Are high handicappers losers?

[flopdarock]

oh and as far as moving up a teebox...
i was paired up with a couple of senior ladies one day and for the sake of pace of play and just out of curiosity i decided to play the same teebox as them...
lets just say i all of a sudden didnt become tiger woods just by playing forward tees...
all that happened from playing the fronts was i had to really think about much diff club selection for my first shot... still played within my hcp... the only really big diff i saw was par 5's were much more tempting trying to reach greens in 2 and those were the only holes i pulled driver on

[Chefoz]

I enjoy watching my pops hit a hybrid off the tee to make his 2nd and 3rd for an easier par... I'll smash a drive and hope to lay up a 2nd for a 2 putt but miss...
Flop,
....."off topic" My pop's and I are playing at Eastlake Sunday.
907am lets play!

[flopdarock]

id love to play eastlake but im not due in san diego till dec... lol... im stuck on the east coast right now

[Chief Broom]

oh and as far as moving up a teebox...

Moving forward isn't a cure all. It's still golf and there is still the same premium on shotmaking, but what it does do is make the game easier. It's a shorter distance and following the standard convention of golf course design the shorter tee boxes provide an easier tee shot based on what it takes to carry hazards and angle of approach. Those are the two determinants that really make the most difference. Lets face it for a high capper having 350yds to the hole or 300yds isn't fundamentally much of a difference. But if that 350yd shot has to carry 50yds of brush or water that the 300yd shot doesn't makes a huge difference. Now instead of having to re-tee and hit their 3rd shot because they lost their tee ball in the hazard they are laying 40yds out in 1 with a shot into the green. Usually shorter tees take a lot of the dog leg out of the hole, again making the tee shot much easier given the potential trouble that can be found. Not every hole has such a dramatic difference, but add up the few times it does and you can easily shave 5-10 or more strokes off your round, and those are just penalty strokes.

The other problem with high cappers, and pez just mentioned this, is that all those additional strokes have the potential to make that guy's round take a lot longer. Unless the guy shooting 120 has no pre-shot routine at all it's going to add to the time it takes to play. While I know a few high cappers who are very considerate and take special pains not to slow down play, in my experience that 4some of hackers who is holding up the entire course (even if they are considerate enough to let faster groups through) always has a rediculously long pre-shot routine. There isn't much on the golf course more frustrating than watching some poor guy carefully line up his shot from behind (just like Tiger), take 10 practice strokes (I'm not kidding 10 freaking practice strokes, and God forbid something happens that makes him have to start his routine all over again, because he will), only to duff the ball 20yds. You just want to walk up and tell him that he'd play much faster and probably have a better chance at hitting a better shot if he'd quit thinking and worrying about the shot and just hit it! It sure as hell couldn't be any worse. Not all high cappers are like that, but whenever I catch up to a group that is playing way too slow they are usually taking way too long to hit their shots. Can you tell I'm a muni golfer...

[sean_miller]

Moving forward isn't a cure all. It's still golf and there is still the same premium on shotmaking, but what it does do is make the game easier. It's a shorter distance and following the standard convention of golf course design the shorter tee boxes provide

While teaching my wife to golf (risky, I know), she has commented several times on the way her tee shot is shorter, but her teebox is also poorly maintained, there is often a smaller landing area (due to the angle of approach) and sometimes trees or bushes block 1/2 the fairway or green anyway. On many courses the

easiest tee shot for mid-low handicap players is from the championship tee because you're short of the fairway bunkers/hazards and if it's off to the side, and you're able to work the ball, even better. A shorter tee shot just means Joe Hacker will try to carry the trouble or drive the green and then things can really back up.

[ctyankee]

While teaching my wife to golf (risky, I know), she has commented several times on the way her tee shot is shorter, but her teebox is also poorly maintained, there is often a smaller landing area (due to the angle of approach) and sometimes trees or bushes block 1/2 the fairway or green anyway. On many courses the

Great post!

[Chief Broom]

While teaching my wife to golf (risky, I know), she has commented several times on the way her tee shot is shorter, but her teebox is also poorly maintained, there is often a smaller landing area (due to the angle of approach) and sometimes trees or bushes block 1/2 the fairway or green anyway. On many courses the

I've never noticed that to be the case? Not saying that it isn't common, but I've never seen it. All the courses I play maintain the tee boxes equally. The muni I'm a member of has a pretty fair amount of female traffic. I'd say at least 10-15% total and you'd better believe there would be some real noise if those tees aren't maintained properly (and the next tee back, the senior tees, see even more action from senior retirees who are members). At this muni the forward tees ("senior's" and "women's") offer much better angles of approach and shorter distances. In fact on about half the holes the distance difference is minor, so that means on the other half of the holes the distance is significant. The yardages on the 4 par 5's from the forward tees is 447yds, 353yds, 407yds, and 337yds, and that last par 5 is all downhill from the forward tee (the back 2 tees have to carry over 150yds before you get to the downward slope)! In the daily dogfights those par 5's are quite often won with an eagle and if you're playing from those back tees against a senior you'd better at least birdie the hole or you've lost the hole (or the senior's racked up major points). In total there is only a 1000yds difference between the forward most and the rear most tees but like I said you only see that big of a difference on less than half the holes (7 holes with a difference of 75yds or more). Again on this course that is hardly total insurance against shooting a terrible score but on those 7 holes anyone is a good stroke ahead of even a scratch golfer playing the back tees boxes.

[sean_miller]

. . . there would be some real noise if those tees aren't maintained properly (and the next tee back, the senior tees, see even more action from senior retirees who are members). At this muni the forward tees ("senior's" and "women's") offer much better angles of approach and shorter distances. . .

Good for you. It's good to know that not all courses put the ladies tee markers 2 feet apart, 3 feet from the back of the tee box, and pointed perpendicular to the actual intended target line, and there are no trees blocking 1/2 the fairway from the box.

. . . about half the holes the distance difference is minor. . . 4 par 5's from the forward tees is 447yds, 353yds, 407yds, and 337yds, and that last par 5 is all downhill from the forward tee

On all those par 5s, I'd be hitting irons into the green in 2 and on the last one - the downhill one - I'd be going for the green. Heads up!

I've never noticed that to be the case? Not saying that it isn't common, but I've never seen it . . .

Like I said, I've never played your local muni so I can't comment on the tee box conditions, length of holes, and temptation to be a hero from the front tees, but my experience tells me it would indeed be common elsewhere.

[cody west]

i shoot under par regualrly from the normal ments tees but when u move tho the back or middle back tees it gets alot harder.

theres this group on asain men who play every weekend from the tips and are hitting from the drop are every hole (there are alot of long hazzards at my home course, like 185 to 245 carry off the tee on probably half the holes depending on what tees you play). they make rounds take about 6 hours to play the course not exagerated at all. the starters dont even bother to talk to them anymore because they dont listen. when im behind them i jsut hit over them because usually we can cut a dogleg corner and say we didnt see them