Handicap and tees

Re: Handicap and tees

I play a few courses from the tips even being a high handicapper because they're so short, though i usually play from the 2nd longest tees. Most of the courses have red tees for beginners, white tees for intermediate and blue tees for expert in which i usually play from the whites.

Re: Handicap and tees

Yep-played a course the other day with 139 slope rating from the blues, total distance only 6350. Usually I play longer tees, but the rating and slope are a good indicator of how tough the course will play. Once I shoot 80 or lower there I'll move to the tips (6785-143 slope).

Re: Handicap and tees

Length should be factored in too.

Re: Handicap and tees

I depends on many different factors. Just because two courses have similar CR/slope does not mean they will be of equal difficulty to you and your game, and sometimes you might even end up playing better from a set of tees that have a higher CR/slope. Take my home course here in AR as an example. The white tees play 70.5/131 (6000 yard, par 70), and the blue tees play 72.4/140 (6400 yards). If you look at my scores (not talking differentials but actual scores), I play significantly better from the blues. My main strength is my distance, and playing from the white tees I have to shape my driver off the tee and hit a near-perfect shot just to keep the ball in play on about half the holes. If I move back to the blues, I can just hit my drives up the gut of the fairway and not have to worry about it. It just depends on how each set of tees compliments/contrasts your game that determines how each's difficulty will compare.

On a different note, you have to look at the CR in relation to the slope to determine what the difference in difficulty really is. All slope decribes is the difference between what a scratch golfer and a bogey golfer (~20 hdcp) should shoot. For example, two courses with similar slopes could have scratch/bogey differences of 70/95 and 78/103 and still maintain the same slope. Obviously the latter course would be more difficult, but if all you are doing is looking at the slope and ignoring the CR you won't be able to tell that there is a significant difference in difficulty between the two. Also, if you are a lower handicap the slope doesn't apply to you nearly as much as the course rating does.