Golf tee glossary.
Plain-English definitions of every term that comes up when you talk about golf tees.
- Angle of attack (AoA)
- The vertical angle at which the clubhead approaches the ball at impact. Positive = ascending strike (good for driver). Negative = descending strike (good for irons). Tee height directly influences AoA.
- Ball-bottom height
- The height of the lower pole of the ball above the ground or mat surface when teed up. Our preferred spec because it is unambiguous.
- Ball position
- Where the ball sits relative to your stance (forward, center, back). Independent of tee height but interacts with it for the overall strike condition.
- Castle tee
- Short, broad tee with a flat top, designed for irons. Typically 1⅛" to 1½" long.
- Crown
- The top of a driver head. "Half the ball above the crown" is the classic guideline for driver tee height.
- Cup
- The concave top of the tee where the ball sits. Better Golf Tee uses a cradle cup designed to release cleanly on impact.
- Driver tee
- A tee tall enough to support a driver swing. Typically 2" or longer wooden tees; in our system, the 1¾" ball-bottom SKU.
- Flyaway
- What happens when an unanchored tee launches off the mat after a strike, often landing 20 feet away. The problem that tethered tees solve.
- Launch angle
- The vertical angle at which the ball leaves the club face. Measured by all consumer launch monitors. Tee height directly affects it.
- Launch monitor
- A device that measures ball flight data: launch angle, ball speed, spin, carry distance. Examples: SkyTrak, Garmin R10, FlightScope Mevo, Rapsodo MLM, TrackMan.
- Mat tee
- Any tee designed to work on a synthetic hitting mat (vs a grass tee box). Includes rubber range tees, surface-sit tees (BirTee, Tomahawk), and tethered systems like Better Golf Tee.
- Range mat
- A hitting mat at a public driving range. Typically heavier-duty than home simulator mats; expected to take thousands of strikes per day.
- Reddy Tee
- The original commercially successful one-piece wooden tee, patented by William Lowell Sr. in 1925. The shape that defined every wooden tee since.
- Simulator mat
- A hitting mat designed for home or commercial golf simulators. Typically softer and more realistic-feeling than a range mat; lifespan with a single user is 5+ years.
- Sand tee
- The pre-1899 method: a small cone of damp sand on which the ball was balanced. Replaced by Grant's wooden tee.
- Shore hardness
- The standard scale for measuring rubber and elastomer hardness. Shore A 95 (TPU 95A) is roughly the hardness of a hard tire compound. Shore A 60 is the softness of a pencil eraser.
- Smash factor
- Ball speed divided by club speed. A measure of strike efficiency. ~1.5 is good for a driver, ~1.0 for a wedge. Mostly a function of strike location, not tee height directly.
- Spin rate
- The rotational velocity of the ball at launch, measured in RPM. Lower spin = more carry for the driver. Tee height affects spin: higher tee, lower spin (generally).
- Surface tee
- A tee that sits on top of the mat without penetrating. BirTee, Tomahawk NEO. Different from a tethered or spiked tee like Better Golf Tee.
- Tether
- A cord connecting the tee to an anchor (in our case, the caddy). Prevents flyaway.
- Tee box / teeing area
- The marked area at the start of a hole where a player tees up. On grass; not a mat.
- Tracking
- The gradual grooving or compression of synthetic grass at the spot where a tee repeatedly sits. The visible "worn spot" on aging range mats.
- TPU (thermoplastic polyurethane)
- A class of polymers that combine rubber-like flexibility with plastic-like processability. The Better Golf Tee material at Shore A 95.
- USGA Rule 6.2c
- The rule governing tees in The Rules of Golf. 4-inch maximum, no alignment aids, no mechanical assistance.
- Wooden tee
- The traditional one-piece tee, almost always made of birch. Designed for grass tee boxes. Does not work on synthetic hitting mats.