Who has the honor when playing from different tees?

I'm sorry if this has been asked and answered a number of times. I couldn't find a thread on it.

I guess I've always assumed that a person playing from back-most tees always has the (tacit) honor, but I'm starting to wonder if that's the case. By (tacit) honor, I think I mean that the round is generally informal and a sort of modified/courteous/attentive version of ready golf pertains - low score off the tee, no quibbling about who plays first on approach or a greenside chip/pitch, farthest out on the green. (In the case of a foursome where two are playing back and two are playing more forward tees, my assumption has been that the two on the back-most tees play first and follow the low score order, followed by the two on the more forward tees who also play accordingly.)

When I last played with my father-in-law, we played from different sets of tees. (We have roughly similar skills, but I'm probably 30 or so yards longer with most clubs. We decided on the tee difference instead of having our usual "argument" about how many strokes he gets. He wants way too many... )

He made par on the third; I bogeyed. When we got to the fourth, a short par three over water with tees staggered around the lake, say, 30 yards apart. He parked the cart at my tee box. I knew what I wanted to hit, got out, and hit it. He had walked over to his tees, club and ball in hand, and after my shot landed and stopped, he hit. We both made par.

On the next hole (5), a short par 4, our tees were set on the same teeing area, and as I was going to put my tee in the ground, he walked up to his tees, set his ball, and hit. We never really said anything about it.

Did I play out of turn on the fourth? It doesn't really matter to me (or him, presumably) rule-wise; it was a casual game, and we always play the sort of abbreviated version of ready golf I described above. But I have been wondering whether he thought I was being impolite. Neither of us would care much, and I don't mean to suggest we have some sort of strained or tense or ultra-competitive relationship. But I had beaten him fairly handily the previous day (which doesn't always happen and is why we went with the different tees - I literally wore him out, walking the front nine on a fairly undulating course!), and I know he didn't want to lose like that again. I could see how, you know, losing to a smart-ass son-in-law who plays out of turn would grate.

Any thoughts?

When playing from the same tees, I would say play honors. However, golf always defers to the player that is away, so I would say deeper tees play first regardless of honors.

It has been my experience that players using the white tees will always defer to me when I play the reg tees, weather I ask or not. It just kinda happens.. Once all the tee balls are off it is loosly oriented "ready golf". whomever stands over their shot first gets to go.

I've always played back tee's first... if you cant beat someone from the same tee's your honor isnt really honors

Unless its tournament play or money is on the line why not let the shorter hitter go first. It is silly, especially on Par 5s that long hitters can reach in two or driveable par 4s to slow up play waiting for the long hitter when I can speed things up by getting my tee shot out of the way when they can still reach the group ahead.

I have always seen the farthest tees played first, with no consideration for honor. It only makes sense as far as pace of play.

When playing honor from the same tees, I feel it is acceptable (even encouraged) to allow players to tee off out of order if the person who has the honor is waiting for the fairway to clear if the shorter player can swing away.

I usually play the further back tees play first and do honor from there. I think at most courses it is the quickest and safest way to play. I wouldn't want someone 20 yards in front when I am teeing off. Occasionally, when playing with shorter hitters, they may hit from the forward tees while the guys on the back tees wait for the fairway to clear to speed things up.