early tee times = for better players?

[andy]

This is the start of my second season of golf and have a 28.2 handicap. I generally get tee times around 8 or 9 the latest so I can be home in the afternoon to do other things...

The question I have is, is it OK if a newb such as myself book the earliest possible tee time 6-6:30 am or is this frowned upon? I keep up with pace and even pick up on holes where I shoot over a 6

Off the tees, mid irons and wedge shots I feel i'm a decent player. But I AT LEAST triple putt every single hole

[PiKapp23]

Early tee times are best for fast players simply because it only takes one slow group early to ruin the pace of play the rest of the day. If you are a fast player then it doesn't matter how good you are or what your handicap is. I know a lot of early tee times are taken by older golfers, often who are high handicappers, but play fast. It's not unusual for these players to complete their rounds in 3 1/2 hours or so (sometimes quite a bit less even).

If you are not this fast, then it would be better to play later for the sake of the pace for the day.

[Mr3Putt]

This is the start of my second season of golf and have a 28.2 handicap. I generally get tee times around 8 or 9 the latest so I can be home in the afternoon to do other things...

If you keep pace, you can golf anytime you like! We have an 8am standing time for our Saturday skins game. There is a group of 10-16 guys ahead of us, we have between 18-30. Sometimes the course will throw in a foursome or two if the prior group calls to say they won't fill all the spots. Once they put a mixed foursome out right in front of us. Watching them tee off on #1 we knew we were in for a rough day. We called the clubhouse, they made them replay the front 9 while we made the turn. Bottom line: It's OK to suck at golf, it's not OK to be slow. Keep pace, it doesn't matter what you shoot.

[David in FL]

I agree......early tee times are best reserved for faster players/groups, not necessarily better.

If you're comfortable getting around in less than 4 hours, go for it. If your normal round includes a number of ball hunting delays and forays from one bunker to another, you'll prob be more comfortable with a more relaxed pace.

[NM Golf]

I play in one of the first five tee times every Saturday. The first ten tee times of the day are normally the same people. We almost always play in 3 1/2 hours and sometimes less, and to us thats not hurrying its just a nice leisurely pace.

On occasion someone we don't know will slip in and get a tee time amongst all the the regulars. When that happens normally they aren't able to keep up the normal pace and they get yelled at and bitched out by all the groups behind them. This of course causes them to have an unenjoyable round. So to answer your question, no, the early times are not neccesarily better golfers, but they are faster golfers. And at my course they are faster golfers with extremely little patience for anyone they deem the least bit slow. This is probably true at most courses.

[jopela]

I agree with the group... the morning is for the fast golfers regardless of skill. I golf with a group of VERY slow and very bad golfers. A 5 hour round is not unusual. We almost always book our tee times after 11:00. I hate being pressed so it works better for everyone.

[Fourputt]

Another in agreement with the majority. As mentioned, nothing messes up pace for the day than having one or two slow groups go out early in the day.

As long as you keep pace, take any tee time you want. But make sure that you are aware of any group in front of you and if you do fall behind, make every effort to catch up. If you are in a foursome and following a twosome, then it may be impractical for you to keep the pace with them, but I would still set a time limit for each hole that doesn't exceed about 12 minutes on average. That means that if you tee off at 7:00 AM, you should be off the 6th green by about 8:15. Stretch that limit to 14 minutes for a par 5 and drop to 10 for a par 3, but keep the average at 12 minutes and you'll be ok.

[-BAMA-]

our foursome is always the first one out on my home course every sat.

the course opens at 7am. we usually get there around 5:45-6am to practice putting, chipping, pitching, and stretch...then we go tee off. ( i like being the only people at the range.. so i can practice pitching from 50-60 yards out onto the chipping/putting green from the driving range teebox without fear of anybody walking into the line of fire)

i'm the worst player out of our foursome.. but that relates mainly to my putting, i'm almost always on the green with a shot at birdie or par... but i never seem to make the putts...

my dad is a scratch.. or a 1 hc at the worst, my brother regularly shoots around a 74-76 (par 72), and my buddy shoots in the low 80's... so if we get slowed down any, its because of my flat stick.

everybody else i see playing that early seems to be fairly good golfers, we dont usually see the slow players untill after 9 am... so to answer your question, yes, better players usually tee off early at my course...

[JawjaDawg]

I'm not much for early morning golf (or anything else, really), but the several times I've had tee times around 8am it's been faintly reminiscent of a nursing home.

[SasQuatch<3]

Getting out of work late sometimes feels great when your the last player to play through the course, no one else behind you.

[meenman]

My home course has double tee times on both weekend mornings. If you play your 1st 9 too fast you will be waiting on your back 9 anyway.

The only time it seems to slow down is when the sunday players play on Saturday. They seem to feel a need to play 2 balls off of every tee even if the first one is down the middle.

But the tee times are reserved on a first come, first serve basis. The public course I used to play at I would not even bother going if the first open tee time was 8:30 or after on the weekend. That was begging for a 6 hour round.

[iacas]

Agree again with the majority: not about the score, but about the speed.

One thing though: be honest with yourself about how fast you play. You don't want to get out there and feel the need, even subconsciously, to rush. You won't have any fun.

[lumpuckeroo]

Playing fast and playing good have nothing in common, just look at the PGA Tour. Keep up with the group in front of you and no one will ever complain.

[Seven Iron]

Early tee times are best for fast players simply because it only takes one slow group early to ruin the pace of play the rest of the day '

Yep, that's what I say.

[andy]

Thanks folks

[GaijinGolfer]

When I first started playing golf, I always played as early as I could because at that time of day (6-8am) I was the only one on the course, so I could hack it up as bad as I wanted and not feel intimidated by someone watching me and not feel like I was holding anyone up.
So, no, I would not say that early tee times are for better players.

[HSip]

Playing fast and playing good have nothing in common, just look at the PGA Tour.

What you said.

[Shindig]

Another vote with the majority. I'd rather have a fast group ahead of me, even if they're shooting in the triple digits, than have Ben Crane and Sean O'Hair ahead of me, even if they're about to shoot 54 each.