Course Yardage: What Do You Prefer?

Have you found a range you're comfortable with? For me it is 6200. If I go up to 6600 then there are some holes which feel unmanageable. But at 6200 I feel in control.

What happens to you when you get out of your comfort range on a course?

I was paired with some better golfers a while back and they were all playing the back tees... So I decided to play from there too(the course played 7,100 from the tips)... I started swinging for the fences, so to speak and was not doing very well. Then the guy in the cart with me said, "Don't worry that your farther away... don't try to kill it". and I started playing much better. It was just a mental thing

I run into trouble in situations just like this when the rest of the pairings want to play maximum yardage turning par 4's into 430 uphill, etc. It's very tough to say, "I'm going to play from the whites," because then you are teeing off last every time and when you hit a good one you feel kind of like 'cheating'. It's far perferable for everyone to hit from the same tees.

Recently played with a college player who walked up just before teeing off and we had already agreed to play from the whites and he went along with it, but it ruined his game because he was totally used to hitting from the tips on this course and he quit after 9 holes, he was steamed! LOL

I feel his pain. I really dislike playing from anything but the tips, driver/SW on every hole gets really annoying. I have a lot more fun playing when courses are 7000+ because I get a chance to hit some mid irons and get to use a larger variety of shots.

I have this theory that if you cant put your tee shot to the fairway bunkers you shouldn't be playing from those tees. If you are blowing them past the bunkers you're too far up.

I very seldom play from the tips. It has to be dry and the ball running. If you're taking the hazards out of the game there is no premium for hitting the fairway, other than a good lie.

I agree with this sentiment, but I need 6200 to 6400 yds for the same effect. Otherwise at 6600 and above all the par fours are driver, 2W and a chip or pitch. Each course should be played according to this philosophy and this is why most have many sets of tees. We just have to be strong enough to play the tees that were meant for us to play. My men's club started letting us use the forward men's tees. My handicap is unchanging (these tees have a different slope and course rating which seems to be working) but the course really does allow me to play the course as designed.

I agree, this is a very good way to determine which tees to play from. On my home course, if I play from the blues this totally takes the fairway bunkers out of play, whereas from the whites they are all very much in play and very penal. So in a way it is more challening to play from the whites, and more rewarding too, it's golf the way it was meant to be played.

Usually doesn't matter to me but when picking between the blues and the white tees with my buddies we usually pick which ever is close to 6500.

I like to use more clubs also but I usually don't play from the tips. I just don't have the distance. But I feel the same way wanting to use more clubs.

Both of these quotes are how I think/feel. I want the game to be fun (hazards are fun unless it is water) and use all of the clubs that I have. Otherwise why have so many different clubs in your bag.

[seinfeld voice]

Did you ever wonder if golf courses in other parts of the world, where they use the metric system, still call it "yardage"?

[/seinfeld voice]

I actually hit my driver a lot better from the tips of my home course(6600). I guess it's a mental thing.

There are very few courses I don't play the tips from around this area. 7200+ and I try to play the tips to start, if it seems unmanageable (hitting 3wood into a par 4 after hitting a good drive) I will pick and choose "swing holes" where I just go to a forward set if the yardage would be unmanageable. 95+% of the time yardage isn't a problem for me (its chipping and putting).

Sort of on topic. I was playing my home course and I played the white tees because the guys I was playing for money wanted to play the whites and I lost 3 balls because I blew drives through fairways that normally would have been fine from the tips. No excuse, I should have hit 3 wood, but when you play a hole 60 times a year (its a 9 hole course) you get into a habit of grabbing the same club without thinking. Needless to say with 3 lost balls off the tees, I didn't win the money game.

I guess it depends on whom I'm playing with.

When I'm on my own, I have started to play from the tips recently (7150) because on my home course I want the hardest challenge possible -- longer irons into the Par 3s and Par 4s. Our Par 5s are long (530+) so that usually negates the opportunity to reach them in two (for me). But it allows me to practice my wedges regularly.

If I'm playing with my buddies for a couple ££, it's usually from the whites. When no money is involved, I'll play from the back, even if my friends want to play from white.

//Anand

I like that long courses becasue you have to manage you game and play your way around the course. I wish I had one around here that I could play more frequently.

My home course is 6800 and that seems to be a good distance for me. I'm not super long with the driver (250-280 on average) but my 3 wood and hybrids all carry 200+ yards so I quite enjoy the longer par 4s and 5s. The way I figure it I lose shots from my short game not my long game, so I'm better off from a handicap perspective playing from the longer, therefore more difficult tees. I like the comment about the fairway bunkers, just thinking about that confirms for me that I'm playing off the right tees!!

Ive heard, Take your normal 5-iron yardage, multiply it by 36 and that should be relatively close to what you should be playing.

It works. :)

I definately prefer to play from tees that are +7000 yds. My average drive is around 285, and i hit my irons pretty long too (pw/150yds, 3 iron/225). I played yesterday at a new course in WA The Home Course and the par 5 fifth is 550. i went driver, 6 iron to the green (missed green 10' right, but pin high). Playing shorter than 7000 i usually have 3 iron, or driver off of the tee and always have a sand/gap into the hole....kinda gets boring hitting the same clubs over and over again

The longer the better. Length is my friend! I shot 2 under just today at a course that measures almost 7800 yards.