Someone please remind me of the unwritten rules of Tee It Torward (TIF). I thought that if you normally score scratch or below 80 then you can hit from the tips or any tee you want to. If you score more than 80 then you play from the forward tees (by age and gender) until you can score scratch or less with consistancy. Isn't that the "nutshell" version of the unwritten TIF rules?

Quote:

Originally Posted by SAGolfLuvr 

Someone please remind me of the unwritten rules of Tee It Torward (TIF). I thought that if you normally score scratch or below 80 then you can hit from the tips or any tee you want to. If you score more than 80 then you play from the forward tees (by age and gender) until you can score scratch or less with consistancy. Isn't that the "nutshell" version of the unwritten TIF rules?

That isn't how I understand it.  My interpretation is you move up one set from what has been your normal tee if you can't meet certain scoring or driving length or pace of play criteria.  I don't know just what those criteria are though.  You don't just automatically move all the way to the forward tees.

Some friends (both around 60) and I played at River Forest (Canongate Course) in Forsyth, GA last week from the back tees. We typically play the blues (which for a Canongate Course is not the back tees) and even then, I tell them to play the white tees but not to expect as many shots per side as I typically give them.

So the back tees at River Forest are 6,700+ yards and on the practice green before teeing off, I suggested for all of us to move forward on some of the holes. They decided to roll with it and on that course their tee shots couldn't clear some of the first obstacles. I had no problem on most holes but still carded an 88 adjusted for handicap. It would have been much more enjoyable had we played the white tees (about 6,100 yds) due to not having played there before and the number of blind shots.

Great course but the 600 yd difference between the Back tees and the next forward ones makes people feel inferior if they move up.

I've played a course a few times which is hard on my ego.  The course is The Old Works (link to scorecard) in Anaconda, Montana (Jack Nicklaus design).  The tees are 7705, 7211,  6776, 6144, and 5348.  Even the middle tees tend to stretch me out of my comfort zone.  The tee they call the Limestone tees (6144 yards) are the only ones that I find enjoyable.  The Copper tees at nearly 6800 yards are just too much - I have to play too many approach shots from 200 yards and over on par 4 holes.  

So on that course my brother and I "play it forward" for more fun.

This thread is an interesting read.  I personally have always avoided the tips except on rare occasions.  I try to play tees at yardages ranging from 6,000 to 6,500 yards.  Most courses around here can be played at 7,000 or more yards but the slopes get up  close to 130 or more range with ratings over 71.  That's just too much for me.  I like to walk off the course knowing I had a decent score or at least a chance for a good score and not feeling like I got beat to death by the course.

I live on a course that is pretty playable from member  or senior tees, but will kill you from the tips.  I often sit in my back yard and watch players tee off from tips behind my house.  It is a long par 4 (about 470 from the tips) and narrow with lots of trouble awaiting a stray shot.  It amazes me how many "tin cup" shots I see from the tips.  Guys must have more money than me to spend on golf balls.  Hard to score well when you're hitting 5 off the tee.

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Originally Posted by ghalfaire 

This thread is an interesting read.  I personally have always avoided the tips except on rare occasions.  I try to play tees at yardages ranging from 6,000 to 6,500 yards.  Most courses around here can be played at 7,000 or more yards but the slopes get up  close to 130 or more range with ratings over 71.  That's just too much for me.  I like to walk off the course knowing I had a decent score or at least a chance for a good score and not feeling like I got beat to death by the course.

 

I live on a course that is pretty playable from member  or senior tees, but will kill you from the tips.  I often sit in my back yard and watch players tee off from tips behind my house.  It is a long par 4 (about 470 from the tips) and narrow with lots of trouble awaiting a stray shot.  It amazes me how many "tin cup" shots I see from the tips.  Guys must have more money than me to spend on golf balls.  Hard to score well when you're hitting 5 off the tee.

I'm right on with you here.  Some guys seem to have skipped class the day that they taught that golf is supposed to be fun.    I have a great time playing my version of a serious game of golf from tees which are at 6500 yards or less.  I can laugh and joke and kibbutz with my buddies, all of us playing by the rules, finish the round in under 4½ hours (faster if the course load allows), and feel like I've had a great time.  If I, or any of the friends I'm playing with that day, shoot a great score, then that is just icing on the cake.  

It's the play which counts, approaching each shot with anticipation, and accepting the results with equanimity.  My only demand on the game is that when standing on the tee, I at least have a chance to make whatever is par for the hole.  That is why I limit course length to what is in my distance range. I don't mind if one or 2 holes make that an excessively difficult challenge, but when it gets to the point where I feel that each hole is a chore, then I've bitten off too much.

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Originally Posted by Pablo68 

Some friends (both around 60) and I played at River Forest (Canongate Course) in Forsyth, GA last week from the back tees. We typically play the blues (which for a Canongate Course is not the back tees) and even then, I tell them to play the white tees but not to expect as many shots per side as I typically give them.

 

So the back tees at River Forest are 6,700+ yards and on the practice green before teeing off, I suggested for all of us to move forward on some of the holes. They decided to roll with it and on that course their tee shots couldn't clear some of the first obstacles. I had no problem on most holes but still carded an 88 adjusted for handicap. It would have been much more enjoyable had we played the white tees (about 6,100 yds) due to not having played there before and the number of blind shots.

 

Great course but the 600 yd difference between the Back tees and the next forward ones makes people feel inferior if they move up.

Why should you feel inferior moving up from tees that are 6700 yards? I know few golfers that should be playing from tees that far back. Even moving up from some tees you still shot an adjusted 88 with a 7.5 handicap so clearly either you had a bad day or the course was too long (we don't know the slope). Your 60 something partners clearly were in over their heads and absolutely should have been on the white tees. You should have played some back and some white tees for a total of about 6400 yards.

Jeez - reminds me of the quote:

Revenue is vanity, profits are sanity, cash is king

why would you feel that just hitting it further is a better "emotional" result...

Lowest score is what it is about...

IMHO

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Originally Posted by tuffluck 

i hit the ball pretty long, so i target courses that are about 7,000 yards, which is usually the tips.  i shoot 90s consistently from this position.  i CAN tee it forward and shoot lower, but it doesn't boost my confidence any.  i know that if i play today from the whites and shoot 87 or from the blacks and shoot 93, my skill level didn't change between either.  if my skill level doesn't change and i'm not reporting my scorecard to anyone, 5 saved strokes via sacrificing 500 yards doesn't do anything for me emotionally.  if i play with someone with a similar skill level that decides to tee it forward, unless we are betting money i really don't care that they beat me by 5 strokes.  oh, and my pace of play is very fast, so teeing it forward isn't an issue in that regard.  anyone else feel this way?

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Originally Posted by MSchott 

Why should you feel inferior moving up from tees that are 6700 yards? I know few golfers that should be playing from tees that far back. Even moving up from some tees you still shot an adjusted 88 with a 7.5 handicap so clearly either you had a bad day or the course was too long (we don't know the slope). Your 60 something partners clearly were in over their heads and absolutely should have been on the white tees. You should have played some back and some white tees for a total of about 6400 yards.

Agree 100%. Playing at around 6400 is right where I think I should be playing.

I don't feel inferior about playing up on a course like that. The 88 was adjusted for 2 holes that I picked up. Just too long of a course that we'd never seen and had no idea on where hazards were on blind shots.

Slope is meaningless to me........ I prefer to play a course with a minimum of a 72CR.......It the tips fall short of that number, then the course isn't worthy.......

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Originally Posted by BuckeyeNut 

Slope is meaningless to me........ I prefer to play a course with a minimum of a 72CR.......It the tips fall short of that number, then the course isn't worthy.......

That doesn't surprise me.  The slope is supposed to rate the difficulty of the course as it applies to a bogey golfer - hazards, bunkers, trees, rough, elevation change, etc.   A scratch golfer (or better) is supposed to be good enough to navigate through the hazardous areas, whereas the bogey golfer gets intimately involved with them and lacks all of the skills necessary to deal with the problems encountered.  

The only time I play the tips is when I'm alone, when I'm behind a group and trying to play slow, when I'm trying to work on my long irons/hybrids/fairway woods and short game -  I like to see how I perform in the "back" tees to remind me that I have to be able to hit every club in the bag, not just driver, SW/PW/9-iron. So mostly for the added challenge.  Also makes me appreciate watching PGA pros when they have those long par 3s and 4s.   Sometimes playing forward tees brings a variety of challenges - ie delicate half wedge shots or other hazards like fairway bunkers- and doesn't necessarily mean an easier round of golf.

     I think some confuse what "tee it forward" is suppose to be about..  It's not about your handicap, it's about your capability and length.. If you are not hitting the ball long enough to reach a par 4 in two with a short to mid iron on average, then move up..  I play with people that use a 7 iron on average but spray it everywhere, that doesn't mean for them to "move" forward..  However, I've seen others that hit the ball consistently, but have to use hybrid or fairway woods to reach par 4's in two.. Those are the ones that need to move up..  It amazes me how so many seniors play off the 6300 yrd tees, hit their drive 200 yards and often have 160 to 200 yards to go to reach the green, and refuse to move forward to the 5600 yrd tees..

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Originally Posted by ThominOH 

     I think some confuse what "tee it forward" is suppose to be about..  It's not about your handicap, it's about your capability and length.. If you are not hitting the ball long enough to reach a par 4 in two with a short to mid iron on average, then move up..  I play with people that use a 7 iron on average but spray it everywhere, that doesn't mean for them to "move" forward..  However, I've seen others that hit the ball consistently, but have to use hybrid or fairway woods to reach par 4's in two.. Those are the ones that need to move up..  It amazes me how so many seniors play off the 6300 yrd tees, hit their drive 200 yards and often have 160 to 200 yards to go to reach the green, and refuse to move forward to the 5600 yrd tees..

But how many high handicappers do you see that are consistently long? My experience is the guy spraying it everywhere does that because along with the rest of their swing faults they overswing in an attempt to hit it far. Not to mention included with that lack of consistency is lots of short mishits. The guys I get paired up with like that aren't seeing many opportunites to hit GIR as they chase balls all over the course. They've based their entire game on the slim chance they'll hit the perfect drive when the reality is it only comes once or twice a round.

Last year I took my sons and my dad to Myrtle beach.  My sons are fairly new to golf so we Teed it forward for them. I am a 7 hcp so the course was short for me. Basically a driver and  wedge to the par fours  .  My dad is 80 and thought he would golf from our tees but after two holes realized that he needed to play the senoirs. We all ended up having a great time and no one was stressed out . It really does seem to help when one plays from the correct tees. Even hitting from the forward tees was fun for me since I got all of my rounds in the 70s.

Lest There Be Any Confusion Regarding The Tee It Forward Program: Your driver distance determines the appropriate course yardage for your game and thus, your appropriate tee box.

I do believe that this is one of the very best developments in recreational golf to come along since the hybrid iron set. The only obsticle to it making golf more fun and take less time is the silly and stubborn testosterone crowd who are too "proud" to tee it forward and would rather hit from the tips; shoot over 100 and slow down play at every hole while groups behind them watch these clowns play military golf-left-right-left all day long...anyway here's the actual guidelines for players to determine their correct tee box...FYI-it is no longer based on age but instead on distance which makes perfect sense. Shout out to Barney Adams of Adams Golf who is credited with first proposing this approach which is now endorsed by Jack Niclaus, Tom Watson etc.

"TEE IT FORWARD," the new national initiative to be conducted at golf facilities nationwide from July 5-17, encourages all golfers to play the course at a length that is aligned with their average driving distance.

With TEE IT FORWARD, golfers can potentially speed up play and have more fun by utilizing tees that provide the greatest playability and enjoyment. That's why The PGA of America and the United States Golf Association are pleased to jointly support TEE IT FORWARD.

The chart below is to be used as a guideline to help golfers potentially align their average driving distance with the length of a course that is best suited to their abilities.

We hope that golfers and golf facilities nationwide embrace TEE IT FORWARD and help maximize the enjoyment of golfers everywhere!
 

Driver Distance                     Recommended 18-Hole Yardages 
PGA Tour Professional                      7,600-7,900

300                                          7,150-7,400

275                                          6,700-6,900

250                                          6,200-6,400

225                                          5,800 -6,000

200                                          5,200-5,400

175                                          4,400-4,600

150                                          3,500-3,700

125                                          2,800-3,000

100                                          2,100-2,300

Yes it is appropriately based on driver distance not age.  For example, I am a senior but hit my drives an average of 220 yards (typical distance for amateur)  while one of my playing partners is almost ten years my senior but can hit his drives 260-270 (close to LPGA Distances!) so he hits from the boxes one BACK from mine and we always have competitive matches which inevitably come down to shortgame prowess since we are now both capable of G. I.R......great Fun!

Correction:  I meant to say that I hit driver approx 200 - 220 yards  (220 is a  blast with the wind at me back and a hard fast fairway!)  while my partner hits 260-270..

But thanks to tee it forward we both play from the appropriate tee box and enjoy the opportunity to make G.I.R. (now and again) while playing a good competitive round shooting in the 80's..

It makes the game fun and is more than challenging enough for a couple of old duffers.