Symptom: You hit your tee shot from the middle of the tee box on every hole. But you have far too many missed fairways, especially on doglegs.
You say, “But I hit a good shot, it just rolled too far…” And so once again you are hacking it out of the thick stuff instead of playing from the short grass…
Description: Tee up your ball within the tee box strategically, depending on the shot you intend, or are likely, to hit. Don’t just tee it up in the middle of the tee box. Straighten out the hole as much as you can by teeing up on one side or the other of the tee box.
Why it works: You can alter the angle of a dogleg-right hole in your favor by teeing the ball up on the left side of the tee box (vice versa for a dogleg-left hole). You should always take advantage of this rule of golf.
Essential Tee Shot Angles
Jason Day straightens the dogleg right hole by teeing up on the left side of the tee box.
Think of it like in billiards, when you place the cue ball to your best advantage after your opponent scratches. You pay a lot of attention to where you put that cue ball so as to give yourself the best possible angle. You have the ball in your hand and you can put it down within a predefined area of the pool table. The exact same thing applies to your tee shot in golf. You have a ball in your hand, you can tee it up within a predefined box as you see fit. So please take good advantage of this rule of golf.
Furthermore, sometimes the tee box isn’t level everywhere. You surely don’t want to be standing in a hole for your tee shot, or in a puddle, or in the mud, or whatever. Or sometimes you want to favor the right or left side of the fairway due to the wind, or because you are playing a fade or a draw, or because you are not using your driver, or because out-of-bounds runs along one side of the fairway**, or whatever.
No matter what the particulars, pick your teeing spot and your aiming point carefully and deliberately. You will get better results, more often.
Jason Day Demonstration
Let’s have Jason Day demonstrate this for us, on the 18th hole at Augusta National. The ideal tee shot starts out at the bunkers in the distance and fades around the trees on the right. So where does he tee the ball? On the left side of the tee box, of course, because that straightens out the dogleg for him a bit. Have a look:
Turn Your Tee Shot Into A Lucrative Money Maker
**It can be very effective when playing for money, to helpfully point out to your playing partners that you teed up your ball on the left side of the box, to avoid the OB on the left side of the fairway. Do this just after you hit a successful drive and just before your buddy is about to tee up his ball.
He won’t be able to deny the wisdom of your strategy, and you have just snuck a negative thought into his head before his tee shot. (Note: Not responsible for any damages resulting from this tactic!).
Did you like this article? Promise not to just set up in the middle of the tee box next time out? Will you give the tee box strategy a bit of thought, just as you would if you were playing billiards? Then tell your friends! Like, Tweet, Pin, or Email below!
