Are Bamboo Golf Tees Worth It? The Honest Breakdown for Australian Golfers

By Bunker Ball Golf | Melbourne, Australia | Golf Accessories

Yes. Bamboo golf tees are worth it. That is the short answer. But the more interesting question is why, because the reasons go beyond the obvious eco-friendly angle most people lead with. Bamboo tees are genuinely better to play with, they last longer, they break less, and if you are buying from the right brand they come packaged in a way that makes wooden tees from the pro shop feel a bit sad in comparison.

We stock the full Three Putt Round bamboo tee range at Bunker Ball Golf and we are Australia's first and exclusive retailer for the brand. So we might be a little biased. But we also play golf ourselves and we would not carry something we did not think was genuinely good. Here is the full breakdown.

Bamboo vs Wooden vs Plastic Tees: What Is the Actual Difference?

Wooden Tees

Traditional wooden tees have been around since the 1920s and for most of that time they were perfectly fine. Cheap, biodegradable, and available in every pro shop. The problem is that modern drivers have changed what a tee needs to do. Thin-faced titanium and carbon driver heads hit the ball incredibly hard, and cheap pine tees snap on almost every drive. Most golfers go through a handful of wooden tees per round without even thinking about it.

Plastic Tees

Plastic tees solve the breakage problem reasonably well. They are durable and consistent in size. But they are not biodegradable, which means every tee that gets snapped and left in the rough or buried in the turf stays there indefinitely. Golf courses produce a surprising amount of plastic tee waste over a season. There are also friction concerns with plastic tees on the driver face, though the science on this is fairly mixed.

Bamboo Tees

Bamboo sits in the sweet spot between the two. It is a grass, not a timber, which means it can be harvested in three to five years compared to the twenty-plus years needed for most hardwoods. It is significantly stronger than pine, which translates directly into fewer broken tees. It is fully biodegradable, so the ones you leave in the rough are not sitting there for decades. And the consistency of machined bamboo tees is noticeably better than cheap wood, which matters more than people realise when you are trying to tee the ball at a consistent height.

The Three Putt Round tees are 70mm in length for the standard range, which suits most drivers at typical tee heights, and 35mm for the short Upper Decky tees which are designed for irons and par 3s where you just need a touch of elevation. All are made from fine-selected bamboo with a consistent finish across the pack.

Does Tee Height Actually Matter?

Yes, and it is one of those small details that compounds over a round. The general rule is that you want the equator of the ball to sit level with the top of the driver face at address. For most modern drivers with deeper faces, a 70mm tee pushed into the turf by about 15 to 20mm gets you close to that height. Tee the ball too low and you get a lower strike with more spin and less distance. Too high and the contact point moves up the face, again increasing spin and ballooning the flight.

The advantage of using the same tee pack every round is that you develop a feel for how deep to push the tee in and your ball position becomes more consistent over time. Swapping between different lengths and materials of tee is a surprisingly easy way to introduce unnecessary variables into your game.

The Three Putt Round Range at Bunker Ball Golf

This is where things get a bit different. Three Putt Round is a brand built around the idea that golf accessories should look as good as they perform. The tee packaging in particular is genuinely unlike anything else on the market in Australia. We are the first and only retailer in the country stocking the full range. Here is what we have.

The Golf Addiction Tee Pack: $21.99

This is the one that turns heads. The Golf Addiction Tee Pack comes in a cigarette pack-inspired design, crafted from 300g card stock and finished in either Red or Gold. The concept is a nod to the addictive nature of golf, which anyone who has stood on the first tee at 6am on a winter morning in Melbourne will understand immediately.

Inside you get 20 fine-selected 70mm bamboo tees. The box itself is compact at 6cm x 3cm x 7.5cm, so it fits in a back pocket or pouch without bulk. The packaging is thick enough to be reusable as a carry case, which most golfers end up doing rather than throwing it out.

This is also the pack that gets the most attention when you pull it out of your bag. If that matters to you, it probably should. Golf is a game played in front of other people.

The Golf Tee Match Box: $11.99

The Match Box takes a different design approach. Styled like a classic box of matches and sized at 7.6cm x 5cm x 2.3cm, it slides open to reveal 12 premium 70mm bamboo tees packed neatly inside. Available in Red, Green, and the Vecchio x Lost Balls collaboration edition.

The Vecchio x Lost Balls collab is worth calling out separately. It is a limited design that brings two golf brands together in the kind of creative partnership you tend to see in streetwear more than golf accessories. If you are the kind of golfer who appreciates that sort of thing, it is a genuinely cool piece to have in the bag.

At $11.99, the Match Box is also the most accessible entry point into the Three Putt Round range and makes an easy gift for someone who has most of what they need already.

The Upper Decky Tee Pack: $17.99

The Upper Decky takes a completely different approach to both form and function. Instead of a paper-based package, it comes in a compact circular plastic container measuring 70mm in diameter and just 22mm tall. Think of it as a puck that lives in your bag pocket. Available in Blue and Orange.

Inside, the container has two compartments. The bottom holds 15 short 35mm bamboo tees, sized for par 3 iron shots where you just need a whisker of height off the ground. The top compartment is for ball markers, keeping everything in one compact spot. For golfers who like a tidy, organised bag setup, the Upper Decky is a genuinely practical piece of kit rather than just a nice-looking one.

Are Bamboo Golf Tees Better for the Golf Course?

Yes, in a couple of ways that are worth mentioning. The most obvious one is biodegradability. A bamboo tee left in the rough or the tee box breaks down naturally over time. A plastic tee does not. Across a busy course running 200 to 300 rounds per week, that adds up to a meaningful amount of waste that either sits in the turf or needs to be picked up by greenstaff.

The other one is breakage debris. When a bamboo tee snaps, it splinters into organic material that decomposes. When a plastic tee cracks, the shards are a much larger maintenance problem on the tee box surface. Most course superintendents would quietly prefer every golfer to be on bamboo or wood.

Are They Good Value?

This is a fair question. Compared to buying a bag of 100 pine tees from the pro shop for a few dollars, Three Putt Round tees are a step up in price. But the comparison is not quite right. Here is the honest breakdown:

• Bamboo tees break less often, so you go through fewer per round

• The packaging is reusable, so you are not paying for something that goes straight in the bin

• The design quality means they work as a gift without needing any additional packaging

• At $11.99 for a Match Box and $21.99 for the Addiction Pack, these are accessible accessories rather than premium splurges

They also make a much better stocking stuffer, birthday present, or golf trip gift than a sleeve of balls from the petrol station.

Frequently Asked Questions

Are bamboo golf tees better than wooden tees?

Yes, for most golfers. Bamboo is stronger than pine, which means fewer broken tees per round. The consistency of machined bamboo tees is also better than cheap wooden tees, which helps with tee height consistency. Both are biodegradable, which puts them both ahead of plastic.

Do bamboo tees affect driver performance?

No meaningful difference compared to wood or plastic at impact. Any effect a tee material has on the driver face at the moment of contact is negligible relative to factors like tee height, ball position, and strike quality. The performance benefit of bamboo is in durability and consistency, not any direct effect on the ball.

What tee height should I use for my driver?

The standard recommendation is to have the equator of the ball level with the top of the driver face at address. For most modern drivers, pushing a 70mm tee 15 to 20mm into the ground gets you close. If you are teeing it lower and hitting a lot of low bullets with too much spin, try coming up a touch. If you are ballooning it, try going down.

What size bamboo tees do I need for irons and par 3s?

Short tees around 35mm are ideal for iron shots on par 3s where you only want a small amount of elevation. The Three Putt Round Upper Decky comes loaded with 35mm short tees for exactly this purpose, alongside a ball marker compartment in the same container.

Are bamboo golf tees eco-friendly?

Yes. Bamboo is one of the most sustainable materials available. It is a grass rather than a hardwood, grows to harvest size in three to five years, and is fully biodegradable. Bamboo tees left on a golf course decompose naturally, unlike plastic tees which persist in the turf indefinitely.

Where can I buy Three Putt Round bamboo tees in Australia?

Bunker Ball Golf is Australia's first and exclusive retailer for Three Putt Round. You can browse the full range of Golf Addiction Tee Packs, Golf Tee Match Boxes, and Upper Decky Tee Packs at bunkerballgolf.com.au/collections/golf-tees. We ship Australia and New Zealand wide, with free shipping on orders over $400.

Are Three Putt Round tees good as a golf gift?

They are one of the better golf gifts available at this price point specifically because the packaging does the job for you. The Golf Addiction Pack in particular looks like something you would actually wrap up and give someone. It does not look like a bag of tees from a bucket at the pro shop.

Browse the Three Putt Round Range

We stock the full Three Putt Round bamboo tee range at Bunker Ball Golf, with all three pack formats available now:

• The Golf Addiction Tee Pack in Red and Gold, $21.99, 20 tees, cigarette pack design

• The Golf Tee Match Box in Red, Green, and Vecchio x Lost Balls, $11.99, 12 tees, matchbox design

• The Upper Decky Tee Pack in Blue and Orange, $17.99, 15 short tees plus ball marker compartment

Shipped anywhere in Australia and New Zealand. Free shipping on orders over $400.