Almost 10 years ago, I noticed it was getting harder (or impossible) to reach some of the longer par-4 holes, even with a fairway wood. 2025 marked the first year where I moved up to shorter tees full time. I have never been a long hitter, but I was able to play competently on courses that ranged from 6,300 yards to 6,600 yards.

I laughed when I looked back at a 10-year-old blog I wrote as a youngster of 63.

Those seniors who still walk often rely on push and pull carts now.  While I still carry and walk 18, I find myself sitting and taking a breather a bit more often.  Some of those modern push carts are starting to look pretty good on the back nine.  While I haven’t noticed any appreciable drop-off in my game so far, I am not looking forward to the day when golf technology no longer advances faster than my skill level diminishes.

 The last time I carried a golf bag further than from the clubhouse to my car was January 2022. I bought a 3-wheeled cart and wish I had done it earlier. Unfortunately, while there was an easy fix for not carrying a golf bag, technology no longer moves fast enough to keep up with my ageing. A $1,000 driver isn’t going to add 20 yards and a super game improvement 7 iron won’t allow me to hit a high 160 yard shot that stops on the green. Moving up a tee was the obvious solution.

My conversion to shorter tees has come at a good time. Many courses that formerly had the standard Red/White/Blue tees have either built additional tees or gone to blended tees. A local course, Kensington, is a good example of this process. For decades the setup (par 71) was Blue (6,521 yards), White (6,264 yards) and Red (5,116 yards. From the White tees, five par-4 holes were 390 yards or more. I had stopped playing Kensington because it played too long, and 5,116 yards was much too short. In 2024 I decided to give Kensington another go. To my surprise, they had added a 4^th set of tees (Gold at 5,233 yards – still too short) and, most importantly, they also had a blended set of tees (White/Gold – 5,790 yards).

Now the question is, when will I move up again? Hopefully never. Our senior club has a contingent of ageing players who continue to play in our tournaments. Many rarely come close to breaking 100 and putting four of them in a foursome is a recipe for a 5+ hour round. They lobbied and got a fourth set of tees to be used in our tournaments – at an average yardage of 5,000 yards. I don’t plan to play tournament golf or play tees set at 5,000 yards if I hit 80, but time will tell. A lot of our octogenarians probably thought they would be fishing or playing shuffleboard instead of competing at 5,000 yards.