What tees do you hit from? Is it based on your handicap or superego or peer pressure?

[saevel25]

Im not sure i agree with the statement it should be based on handicap, i think it should be based on both. Someone might be great driving the ball, but suck at irons, short game and putting. So it wouldn't even matter. To me its a bit more on distance, because it leaves you with easier shots into the whole, with a shorter club. So you will have a higher percentage chance of hitting the green. So even if someone can drive the ball 200 yards, if there playing 7000 tees, then they might be hitting long irons all day and not shoot as well, even though they might be a scratch player. There basically interconnected.

What they should do is find a way to put up recommended handicaps or average driving distance required for the tees. At least figure out for them player were they should be playing at. Informing the players might help those who routinely play the wrong tees for there game.

[k-troop]

I'm someone who always plays the tips, and routinely walks on as a single (and thus gets paired with other players, usually not playing the tips). Anyone feel that is poor etiquette?

[rustyredcab]

Senior tees are often great at clubs. The smarter clubs make it possible for guys who have lost distance to play every hole (no 230 carries) and yet they are often very near the regular tees. While I am not yet a senior, I am lucky enough to play some fine clubs where sometimes my host is a senior. At one such club, when hosted by a senior, we play the senior tees (6267 yards). When my host is not a senior, we play the member tees -- 6700 yards. Both tees are very enjoyable. There are big differences in yardage on some holes and not much of a difference on others. The member tees make the course play like the beast it is (there are two more tee sets longer than the member tees). At another club, even the seniors I know play the member tees because there are no holes that are unplayable for the shorter hitters.

[jetsknicks1]

Originally Posted by k-troop

I'm someone who always plays the tips, and routinely walks on as a single (and thus gets paired with other players, usually not playing the tips). Anyone feel that is poor etiquette?

I don't see that as poor etiquette at all. As a high HCer, I don't care what tees anybody else playd from. I've been paired with guys who've played from the tips before, not only does it not bother me, I enjoy watching guys play who know what they're doing. :)

[Bullitt5339]

I'd agree, the local High School plays it's tournaments at my home course, so I pair up with some of the teenagers in the evenings during the summer.  They have to play from the tips, I don't.  So I let them tee off first, and as soon as their ball is in the air, I walk up to the middle tees and hit mine.  I've never had any complaints, and it takes no longer to play a round, and there's plenty of social interaction still.

[Bullitt5339]

I need to add: That last statement applies to walkers.  It seems that most (not all, so don't get defensive) cart riders riding tandem, who play from different tees, take a buttload of time to play a round.  They seem to do absolutely NO preparation while the other player is hitting.  The further back guy pulls up, does his entire routine while the guy that plays from the forward tee either sits in the cart or walks out to the tee box with them.  Then he hops in the cart, pulls forward 20ft. and then starts his entire routine, so everything takes double the time.  Typically these are the same people where the carts (especially if there's a four-some) pull up to each ball one at a time and wait for each other before even starting their routine.

[x129]

This also works the other way. If you have 2 fives where one drives it 300 and the other drives it 200, it doesn't mean that you can put them on any tees and that it will be a fair fight. On a 7200 yard course the 200 yard driver will struggle. But guess what, on the 5400 yard course the guy that can drive 300 will struggle.  Most of his distance advantage goes away and he will be facing a guy with a superior short game.

I do like the idea of driving distance though for picking tee boxes.  The problem of course is that 90% of the people have no clue how far they drive so it wouldn't really help. Maybe a stake in the fairway that says if you didn't hit it past this, think about moving up the next hole....

Quote:

Im not sure i agree with the statement it should be based on handicap, i think it should be based on both. Someone might be great driving the ball, but suck at irons, short game and putting. So it wouldn't even matter. To me its a bit more on distance, because it leaves you with easier shots into the whole, with a shorter club. So you will have a higher percentage chance of hitting the green. So even if someone can drive the ball 200 yards, if there playing 7000 tees, then they might be hitting long irons all day and not shoot as well, even though they might be a scratch player. There basically interconnected.

What they should do is find a way to put up recommended handicaps or average driving distance required for the tees. At least figure out for them player were they should be playing at. Informing the players might help those who routinely play the wrong tees for there game.

[newtogolf]

It's fair but for time sake they should both have their own cart or walk if it's a long course to make up for the difference in their driving distances.  I'd enjoy watching a 5 handicapper that drives the ball 220 play as it's closer to my driving distance than the guy that drives it 300 yards.

Originally Posted by jshots

Is it fair if you take a 5 handicap 60 year old who drives 220 and pair him up with a 5 handicap 25 year old who drives over 300 and make them play the same set of tees. Of course not.

Tees in my opinion are almost like a second handicap but it should be considered separately from the handicap that applies to your score. They should allow someone to play competitively and not have to worry about how strong they are and how far they can hit the ball. It is one of the things that allows Golfers of all strengths and skill levels to play together and to be able to enjoy competition.

[Jmdmbike]

I generally like to play between 6,200 & 6,500 yards. Most courses we play will have something in that range. Any longer than 6,500 becomes too much like work!! Similarly when courses are too short, it's just not as much fun. One course we play is an exception to that rule - plays under 5,900 but slope is 134, so it's a tough, but short track, a great challenge.

[Chief Broom]

Originally Posted by Jmdmbike

Any longer than 6,500 becomes too much like work!!

That's what I don't get about high-cappers insisting on playing from the tips.  Move up and give yourself a chance at posting a good number.  Maybe they feel that they're going to stink it up anyway so they might as well feel like they've earned the big number?  Doesn't sound like too much fun to me either...

[labellewg]

Too find what teets to play, take your 5iron distance and multiply that by 36. if you hit your 5iron 190 you should be playing from tees that are no longer than 6,800 yards. Hope this helps.

[Zeph]

In Norway, we pretty much got the same set of tees on every course. It's not that common to pick tees based on distance. Red for women and elders, yellow for men, blue or green for junior, white are championship tees. I've always played yellow, but have started playing more white. My game is getting solid and on many courses I can get around with hitting a lot of long irons or wood off the tee, and 7i or shorter into the green. I need to hit more driver and more long irons from the fairway, so I pick white tees to get a longer course. I agree that people should play tees that match their game, especially higher handicaps. I've gotten to a level where I confidently hit long drives and long irons, so I'm not afraid of playing longer courses. A year or two ago though, at handicap 18, I was spraying drives all over the course and longer courses just made it even worse. I play against myself and the course 95% of the time, so I have no need to compare myself to others. Playing the same distances all the time can get tiresome too. I wouldn't pick tees that are within the same range all the time. It's nice to play some long courses and some shorter, not just change tees to hit the same distances over and over.

[Fourputt]

A player's length, relative ability (handicap if you will), and the difficulty of the course should all be factored in.  How much does the course penalize your misses?  How bad are your misses?  These are questions that most players should ask themselves before they tee it up.

A 20 handicap who hits his driver 285 yards doesn't belong on the back tees.  He should play it forward and leave the driver at home until he figures out where the ball is going.

A 2 handicap senior who hits his drives 210 also doesn't belong on the back tees.  He is going to spend most of the round playing driver - 3W to most par 4's... and he still won't be reaching the green in regulation.

Quit beating your head against that wall.  Swallow your ego and play one set up if possible and see if it isn't more fun.  If you can't break 90 from the tees you are playing then you aren't "challenging" yourself.  You're just being dumb.

[sean_miller]

I'd like to say I don't care what tee someone else plays as long as we're not spending all day looking for their ball since I've seen people spray it just as badly from the forward tees, but long and wrong seems to take longer to find than short and wrong.

If you have to hit > 200 yards to reach the fairway and a good drive is 220, then you're on the wrong set of tees. If you hit your typical drive then debate whether to lay up or go for the green ON A PAR 4, then you're playing from the wrong tees. If you have to hit a driver on a par 3 . . . basically if you have to hit perfect shots on most holes to get home in regulation, you should consider moving up. No, don't consider it, do it!!

[bplewis24]

Nice rear end, Sean.

[sean_miller]

Originally Posted by bplewis24

Nice rear end, Sean.

Thank you - I'm rockin' those white jeans, eh?

[Spyder]

I will generally play wherever my group decides to play from. If I'm solo, I'll usually play white to have the distance advantage. I'm generally only concerned with my chips/putting when I'm alone anyway.

[Bullitt5339]

Originally Posted by sean_miller

I'd like to say I don't care what tee someone else plays as long as we're not spending all day looking for their ball since I've seen people spray it just as badly from the forward tees, but long and wrong seems to take longer to find than short and wrong.

If you have to hit > 200 yards to reach the fairway and a good drive is 220, then you're on the wrong set of tees. If you hit your typical drive then debate whether to lay up or go for the green ON A PAR 4, then you're playing from the wrong tees. If you have to hit a driver on a par 3 . . . basically if you have to hit perfect shots on most holes to get home in regulation, you should consider moving up. No, don't consider it, do it!!

We have a par 3 that's 200 yards from the middle tees, 230 from the tips.  I've seen plenty of low handicap players hit driver on that hole from the middle tees, but do just fine hitting a 200 yard drive on all the par 4's and then having 150-180 yards into the green and score really well.  If they played from the forward tees based on that one hole, they would be too far forward on nearly every other hole.