Should the up tees be sloped from front to back..

[John Kavanaugh]

So the less talented can get the ball in the air.  Yesterday I found my ball on an upslope and decided to hit driver off of the deck....amazingly the ball flew as high as if off of a tee.  Eureka...

[Tom_Doak]

John:  Most tees should be slopes front to back, or slightly to one side.  To this day I have trouble hitting tee shots on holes where the tees slope forward ... and I am pretty sure that this is where the majority of topped tee shots happen from golfers of any class.

[John Kavanaugh]

I wonder if left handers feel they get the short shaft as I find a majority of tees are sloped from right to left putting the ball below their feet.  I have a habit of teeing the ball above my feet when given the chance...It is a more powerful stance.

[Mike Nuzzo]

What makes you guess that tees generally slope from right to left?
Tees generally slope away from the cart path or where the golfer walks to the tee.  
I just walked through Memorial Park in my head, and the split is about 50-50.
Cheers

[John Chilver-Stainer]

Personally I prefer flat billiard table tees.

It provides a neutral stance for the player which represents what they have on the driving range. No adjustment is necesary for the set up of loft and lie – admittedly this would be minimal but one’s perception can be disturbed .

Aesthetically I find a flat tee more pleasing than a fall from front to back especially if the tee gets long. Sometimes in this case the resulting Tee can look like an aircraft carrier ramp.

[RJ_Daley]

I think it depends.  If the tee is one or two long tee boxes, the drainage and fall from front to back becomes problematic, I think.  Perhaps Nuzz or Doak will weigh in.  I'm sure they all have their individual construction of tee box formulas for what slope and when to slant a tee in which direction, depending on the shape of the hole to be played.  

I used to go to a practice range that was about 2% slanted down back to front.  It was so big that you hardly noticed it.... until you got to the golf course where the tees were generally front to back.  You get grooved into an almost imperceptable weighting to your front foot, and then you go nutz on the course with wild drives.... at least I do.

[John Kavanaugh]

i think it would, in fact, be a good idea to slope most "up" tees from right to left and from front to back -- anything to promote a draw and get the ball in the air.

Actually, this could be the answer to the $500 driver!

Who the hell needs it at that level if the tees could just be sloped to help people, instead of goofy removeable weighting and offset heads and all the rest!

You architects can slow technology down by giving the lesser player the game improvement he needs off the tee -- with the tee itself!!

This is exactly what happened to me yesterday.  I had 258 yds to a blind green and thought I would hit a low runner driver up around the green and stay out of trouble...I was probably on a 15% slope and with a restrained safety swing the ball took off like a rocket and landed on the middle of the green.  It was like I said a eureka moment.  note: nobody would say an eureka moment..

[John Chilver-Stainer]

This has got me thinking. As others have mentioned if there is a crowned tee – sometimes the case by a raised Tee that settles at the edges over time – I use the down slope to place the ball below my feet to help the fade, if the hole asks for it – and conversely for a draw.

Why shouldn’t golf course archies slant the Tee to suit the shot that’s needed ? Admittedly the left hander loses out.

[John Chilver-Stainer]

Another question ?

The USGA Standards promote the front to back slope – but, how did the Golden Age architects build there tees before standardisation was introduced.

[Michael Dugger]

I was taught there are a few considerations to make in rendering this judgement.

If the tee is located near something that you do not want run off to get into--like an anti golf course neighbor's property--then you tilt them in the opposite direction, regardless of how it impacts playability.

Any decent player ought to be able to hit the ball straight despite the cant of the tee box.

I suspect many architects do not have the time to spend on this minor detail, except on the most hand crafted of their courses.

[Jim Thompson]

This has got me thinking. As others have mentioned if there is a crowned tee – sometimes the case by a raised Tee that settles at the edges over time – I use the down slope to place the ball below my feet to help the fade, if the hole asks for it – and conversely for a draw.

Why shouldn’t golf course archies slant the Tee to suit the shot that’s needed ? Admittedly the left hander loses out.

John,

I think you'd be stunned to find that most crowned tees are a result of poor top dressing preactices over the years that lead to elevating the center rather than the sides falling.  You are also assuming that the entire width of a tee surface would always be in made available, doubtful in public golf.

Rethink your logic re: the left hander losing out as well.  If a hole favors a right handers draw, from ball being above feet, does it not also favor a left handers fade, from ball being below feet?

I also doubt anyone but the finish shaper has much to do with setting specific grades of tees, as good tees have only enough fall that he can feel it in his backside on a dozer, any more than that and the surface can be considered tricked up in my book.

Cheers!

JT

[John Chilver-Stainer]

Jim

Thanks for the thoughtful comment.

You are absolutely correct it makes no difference to the leftie – he’s facing the other direction anyway!

The point being though  - do architects now and then deliberatly use the cross slopes of the tee to promote the shaping of a fade or draw – or do they just use the standard front to back ?

At the 11th at ANGC, which demands a draw along the side of the creek using the slope of the fairway, the design for the cross fall of the tee could be higher right to lower left. Or maybe more balls would go into the woods.

JCS

[Tim Bert]

I think that John stated he views the ball above his feet as the more powerful stance, which is why he thought it would frustrate lefties.  It would indeed frustrate a lefty that played a draw, I would think.  

As a lefty that likes to play the ball right to left, nothing confounds me more than the stance John prefers.  When the ball is level or below my feet, I can start the ball on the right side with confidence.  When I get on a tee box that only leaves me with the option of the ball above my feet, then I just aim at the middle and hope for the best.  I usually miss left or right, but it isn't predictable.

It sounds like John and I would be happy on the same tee boxes.

[Jim_Kennedy]

"I wonder if left handers feel they get the short shaft as I find a majority of tees are sloped from right to left......" Jonn Kavanaugh

It's just something you learn to live with as a lefty, like the many times I've had to move the portable divot mix containers, which are usually placed just outside the right marker.