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

[ejimsmith]

Originally Posted by Clambake

Good golf course design will ensure the different holes call for a variety of shots from a variety of distances into the green, and this variety will help make a course interesting and enjoyable.    If you pick tees that are too short, you'll be 3W/wedge on each hole, or if you pick too long you'll be Driver/3i on each - one of these gets boring fast and one gets frustrating, and neither is how the designer intended the course to be played.    Like Goldilocks and the 3 Bears, you'll enjoy it more if you play the combo that's "Just right".

One pretty good rule of thumb is to take the distance you hit your 5 iron and multiply by 36, and then pick the set of tees that most closely matches that number.    For example, I hit 5i about 185 yards, so 185 x 36 = 6660.    Playing courses at the tees that gives me 6600-6700 yards almost always means a nice mix of different tee shots (some driver, some 3W, perhaps some 3H) and different approaches (some short, some mid-irons, and some long irons).  That makes it interesting.

this is what i do, except my 5i yardage is 175.  this puts me in the 6300y range, which for the most time is white, but some course blue.   also, like others, when i play single, if the rest of the group are playing blues, i will just to match up.  i've found that many times i still play pretty good, because i am more comfortable w/ my skills than others.   i've played with people that have no business playing blues, but whatever...

[newtogolf]

Originally Posted by sean_miller

That's right. It's just a coincidence - lolz!!

[rustyredcab]

Middle tees (6100 yards) -- there are two set farther back and two further up. Play these tees because it is best for our group. Hcps range from under 10 to over 20. The par threes are more playable from the 6100 tees. One box back and the par threes are all very long including a 210 yard hole over water into the prevailing wind.

I'm the low handicap guy in my group and I'm glad we moved up a set of tees last year. Makes our game more competitive and introduces more strategy on the tee for all of us -- not just me.

When I play alone or with another group, I often move back to 6400 yards. I play the tees of the group unless they are playing too far forward. And, I almost never play the tips because, if there is any wind at all, the par threes are crazy from the tips.

When I play a strange course, I look for tees between 6200 - 6600 and take the advise of the starter.

When I've organized larger buddy trips, I aim for 6200 yards and no forced carries over 170 yards. One year we played 6200 yards and got to the 17th hole and there was a very long carry and no bail out save a drop area. Only 4 of 16 of us could ever clear the canyon from the tee. Only two of us actually did clear. Next day we moved up on that hole. Next year, they had changed the tee box for the 6200 yard tees. Ages range from 40-80 and it is no fun making the older guys hit one in the junk on a hole they have not been able to play for 10 years. We had a few guys just take the penalty without hitting, and save the ball.

[bradsul]

I play one up from the tips (colours seem to vary a bit around here) unless the starter recommends otherwise based on my handicap or I know better based on previous experiences.  Seems to work out quite well.

[sean_miller]

Originally Posted by newtogolf

Quote:

Originally Posted by sean_miller

That's right. It's just a coincidence - lolz!!

We need more VARIETY in our emoticons.

[mdl]

Originally Posted by Clambake

One pretty good rule of thumb is to take the distance you hit your 5 iron and multiply by 36, and then pick the set of tees that most closely matches that number.    For example, I hit 5i about 185 yards, so 185 x 36 = 6660.    Playing courses at the tees that gives me 6600-6700 yards almost always means a nice mix of different tee shots (some driver, some 3W, perhaps some 3H) and different approaches (some short, some mid-irons, and some long irons).  That makes it interesting.

Yeah this rule works well for me too.  I hit my 5i 190, 190 * 36 = 6840.  I've definitely found that tees in the ~6800 range are a good challenge for me, and theoretically give me the most interesting range of shots without being too long.

I'll play ~6500 tees sometimes just because accuracy off the tee has traditionally been a weakness of mine and I want the extra forgiveness of being able to hit 2h or at most 3w off the tee on par 4s, but on a 6400-6500 yard course if my driver is on that day I'm hitting driver/some wedge (usually 54˚) into pretty much every par 4, which is fun when it means I'm scoring super well but would get boring very quickly if I were accurate with my driver every time out.

[mdl]

Originally Posted by rustyredcab

We had a few guys just take the penalty without hitting, and save the ball.

That sucks.  There's no public courses with forced carries I'm literally not capable of carrying (not yet anyway, talk to me in 30 years!), but what a depressing end to the round to walk up to 17, look at the yardage book or GPS or whatever, and see a number you have to carry that you literally can't carry no matter how much you swing out of your shoes.

[RayG]

Playing most of the local courses, my friends and I will play from the set that we know fits our games. that would be the normal set that are most often used. When I'm in FL or MB and they have 5 or even 6 sets, I'll play from the set that is 1 or 2 up from the tippy tips, depending on yardages or slope. I will sometimes jump back to the 'blues' if the group I join as a single wants to play from there. It can be annoying when they shouldn't be playing from there and can affect my game in a negative way a bit. BUT, it can also help if they actually can play from there. Makes me take it a bit more seriously, even if there isn't any 'game' going on. I'm out there for fun- if I find I'm not exactly lighting it up, I'll move up a box mid round. Doesn't bother me one bit. A few years ago I played down at the Slammer & Squire at the World Golf Village with my Dad. He played the 'green' tees and I went to the White. On a couple of holes I moved back a tee box or two because it was a completely different hole from the white box. There were several more 'risk and reward' options on these holes. More carry req'd to get over a corner or a lake and I wanted to give a bit more of a challenge.

[inthehole]

Originally Posted by Hogan Project

I play from the white tees. I am a 20+ handicap. I don't plan to move to the next highest tees until I'm in the single digits (actually until I can par the course from the white). When I can par the course from the blue, I'll move to the next set. Does anybody else use this same logic?

Just wondering why you choose to play from a certain tee.

Pretty much exactly my thinking ...

[Yukari]

I play ~6800 yards, which ever tee that happens to be.  It gives me just enough variety on my second shots on par 4's and a chance to go for 2 on at least 2 out of 4 par 5's.

[zipazoid]

I'm a 7. I play the back tees.

Having said that, if that gets above 6800 yards I know it's gonna be a long day of Driver-3W to par-4s since I'm not very long off the tee (240-250y) so if the group I'm with is agreeable, we'll move up one set.

[Chief Broom]

I like to play between 6000 - 6300yds.  I can easily play longer but my belief is that one should have a reasonable expectation for breaking 80 on any given set of tees (in other words not a career round but rather an average one) before considering moving to a longer set of tees.

I've got an out of town golf buddy who occasionally plays with me and my local golf partners and this guy always wants to play from a longer set of tees.  I never could understand it because every time we'd get to the first tee he'd start in on moving back.  A local golf buddy (and mutual friend of the out of towner) is an 18capper and he hates playing longer tees and since my game isn't at the level where I feel I'm holding myself back from playing in the low 6000 yard range I'm always happy to accommodate my local friend.  The funny thing is the out of towner isn't any better than me (I usually beat him) and yet even though he knows our mutual friend wants to play forward he still makes a big issue out of wanting to back up.  So anyway the last time we played I figured out what his deal is: he has no mid-iron game.  He confided to me that he doesn't like hitting shots between 180yds and 60yds.  It was like a light bulb going off and I told him so that was why he always wants to play back.  He admitted it and we all had a pretty good laugh at his expense (not really but it did make sense).  The guy is working on his game (he flips full iron shots horribly and hits those shots sky high) but from now on when he makes his case for backing up we're all going to give him a hard time about it!

[JayMc]

I play the blue (6.6K) or gold (7K) at home depending on the group I'm with.

When I play a new course I look for whatever tee keeps my close to 6.5K yds.  If I've played a course and know it I might move back, but at my length (or lack of) I'm not comfortable playing beyond 6500 yards if I don't know my best miss around the greens.  All that changes on PGA courses though.  On those I like to move back to where the pros play just for the fun of it.

[LuciusWooding]

I have always played from the whites, due to pace of play and inconsistency. I have the distance now to move well back, however, and I plan to stop playing from the whites this season for good. I was playing from the white tees more because of not wanting people to complain, not wanting to take extra time while I'm learning the game, and because I didn't carry over a 5 iron until this winter, so long par 3s were a problem. Other than that, though, I never found the tees to make much of a difference on my score; it's uniformly terrible regardless of the yardage.

The tees a person plays should be based on their general distance, and in some cases they might move up to learn a new course or depending on their group. I plan to play some tougher courses this year, and while I don't plan on moving to the tournament tees or the unmarked back of the tee box, I won't be hitting from tees that leave a wedge or chip shot. I do have the Hunter Mahan syndrome.

[Laws of Woo]

I'll typically play the blues at my home course which plays ~6700yds. I try to play roughly that yardage at every course I play. Every now and then I'll mix it up and play from the blacks on my home course which plays ~7100yds.

If I'm playing with my brother, we'll move up the the white/standard tees.

[azgreg]

If I could get away with it, I'd play from the 150 marker.

[GaijinGolfer]

I currently play from the whites because those are usually the tees where I feel challenged but still feel like I have a chance to score well from.

[dsc123]

I think the rules of thumb are not helpful.  For example, I'm a 16HC and when the course suggested tees based on HC that usually puts me in the 5800-6200 range.  But distance is not a weakness of mine.  If I'm swinging good in the mid summer, I'll hit my 5 about 205, which puts me at 7,300+.  Right now, in 40* weather, I hit it about 195, which still puts me over 7,000.  I think both of those are off.

I shoot for 6400-6600 yds, which are typically blues, one up from the tips.  If everyone else plays the whites sometimes I will, unless they are particularly short.  I think I only gain 1-2 shots by playing closer and the rating/slope difference is more than that so I think my handicap improves by playing longer.