What Tees for Average Higher HCP Golfer?

[MarvChamp]

Glad the "USGA/PGA Tee It Forward" program was mentioned. That has been my guide for awhile along with what was posted some time ago on TST. BUT recently started using Golf Pad Tags GPS and What a surprise! Miscalculating my driver distance  by 10-15 yards! I'm an old man but my pride is really hurt. Need to get to work on this. My first stop will be a launch monitor to confirm, as was also mentioned. Best, -Marv

[IowaGreg]

13 hours ago, Buckeyebowman said:

 He said about 260. When we got to his ball his Garmin watch said he had 180 in! I said if he hit it 260 on a 400 yard hole, he should have 140 in, not 180! He actually tried to claim something was wrong with his GPS!

What do ya know - I have the same GPS watch.....  I typically hit 280 but the GPS watch only reads 220 !!!!! 

[criley4way]

2 hours ago, IowaGreg said:

What do ya know - I have the same GPS watch.....  I typically hit 280 but the GPS watch only reads 220 !!!!! 

Better get the watch checked.

[phan52]

My club has 6900, 6500, 6200, 5600 and 5150. 6500 is the regular mens' tees. Being a senior citizen with a 13 course handicap, I have been playing the 6200 yard tees a lot lately. Much more fun. The only problem is that all club competitions are played at 6500 and it is distinctly different, so I don't want to get out of touch with it. I still enjoy competition; it's why I maintain a handicap.

[ForcedCarry21]

On 12/6/2019 at 1:14 PM, criley4way said:

There is no right set of tees for people. 

Play the tees that make the game challenging and fun. This is a leisure activity not a profession for most of us.

Shorter tees means more distance down the fairway and shorter clubs into the green. I would expect to play a variety of clubs to the greens. IF you are comfortable and it is fun hitting 3i or hybrid into 5-6 greens a round Great. If you want to be able to hit partial wedges into every green FINE.

I enjoy 6,300 to 6,900, average 255 (per Arccos) off the tee and routinely play 4-Gap into the greens. I can reach a few par 5s in 2. That is a good fit. I don't want to survive 7,200 and pitch and putt 5,200 (at least not often).

 

@criley4way could not have said it any better. Play the tees that are going to make the most fun for you. Even if you are working on certain things and want to move back a tee box or move forward a tee box do it. You will be surprised what kind of different shots pop up when you are all of a sudden playing a different set of tees. Makes your game a lot better.

[dagolfer18]

On 12/6/2019 at 11:46 AM, luchnia said:

I am sure this topic has been beaten to death, yet I still am curious as to how others handle this. I am an older golfer who is only so-so. Average round at 100 with a best of 87, then 92 and 97, or the not so good 105-110 game. I seem to hover right at 100 more consistently. I am not into cheating my score and do my very best to score my strokes properly. I am a bit anal about it actually 🙂

I have played from various Tees but in my area in Central VA we have some rolling hills on a lot of courses and I seem to feel most comfortable at the white tees which are usually between 5600 to maybe 6000 yds. I did play short Tees once, but wasn't as comfortable for some reason. My driver can vary from around 175 to 225 with a once in a while longer shot. Should I play the short Tees more and see how it works out?

I read all sorts of stuff about what Tees to play and I did the 5 iron math too. Just curious as to what most of you do concerning which Tees to play from and especially on a course you have not played before. I appreciate any insights you have.

Sounds like you and I have very similar games. We’re both about bogey golfers. How far do you hit your driver? That’s what you should look at first. For example, I hit my driver probably 220 in the winter. With the Tee It Forward system, the white tees at my home course align perfectly with my driver distance (par 72, 6063 yards).

[cooke119]

In the golf league I'm in, of older retired guys and gals, if you are over 65 you hit from the gold tees, i.e., play it forward, (women still play forward from the reds). We do this because we don't hit the ball that far anymore, have about 10 foursomes that are teeing off and we all want to get to the 19th hole in a reasonable amount of time. We also play best ball otherwise we would be out there all day. The league is for fun, though we do each kick in $10 that goes towards some minor prize money but most goes to help a homeless shelter and a home for battered women in our area.

When not playing in the league we still play it forward. We understand how frustrating it can be for other golfers following us when we are not playing our best, which is often, (LOL). We always let those behind us, if they are waiting on us, to play through.

Bottomline we check our egos at the door, we're there to have fun.

[DennisMiller]

At the 2 courses where I play most, the forward tees were placed long after the courses existed and they don't help much. You might save 10 yards on some holes, but on holes where there are hazards to play short of, the tees aren't far enough forward to let you hit over those hazards, so you don't do anything but hit less club off the tee and have the same shot to the green.

On average, I'm the longest hitter in my group, so we've never found any benefit to moving up to forward tees.

When we've traveled somewhere to play a different course, it's another story. My point is, it varies from course to course and is based pretty much on nothing but design.

[dagolfer18]

Here’s an example of a situation several people on this thread have mentioned: the average player stepping up to the tips.

Yesterday, I played the front nine of my round with two other guys, probably both in their mid-40s. Before we teed off, one asked the other, “What tees? White or blue?”. The blues were the tips at the course I was playing. After a minute or two, they decided on the blues (par 71, 6425 yards), which weren’t long by any standards. But then, one topped his tee shot, the other missed the fairway by about 20 yards. I was thinking, “Oh boy, here we  go.” I ended up shooting 45 (playing the whites) and beat them both by a few shots.

Although, I will say this. I am sort of guilty of this too. I played the blues at my home course over the summer, mainly becuse I knew I would hit the ball further and my dad told me I needed to “to get better”. But, here’s a time where I basically didn’t have a choice. Last season, our team went to a nearby private club to play nine holes one afternoon as practice. They (my teammates) basically forced me to play the blues, which were just over 3400 yards for the front while I wanted to play the whites, which were about 300 yards shorter. One of my teammates lied and said we had to play the blues. I ended up shooting 54 for nine holes, with no shortage of frustration. I texted my coach later that evening and asked him if we really had to play the blues. He said no, we could’ve played whatever tees we wanted. You can imagine that I had some things to say to my teammate.

For me personally, when I have a choice, I like to play a tee box that is challenging, but gives me a good chance to shoot a decent score. That yardage falls into the 6100-6300 range, although I will go a few hundred over or under that occasionally. 

Edited February 25, 2020 by dagolfer18

[Moniker]

I hit my driver about 230 on average on straight shots, with really good ones going 250~260. My fairway wood goes 210 on average, 230 solid hit, but I can't hit it off the fairway really well. The next club which I can consistently hit from the fairway is my 4 hybrid goes 200 on average and 215 on solid hits. So the absolute farthest par 4 I can consistently play is about 420 and the farthest par 3 about 220. As a result, I don't play from any tee which causes too many (4 or 5 is maximum I can tolerate) par 4s to be over 420, or any par 3 over 220, as I'd rather not hit driver on a par 3. Luckily, that has never been a problem with men's tee around here, except for a course that has a 230 par 3 over water. I always move forward a tee when I play that hole. Sometimes guys I play with mock me, but mostly I get the last laugh when they hit ball after ball into water on that long par 3.

Edited February 25, 2020 by Moniker
grammar

[cooke119]

Myself and the guys play with are over 65 with various ailments, we don't drive the ball that far either. In NY where we play with have blue, white, gold and red for the ladies. We most always play from the golds, i.e., play it forward, to speed the game up and not hold anybody up behind us. We're out there to have fun, it really doesn't matter to us that we play the gold tees.

In the league we are in if you are over 65 you play from the golds.

We all want to get to the 19th hole as quickly as possible.

[Bonvivant]

For me, I play anywhere from 5900-6400 given the choice. Average decent contact drive is somewhere between 230-250 now (which I am really happy about), but I still have a decent amount of "power fades" and cold tops/sky balls. We do have a course locally which is something of an executive course. I actually still enjoy it from the middle tees at 5100 yards, as opposed to the back tees at 5400. This is still a par 71 course. It still feels like I should be playing from the middle tees, even if my scores are absurdly better than they should be, with my best being a +5 (+5 front even back), but the holes still feel right for where each set of tees are.

For me, as long as I'm not playing for something special (tournament or local money game where certain tees are mandated), I play as short as feels reasonable and fun. I don't often play "forward" (seniors', juniors', women's, whatever it may be)tees, sticking with mostly the "members" tees if I play somewhere new. If the course is exceptionally long, I may move up. Sometimes it depends on the group that I am playing with too. Had a situation last year where a guy got matched with my buddy and I, and he wanted to play the tips (7k yards or so), whereas we wanted to play 2 tees up (6400 yards). Ended up splitting the difference at 6700 yards from the second back tees. The guy we were paired with struggled very bad, and my friend and I didn't fair much better.

TLDR: Don't be afraid to play "shorter" tees, and go have fun.