is that while the ball speed gradually rose, as did the carry and total distances, there was clearly an optimal tee height for me and that will be the case for all golfers as we all swing the club differently. For some, that may be a higher tee, and for those with a more downward attack angle, it could be a lower tee.

What I found, though, was that there was a point of diminishing returns. Once I took the test to the highest tee after finding some really solid numbers with the pink tee, I struggled with strike and consistency, and that ultimately robbed me of distance.

So, the next time you head out to the driving range or for some practice on the golf course, don't just blindly grab a handful of tees and peg it at a random height. Spend some time experimenting with different tee heights and study the ball flights and the distances you’re hitting it, even better if you can spend some time analysing reliable data on one of the best launch monitors.

Recent PGA Championship winner, Aaron Rai, uses a pink castle tee, as he’s found that height gives him optimal launch conditions and allows him to consistently tee it up at the same height without guessing how far he’s actually pushing a regular tee into the ground.

Find the tee height that gives you that perfect high-launch, low-spin window as well as the most centered strikes, and once you find your version of the 2 ¼-inch Pink tee, stick to it. It’s the easiest (and most affordable) route to consistently longer distance you’ll ever gain.