i have no interest in "teeing it forward" - Page 6

As long as you don't hold up others on the course and enjoy it, play whichever tees you like. It may be more difficult to lower you handicap, but each to his own.

I would like to say though, that from what I've seen, many would probably enjoy it more by playing a different set of tees. If they could just lose a bit of that pride.
I've watched enough people hit three balls from the tee, missing one into the left water hazard, one out of bounds right and one which barely made it past the next tee.

In a lot of courses, changing tees makes a big difference to the tee shot. Losing a ball and a couple of shots on the tee shot every second hole can hardly be fun.

People play this game for different reasons. Some play it for business, some to just get out of the house, some because it is a chance to play with their buddies, others because it is a challenge for them. Where they play and what tees they use is up to them and usually the group they play with. The biggest thing is that they can keep up with group in front of them.  The problem I have with some golfers is when they have a really bad hole and playing a par 4 they are still hitting to the green on their 7th or 8th shot and the group behind them is waiting and waiting. On those days when the course is crowded pick up the ball and go to the next hole.

 

 Does playing it forward make for quicker play by a group? I don't know if it does, but it might make it more fun for many who struggle on long holes and long courses. The one thing that bothers me is when a golfer or group of players say I paid my money and I am going to play from the tips. The tips at my course is 7300 and even the top golfers don't usually play there. The next tees are 7000 yards and that is enough for them, yet I see guys who are playing there for the first time go back to the tips and just struggle all day yet still stay at those tees.

 

 The only criteria for me is can I reach the par 4's with two decent hits? Unless the slope is stupid high I can usually play at 6400 yards but prefer something a little shorter. I enjoy the challenge of this game as it never gets boring since the course almost always whips my butt.  Yet I come back the next time with renewed anticipation of maybe this time I can beat it. Every day is a challenge and each hole is a challenge but I know some just want to hit it as far as they can and really don't get caught up in scoring as low as they can each time. Everyone is different and as long as they keep pace I hope they enjoy the day and come back and play again.

I prefer to have only one shot to worry about. I'm a 25 because I played longer courses. Now that I am playing shorter courses, my drive is the only really critical and unknown shot. I have not updated my handicap, but i can make pars on occasional par 4s on a 67/113 rated courses. This is because my second shot is usually much more comfortable to hit. Don't know what my handicap is now, but when I play short the game is much more enjoyable for me. I carry 220 yards on average, so I'm not a short hitter. Yet, I really love those short 290 to 320 yard par 4s. Then again, Tuffluck is probably much better with his irons than me on approach shots. Anything over 120 yards is work for me.

Hey Guys, just wanted to pop in and introduce myself, new to the threads. anyway this is an interesting subject to me because I have been debating this very issue in my mind recently. I am reletively new to golf, (year or so) but i am able to play about 3-5 times a wk, and I am dedicated to lowering my score. That being said. I was considering playing a new course because it is longer, and my thinking was if i am ever going to be able to compete on any level I gotta be able to play long. Then i think well i really do get to use all the clubs in my bag would it really matter while im still hacking--no pun intended--my score down. I am now leaning towards if and when i get down to like the high 70's low 80's (consistently that is), i'll move it back and work on my long game to be more complete. . . . . any thoughts? am i on the right track? thanks in advance for any advice--considering im not a threat to anyone at this point except mayeb myself . . .lol

I recently read a very interesting article on playing from the back tees v. Forward tees. Basically, the author was advocating that anyone who has been playing golf for some time should be playing from the back tees regardless of handicap because the game was meant to be challenging and difficult, therefore failing to play from the longest tees out there really does not take advantage of how the course was to be played. Made sense to me. Of course, pace of play should be taken into account, and everyone should make a conscious effort to make the game enjoyable for everyone, including those paying behind. Sometimes, that means moving up to the front tees.

hey twisted, welcome to the sandtrap - its really a fantastic site with a lot of great info.

 

regarding this new course, pretty much any course will have a set of tees that are appropriate for you.  play the tees that give you a middle iron average for a second shot, like a 7 iron.  dont play tees that give you mostly woods and hybrids and 3 irons in for a second shot.

 

also, work on your full swing/long game.  people like to say that a high handicapper needs to focus on short game but thats really not true.  work on your long game and the short game will come later.

 

I heartily disagree with the author.  A player who typically hits a 200 yard drive has no business playing a 7500 yard course.  That would be just stupid.  Besides that, a properly designed golf course offers challenge from any tee provided that the player is playing from a tee which suits his length and ability.  If playing from the middle tees removes the difficulty, then the course wasn't very well conceived in the first place.

 

I've been playing for 40 years (and never lower than a 10 course handicap) and while I was once capable of playing a 7000 yard course, it was never a particularly enjoyable experience.  There are far more factors than just length of time in the game which should be considered when choosing a tee set.

I have to disagree with the last part. Last tourney I played in was an a,b,c, senior tournament.

I drove further than the A&B players, hit more fairways than the A. the difference was all short game.

That doesn't necessarily mean his last statement is untrue.  Maybe your short game just hasn't come around yet ;)

No doubt some struggle with different parts of the game but in my experience a golfers skill across the board is relative to their handicap, if they truly have one. I don't see people out there hitting accurate, long drives and falling apart around the green just like I don't see an excellent short game from people wild off the tee. You may have a weakness and strength but it's not so lopsided that it's like playing two different things.

 

A guy playing to a 20 is only scoring 20 over on occassion, they'll have days where they shoot under that mark and lots of days over the mark. The index represents your potential not your average. To me that's telling regardless of what the number is. Your short game would have to be nonexistent to negate any sort of consistent long game to lose that many strokes. This is why people doubt the intentions of high cappers playing from the tips. Because we've seen these types on the course and they struggle from everywhere.

 

I was behind a group of these guys on Sun. In 9 holes I saw one or two decent drives from the three of them. I don't doubt a few of them managed to break 100 but they fought hard to do it recovering from all the errant shots. It's not that their good shots don't fly far it's that their misses left them with really tough 2nd and usually 3rd shots because they were constantly trying to recover. Everyone has different ideas about this but my belief is you play from where you have the best chance of hitting GIR not assuming you'll hit your best shot but that you'll have a chance after hitting your average shot, which could be anywhere from so-so to good.

Tip tees these days weren't designed to be the course most play. They were put in for the sake of making 8000 yard courses possible. Classic courses are being "ruined, changed, improved, tinkered with", etc.. by putting tee boxes in that weren't even in Jones', Ross', or Tillinghast's minds when they designed the place. Courses now have tee boxes that are across streets, or across lakes that didn't exist at the time. Tee boxes that are so far back that there is a rest stop along the way. That's just ridiculous to assume that a 20 should march back there and give it a go because golf was "meant to be a challenge". Golf is meant to be a challenge WITHOUT being a chore. And as it is, Golf is a challenge on it's own without needing map reading skills and GPS units to FIND a tee box.

 

Unless he uses a 3W or long iron from the shorter tees instead of driver on every hole.  On my home course I typically use driver on only 3 holes on the front 9, Although that can change when the wind gets up.  On the back 9, I use driver on all but the 2 par 3's.  This is from the 6500 yard middle tees.

This is wishful thinking at best unless we're talking about someone like Tiger who averages a hair less than 300y. The reality for all but the longest and most consistent golfers, folks like Tiger, is the occasional 300y drive is not a prominent part of their game. Sure we get ahold of one once in a while but example you gave really isn't reality. I average more than 220 and I'd back that up to 200 if I could hit 90% of the fairways because I can't think of one course I play where there is more than a couple of par 4's over 425 from any tee. I play from the tips at my home course (6400y) and the longest par 4 there is 449.

I just wanted to chime in, for the record I feel you should play from whatever tee box you like as long as you don't adversely affect others.

However, I disagree with your example. A guy who hits the fairway 10% of the time is not very likely to be at his desired landing area in terms of yardage. A mishit affects both accuracy and distance. So, in your example, the guy who set up for a 300 yard drive but missed has likely found himself only about 260 off the tee and in the rough (or worse). Long hitter or not, it's a hard shot. I'd honestly rather be the 220 guy at that point, 90% fairway's hit means. He is likely to score no worse than 5 on this hole. Should have hit 3w...

I'm just speaking from experience here. I usually play my driver 270. Sometimes I'll stripe it down the middle 280-285. Sometimes I'll slice it and hit it 240. Trust me the hole gets harder when its 30 yards longer than you expected.

Your last statement is an oversimplification too. If there's a dogleg in either direction, there's a good chance that being long off the tee will hurt you even if you pure it. You can definitely drive a ball through a fairway as well.

I guess my point is that a 300 yard driver of the ball has a lot of options off the tee he should be exercising to hit more fairways.

Agreed, good post.

I usually play from the whites and most everyone I know does also, however every now and then I like to mix it up and play from the back tees.  I like it because I usually use different clubs for my second shot, kinda keeps me in practice with all clubs.  I would not do it if I were holding up the course, but I find that it usually does not make much difference in time for me.  Tuffluck seems to enjoy the challenge that the back tees provide and is not worried about the extra strokes they cause him, I for one cannot fault him for that.

You might just enjoy hitting an approach shot and making a GIR once in a while....tee it forward is the best thing to happen in recreational golf since the hybrid.