Best Tees For a Golf Simulator

Trying to find the best tees for a golf simulator? See pros and cons of rubber tees, standard tees, and plastic cone tees. Which tee do you use indoors?

An often overlooked - literally and figuratively - piece of your indoor golf experience is what you use for golf simulator tees.

A key part of measuring your space for a golf simulator is making sure you can swing a driver comfortably in your space. But in order to actually hit a ball with a driver once you have a golf simulator setup, you need something to tee up your golf ball.

There are several golf simulator tee options, but in order to make the right choice, you need to know if the hitting mat you plan to use will work in conjunction with specific tees. Does the mat accept real tees? Or have a hole for a rubber tee receiver? Or do you need an alternate solution?

Things to know about golf simulator tees:

Black tees work great with camera-based golf launch monitors. Be careful what color tee you choose. A black tee can be harder to find in a darker golf simulator environment, but some launch monitors might see a white tee and read it as part of the ball, causing a misread.
Not all golf mats can hold a real tee.
Be aware that tees that stick into a golf hitting mat can fly backwards after a shot, which could potentially be a little dangerous if you plan to have guests over.

Below, we’ll help you through the process of choosing the best golf simulator tees for your setup.

REGULAR TEES

The easiest tee to use in a golf simulator is to just use the same tees you use out on the course. However, to make this work, you need to make sure you have a hitting mat that can either accept real tees or has a hole for a rubber tee receiver that can hold the tee.

Some rubber tee receivers even have the ability to hold the tee in place while the ball is struck, saving you from having to chase down both your ball and tee every time.

Most golf hitting mats at least have holes for rubber tee receivers, but examples of hitting mats that can accept real tees include:

Be careful with hitting mats though as there are some that might look budget friendly, but don’t have any option for hitting teed up shots with an actual tee.

Is it better to use wood or plastic tees? The answer, as it is out on the golf course, is still really a personal preference. Hitting mats that accept real tees typically have softer fibers, meaning wood tees might not break as easily as they do in the ground at a real course. If you’re using a rubber tee receiver, though, it’s likely that plastic will last longer.

CARL’S GOLF TEES

Speaking of real tees, Carl made some plastic ones for purchase. You can buy driver length tees, iron length tees, or a combination of both with some rubber tee receivers in the golf mat tee pack.

The driver tees are 2.66 inches long, while the iron tees are an inch shorter. The rubber tee receivers are 1.5 inches tall with a 2-inch wide base. All are black in color to avoid launch monitor interference.

TEES THAT SIT ON TOP OF YOUR MAT

Tees that are placed on top of a hitting mat work well for indoor golf for several uses:

When your golf hitting mats doesn’t take a real tee in any form.
When your golf mat has a hitting strip area that is separate from the rubber tee receiver area such as a TrueStrike Hitting Mat.
When you want a golf simulator that is free of flying tees. Tees that rest on top of the mat travel in the same direction as your ball. It makes it easy to find and pick up when you go get your ball, but also keeps anybody behind the hitting area safe from flying tees.

There are two main types of tees you could use on top of a golf mat. First, a tee receiver can be used as a tee that sits on top of a mat if it’s the correct height for you. These types of tees can be used with any hitting surface, whether it be an indoor hitting mat or on grass outside.

Plastic, cone-shaped indoor golf tees are the other popular tee that rests on a golf mat. You can find plastic indoor golf tees in a variety of heights that you can switch out for each shot you take. Or use cuttable indoor golf tees customized to your preferred height.

CARL’S HOTSHOT™ INDOOR GOLF TEES

Instead of making many different heights, Carl put you in charge of your tee game and gave you the flexibility to decide the perfect tee height for you with his HotShot Indoor Golf Tees.

Carl’s HotShot Tees are sold in packs of 40 and are made of a durable plastic that lasts hundreds of shots. Despite the durable plastic, users are still able to use scissors to cut them down to their preferred height.

Don’t just throw away the piece you cut off - maybe you could use it as an iron tee for a par 3! If your tee is starting to show wear by bending in a certain way, Carl’s HotShot Tees are easy to just bend back into place.

If you like them enough, take them out to the course with you. Carl ain’t gonna stop ya! Or just use them as a fidget at your workstation. They are the best value on the market.

SICK OF CHASING YOUR TEE AROUND THE GOLF SIMULATOR?

We’ve had success using thread to tie the HotShot tees down to the hitting mat so you’re not chasing both the tee and the ball with each tee shot. Your back will be grateful.

How To Attach Your Tee to Your Golf Mat

Tie one end of string/thread to the tee, and anchor the other end of the string to something on your hitting mat. One way to anchor it is to push the other end of the string through a hole and tie to a washer that is larger than the hole. Then when you hit, the washer will stop the string, which will in turn stop the tee from flying too far.