Improve Your Impact with the Two Tee Drill

The two tee drill is a simple way to sharpen your impact and improve the quality of your strike. If you tend to hit the ball fat, catch it thin, or lose the feeling of compressing the ball cleanly, this drill gives you immediate feedback. Its main job is to train a better low point and a more functional angle of attack, so the club can strike the ball and continue moving properly through the turf instead of stalling, scooping, or bouncing into the shot.

What makes this drill so useful is that it does not depend on one swing style. Whether you are a beginner learning contact or a more experienced player trying to regain a solid impact feel, the two tee drill helps you focus on what the club needs to do through the strike. It is especially effective when your swing thoughts have become too mechanical and you need a clearer, more athletic picture of impact.

How the Drill Works

To set it up, place two tees in the ground about four to six inches apart on your target line. If you are hitting a ball, the ball sits on the front tee. The second tee goes several inches ahead of it, closer to the target.

Your goal is not just to hit the first tee or the ball. The goal is to make a small swing and clip both tees in one continuous motion. That changes your intent immediately. Instead of trying to help the ball into the air, you train yourself to let the club move through impact with enough depth and extension to keep traveling downward and outward into the second tee.

This is why the drill is so effective for golfers who pick at the ball. If you try to scoop it or just brush the first tee, you will almost certainly miss the second one. To strike both tees, you need the club to keep moving through the hitting area with the arms extending and the clubhead continuing on its arc after impact.

At the same time, this is not a drill for freezing your body and shoving the club into the ground. Your body still rotates, and that rotation helps the swing keep moving. If you stop turning and only drive the hands downward, the club gets too steep and you still will not strike the second tee correctly. The best motion is a blend: the body keeps unwinding while the arms and club continue through the ball with structure and extension.

Step-by-Step

Set two tees on the target line. Put them about four to six inches apart. Start without a ball if you want to learn the motion first.
Make a small setup. Use a short iron or wedge and take your normal posture. This drill works best with controlled swings, not full-speed shots.
Rehearse the impact area. Make a few slow practice motions where the club brushes the first tee and then the second tee. This gives you a picture of the club moving through the strike instead of stopping at the ball.
Hit half shots first. Use a compact nine-to-three motion, with the lead arm roughly parallel to the ground on the backswing and follow-through. Your focus is contact, not distance.
Clip both tees in one swing. Strike the first tee and continue into the second tee. If you add a ball to the first tee, try to hit the ball and then the second tee after it.
Check the turf interaction. You want the club to move through the first tee and continue low enough to catch the second without digging sharply into the ground.
Gradually build speed. Once you can clip both tees consistently with a half swing, add a little more motion while keeping the same strike pattern.

What You Should Feel

When you do this drill well, you should feel that the club is not quitting at the ball. Instead, it keeps traveling through the hitting area. A few important sensations can help:

The arms extend through impact rather than collapsing or pulling in too early.
The club continues downward and forward long enough to reach the second tee.
Your chest keeps rotating through the shot instead of stalling.
The strike feels compressed, with the ball getting in the way of the swing rather than being lifted by it.
The low point is forward, so the club is still moving properly after the ball.

A useful checkpoint is the sound and turf pattern. A clean strike often produces a crisp, connected motion through both tees rather than a single slap at the first one. If you can repeatedly catch the front tee and then the second tee, you are likely organizing impact much better.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

Trying to lift the ball. If your instinct is to help the ball into the air, you will usually miss the second tee.
Stopping body rotation. The body still needs to turn. If you freeze up, the club tends to get too steep.
Overdoing the downward hit. This drill is not about chopping into the ground. It is about a functional strike that continues through impact.
Making swings that are too big too soon. Start with half swings. Full swings can hide poor contact patterns.
Focusing only on the first tee. The value of the drill is in reaching the second tee, not just hitting the ball.
Using poor spacing. If the tees are too close, the drill becomes too easy. If they are too far apart, you may force an unnatural motion.

How This Fits Your Swing

The two tee drill fits into the bigger picture by teaching you what a good impact zone looks like. Solid iron play depends on controlling the club’s low point and delivering the club with enough shaft and body organization to strike the ball first, then the turf. This drill gives you a practical way to train that without getting lost in too many technical details.

It also helps connect body motion with club behavior. Good players do not just throw the clubhead at the ball, and they do not just spin their bodies open and hope for the best. They blend rotation with arm extension so the club can keep moving through impact in a stable, predictable way. Clipping both tees teaches that relationship.

If you are working on impact positions, this drill is an excellent bridge between static rehearsals and real shots. You can feel a better impact alignments in slow motion, then immediately test whether the club is actually moving correctly through the strike. That makes it especially useful when your contact is inconsistent or when you need a clear, external task instead of another internal swing thought.

In short, the two tee drill is a classic because it trains one of the most important truths in golf: the ball is not the end of the swing. When your club continues through impact correctly, your contact gets cleaner, your turf interaction improves, and your swing becomes much more reliable.