What tees do you hit from? Is it based on your handicap or superego or peer pressure?

I play from the white tees. I am a 20+ handicap. I don't plan to move to the next highest tees until I'm in the single digits (actually until I can par the course from the white). When I can par the course from the blue, I'll move to the next set. Does anybody else use this same logic?

Just wondering why you choose to play from a certain tee.

I don't really feel like the tee impacts my score much, unless there's a crazy difference from one set of tees to the next.  Just last weekend I played one of the local tracks, which has 9-holes under construction--so you play the front nine twice.  First time around we played the middle tee; second time around we played the back tee.  I shot +4 on the first loop and +1 on the second.

Yeah that!!

Same guy is gonna win just a different number of strokes.

I normally play from the tee's that would make the course the most fun. Which is normally the back tee's.  Hittin driver/wedge into every par 4 is no fun.

Good golf course design will ensure the different holes call for a variety of shots from a variety of distances into the green, and this variety will help make a course interesting and enjoyable.    If you pick tees that are too short, you'll be 3W/wedge on each hole, or if you pick too long you'll be Driver/3i on each - one of these gets boring fast and one gets frustrating, and neither is how the designer intended the course to be played.    Like Goldilocks and the 3 Bears, you'll enjoy it more if you play the combo that's "Just right".

One pretty good rule of thumb is to take the distance you hit your 5 iron and multiply by 36, and then pick the set of tees that most closely matches that number.    For example, I hit 5i about 185 yards, so 185 x 36 = 6660.    Playing courses at the tees that gives me 6600-6700 yards almost always means a nice mix of different tee shots (some driver, some 3W, perhaps some 3H) and different approaches (some short, some mid-irons, and some long irons).  That makes it interesting.

I basically play the tees that prevent me from hitting a wedge into more than every 2-3 holes IF I hit a good tee shot with driver.  I'm struggling with my wedges at the moment and it's no fun to hit a great drive, have 110 yards to the pin and shank it like Hunter Mahan on the 5th hole of Match Play against Mark Wilson.

Anyway, mostly I play the blues and sometimes white.

Brandon

If i am playing golf with my dad, usually 6000-6400.. Thats what my golf leagues is to. But i can play up to 7200 on occassion. If i am on a course lik Firestone or TPC Sawgrass, i will probably play as far back as i can.

I always play from whites.  Pace of play would improve if people would play from the correct tees.  My house sits off of two tee boxes and I am always watching men with strong egos playing from the blue tees, only to hit their "drive" 150-180 yards.  Golfers really need to play according to their skill level and we all know for amateurs, myself included, the skill level is typically not that high.  90% or more of amateurs have no business playing from anything longer than the white tees.

Since I most often play as a single, I'll play from whereever the group I'm joining is playing from. if it's my choice I choose based on yardage. I prefer to play 6600-6800 yards, I feel any longer should be reserved for the single digit guys.

I play based on yardage, as I have gotten older I don't hit it as far, so I like to keep it under 6500 yards.  I've told my brother for years, as we have watched our dad get older and lose a lot of distance that I am not going to play from a set of tees that require me to hit driver, 3 wood and then some to every par 4.  I'm not that proud to move up tees.

I play from the whites unless I'm with a group of guys that insist we play further back and have the game to do so.  I've had pretty good luck convincing most of my golf buddies that playing from the whites doesn't mean we're girly men.

Usually the middle tees, regardless of what color they might be.  On a course with 4 tees, I usually play the ones just in front of the back tees, as those are usually the men's normal tees.  I'm an average golfer, of average length, with a better than average short game, so I play the tees that let me get somewhere around the green in regulation.  Yardage is mostly in the 6000-6500 range, but I also don't mind a shorter course which keeps you thinking instead of just pulling driver on every hole.

I run a Saturday morning golf league for 75 players.  We established tees as follow:

Black  6800 yds....Handicap at 3 or under

Blue    6300 yds....Flat bellies under 60 years of age

White  6000 yda....age 61 thru 64

White/Green 5700 yds...65 yrs old  & older

As I am 61, I play from the whites.....and usually my tee shots are even with those playing the blues.  This system seems to work well.

Is the "flat bellies" thing strictly enforced?

Brandon

That's right. It's just a coincidence - lolz!!

I wish more courses would post a recommended HDCP range for the different tee boxes. A sample from Belleville's par 71 The Orchards: