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

[x129]

Most people need a driver to get over 200 yards (average male drive is like 180-220 depending on the source).  But yeah it would be pretty easy to be a scratch golfer if you could hit a 7 iron (for example) 150 yards and make it land in a 5 yard box.

Originally Posted by CuppedTin

Just like bad swing thoughts, IMO colored (not raciest) tee's are the worst thing for golfers. If you changed out the blue tees for white before a golfer ever teed off I'd be willing to bet that he would play his exact same game from way back...

But I'm a big believer that golf can be played without a driver if you can chip, putt and read greens...

700 Yard Par 5

5 Iron - 205

7 Iron - 180

8 Iron - 160

8 Iron - 160

Putt...

[Doctorfro]

Guess they have to do the tee it forward.  No one took advantage of the free lessons from the PGA pros.  If more people would take the time to get some instruction, this wouldn't be a problem.

[mlf16507]

At age 64 love the Senior tees!!!!

[srjorion]

For me personally, I've found I almost play the same speed no matter what tee I play from.  I might save ten minutes a round if I play from the whites vs. the blues or blacks, but it's being ready to hit when it's your turn (or not taking forever if playing alone) that keeps me moving.  Read your putts while others are reading theirs, be ready to putt after they finish, have your club selected and ready after one of your partners hits if able, etc.

[Fourputt]

Originally Posted by srjorion

For me personally, I've found I almost play the same speed no matter what tee I play from.  I might save ten minutes a round if I play from the whites vs. the blues or blacks, but it's being ready to hit when it's your turn (or not taking forever if playing alone) that keeps me moving.  Read your putts while others are reading theirs, be ready to putt after they finish, have your club selected and ready after one of your partners hits if able, etc.

This is it right here.  As laudable as playing a shorter tee would be for some players, the big issues with pace of play still revolve around the player being ready to play when it's his turn.  That doesn't mean he stands there picking his nose until the previous player's ball has come to rest.  By then he should already be close to addressing his own ball, if not starting his swing.  All of his preparatory routine should have been done while his buddies were hitting.  Four players should be able to hit their approach shots in about one minute total, not one minute each.  I've played fast rounds with terrible golfers and I've played tediously slow rounds with relatively good players.  The difference is in simply being ready to play and not screwing around.

Most players can just look at the 150 yard markers or glance at their GPS and know what club to pick, even if they are 5 or 10 yards from their ball.  You don't have to be standing straddling your ball to get a usable estimate of the distance for the next shot.  So go ahead, pull out the club, take a couple of practice swings while your buddy is getting ready to hit is shot.  Even if your ball is in line with your companion's ball, you can still do this much to be ready.  If they aren't in close proximity, then you can go even farther - be standing behind the ball and picking your target line while he is hitting, then all you have to do is step up and swing.  You have cut the delay between his shot and yours to about 10 seconds.  If the whole group does this then they can play 4 shots in about 40 seconds.  If everyone in your group is a bogey golfer shooting 90 on average, they are now spending just 1 hour actually hitting shots.  Travel time shouldn't exceed 3 hours for an 18 hole course, in fact it should be far less, leaving plenty of time time for brief ball searches, pit stops, etc.,  Now you have the formula for a 4 hour round.

[aschroeger]

Originally Posted by Fourputt

Most players can just look at the 150 yard markers or glance at their GPS and know what club to pick, even if they are 5 or 10 yards from their ball.  You don't have to be standing straddling your ball to get a usable estimate of the distance for the next shot.  So go ahead, pull out the club, take a couple of practice swings while your buddy is getting ready to hit is shot.  Even if your ball is in line with your companion's ball, you can still do this much to be ready.  If they aren't in close proximity, then you can go even farther - be standing behind the ball and picking your target line while he is hitting, then all you have to do is step up and swing.  You have cut the delay between his shot and yours to about 10 seconds.  If the whole group does this then they can play 4 shots in about 40 seconds.  If everyone in your group is a bogey golfer shooting 90 on average, they are now spending just 1 hour actually hitting shots.  Travel time shouldn't exceed 3 hours for an 18 hole course, in fact it should be far less, leaving plenty of time time for brief ball searches, pit stops, etc.,  Now you have the formula for a 4 hour round.

I'll even grab one two or three clubs as I walk from the cart to my ball (as I'm doing that, my friend is riding to his)  Its easy to be ready to play.  Those who are slow are slow because they haven't learned to be ready

[newtogolf]

That might be true for good golfers, but I don't know any new golfers that can hit any iron 200 yards.  Most new or infrequent golfers can't hit their irons consistently from any distance so your point about different tee boxes only applies to experienced golfers.

Originally Posted by CuppedTin

Just like bad swing thoughts, IMO colored (not raciest) tee's are the worst thing for golfers. If you changed out the blue tees for white before a golfer ever teed off I'd be willing to bet that he would play his exact same game from way back...

But I'm a big believer that golf can be played without a driver if you can chip, putt and read greens...

700 Yard Par 5

5 Iron - 205

7 Iron - 180

8 Iron - 160

8 Iron - 160

Putt...

[shades9323]

Those are very unrealistic numbers for the majority of golfers. And who wants to have 160 yards left for your birdie shot? And what is the likelyhood of an average player one putting for par after hitting a 160 approach shot?

Originally Posted by CuppedTin

Just like bad swing thoughts, IMO colored (not raciest) tee's are the worst thing for golfers. If you changed out the blue tees for white before a golfer ever teed off I'd be willing to bet that he would play his exact same game from way back...

But I'm a big believer that golf can be played without a driver if you can chip, putt and read greens...

700 Yard Par 5

5 Iron - 205

7 Iron - 180

8 Iron - 160

8 Iron - 160

Putt...

[iacas]

I think the ads are funny. Maybe they should have chosen shorter hitters? ;-)

[walk18]

Haha yeah, if Dustin teed it forward, he wouldn't need anything longer than a 7 iron.

Originally Posted by iacas

I think the ads are funny. Maybe they should have chosen shorter hitters? ;-)

[x129]

The should make the next PGA event from the red tees to support this effort.

Originally Posted by walk18

Haha yeah, if Dustin teed it forward, he wouldn't need anything longer than a 7 iron.

[Dave2512]

A bump because I saw the TIF commercials are running again on TGC. Curious why now, it's been a while since I've seen one and I think it fell on deaf ears a few years ago. However it remains a big problem, at least I think it does. Seems like every time I catch a slow group they are playing too far back. It's more than distance they lack, they are usually kicking through weeds looking for balls well south of the 150's. I don't get it.

[dkolo]

A bump because I saw the TIF commercials are running again on TGC. Curious why now, it's been a while since I've seen one and I think it fell on deaf ears a few years ago. However it remains a big problem, at least I think it does. Seems like every time I catch a slow group they are playing too far back. It's more than distance they lack, they are usually kicking through weeds looking for balls well south of the 150's. I don't get it.

Yeah, I played with a friend who absolutely murders the ball this weekend, as well as my brother who can either hit a drive 250 or 100 yards into the woods (much more of the latter). Our friend wanted to play the blues and I told him to go ahead. I declined and played from the whites because I hit 3 wood on every driving hole and my brother would honestly be smart to play the reds, but he'd feel as if he were being patronized if we told him to play from there, since those are the tees our (much younger) sister plays from when she joins us. This course is 6200 from the whites, 6500 from the blues. Unless you have something between the whites and the reds, you'll have a hard time getting folks to move up from the whites. I wound up playing mostly neck and neck with my long-hitting friend, beating him by 2 strokes overall. I'm much happier playing from the whites and being able to still get around with a 220 yard 3 wood than playing russian roulette from the blues with driver that can go anywhere and any distance. Right now my hybrid and fairway woods are extremely unreliable on second shots, so I mash my 5 iron on longer approaches knowing I'll be short because it's a better play than spraying clubs that could (but likely won't) get me the needed distance. If I were having to have my 3rd shot be 90 yards as opposed to the 10-20 on those longer holes, which is what I'd have from the blues, I'd not be a happy golfer.

[whatwoodtigerdo]

A bump because I saw the TIF commercials are running again on TGC. Curious why now, it's been a while since I've seen one and I think it fell on deaf ears a few years ago. However it remains a big problem, at least I think it does. Seems like every time I catch a slow group they are playing too far back. It's more than distance they lack, they are usually kicking through weeds looking for balls well south of the 150's. I don't get it.

I think they are pushing it again right now. Saw it all over a wall at a course I went to last week. I just moved back tee boxes too so they can kiss my butt.

[trackster]

Has there been anything that has statistically proven that "Teeing it forward" actually speeds up play?  I've been slowed up just as many times from people playing the most forward tees as I have from people playing any other tee box.

I've been anti-tee it forward lately as I've been trying to get my friend to move back a tee box mainly because it will require him to have to hit some long irons.

[Dave2512]

I would assume there is data to support it. But this I know for sure men playing forward tees are a rarity. In two years I've only seen one male golfer on the most forward tees rated for men at any course I've played. I do see some realists on the middle tees. But mostly I see the oblivious playing too far back. I think the issue with TIF is the message was more about tees than distance. At some courses the tips are too short for me and others have middle tees of the same length or longer. Really don't see male golfers putting much thought into it other than gravity to whatever tees are all the way back. I suppose it's simpler than trying to convince people they aren't being honest with themselves about how "far" they hit it regularly.

[Lihu]

Has there been anything that has statistically proven that "Teeing it forward" actually speeds up play?  I've been slowed up just as many times from people playing the most forward tees as I have from people playing any other tee box.

I've been anti-tee it forward lately as I've been trying to get my friend to move back a tee box mainly because it will require him to have to hit some long irons.

If he is uncomfortable hitting his long irons it very well could take more time. I don't think me and my partners would benefit much from it time wise. We are always waiting for the party in front of us.

However, there have been times where we are just standing on the tee box waiting for someone making their 3rd shot in the fairway. These folks would benefit from teeing it forward. Maybe they could save one stroke per hole or 18 minutes per round?

EDIT: Actually, now that I think about it, maybe even 40 minutes to a couple hours.

[Dave2512]

That's the point. If every golfer played tees best suited to their abilities they get into less trouble and have more opportunities to hit the green or get it close.