9/18 - First Annual Sand Trap "Forward Tees Tournament"

[iacas]

Guys,

I'm pleased to announce the first ever "Forward Tees Tournament." The rules are simple.

On Saturday, September 18 (9/18, get it?), forum members (and anyone they can round up) will play a round of golf from the most forward tees they're man enough to play. The further forward, the better!

Go on - be a forward thinker. (Okay, that was lame.)

Playing a round from the farthest tees forward that you're man enough to play will:

1. Open your eyes to a new experience. You'll see your favorite golf course as you've likely never seen it before, and you'll face new challenges, new hazards, new sights, and new decisions.
2. Provide for some interesting statistics. See below...
3. Be fun! You might hit some par fives in two (or with short irons), you might have a chance to drive several par fours, and it's fun to have lots of chances for eagle, birdie, and par!

To Participate

1. Post a message in this thread. Subscribe to it as well with daily or even instant notification.
2. Post the name of the course you'll be playing, as well as the rating/slope from the tees you normally play, the rating/slope from the tees you WILL play, and your average score from your last 10 to 20 rounds from the tees you normally play.
3. Post what you think you'll shoot from the forward tees.
4. Post who you'll be playing with.

Stats
We'd like to gather some statistics from this round, so please post the stats above. We'll probably ask for them again on the 18th and onward - along with what you actually shot - so that we can do some number crunching. We'll post the results as an article on the main site.

Play with a Sand Trap Member
The 18th is over two weeks away, so I encourage you to use that time to find some fellow Sand Trap members to play with. Your regular foursome is fine, but if you can use this "tournament" as an opportunity to meet some fellow STers, go for it!

Winners
Since we can't verify anything, we won't have traditional gross or net winners. Drawing may be random (or I have some other ideas planned, but none are related to what you actually shoot). At the very least we'll hand out some licenses to Scorecard to certain participants. Just be honest and post your score... I have a feeling that the cumulative results will be interesting.

Next year perhaps we'll turn this into some sort of annual fundraiser, perhaps for breast cancer or something...

Sign up below.

Edit: If your course has "kid tees" or a set of tees that are so short they'd render the course into a par three layout or something, don't play those tees. Play tees where you can still hit driver occasionally (even if it's perhaps stupid to do so) and tees which are still somewhat of a full length... like around 4500 yards minimum or so.

Edit Two: If you can't play on the 18th, play on the 17th or 19th or 20th. Just try to play around that date and post your here so we can accumulate the data.

[iacas]

I'm in!

I normally shoot 74 from the tees rated 73.9/144 at Whispering Woods and 72.5 from the tees rated 72.3/136 at Lake View CC.

The yellow tees at Whispering Woods are rated 67.0/126 for men, so I imagine the red tees, which I'll play if I play at WWGC, are about 66/120.
The white tees at Lake View are rated 68.6/126 for men, so I imagine the red tees, which I'll play if I play at LVCC, are about 67/120.
(I might play the yellow and white tees, though, so the numbers are accurate.)

My putting and short game is pretty good, and I can reasonably control hybrids and irons and, on the occasions I'll use them, fairway woods and drivers from the tee, so I think I can shoot 68. I'm adding a shot or two over the course ratings (as a scratch golfer) because I'll probably hit it into some really unfamiliar spots.

[jamo]

I'll step up next I guess....

I'm 300+ miles away from the courses I normally play so this will be a bit of a new test for me. I'll most likely play Delcastle Golf Course, which is 70.8/121 from the blue (back) tees that I played yesterday, and 65.3/108 for men from the gold tees. The Red ones, which are 100 yards shorter for 18 holes combined, are not rated for men, so I'll probably have to rule those out. I've only played the courses once, and even then it was only 9 holes, but I shot a +2.

My handicap has been rising lately due to sparse play, so that might be a confounding variable in this experiment. I might be able to play the back nine sometime between now and then, but who knows. As for strategy, I'm not really any more accurate with my 3W, hybrid, or long irons than I am with my driver, so I will likely be hitting the driver and chipping into a lot of greens. I would put myself at about a 2 handicap right now, which would mean shooting 67-68 to keep my handicap. I'm not sure if I will shoot that 4 or 5 under par because I'm not very familiar with the course at all, but if I start getting my chip shots (which will be my second shot on most par 4's) close it could easily turn into a birdie fest.

[James_Black]

I'll do it!

Limerick County golf club. Par 72 (Not GUI affiliated anymore)
I play off the back tees with my friends normally so it'll be fun playing off the ladies.

I normally shoot around 16 over from the back tees so I'm hoping to shoot less than 10 over. Some of the par 3's are only 100 yards long of the ladies tees!
I play with 2 single digit handicappers so it'll be interesting to see how they shoot.

Slope is 127 and SS is 71 from the back tees
no slope from the reds.

[mdbuschsr]

Count me in! If there are any SandTrappers in the Raleigh/Garner NC area, that want to check out a nice little 9-hole course let me know, otherwise I'll play with my "usual" threesome of me, wife, & son.

As long as I don't have to wear a skirt while playing from the ladies tees, this should be a blast and probably a bit of an eye opener.

[oneoverwrx]

I will definately do this. The course will be Gibson Bay in Richmond, Ky. Lately i have been playing the black(back)tees which are rated 73.7/131 and is 7113yds. Usually shoot right at 80 from these tees, havent exactly got them figured out yet but im working on it. The gold tees are rated 67.4/114 but i would assume that is a rating for women as it is 4869yds. I did play the front once from these tees practicing my 3w and irons off the tee and shot one under par. Had i been using driver i would never be further than a wedge out. I am definately willing to play with someone here but will have atleast 2 other guys with me as our regular group plays every saturday.

[Shripe]

Guess I can try it at Lincoln Park GC near me, haven't been there yet, but will give it a try... Par 33, and red tees are 62.4/100. I can't possibly guess at how well I'll do since I've done nothing more than a pitch-putt course, but for 9 holes I could probably manage... ehh... a 60? lol I can be hopeful, can't I? I probably won't be golfing with anyone.

Oh, and no last 20 average either, since I haven't even played them once... I don't even have a great idea of my average distance with each club, so this ought to be interesting...

[adamgoodman]

Of course I'm in!

I will be playing Cedar Knob Golf Course in Somers, Connecticut. Usually play the back blue tees rated 72.4 with a 129 slope. My average relative to par is +4.6 over my last ten rounds... Honestly, I really don't see myself doing much more than a stroke or two better... Depends on how much money I have at the time whether I play nine or eighteen...

OR

I will play Airways Golf Course and Country Club in Suffield, CT. Really easy course. 66/106. From the front tees I see myself going under par most likely. Definitely eighteen there.

Definitely willing to play with any Sand Trappers from the CT/MA area.

[cody west]

il be more than happy to play. i think im going to be playing Cyprian Keyes Golf Course and from the tees I play from its 74.5/135 and from the forward tees its 69.2/112
i have been trending up a lot so iv been averaging about 76 in my last 20 rounds with a low of 66
i have no idea what il shoot but im guessing its going to be really low because im pretty long so on the right course i can drive most 300 yard greens so im calling a 64
il prolly play with some friends unless anyone is from around ma. plus im probably going to do this round later in the day on the 18th because the course owner would be pissed if he saw me from the front tees because he would think that im screwing around

[darkhunter139]

Ill try this should be fun!

Ill be playing at Kimberton Golf Club in PA. I just started golfing so I have been playing from the white tees which are rated at 68.3/118 and are 6016 yards.

I will play from the red tees which are rated at 67.6/113 but I am assuming the rating is differen't for the womens tees. Total yardage is 4960. I will most likely be playing alone or with my Dad unless any sandtrap members are from around the area and want to play?

As for an average score I don't really have one considering I am new but last time I went I shot a 111.

[Gerald]

This is really nice ..... and what we do once a year at the end of the season at our social gents-club wednesday evening competition. We are a group about 30 golfers (hc 7.8 - about 24) playing a 10 rounds 9 holes competition in the summer months and after the last qualifying round, we play a 9 holes round from the easiest ladies tees.

Normally our course is 3217 yds for the first 9, from the front ladies tees it is only 2645 yds ! (CR/SR 72.9/132 - 72.4/124)

(4/445/ 368 - 3/187/ 152 - 4/335/ 279 - 4/404/ 329 - 4/395/ 326 - 5/559/ 455 - 3/186/ 140 - 5/503/ 424 - 3/202/ 170 ) Standing on these front tees the course really looks so easy, no narrow lanes to hit you ball from, fairway bunkers mostly at about 230-260 from the medal tees are now at 160-180 no problem !

All par 4's are a lot easier to reach even for the midcappers, par 5's reachable in two and the 3 par 3's can be reached with short to midirons ...... the really fun hole is the 3rd where is so much trouble in the normal 230-270 distance from the tee, that most low cappers normally start with an around 200 yds 3i or hybrid off the tee..... now it is very reachable for some of our group (including myself of course ..... huhuhhh).

Anyway our fun round is at 9/15.

[wrx_junki]

Busy on 9/18 but I think I'm going to try to play my local muni from all 3 tee boxes and see how the scores differ.

[uttexas]

I'm in. I'm going out of town on 9/17, so I might have to do it week before or week after.

[kpaulhus]

Im in! Ill be playing Deercreek Country Club in Jacksonville. I usually play from the tips, which are 73.1 141 rating. I will be playing from the Whites, which are a 68.8 121 rating. I usually shoot 80-86 from the tips, and think I can shoot low 70's from the whites. There will be 3 or 4 par 4's that I will be very close, maybe even a chip on. I will be on all the Par 5's in two, even if I have to use a 3 wood on one of them. Eagle is def not out of the question, since I had a 4 footer for eagle from the tips this past Sunday. Ill play probably Labor Day afternoon, so we will see how I do.

[bshack]

I am IN.... gonna play the Local Legion course which has no course rating and will probably play from the reds... (Normally play from the Blues) ... should be fun and something to mix it up

[RC]

What a grand idea and wonderful challenge. Our forward tees are 6009 yards, par 71, and playing them would be fun -- I've never done it. I have a prearranged match Saturday and will have to play our normal game but sometime I would like to try this.

And I can tell some of the younger guys, look out... If your driver is your best shot, it might be harder than you think. I know a couple years ago, I played with a group that wanted to play from the regular men's 6516 yard tees and after nine holes of spotty golf I apologized for the inconvience and moved back to the tips and shot a much better back nine. I had only played forward like that in scrambles, and a miss was not such a big deal. Now I've played those same regular tees enough to know the course better and can club off the regular tees better than then... but the point is a course you may know well is very different from shorter tees... those doglegs, rough, and trees are like magnets -- for me, anyway, it was harder at the time, you had to hit it perfectly if you were trying to over power the design, otherwise you were in deep trouble. It was nothing like what I thought it would be like.

[alf174]

At my " regular " pasture, I normally play the blues 6463 yards 71.6/122 and average 96. I'll play the reds at 5287 yards (calculating 66.4/110) and should hit 88.

[Devo]

This sounds like a lot of fun, I've always wondered how well I would do playing the up tees.

Course Normally Played:
Par 71 6600 yrds
Rating - 72.1 Slope - 124

Course from the up tees:
Par 71 - 5100 yrds
Rating - 65.3 Slope - 111

The past 20 rounds I have averaged right around an 80 with a low round of 75. From the forward tees I hope that I can beat the 75, and shoot something closer to par. At the very least I would like to make a few more birdies than normal.