What would you do?

[Chris Stewart]

A little background... I've been playing from the white tees this season (my first real year of playing regularly, first time I'd played in ~6 years was Feb). I've had 34 outings this year, decent split of 18 and 9 holes (432 holes total). I've moved from a well over 36.4 handicap to 22.4 and have made good progress so far. I recently decided to put the 1w away in favor of the 3w off the tee. I've gotten more accuracy with the 3w, but it's not so dramatic that I would be crazy to switch back. A good shot with my driver is 230-250, the 3w is 200-220. This hasn't been an issue from the white tees, as the average par 4 is ~350 yards. Local course info: White: 66.1/122, 5,594 yards Blue: 69.1/129, 6,137 yards I decided yesterday to play 9 holes from the blue tees at my local course to see the difference. On #1 from the blues, a 386 yard par 4, I had a ~200 yard tee shot with my 3w, leaving 190 for the approach. For me, that's 5w territory. From there, I knew I was in for long approach shots on the 4s. I was mostly left with 4h/5w approach shots to the par 4s, where normally I'm looking at anywhere from a 7i to a PW. In the middle I felt kind of lost. I wasn't sure whether I should be moving back to the driver, gaining the extra distance and making the approaches more reasonable but losing the reliability off the tee, or move back up to the white tees. Overall, my score didn't suffer much. The reality is, I don't hit a ton of GIRs whether it's from a 7i or 5w, so I found myself chipping on my 3rd shots just as I usually do from the white tees. My putting was horrendous (2 4-putts, 3-putts, etc), which would be the difference from a normal round from the white tees. So I'm curious fellow trappers, what would you do?

[Chris Stewart]

I'll also say that yes, I know it's kind of a stupid question to ask and I'm pretty sure I know what you all will say. But, I figured I hadn't started a thread in awhile and it's on my mind, soooo... :-)

[BuckeyeNut]

You're still brand new to the game so you should play whichever tees give you the most enjoyment.  There is no right answer.....

Based on your comments, it sounds like you'd prefer to stick to the white tees for now.

[Chris Stewart]

You're still brand new to the game so you should play whichever tees give you the most enjoyment.  There is no right answer..... Based on your comments, it sounds like you'd prefer to stick to the white tees for now.

Certainly, and I suspect I'll stick to the white tees but I do have a desire to move to the blues. I enjoyed playing the blues and will likely mix it in, especially now that I have an "after 5pm" membership to this local course which I took your advice on by the way! It's the closest course to me, just about 10 mins from door to door.

[vo-man]

with a 22 handicap you should probably stay with the white tees.  I would think most course marshalls would tell you that as well.

[phillyk]

I would stay at the white tees and work on consistency and hitting square.  When you feel confident enough that moving to the blue tees won't change much in terms of hitting GIR, then go for it.

[LovinItAll]

You're still brand new to the game so you should play whichever tees give you the most enjoyment.  There is no right answer.....

^^^^^ This cubed. Many of us run into people that are playing what we consider to be the 'wrong' tees. I know I'm guilty of blaming slow rounds on groups that would probably have more fun if they moved up, but the reality is that backing up should only add approximately the difference in strokes of the course rating, which shouldn't add half an hour to a round or anything. It doesn't take me any longer to shoot 85 as it does 75, anyway. YMMV........

[hendog]

Course is pretty short from the Blues but if you are not hitting Driver then stay at the Whites and do what you did now and then. Go back to the Blues for 9 and give yourself some challenges and different looks. The only thing I caution is that if you stay on the Whites you will never be challenged to use your Driver and then if you play somewhere else you will get a rude awakening.

All depends on your goals but if you want to keep getting better, you have to push it sometimes, just not all the time.

Quick personal example: I've tried playing the Tips (one back of Blue here) twice recently for 9 holes and did not fair very well. Some holes were no problem but some were monsters. 2 days ago I shot a 44 from the Tips on a course that I usually shoot 82 or better. Good experience to see where my game was but not where I will be playing full rounds for sure.

[David in FL]

You're still brand new to the game so you should play whichever tees give you the most enjoyment.  There is no right answer..... Based on your comments, it sounds like you'd prefer to stick to the white tees for now.

I disagree, there is a right answer, and you gave it here! To the op.....play the tees that allow you to continue to refine your game and provide you the most fun. I don't think that 6100 yards is too terribly long given your length, but there's still a lot of opportunity to tighten up your mid to short iron game from the white tees without the stress that comes from hitting fairway woods into relatively short par 4's.

[Chris Stewart]

I would stay at the white tees and work on consistency and hitting square.  When you feel confident enough that moving to the blue tees won't change much in terms of hitting GIR, then go for it.

I think that's a good way to look at it. Normally the answer I've seen is specific to handicap or driving distance, but I think the ability to hit GIR makes more sense. A terrible putter might have a high handicap but should be playing from the tips because of the rest of their game, makes sense to me.

[Chris Stewart]

^^^^^ This cubed. Many of us run into people that are playing what we consider to be the 'wrong' tees. I know I'm guilty of blaming slow rounds on groups that would probably have more fun if they moved up, but the reality is that backing up should only add approximately the difference in strokes of the course rating, which shouldn't add half an hour to a round or anything. It doesn't take me any longer to shoot 85 as it does 75, anyway. YMMV........

Agreed. When I played the blues last week, it didn't take me any longer to play 9 holes, I was just hitting longer clubs. :-)

[Chris Stewart]

Course is pretty short from the Blues but if you are not hitting Driver then stay at the Whites and do what you did now and then. Go back to the Blues for 9 and give yourself some challenges and different looks. The only thing I caution is that if you stay on the Whites you will never be challenged to use your Driver and then if you play somewhere else you will get a rude awakening. All depends on your goals but if you want to keep getting better, you have to push it sometimes, just not all the time. Quick personal example: I've tried playing the Tips (one back of Blue here) twice recently for 9 holes and did not fair very well. Some holes were no problem but some were monsters. 2 days ago I shot a 44 from the Tips on a course that I usually shoot 82 or better. Good experience to see where my game was but not where I will be playing full rounds for sure.

Good points. I switched back to my driver, going with the sentiment you described above, and played the whites yesterday on the back 9 (harder than the front) and shot a 42. I'll play the blues with my driver on Friday and see the difference. The extra 20-40 yards should yield much more reasonable approach shots for me. For instance, last week on #1 I hit a 3w only about 200 yards and was left with 190 to the center of the green, which is 5w for me. Playing 1w off the tee, I'm likely looking at a 240 yard drive, leaving 150 yards and a 5i/6i depending on pin placement. I'll give it a shot Friday and see how it goes.