Play the Correct Tee!

[Jimdangles]

Originally Posted by meenman

It is faster, and some of the long hitters are the ones that need to move up just to get that driver out of their hands - they are the reason there is so much ball searching.

In my normal foursome, our index's range from 16-27. One of the higher HC guys is generally the masher. Unfortunately it gets old looking for his ball for 5 minutes on 9-10 holes, the rest of us are generally on/near the fairway and if the other guys put it OB, it is far enough OB that there is no need to look for the ball.

The 3 of us have tried to get the other to move up to the *senior* tees occasionally (with us going up there with him) but he is the only one that refuses. If he was forced to club down a bit the ball searching would end.

I am starting to think that he enjoys his high HC for the skins he wins getting 2 strokes on par 3s.

While I agree with you I disagree with you. He needs to chill out and not try and crush the ball. Taking the driver out of the hands is avoiding the problem. To be a complete player you have to be able to hit the driver off the tee. He needs to stop trying to kill it. One day he will get over the feeling of trying to crush the ball and play a moderately long shot that leaves you a wedge or short iron into a par 4. Maybe his wallet will catch up to him if he is losing so many balls. Obviously none of this can be taught and he needs to learn it for himself. Anybody ever try and tell him directly? 150 yards from the fairway is still easier than 100 from the rough behind trees.

[meenman]

Originally Posted by Jimdangles

Anybody ever try and tell him directly? 150 yards from the fairway is still easier than 100 from the rough behind tree

He is told constantly, it's an ego thing. He loses $50 worth of balls a round, and I know he isnt losing any sleep over it. To put that in perspective, I have lost 2 balls over the last 6 rounds and one was lost by a playing partner in an alternate shot tourney.

The man can putt lights out, has a decent short game and hits his irons + hybrids fairly straight. If we moved him up a set, he'd go from shooting 110s to mid/high 80s.

The thing is he would still need a driver moving up a set, just not on every hole. At our club, every non par 3 from the whites/blues is a driver hole unless you hit a 3 wood 280.

[clubhousehero]

Originally Posted by Jason M Henley

This is where I actually lose some strokes. For years I was that guy hacking it up so I learned to just grip and rip. Now I can play a little but still rush shots to try and hurry and end up with the wrong club or forget about a bunker or slope of the green I'm coming into. Little things that might save me strokes. I'm usually the one pushing though so I am forced to chill out sometimes.

This is me too.  I used just walk up to my ball and take a hack. I figured i could duff it with or without a warm-up swing so why bother.  Now i've gotten better and need to slow down sometimes.  A few weeks ago i went out as a single and was playing really fast and poor b/c of it.  Then i caught up to a foursome that was playing at a decent foursome pace.  They looked shocked when i said i didn't want to play through and not to feel rushed b/c of me behind them.

[Tuflehundon]

I played with a guy last weekend that just tried to crush it every drive. We talked for a few before the round, and he was a lower handicap than me, said he was a 8, which I could believe. I'm around a 16. It was like he felt the need to out drive me, like he felt that he should be able to because he's a lower handicap. The thing he didn't take into account was he was approx 6'1", maybe 170lbs, I am 6' 280lbs of former US Marine. I am by no means a small guy, I bench 350lbs. So he had to put everything he had into his swing to out drive me.

Thing was, when he tried crushing it, he would end up in the rough a lot. Even hit a few out of bounds hooking the ball. First few holes, when he was hitting normal, I may have driven farther than him, but he would end up in the fairway, and set up for a nice second shot. I ended up beating him by 6 strokes, when he should have smoked me.

Ego's are a hard thing for many people to get past. I don't care if you can out drive me. I have played against guys less than half my size that could do it. I prefer to play my game, let you play yours, and not let you get in my head. At the end of the day, I am playing because I enjoy the game, not because I want to prove anything.

[sean_miller]

Sounds like a great practice round tactic.

[CBVegas]

As a +handi you should be able to play all tees if your with a group of double digits hell even a 8 or 9 handi move up... Otherwise your just punishing yourself .... Remember in tourney play we play one day tips one day middle one day short

[NuclearMike]

Where I play regularly the Blues are about 6700 yards, the Blacks 7100, and the Whites (senior) 6200.  I'm 56 now so using the whites works for me and gets me a lot more shorter irons into the greens.  I'll step back to the blues on occasion (depending on who I'm playing with) to get a different look at the course but hitting longer irons and hybrids on the par 3s and for second shots on the par 4s, although more of a challenge, makes for a more difficult and time consuming round.  This course from the blues has one par 3 at 156 yards, two of the others over 180, with the last at 215.  I'm in favor of tee it forward, even though I hit the ball as far as I did 15 years ago with the newer technology in clubs and balls when I played from the Blue tees nearly every time.  It's just more fun today to have a chance to score since I'm nowhere near the golfer that I once was (but I'm getting there- ten years off will do that to a guy).

[Jimbo Slice]

What constitutes the correct tees, s there an official rule stating what tees one should play from? Are the pro tee's for pros only? I enjoy the back tees, but would be willing to move up to the middle tees if its the right thing to do. Does handicap determine what tees you should play from? At what handicap should I move back to the black tees, if ever lol? I want to start working on a legit handicap, do I need to play from the middle tees to do so?

I've shot a total for 18 rounds, and broke 100 4 times. All rounds where shot from the black tees, it's just a habit I started from round 1. If people say I should, I will for sure move up to the green tees.

[meenman]

Originally Posted by Jimbo Slice

What constitutes the correct tees, s there an official rule stating what tees one should play from? Are the pro tee's for pros only? I enjoy the back tees, but would be willing to move up to the middle tees if its the right thing to do. Does handicap determine what tees you should play from? At what handicap should I move back to the black tees, if ever lol? I want to start working on a legit handicap, do I need to play from the middle tees to do so? <~~~ lol @ the rapid fire of questions hehe.

I've shot a total for 18 rounds, and broke 100 4 times. All rounds where shot from the black tees, it's just a habit I started from round 1. If people say I should, I will for sure move up to the green tees.

As a 30 HC, if you are playing the back tees, then you are playing the wrong tees.

There is no formula, but the purpose of the game is to shoot as close to par as possible and you are doing yourself no favors by playing too far back.

Dont worry about when it's ok to move back a set of tees - as you get older you will realize that forward tees are your friend.

[Jimbo Slice]

Originally Posted by meenman

As a 30 HC, if you are playing the back tees, then you are playing the wrong tees.

There is no formula, but the purpose of the game is to shoot as close to par as possible and you are doing yourself no favors by playing too far back.

Dont worry about when it's ok to move back a set of tees - as you get older you will realize that forward tees are your friend.

I figured I was playing the wrong tees, but no biggie. I'm moving up next game. As for my 30 hcp, that baby is dropping like it's hot! lol.

[Roblar]

My most recent four rounds:

94 -- black (tips)

77 -- whites (senior)

73 -- whites

91 -- black

The tees seems to make a big difference for me!  To be honest, I'm usually mid-80's from the whites and high 80's from the blues/blacks.  I my luck has been running running hot and cold recently.

[CBVegas]

The problem is guys have ego's they may have once accidentally hit a ball 280+ now they re long ballers ion their head... You see it all the time... Same guys who hit a drive 240 but make you wait cause they are getting home in 2 on a 570 par 5 with a 2 iron... Do the math.... Here is the rule of thumb... Go to front tee... No such thing as senior , champ blah blah... It's front middle back and sometimes tips... Now play front til you can break 80 then move to middle ... So on so forth.... Never move til you can break 80 there is no reason and the pace of play would move faster.... If you can play tips then you can play fronts middle backs.... There is no reason to be the macho one... I would never suggest anyone over a 6 handi to play anything farther than 6500 yards..... Here is how to think it... There is 300-1000 yards difference between fronts and tips.... That's 4-15 strokes on a good day based on yardage alone on a 10 handi,s good day..... Scoring is 150 and in..... I hit 290+ and I use a driver maybe 8 times during a round... Sometimes your landing is not a driver shot... That's the difference between a 3 handi and a 14 handi... Think of the game.... That's when short tees are fun Bottom line if your not shooting in the 70's you have absolutely no business on anything other than the front tees

[CBVegas]

75 tips 79 tips 78 middle 75 front 79 front 69 tips 77 tips 74 tips Ehhh almost there....

[Paradox]

time to round up the old "forward tee challenge" again Iacas.

[Jimdangles]

Originally Posted by CBVegas

The problem is guys have ego's they may have once accidentally hit a ball 280+ now they re long ballers ion their head... You see it all the time... Same guys who hit a drive 240 but make you wait cause they are getting home in 2 on a 570 par 5 with a 2 iron... Do the math....

Here is the rule of thumb... Go to front tee... No such thing as senior , champ blah blah... It's front middle back and sometimes tips... Now play front til you can break 80 then move to middle ... So on so forth.... Never move til you can break 80 there is no reason and the pace of play would move faster....

If you can play tips then you can play fronts middle backs.... There is no reason to be the macho one...

I would never suggest anyone over a 6 handi to play anything farther than 6500 yards.....

Here is how to think it... There is 300-1000 yards difference between fronts and tips.... That's 4-15 strokes on a good day based on yardage alone on a 10 handi,s good day.....

Scoring is 150 and in..... I hit 290+ and I use a driver maybe 8 times during a round... Sometimes your landing is not a driver shot... That's the difference between a 3 handi and a 14 handi... Think of the game.... That's when short tees are fun

Bottom line if your not shooting in the 70's you have absolutely no business on anything other than the front tees

You cant choose tees just based on handicap. I shot a 90 today on a 6500 yard course. I had 42 putts. With 8 3 putts. When you play from the whites does it make putting and chipping easier. The old guy in our group who got outdriven on everyhole still outplayed me by a ton. It doesn't have to do with distance so much or handicap. The people who top the ball and duff the ball are gonna do that regardless if they have a 280 yard par 4 or a 400 yard par 4. Shooting in the 70's has so much less to do with distance than short game.

[Dave2512]

Probably a little OT but I played a course today that had six, yes six different tees. First time there and we couldn't get a feel for it. We played one up from what they called championship tees. It was somewhat long at over 7400. Didn't make much sense from the middle tees which on the card was marked "mens". Some of those boxes were at least 50-70 yds in front of the back tees. The silver and green tees were as much as 100 yds forward from the mens tees. We had a woman in our group and she actually started playing back to the mens tees. Though the entire course was effed up. We were warned about some vandalism damage on the greens when we checked in. After 9 holes of shitty greens we bailed. There was no vandalism, somewhere in this town a super needs to be fired.

[Topper]

Originally Posted by Jason M Henley

I have seen some courses that put the handicap ranges for each tees. So you simply play the tee for your handicap. Of course most of the guys playing the wrong tees probably don't even track their handicap.

I think this is a great idea to "re-brand" tees from the old designations (ladies, seniors, men, etc.) to new designations based on golfing ability.  They can post a handicap AND an appropriate score range.  I don't have an official handicap but I know where I generally score.

[trackster]

Originally Posted by CBVegas

The problem is guys have ego's they may have once accidentally hit a ball 280+ now they re long ballers ion their head... You see it all the time... Same guys who hit a drive 240 but make you wait cause they are getting home in 2 on a 570 par 5 with a 2 iron... Do the math....

Here is the rule of thumb... Go to front tee... No such thing as senior , champ blah blah... It's front middle back and sometimes tips... Now play front til you can break 80 then move to middle ... So on so forth.... Never move til you can break 80 there is no reason and the pace of play would move faster....

If you can play tips then you can play fronts middle backs.... There is no reason to be the macho one...

I would never suggest anyone over a 6 handi to play anything farther than 6500 yards.....

Here is how to think it... There is 300-1000 yards difference between fronts and tips.... That's 4-15 strokes on a good day based on yardage alone on a 10 handi,s good day.....

Scoring is 150 and in..... I hit 290+ and I use a driver maybe 8 times during a round... Sometimes your landing is not a driver shot... That's the difference between a 3 handi and a 14 handi... Think of the game.... That's when short tees are fun

Bottom line if your not shooting in the 70's you have absolutely no business on anything other than the front tees

By this logic, then 90% of the golfers on this planet would be playing from the women's tee box.  Playing forward doesn't always speed up play.  It creates more waiting because the group on tee boxes will have to wait  longer for groups to clear out fairways since the holes are so short.