Do You Support the PGA's "Tee It Forward" Effort?

[Fourputt]

And I believe the "Tee it Forward" concept is not to eliminate the driver. It is simply so the player can have shorter iron scoring opportunities which will speed up play. That's the real reason. Speed up play. There is nothing more frustrating than watching a player in the foursome in front of me constantly hit 50 yard worm burners from the tips. Makes for a slow day.

Actually it's both.  Some players have no business pulling out the driver without a lot more range work.  I'd a heck of a lot rather play with the guy who hits occasional wormburners than the one who spends all day searching for balls out in the forest and meadow.  Those guys are also part of the aim of the "Tee it Forward" program too.  Long wild tee shots slow down play a lot more than wormburners.  Forget the driver until you actually have half a clue how to hit it.

[Dave2512]

I think the pressure of needing to hit a long drive when someone is playing too far back leads to mishits due to trying to swing "hard". The higher the handicap the more mishits. You only get 13-14 chances to hit that good drive. People hitting bad shots typically face difficult shots after bad shots because of tough lies and bad angles. Even if nothing but the distance changes the golfer hitting poor shots is in trouble closer to the green.

[late347]

Yes, Ross Bridge is the course I was thinking of. The editor I use for this site does not allow me to capture quotes.

Those 450 yard par 4s are the teeth of those courses. I rarely go for par 5s in two anymore because of the trouble with errant shots. I do a wedge for the 3rd shot and hope I make the putt.

Those 200+ par 3s make a par look really good. Tough courses make you pay for missing the green too.

And I believe the "Tee it Forward" concept is not to eliminate the driver. It is simply so the player can have shorter iron scoring opportunities which will speed up play. That's the real reason. Speed up play. There is nothing more frustrating than watching a player in the foursome in front of me constantly hit 50 yard worm burners from the tips. Makes for a slow day.

It's frustrating even being that beginner who hits thinned / topped 50 yard irons constantly... from the fairway...

I was playing 5600 yards though, so not really longways... Golfing time in total lasted 4 hrs, fourball, on the course. A couple balls were lost in forest / rough, but mostly balls were found within mandated time searches (we took a short hotdog break after front nine)

The only highlights were my driver shots, on the golf course.

I bombed my driver and I get closer to the pin, with thinned iron wormburners. I made a couple pars, bogeys and double bogeys that way, with strong driver shots, bad iron shots, and solid wedge lobs.

I also three-putt on average though...

Still, with all my thinned / topped mishits being calculated etc... Still, I get 39 stableford points which lowers my hcp by 3 points which is nice !!!

I also double bogey'd one particular par4, where I hit GiR on second shot. I four-putted that par4 LOL

[golfbarefoot]

I think it's a wonderful idea. It will make it more enjoyable and improve pace of play.

[Lihu]

So, it's Father's day, and many dads are out there to accompany their kids, or visa versa. The thing that I thought about most of the day was this thread, and how everyone talked about teeing it forward and all. On the 6th hole, as my son and I waited on the tee box for the party to make their 3rd shot and 6th one for their party, I wondered why they guys insisted on playing from the back tees. Well, we got to the green area in 2 shots on a short 452 yard par 5, and they actually came up to us to apologize for the slow play. I told them it was no problem, as it was a slow day anyway, and it is father's day and they should have a good time. I made a conscious choice to say nice things, and that it's good day to be on the course together, etc. I think there's a fine line between making new golfers feel welcome and needing to finish the round in the "standard" time frame. We were on an easier course, so they really had every right to play slow. There was only 10 yards or so between tees, anyway. I guess we golfers, might consider giving beginners some slack on special days like Father's day or any other holiday to let the families enjoy golf at their speed on whatever tees they desire. I say this because when it takes 4 or more shots to get to the green, it won't really affect pace anyway. It was a slow, but fun day for us. Just some thoughts.

[dfreuter415]

The PGA and USGA are suggesting all of us amateurs move up a tee and shorten the golf course.  The benefits according to the PGA/USGA are faster rounds, lower scores and ergo more enjoyment.  You can read the entire story here.

Here's the question: will you support this idea and move up a tee?

Yes and no.

Yes

1) high handicappers (18+)

2) people who play less than 10 rounds a year

3) seniors who begin to see a reduction of yardage in their game (usually ages 55-65)

4) slow players (anyone who takes more than 4 hours to play 18 holes)

No

1) single digit handicappers

2) young golfers who are taking lessons and have a goal of singe digits handicap (in fact, young, talented amateurs should tee it back, females included)

3) fast players (3.5 hours or less on the course) who do not back up the course, and, want to improve their game, regardless of handicap

[vangator]

I play the tees that the group I'm paired with want to play. Today I played with a former college player who wanted to play the tips. Shot better there than from the forward tees last week. This kid could pound the ball, but this old man kept up. Interesting back nine. Shot nine 4's. Can't recall doing that before.

[Dave2512]

If I play this week I intend to move up and see how I score. I am certain being as much as 20-30 yards closer to the hole will give me better opportunities.

[BallSeeker]

High school golfer here. I would tee it forward if I could, but I am forced to play the slightly longer tees because that's what our team plays.

[dennyjones]

A local course painted the forward tees gold instead of red. Everyone is more likely to play those since the red is associated with ladies tees.

[Pretzel]

If I play this week I intend to move up and see how I score. I am certain being as much as 20-30 yards closer to the hole will give me better opportunities.

As am I after reading a recent book that I got in the mail. The book did give a specific value to how much those 20 yards are worth as well, if I remember correctly...

High school golfer here. I would tee it forward if I could, but I am forced to play the slightly longer tees because that's what our team plays.

This is another factor for some people in high school. The tees that we play for varsity though are usually shorter than the tees that I practice from. Makes it easier to transition between the courses though if you know everything besides the state tournament will be on a shorter and easier course than what you are currently used to.

[Shindig]

A local course painted the forward tees gold instead of red. Everyone is more likely to play those since the red is associated with ladies tees.

A number of So Cal courses now use white for forward tees, blue for what used to be white tees, and black for the tips. I'm not sure how many moved up from the current-blue to the current-white, but I think there are people who would play the tips from blue tees that will hesitate if those tees are black, even if the CR/SR didn't change.

[Lihu]

High school golfer here. I would tee it forward if I could, but I am forced to play the slightly longer tees because that's what our team plays.

That's one of the exceptions. You are expected to get better, so it makes sense that you play from the longer tees. You might even be expected to play the back tees.

[Dave2512]

Our forward tees are silver. Reds often don't have a rating for men. Quite a few of the newer courses here have as many as 6 tees. I like the variety and it seems to help to keep golfers at a distance they can handle. You can be 3 up from the back and far enough from the most forward tees that you don't look like a wuss. [quote name="dennyjones" url="/t/47845/do-you-support-the-pgas-tee-it-forward-effort/144#post_1009270"]A local course painted the forward tees gold instead of red. Everyone is more likely to play those since the red is associated with ladies tees.[/quote] So I haven't played up yet. Too many people on the course after work. Unfortunately those that play too far back take to long too get out of my range from the forward tees. But I did play a shorter course than I usually play. The back tees there are 550 yards shorter than I play at the home course. It's been a while since I've been there and have taken a few lessons and practiced so playing better golf since my last visit but the difference was staggering. Being closer to the hole improved the quality of my misses. I made 9 pars in a row (1-9) and not once was I in any real trouble. The worst of it was being short side and having to hit a high pitch over a bunker. It wasn't easy by any means, I had to get up and down to save par 7 times, but never faced a 3rd shot that wasn't near the green. I only hit 2 GIR but at least 3 times I was able to putt from just off the green. So what I learned is playing from 6500 yards allows me to recover better from mishits and everything was pretty straight forward. Never had to hack out of a funky native area, no 3rd shots that required a full swing. Only one time did I need to hit anything longer than 6i on a par 4 and it was after an unusually bad drive. The best part I didn't feel defeated when I left. Felt like I played golf and not just whacked at balls and hoped for the best.

[Aflighter]

there needs to be more mixed tees you can play from that are marked on card.for instance say tips are 7000,next are 6600,next are 6100 and so on.so if you need to play between them distances then you should be able to play mixture of tees to make up the distance you need.so for like 6300 yards you should play mixture of 6600 and 6100 tees.they do this by putting a circle around the yardages for the tees you play on each hole.they could use a square for say tees to make up between the 6600 and 7000 tees.this way they don't have to add tee boxes,just use combination of tees to get yardage your skilled to play.granted there would need to be ratings changed but wouldn't change much.

[ajst22]

It really depends on the person, their skill level, and what they are looking for out of the game. If it is just your weekend hacker or someone who is out there just for the fun of it, then yes, they should tee it forward. But for someone who plays regularly and who is really trying to become very good, then they shouldn't tee it forward. I voted "maybe", because it depends.

[Dave2512]

An avid golfer with goals to improve is still limited by whatever skill level they currently play to. Struggling with approach shots that are too long isn't going to make you better. It will frustrate you and those around you. The handicap ranges they use for tee recommendations at the home course get smaller as the tees get longer. There is just a six point index difference between the low end of what they recommend for white tees (19-30) and high end for black (5-11) but the yardage on the card is nearly 1000 yards longer. Some of the par 4's are 70-80 yards longer back there. It would require an abundance of drives in the 280-310 range just to get to the 150 marker. A well designed course has landing zones for each tee. If you can't consistently reach whatever that is it's a day of trouble.

[Divot Master]

We have courses that move tees way up from scorecard yardage and they don't even put the back tees out.

I have played more than a few courses that do this every weekend, ostensibly to help with pace of play.  Of course, the people who play there regularly end up with handicaps that are lower than they should be, and get crushed when they play anywhere else.