White or blue tees

[golfro]

First I need to understand the USA tees .... overhere we have Yellow tees (which are the man's medal tees) and we have White tees (which are the man's back tees).

it would translate as

yellow = black tee white = blue tee ???? = white tee ???? = red (or ladies) tee. Sometimes, courses will have green or gold tee's in between either the blue/white or blue/black. I do enjoy playing longer courses, not sure why but I'll play often from the black tees. Long par 4's are definitely challenging and fun. At a local course from blacks, we have a 485 par 4 that is long and narrow. Challenging and fun, which is why i enjoy golfing

[sacm3bill]

how is it?

You're either uninformed or a troll - I'll respond in case it's the former: Most courses have more than one set of men's tees. (And the slope/rating for each takes care of any differences in distance or difficulty between them when calculating a "proper" handicap.)

[Joeyvee]

Here's another question. Suppose youre say a 12 hdcp man. Are the slope and rating of the course at the red tees unisex or is it slanted towards women. I mean do they consider red tees womens tees or just the shortest of the 3 or 4 ? If I played from the red tees for whatever reason could I submit that score and have it properly reflected in my hdcp rating or would it screw things up?

On another note I'm going to play the white tees on Monday. I always have a lot more fun from the whites.

[max power]

You're either uninformed or a troll - I'll respond in case it's the former: Most courses have more than one set of men's tees. (And the slope/rating for each takes care of any differences in distance or difficulty between them when calculating a "proper" handicap.)

Thank you. What sacm3bill said.

[James_Black]

You're either uninformed or a troll - I'll respond in case it's the former: Most courses have more than one set of men's tees. (And the slope/rating for each takes care of any differences in distance or difficulty between them when calculating a "proper" handicap.)

things are different over here.

You HAVE to play off the blues in competitions, and competitions are how you get your handicap down. can you enter non-competition scores?

[SouthernILGolfer]

Most of the courses I play at have 3 sets of tees, red would be the shortest for beginners or shorter(by distance) players, white would be for intermediate(which is where i usually play from) and blue would be the longest being played by more skilled players. I dont think it really matters which set of tees you play from, play to your skill level. If you're not a long player, play from the shorter tees to make the game more managable and speed up play which will make the game more enjoyable as well. As you improve, move to the next set of tees. Though at some courses, the difference is very little between the last 2 sets of tees, sometimes on the same tee box even, just one a bit farther back than the other one.

[sacm3bill]

Suppose youre say a 12 hdcp man. Are the slope and rating of the course at the red tees unisex or is it slanted towards women. I mean do they consider red tees womens tees or just the shortest of the 3 or 4 ? If I played from the red tees for whatever reason could I submit that score and have it properly reflected in my hdcp rating or would it screw things up?

Good question - I used to think that if I were to play the red tees I'd just use their stated slope and rating... but I recently noticed that the white tees at one of my home courses have one slope/rating for men and a different slope/rating for women. That leads me to believe that the red tee numbers, which are explicitly rated for women, are only usable by women. So bottom line is I'm not sure - anyone else know?

things are different over here.

USGA has a different system. In competition you'd usually all play from the same tees, but for establishing a handicap you can enter any round, from any tees (there are almost always 2 options, more likely 3 or 4), and it doesn't even have to be signed off by someone else. Each system has its pros and cons, certainly - but I definitely like having different sets of rated tee boxes.

[Mordan]

things are different over here.

No they're not. The CONGU system is based on SSS (Standard Scratch Score) and each set of tees will have an SSS. You can play a round for handicap off any set of tees and it will be adjusted based on the SSS.

My club has white and yellow tees for men, the white tees are 6600 yards and par 72, SSS 72 and the yellow tees are 6300 yards and par 72, SSS 71. While most competitions are played from the whites, winter competitions are often played from the yellow and all rounds count towards your handicap.

[andef]

We have four sets of tees at my course. Red is the women's tee. Light blue is the women's medal tee. Yellow in the men's tee and White are the men's medal tees.
As expected, the course plays way different from the backs.
The whites play 6890 yards while the yellows play 6400 yards. It's the longest course in the area but I rarely see players tee of from the whites. The funny thing is that the club's most important tournaments are all played from the white tees (for the men) and the average stableford scores are around 30 points. I really wonder why none ever plays from those tees.

[$2 Nassau]

how is it?

you can play off any tee and have a propoer handicap. the calculations used to determine your handicap after playing from say...the women's tees compared to the championship tees are different, and rightfully so since the champ tees are harder. An 85 from the champ tees gives you a lower handicap than an 85 from the womens tees, significantly lower.

[Fourputt]

if your not enjoying yourself playing off the back tees move up.

Not here in the USA. You should play the tees that are appropriate for your skill level. We have some courses here that run to 8000 yards from the back tees. I've played one which is over 7700... the middle tees are over 6700. I play the mid front tees at 6200 yards on that course if want to have any chance of reaching some of the par 4 holes in regulation. As most courses are rated with a different course rating and slope for each tee set, you can play any tee and still carry a legitimate handicap.

things are different over here.

The USGA system requires that you return every round played under the Rules of Golf for handicap. It makes no difference whether it's a competition or not. That is why I play all of my rounds by the rules. The system does identify tournament scores so that if a question arises (i.e. you are suspected of sandbagging), then your handicap can be revised using only tournament scores. Some clubs use only tournament scores at all times to make management easier, but the USGA system does not require that.

To answer the OP: I usually play the middle tees (or possibly mid back if there are more than 3 sets), but on a new course I will check the scorecard for slope, rating, and length before making that decision.