White tees or blue tees?

[Tugglife2]

I've always played the white tees but have recently been thinking about playing the blue tees.  It seems for the most part courses around here are about 300 yards longer when going from white to blue.  As a high handicapper I have a hard enough time playing from the whites, but is it really that big a deal to just move back and try to get better on a longer track?

[saevel25]

play were your comfortable, honestly any distance change can throw you off. I played in a league one night and subbed in another occassionally, same course, one from white one from blue. I will actualy play worse on the white tees because it throws off my distances to what i am use to. Its a bit of a challenge to shorten the course sometimes, you bring new things into play you wouldn't think of.

Give it a try, if its really tough go back to whites. Play were you think you are comfortable.

[jmanbooyaa]

I always play the whites. Simply used to them and understand my limits.

[Tifosinumerouno]

I've played from the blues at my course before. It's not MUCH longer, except a handful of holes where it's 15-25 yds further. It's definitely a different game from there. It takes certain things out of play, such as water across the fairway or a grove of trees to the right or left. I think I played 1-2 strokes more than usual. But I went back to playing the whites since most of my playing partners arent long enough off of the tee to play off of there without using a hybrid or fairway wood for their 2nd shots.

[mirv]

if you have difficulty already with the whites, stay with the whites, or maybe even move up another box if your pride can deal with that.  example: my dad is 64 and has really weak legs, so if he hits a drive 250 yards, he's crushed it.  more often, he hits about 220-230 yards.  so when he tries to get on the blues or tips with me, i tell him "now dad, you KNOW you always have a better round when you play from the whites or reds."  cause it's true - if he's on one of the front boxes, he can shoot mid-80s.  if he gets on the tips, he'll shoot around 100.  but his pride just won't let him get on those front boxes very often, especially if we're playing with anyone else.  he'll troop on up to the tips and shoot 102, then be griping about his game, and i'll tell him "you could've shot 85 if you had just got on the whites."  anyway, point being, work within your limits.  if your goal is to break 90, work from the whites until you get there.  once you can regularly break 90, then i would suggest moving back one box and repeating the process.

[max power]

I'd focus on dropping 10-15 shots off your handicap before moving to the blue tees.

[Tugglife2]

I think I'll just stick with the whites.

mirv, I'm 25 years old and have always been a good athlete and my drives are usually in that same range as your 64 year old father.

The only time I have trouble with distance is on very long par 4's(~430 yards or more) but those are pretty rare where I play.

[tristanhilton85]

For now, I'd probably stick with the whites... get comfortable and get a bit better; after some improvements, move up.  At the course I play regularly I either play the whites or golds, but not the blacks (those are the tips; in front of the whites are the women's [red] and junior [green] tees), depending on who I'm playing with and what they want to play...  The distance on either set are within my range and it gives me different things to think about as I play.  I don't play the blacks because they are just too far for me at this point, if I play with somebody who wants to play from the tips they can do that and I'll play from my set.

[zeg]

Try it and see what happens.  If it gives you a fresh look at a familiar course, that's great.  If it turns out that the change makes the round less enjoyable because you don't (yet) have the shots to handle the harder tees, then switch back and try again when you're more ready.  Don't make a bigger deal out of the decision than it is---it's just a game.  Also look at the rating/slope for the two tees to get an idea of how many strokes you can expect to pick up by moving back (difference in rating + difference in slope times your index divided by 113).  If that's just a handful, it's probably not going to make much difference.  Just consider whether peppering that number of extra shots into your round is likely to add frustration or a welcome challenge.

The only time I'd worry about it is if the course is picky about it, in which case I'd probably follow their handicap-index-based recommendations.  Otherwise, just see what happens.

Personally, I normally play the blue (longest) tees on one course and the white (middle) tees on another, just because at the former it makes virtually no difference (easily less than the scatter in my scores from one round to the next from the same tees) while at the other there are a couple holes that become needlessly challenging for me right now.

[canadianpro]

When we were young we used to strut to the black tees....now we "slink" to the blue tees...6900 yards is too long

[Chief Broom]

Originally Posted by mirv

if you have difficulty already with the whites, stay with the whites, or maybe even move up another box if your pride can deal with that.

if your goal is to break 90, work from the whites until you get there.  once you can regularly break 90, then i would suggest moving back one box and repeating the process.

My criterion is that one should be able to break 80 from a particular set of tees before you consider backing up to the longer tees.  To break 80 you've got to be doing a lot of things right.  So if the course is crowded or even moderately busy your ability to play your way around the course in a consistent and timely manner should dictate how challenging you should make your round based on tee box selection.

[plum]

if you dont hold me up, i dont care where you play from. but IMO, it seems "most" guys playing from the blue tee should NOT be playing from there. at some courses, it makes a big difference in length and makes the shorter hitter or higher handicapper really think more about course management.

[Chas]

Thanks for that post Chief Broom, you have clarified the question in my mind.  When I manage to break 80 - I've been close but haven't done it yet - then I agree that I should consider moving back, especially when the course isn't that busy or tight.  But right now I need to experience what it's like to have a higher percentage of GIRs, which is a lot of what this game is about.  Also, if I played from further back I'd be more inclined to use driver all the time off the tee, which would be a problem given my tendency to push or hook with that club.

More control should come come before increased yardage in my case.

[The Recreational Golfer]

" If you can't hit a 7-iron into some par 4s , you're playing the wrong tees." - Judy Rankin

[jgreen85]

Check the yardage for the different tee boxes. I played two different courses last week. At one courses the whites (gold there) play about 6400 yards & the blues/tips (gold there) at the other course play 6000 yards.

[Mrd19abhs]

I say on a slow day to try it out. My home course moving back to the tips keeps me out of alot of trouble off the tee with my drives but it def makes all my approach shots longer. Normally I playing from the whites @ my club i have between a 7iron to a hybrid into most greens but from the tips some of the par 4 greens are unreachable in two for me and I drive the ball approx 220. but def give it a try if the course isnt to full.

[Tugglife2]

The blues at most of the courses I play are in the ~6500 range and the whites are about 6000-6300.  Distance isn't so much of an issue as control and keeping the ball on or near the fairway.  Lots of good info in this thread.

[crayputter]

Good advice right here !

I don't know where I have previously read this, but it goes something like : Take your 5 iron distance and multiply by 36. That's the length you should be playing comfortably to your ability...

Cheers

Ray

Originally Posted by mirv

if you have difficulty already with the whites, stay with the whites, or maybe even move up another box if your pride can deal with that.  example: my dad is 64 and has really weak legs, so if he hits a drive 250 yards, he's crushed it.  more often, he hits about 220-230 yards.  so when he tries to get on the blues or tips with me, i tell him "now dad, you KNOW you always have a better round when you play from the whites or reds."  cause it's true - if he's on one of the front boxes, he can shoot mid-80s.  if he gets on the tips, he'll shoot around 100.  but his pride just won't let him get on those front boxes very often, especially if we're playing with anyone else.  he'll troop on up to the tips and shoot 102, then be griping about his game, and i'll tell him "you could've shot 85 if you had just got on the whites."  anyway, point being, work within your limits.  if your goal is to break 90, work from the whites until you get there.  once you can regularly break 90, then i would suggest moving back one box and repeating the process.