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

[sean_miller]

Originally Posted by Bullitt5339

Quote:

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.

I'll give you that one par 3. I often play a not too long course near Sylvan Lake where the final hole is out of character. A tight ~230 yard par 3 slightly uphill over a little ravine from the tips. The next tee up is about 215 and still up hill over the ravine. I could see someone needing a driver there.

But if someone is driving ~ 200 yards leaving 150 to 180 yards they're still hitting their long clubs into the green on a shortish course. They must have a great short game to get to a low index. I can see that too, but we both know those guys are the exceptions and not the people being referred to, right?

[Bullitt5339]

Originally Posted by sean_miller

I'll give you that one par 3. I often play a not too long course near Sylvan Lake where the final hole is out of character. A tight ~230 yard par 3 slightly uphill over a little ravine from the tips. The next tee up is about 215 and still up hill over the ravine. I could see someone needing a driver there.

But if someone is driving ~ 200 yards leaving 150 to 180 yards they're still hitting their long clubs into the green on a shortish course. They must have a great short game to get to a low index. I can see that too, but we both know those guys are the exceptions and not the people being referred to, right?

Most of them are right around 60 years old, but the forward tees are way too far forward for them.  A lot of the older guys I play rounds with hit 200-220 off the tee, and yes, they have awesome short games.  They don't hit a lot of GIR's, that's true, but most of them play par/bogey golf, even at 6700ish yards.  In fact, they tick me off.  I'll be 50 yards in front of them off the tee, hitting 8 or 9 iron into the green, and they're hitting hybrids and 4 irons up close.  Then they pitch and 1 putt.  The two that I play with twice a month are 5 and 8 cappers, and hit about 6 GIRs per round.

They may be exceptions in the overall golf community, but it seems that every 60 year old guy I play with that still has a decent game off the tee has amazing short games, and ends up shooting 78-82 from the middle tees, even though their bomb drives are 220 yards.

[stogiesnbogies]

Originally Posted by Bullitt5339

Most of them are right around 60 years old, but the forward tees are way too far forward for them.  A lot of the older guys I play rounds with hit 200-220 off the tee, and yes, they have awesome short games.  They don't hit a lot of GIR's, that's true, but most of them play par/bogey golf, even at 6700ish yards.  In fact, they tick me off.  I'll be 50 yards in front of them off the tee, hitting 8 or 9 iron into the green, and they're hitting hybrids and 4 irons up close.  Then they pitch and 1 putt.  The two that I play with twice a month are 5 and 8 cappers, and hit about 6 GIRs per round.

They may be exceptions in the overall golf community, but it seems that every 60 year old guy I play with that still has a decent game off the tee has amazing short games, and ends up shooting 78-82 from the middle tees, even though their bomb drives are 220 yards.

Sounds like a pretty acurate description of my game....hit driver about 220 (240 on rare ocassions when I happen to clock it with the wind at my back!)  Definitely manuever the ball to front of green rather than play sky game with wedges...play lots of bump and run ..and yes I chip and putt like a demon!  LOL  My game is really 60 yards and in ...and with this strategy I regularly beat a bomber who can hit it 275 plus (there's a Walmart between his teeshot and mine)...and while it may often take me 3 shots to find the green to his two...I seek to pull my best club from the bag (putter) and bogey and par him into submission...LOL  And frankly 9 of 10 times out -it works!  (Thank God he cant putt worth a damn or I'd have to find another partner.   :)

[anthony]

I had a bit of a chuckle last weekend that made me think of this thread. At the course I was playing the path to 18 goes between the teebox for the blues and whites on hole 14 which is a par 3. Most of the time you're walking behind people, but this time we were in front of people which seemed out of place. Then I noticed, "Hey, they're playing the blues". So, when we got to 18 I decided to check out these guy's teeing off expecting some pretty good shots. The first guy's ball barely dribbled past the white tee's, the second guy almost fell over during his downswing and still had 90 yds left for his second shot (this is probably a 170 yd par 3 from the blues) and the third guy did some kinda check swing thing that went 10 feet off the ground the whole way and probably had 40 or 50 yd's to go.

I can't for the life of me figure out what inspired these guys to play from the tips. Did they not see the whites? Do they usually play a course where the tee's are reversed? Was it there first time out perhaps (If so, I feel bad for not pointing them towards the next tee box up)? Not one of these guys was even close to being close to the green. This was not a coincidence in any way either. Their swings were pretty rough looking.

I'm not trying to criticize or make fun of these guys, but shit man, get real for a minute. Plus, something like this has the potential to slow down the pace of play by quite a bit.

[Dad-2-3]

My old home course has 3 sets of men's tees at 6196, 6839, and 7621 yards. I never played from the tips, but scored just about the same from the two sets of forward tees. My only rule is that anything over 7000 is just to long for me.

[Bullitt5339]

I had a group of three guys in front of me today and thought about this thread.

These guys were spraying the ball everywhere, but were playing from the tips.  They weren't much longer than I am either (240 yard drives), but were all over the place.  There was absolutely no reason why they should have been playing from the tips.  They let me play through at the turn and I immediately got stuck behind a lot of traffic.  The group in front of me for the rest of the day consisted of 2 seniors and 2 middle tees.  Even with them hitting from 2 sets of tees and doing the typical cart thing (all 4 going to the same ball), we pulled away quickly from the group of 3.

[k-troop]

Originally Posted by anthony

I can't for the life of me figure out what inspired these guys to play from the tips. Did they not see the whites?

Plus, something like this has the potential to slow down the pace of play by quite a bit.

Originally Posted by Bullitt5339

These guys were spraying the ball everywhere, but were playing from the tips.  They weren't much longer than I am either (240 yard drives), but were all over the place.  There was absolutely no reason why they should have been playing from the tips.

As far as I'm concerned, people should play from whatever tee they want.  However, if they are clearly overmatched by the course from the tips, and holding up the pace of play, then that's a different story.  I'd expect the marshall in that case to watch these guys hit off of a back tee, point out their bad shots, and the gap between the group in front of them, and tell them specifically what tee to play from for the remainder of the day.

[Bullitt5339]

Originally Posted by k-troop

As far as I'm concerned, people should play from whatever tee they want.  However, if they are clearly overmatched by the course from the tips, and holding up the pace of play, then that's a different story.  I'd expect the marshall in that case to watch these guys hit off of a back tee, point out their bad shots, and the gap between the group in front of them, and tell them specifically what tee to play from for the remainder of the day.

That's the problem, they were holding up the pace of play.  At the course I play at, it's mostly members, so typically we don't need a marshall on the course.  If you have a problem and give them a call, they'll be out quickly.  Now, I know they can't play as fast as I was, because I was by myself.  But I quickly caught up to a foursome where 2 were playing middle tees and 2 were playing the forward (senior) tees.  There's a loop in the course where on hole 16, you parallel hole 14.  While I was coming up 16, they weren't even on the tee box for 14 yet, and obviously hadn't let anyone else play through them.  I'm glad I got in front of them when they stopped at the turn.

[Jmdmbike]

Originally Posted by k-troop

As far as I'm concerned, people should play from whatever tee they want.  However, if they are clearly overmatched by the course from the tips, and holding up the pace of play, then that's a different story.  I'd expect the marshall in that case to watch these guys hit off of a back tee, point out their bad shots, and the gap between the group in front of them, and tell them specifically what tee to play from for the remainder of the day.

No. If you can't handle the tips you shouldn't play them. I am between 14 and 16 and would never play the back tees. Not only does it not fit my game but it would impact the pace of play for my group and those behind. Just because you paid your $$ doesn't mean you should be able to play any tee you want.We all did, and I don't want to be behind a mid (like me) or high handicapper playing the back tees when they have no business being there.

[stogiesnbogies]

NOTE TO ALL

In order for this discussion to make any sense it is essential that we all stop using the tee box colors at our respective courses as there is apparently no corellation between them whatsoever...

it would be best to proceed by telling us the total course yardage from the tees that you play...and this is best described in the Tee It Forward Chart I posted earlier in this thread.

Cheers.

[Jmdmbike]

True enough. but generally speaking, mid and high handicappers shouldn't play from the back tees on a regulation course. For me, 6,500 yards is about as far as I want to go, regardless of the colour of the blocks. How's that?

[Bullitt5339]

The tips at my course are just over 7000 yards.

[sandtrap]

I think the distance of the course should dictate the tees. To just say I play the whites and it plays at 5600 yards is a driver gap wedge round for me.Or it takes driver out of play. I think 6800 yards is more of an opportunity to play all of my clubs regardless of the color

[stogiesnbogies]

Well said!  I couldnt agree more...6500 yds is more than enough challenge for most amateur golfers -who despite their protestations actually drive the ball an average of 200-230 yds..according to Tee It Forward and its originator Barney Adams of Adams Golf...

[darkhunter139]

I would say my drives go about 230 on average and 250 if I really get a hold of it and I like to play 6200ish yard tees which is usually the whites.  I played a course yesterday that was about 5900 yards and it felt a little to short for me.  It was mostly driver/wedges all day.

[Spyder]

At my home course, I play from the longest tees as it is more challenging and in all honesty, I typically play better because I'm more comfortable and do not need to worry about some of the green-side hazards when driving.

My home course (Par 70) Blue Tees are rated at 6400 yards, 69.3 Rating and 126 Slope.

[Mattplusness]

I play the blues, my dad the whites (normal partner).

Like has been said before, driver wedge every par 4 is not fun.

[divot dave]

I play the whites on my regular course usually. Its a 9 hole course. I rarely do 18 holes but if I do, I go whites front 9 blues back 9.

On regular 18 hole courses I usually play the whites the whole time... owing to the fact that I'm new to the sport and have nothing to prove as of yet