Moving UP to lower your handicap?

I've seen discussion on here about moving back a tee to help get your handicap down. Higher rating and slope but perhaps not much difference in how you score equals lower differential. Certainly a course by course strategy but logical nonetheless.

What about moving up a tee? Lower rating and slope mean you have to score lower, but perhaps the shorter course allows you to do just that.

I recently played a course from the white tees (up for me) and it played 5900 yds. Rating was 67.8 (par 72) and slope 121. Since the course was so short, I hit 3W and 5W a lot and left my self a lot of short irons and wedges to the green. As a result I scored really well and finished with a 76 (75 ESC). The differential was 6.7 which is under my 7 handicap. Note I also had a bad triple.

It seems like a decent way to lower my handicap but perhaps a cheap way also and ultimately hurt me since I would get use to easy golf and struggle when I got to a 6500+ yd course.

Thoughts?

Some players can make pars from the fairway all day, so moving up to take driver out of play can help them greatly. Others are long enough that they're already hitting short irons, where hitting a 3/4 wedge wouldn't get much better results. It can also take trouble in and out of play; a bomber hitting from the blues might have a 280 bunker to contend with, but can fly it from the whites. Or the average hitter who never worried about it might hit right into it from the whites. And hitting 7 iron on what is supposed to be a long par 3 is certainly an advantage.

Personally, I can play the back tees at most courses without trouble. Courses over 6500 yards usually require me to hit my driver, but below that it doesn't matter a whole lot what tees I play. That's because anything under 400 yards is a pair of irons for me, and par 3s up to 205 are just a 5 iron. The par 5s are really not much of an issue to hit in regulation. I have enough distance to play around 7200 yards if I could hit my driver more consistently, so 5700 or 6200 yards really isn't going to make a difference. The couple of strokes I get from the course rating would likely outweigh the shorter length. There are no holes where I realistically can't make a birdie on most courses, even from the back tees.

If I play the back tees I shoot the same or better.  I tried it last year for half the season.  It depends if you have the length, it doesn't take much but it takes some.  So for me it lowered my handicap pretty fast but the problem is I play once a week with older gents that want to play the whites, so be it.  So to answer your question, yes it does for sure and even though I suck, my biggest advice is having a good solid 200 yard club because the biggest difference on most courses are the PAR 3s.

The one thing I learned from the recent TST forward tees experiment is it changed the way I saw the course and as a result I had more focus than usual. When I moved back a few days later I tried to put the ball in better position a-la the experiment and for whatever reason I gained some distance off the tee as I made the effort to hit specific areas. Instead of simply trying to hit fairways I knew that just a few yards closer beyond a hill or on a different side of the fairway made hitting GIR easier. I was on track to shoot my lowest round of the season but suffered a few doubles after some unforced errors. Still it was the best I've played this year and when it was done I felt like my mental game showed the most improvement. Try it, the worst that will happen is you'll get some odd looks.

Obviously I misread the post, disregard my last comment, I'll edit when I can.

I would tend to think Buckeyenut's theory is true (moving back) but that is only speculation.  You could do a scientific study of all of the results from the moving forward experiment that Dave2512 and others are trying.  Heck, it's Friday, I'm not getting much done here anyways, maybe I'll do that ... stay tuned.

Moving back would hit me mentally. A new look to the entire course.. plus if I start doing horrible.. people would question why the hell I was there in the first place.

Maybe I'll do it tomorrow morning..

Moving up, I feel like I would be cheating.. making it too easy.

I stand corrected!  Granted, it's a small sample size (6 players - there are 7 but the last one clearly wrote down the ladies rating for the forward tees so I left his out) but the results back up your theory Jason.

All 6 of these players had a lower differential from the forward tees than from their usual tees (I'm basing their current handicaps off of their "average score frlom current tees answers).  The biggest jump was someone who went from a 16.7 HDCP to a 5.8, and the smallest (Iacas) was from a +1 to a +2.1.  The average was a drop in handicap of 5.4 strokes!

Again, super small sample size of only 6 players, and each player only played 2 rounds from the forward tees to establish that "handicap." ... but still says something.

Moving up can help players who don't hit the ball a super long way. If your course has several forced carries over water or hazards, the blue tees can be tough on someone who can't fly their drives 230 yds. most of the time.

I think both stepping back and forward can lower a HC depending on the situation.  It depends on both the player and course in question.  Each situation is unique depending on the course and player.  How is that for an answer? Hahaha...

In my case, stepping back lowered my index by 'slightly less' than a full stroke which is a big deal when the HC starting point is 1.   My original post was directed towards low single digit players. The CR difference between the two sets of tees is 2.6 strokes which is pretty drastic.  If a player isn't ready for that change, the scores may snowball in the opposite direction.   The 460yd par4s and 247yd par3 kind of holes on my home course can beat a player down pretty quick if he's not ready for the challenge.

On the other hand, I can see how moving forward can lower a HC too.  Maybe the CR isn't vastly different from 1 set of tees forward, but it's possible the shorter distance can make a big difference in course playability for a specific player. In this case, moving forward lower can make a big difference.  I know some courses where the difference between the whites and blues are 20yds or less and the CR changes minimally between tees.  On others, it's drastic......the difference between playing the same par4 from either 400 or 470yds.

Yes, moving up can lower your handicap..........maybe?

Agree that it can go both ways...if you play the same course a lot, I think it is a good idea to put in some rounds from different tees, both longer and shorter than you normally play if possible.  You will get to know the course better and might find that it makes sense to alter how you normally play some holes.

But then again....who's to say my HC wouldn't have improved in 2012 anyway?   I've been showing steady progress in recent years.   Maybe stepping back and playing the big boy tees is irrelevant to the entire discussion!!!!!

My "Step back" theory could be full of crap...................... who's to say I wouldn't have reached 0.0 anyway?

Jason, as BuckeyeNut correctly notes it will be player specific as to who it helps.  However, I am pretty confident that most players will benefit their HC by moving up.  You can see the trend in the Tee it Forward thread started by iacas.

Now, as you are right to question, it probably helps your HC but does it help your game?  My answer is two-fold:  1) I think for the higher mid-cappers the answer is yes, since it will help curb bad habits like overswinging, foster better club choices (since the pressure to hit driver is less), and ultimately generate more confidence due to less ‘blow-up’ holes 2) for lower mid-cappers (10-12 and below) it is a little murkier, and depending on your goals, can be a no.

For example, if you’re a solid 7 looking to improve down to a 1-3 for the purpose of entering flight A gross tournaments, the state mid-am, or perhaps a US Open qualifier, then I think you have to start generating your handicap from at least the back tees and preferably the tip/professional tees.  These tournaments are rarely, if ever, played from 5900-6100 yards and the lack of familiarity with that length/condition will expose your game badly come tournament time, especially if there is any type of marginal weather.  I’ve even gone further in a few other threads, noting that handicap calculations should be tee-box or length dependent.  At the least, a special designation should be made for handicaps of 3 or below because of the minimum standards set for entry in state and national qualifiers.

It’s true that lower cappers will realize some of the same benefits as higher cappers.  And without the tournament angle to consider, it certainly may be more beneficial to your game (if you are on the shorter side) to move on up and realize your HC gains accordingly.  But at the end of the day, for reasons mentioned above, I’d rather have BuckeyeNut’s 0.0 index than a ‘tee it forward’ assisted 0.0.

Your current Handicap Index: <20

What is it actually? IMO if you're at mid to high double digits while playing the back tees, then you're not scoring therefore you should probably move forward a set of tees. Just my 2¢

I haven't gotten to play much this year due to sheer lack of funds, but I've made huge strides in my game, especially in consistency. I wouldn't be surprised at all if I broke 80 my next time out. However I'd be a big fat liar if I listed my HC at 10, since I've never shot that low. But I play so seldom all I can do is list a reasonable guess. I lose most of my strokes from blow up holes and not making key putts. I look like I know what I'm doing on around half the holes, but the other half can be bad. Someone who struggles to hit GIRs, or accrues penalty strokes at a fast rate would most likely benefit from moving up.

I hit a 5 iron 200 yards and pretty straight. For me there's just no challenge in playing the short tees. I'm not saying I wouldn't shoot a bit lower, but it's not fun to play a pitch and putt for the price of a full round. I probably won't get that much longer, so why not play tees appropriate to my length? Most of the courses I play aren't that long anyway.

I know what you're saying but golf is still about scoring and a good deal of that is course management. How far you hit the ball with your clubs shouldn't dictate what tees you play since more than half your strokes are taken around the greens.

Unless a golfer is already at the frontmost tees, if you can't break 80 from the tees you're currently playing you SHOULD move up to the next tees. Then while playing the forward tees, you work on your course management/scoring side of the game. Instead of taking driver off most holes, you take 3 wood or 3 iron and play for position then decide where you can hit your approaches and remove the blowup holes.

I suck at driving.

Move me back, and I get myself in trouble because I suck (and because I try to hit the ball harder). Move me up, and I'll score better. I don't swing as hard, and I always end up with a low to mid iron in my hands --- and that's the strength of my game.

...if I weren't about to have ankle surgery, I'd do the tee it forward experiment.  I still might do that next February (my next chance to play -- apart from my next two rounds out here in in-law-land=Calif).

+1  The "benefit" from higher slope rating from tips will be more than offset by extra strokes needed for those who don't have decent distance off the tee or can't keep their driver on the fairway.  I'm in this boat.  My "sweet spot" for course length is 6,000-6,200 but I enjoy playing 5,800 yard courses with good layouts.  Once I get up to about 6,400 yards, the extra length really becomes an issue as I often start hitting long irons and hybrids into more greens which isn't really that fun.  What's fun is playing a short iron or wedge and actually picking a spot on the green and having a reasonable chance of "controlling your destiny" on a hole.  Hitting long irons and hybrids is more of a "hit and pray" approach hoping I land on or near the green.