Left-Side Golf: Elevated Tees

It is not unusual for a course to have a par-3 hole where the tee is elevated above the green. This throws a wrinkle into your club selection, and that's not all. The way you play the shot needs to change, too.

A golf ball in flight obviously has a vertical component of motion and a horizontal one. When the ball descends, it is going down, but still forward as well. A green that is lower than the tee allows the ball to fall down farther, which at the same time will also carry it farther forward. That means you need less club for a given distance. A general rule is to use one less club for very 50 feet of elevation difference.

If the tee is on a level with A', B', and the green at A, B, you can see that a club which would leave you short on level ground will be just right once it has completed its extra fall downward.

It's hard to describe 50 vertical feet looks like, and hard to tell just by looking because the difference is stretched out over the length of the hole. I'm something of a nut on this, so I go to library and pull out the USGS topographic map containing the course and estimate using the 40-foot contour lines. Maybe an easier way is just to use one less club as a rule the first time you play the hole, then adjust from there.

The other danger that an elevated tee presents is that the ball spends more time in the air before it hits the ground. Every aspect of its flight gets exaggerated. We've dealt with forward-back motion with club selection, but there's side-to-side motion as well. Your fade that lands nicely on the green could fade itself right off the green by the time it hits the ground when launched from an elevated tee. It makes sense, then, to keep the ball as low as possible with this shot.

This is especially true if there is any wind blowing. One course I play has a par 3 with an elevated tee. In the afternoon there is a strong afternoon wind that blows from right to left. You have to aim about ten yards off the right side of the green to have a chance for the tee shot to hang onto the left side of the green. All the way around, hit a low-flying shot off the tee, or even a fairway, into a green that is significantly below your feet.

Those of you who have a copy of Better Recreational Golf on your bookshelf should look up the Hard Chip. This is the shot to play. For the rest of you, this shot is like a greenside chip except bigger. Take the club back to where your hands are hip-high then hit down and through, not releasing the club. There is little or no wrist break. The follow-through should end hip-high on the other side. The hole I mentioned above is 120 yards long. A Hard Chip with my 7-iron, which normally goes 150 yards, is just right.

All that said, I leave to you figure out the Mother of Elevated Tees, this hole at the Legend Golf Course in South Africa. It is 1,400 feet from the tee down to the green. You need a helicopter to get up to the tee. And to get back down.