Why tee height might decide the 2024 Open Championship

Welcome to Shaving Strokes, a GOLF.com sequence during which we’re sharing enhancements, learnings and takeaways from newbie golfers identical to you — together with a few of the velocity bumps and challenges they confronted alongside the best way.

One thing so simple as tee top won’t trigger a lot anxiousness for you or me on the golf course, however on the 2024 Open Championship, it may very well be the distinction between hoisting the Claret Jug and never.

Certain, there are many elements that gamers might want to cope with — with the unpredictable climate being amongst an important, in addition to the deadly bunkers — however for that purpose, each single choice (large and small) might be pivotal over the subsequent few days.

With situations anticipated to be moist and wet with a gradual wind, how a participant tees it up will assist decide their ball flight. Ought to they hold it larger within the air, it could be impacted by the climate and result in a tough second shot. However tee it decrease, and the ball could keep away from a lot of the nasty climate, resulting in extra fairways hit — and the power to remain aggressive on method pictures.

So how essential is tee top on the Open Championship? GOLF Prime 100 Trainer David Woods explains under, and says the gamers who keep away from the temptation to attempt to bomb it with their driver may very well be those seeing essentially the most success at Royal Troon.

How tee top will impression this yr’s Open Championship

Now that the 152nd Open Championship is underway, anybody watching the primary spherical understands how tough a take a look at Royal Troon is. The course has eaten gamers up, with lots of the prime decisions to win the match taking pictures means over par on Thursday.

However the course isn’t the one tough half, because the climate in Scotland is notoriously unpredictable, throwing a mixture of wind, rain and sunshine at gamers — which makes it even more durable to get right into a groove throughout a spherical.

So what’s it going to take to win this yr’s closing main championship? A number of endurance, because the winner should navigate the weather and keep away from lethal bunkers.

That’s why hitting fairways at Royal Troon is much more essential than different locations — and all of it begins with a participant’s tee top.

The Open Championship course is all the time totally different from others that these gamers often compete on every week. As an alternative of teeing it excessive and flexing their muscle tissue with the motive force, doing the other could also be the very best technique this week.

As an illustration, Rory McIlroy spoke earlier this week about two sorts of tee pictures that he tends to make use of.

The primary is a excessive towering bomb, the place he tees the ball barely larger and maintains a good quantity of proper aspect bend in his downswing — which permits him to hit up on the ball for a excessive launch angle and low-spinning bomb.

However the second kind of tee shot is extra of a fairway finder, the place he makes use of a decrease tee top. When utilizing this different kind of drive, he retains each his proper aspect and proper hip larger through the downswing, which helps him “cowl the ball” — which successfully reduces his angle of assault.

Whereas any such tee shot could journey decrease and shorter with extra spin, it additionally offers McIlroy a larger feeling of management to seek out extra fairways — which is particularly essential on the Open Championship with the intention to keep away from the blustery situations.

Sadly, McIlroy struggled in Spherical 1 (taking pictures a shocking seven-over 78). Whether or not it was on account of dangerous decision-making, poor execution, or just a little little bit of each, he’ll must regroup heading into Spherical 2 on Friday.

Regardless of McIlroy’s struggles, different gamers had been in a position to efficiently alter their tee top and ball-striking technique on Thursday — like Shane Lowry and Justin Thomas, who’re each close to the highest of the leaderboard. So count on to see a number of this through the subsequent few days.

The truth is, I vividly bear in mind Henrik Stenson hitting low-trapped 3-woods at Royal Troon in 2016 to edge Phil Mickelson for the Open Championship. As they are saying, imitation is the sincerest type of flattery — so gamers could be sensible to observe an identical recreation plan this week.

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