Fairway wood tee height.
Most fairway woods played off the tee want 1 inch ball-bottom.
The short answer
1 inch (25.4 mm) ball-bottom. That is the same height as our mini driver tee.
Why one inch and not more
A fairway wood off the tee is not a small driver. The driver is the only club in the bag you are trying to hit on the way up, with a positive angle of attack, which is why it wants the ball teed near the top of the clubface. A 3-wood, 5-wood or 7-wood is built to be struck level or very slightly descending, with the ball compressed against the face rather than swept off the top of it.
At 1 inch of ball-bottom the equator of the ball sits near the middle of a fairway wood crown. The club can reach the back of the ball without the leading edge sliding underneath it. That is the whole target.
What goes wrong when it is too high
Tee a 3-wood at driver height and the face arrives under the equator. You add dynamic loft, the strike climbs toward the crown, and you get the shot every golfer recognises: high, short, and weak, with a scuff mark on the top of the club. Launch goes up, spin goes down, carry falls off. The miss feels like a mishit because it is one, but the cause was the tee, not the swing.
What goes wrong when it is too low
Flush on a mat is worse than slightly high. With no tee at all the sole of the club can catch the mat surface before the ball, and on a mat that contact does not produce a divot. It produces a bounce. See below.
Why a hitting mat changes the answer
On grass a fat shot digs. The turf absorbs the error, you take a divot behind the ball, and the shot comes up obviously short. You get honest feedback. A hitting mat has a dense rubber underlayer that does not yield the same way, so a fat strike makes the sole skid or bounce off the mat and into the back of the ball. The result can look and feel acceptable while hiding a strike error you would be punished for on the course. A consistent, repeatable tee height is the cheapest way to stop guessing which of your shots were real.
| Club | Ball-bottom | Intended strike |
|---|---|---|
| Driver | 1¾ in (44.5 mm) | Ascending |
| Mini driver | 1 in (25.4 mm) | Level |
| 3-wood, 5-wood, 7-wood | 1 in (25.4 mm) | Level to slightly descending |
| Hybrid | ½ in (12.7 mm) | Slightly descending |
| Mid and short irons | ¼ in (6.4 mm) or flush | Descending |
Setting it the same way every time
The point of a fixed-height tee is that you stop adjusting. A pushed-in rubber tee or a wooden tee in a mat hole is a different height on every swing, and a quarter inch of drift is enough to move your launch numbers. If you are recording data on a launch monitor, an inconsistent tee puts noise into every session you compare.
Should a 3-wood be teed at the same height as a driver?
No. A driver is struck on the way up and sits high. A 3-wood is struck level to slightly descending and wants about 1 inch of ball-bottom, roughly the middle of the crown.
Can you hit a fairway wood off a mat with no tee at all?
You can, but a mat punishes it differently to grass. Without a tee the sole can contact the mat first and bounce into the ball, which hides a fat strike rather than exposing it.
Does fairway wood tee height change on a par 3?
Not meaningfully. The club dictates the height, not the hole. If you are hitting a 5-wood into a long par 3, 1 inch of ball-bottom still applies.