i have no interest in "teeing it forward"

[Hatchman]

Wait, what? You can't change what set of tees you tee off from mid-round. Unless you're saying to play the whole course shorter just because of the one really long and/or difficult hole? Some holes are designed to be long, you know.

A thought provoking statement. Look at the card, layout, etc. But I could still change tee boxes, remember I was testing clubs not playing for HC score and certain boxes fit the shot better. I had reshafted and wanted to see shape shot course side during slow mid day play with minimal traffic.

[billchao]

A thought provoking statement. Look at the card, layout, etc. But I could still change tee boxes, remember I was testing clubs not playing for HC score and certain boxes fit the shot better. I had reshafted and wanted to see shape shot course side during slow mid day play with minimal traffic.

So you were playing a practice round and testing a new club. I see. Not really the topic of this thread, though.

[Hatchman]

So you were playing a practice round and testing a new club. I see. Not really the topic of this thread, though.

Right. It was practice, but I stayed on the backs full 1/2 round. 3,600. Course used for local qualifiers, etc. High slope. Would typically move up on a playing day.

[Noahfence]

If you are keeping pace I see no problem unless your partners who should be playing the whites or blues decide to join you to save a bruised ego.

[MyrtleBeachGolf]

I played my Monday morning round yesterday at a course here that is shortish, but very tight and fairly difficult. Definitely a target golf, shot makers course. Upon (strong) suggestion by the member we were playing with, we ended up playing the Blue tees instead of the white. He was concerned the white tees would "take driver out of play" on too many holes. My thought is, "so what"! There are plenty of courses that are long and wide open and designed to rip driver. This is not one of them. My concern is that the golf course itself only suggests the blue tees if you are a single digit handicap. None of us are. The added distance was about 500 yards. The slope jumped from 127 up to 137. There were forced carries off the tee of 215 yards just to clear waste bunkers and reach the fairway. Into a stiff wind coming off the Intracoastal Waterway. The added distance made the tight course very difficult. I shot 97. The other guys didn't break 100. I won't play the blue tees there again.

[Hatchman]

I played my Monday morning round yesterday at a course here that is shortish, but very tight and fairly difficult. Definitely a target golf, shot makers course. Upon (strong) suggestion by the member we were playing with, we ended up playing the Blue tees instead of the white. He was concerned the white tees would "take driver out of play" on too many holes. My thought is, "so what"! There are plenty of courses that are long and wide open and designed to rip driver. This is not one of them. My concern is that the golf course itself only suggests the blue tees if you are a single digit handicap. None of us are. The added distance was about 500 yards. The slope jumped from 127 up to 137. There were forced carries off the tee of 215 yards just to clear waste bunkers and reach the fairway. Into a stiff wind coming off the Intracoastal Waterway. The added distance made the tight course very difficult. I shot 97. The other guys didn't break 100. I won't play the blue tees there again.

Beautiful write up and description of course set up and conditions in your area. My area is similar. That tee change does make a difference that many hit into trouble they probably shouldn't take on a tee or two back. We have a Pete Dye course we play to get after it that offers his interesting run offs, wastes areas, bunkers. A real fun place: I think. But I expect higher scores! Tee it forward.

[Jeremie Boop]

I played my Monday morning round yesterday at a course here that is shortish, but very tight and fairly difficult. Definitely a target golf, shot makers course. Upon (strong) suggestion by the member we were playing with, we ended up playing the Blue tees instead of the white. He was concerned the white tees would "take driver out of play" on too many holes. My thought is, "so what"! There are plenty of courses that are long and wide open and designed to rip driver. This is not one of them.

My concern is that the golf course itself only suggests the blue tees if you are a single digit handicap. None of us are. The added distance was about 500 yards. The slope jumped from 127 up to 137. There were forced carries off the tee of 215 yards just to clear waste bunkers and reach the fairway. Into a stiff wind coming off the Intracoastal Waterway.

The added distance made the tight course very difficult. I shot 97. The other guys didn't break 100. I won't play the blue tees there again.

This is definitely a scenario where knowing your game is important. Forced carries, no problem, but tight course in high winds = big problem and I'd probably just not play that course that day. With a lot of wind, no matter what tee I played, a tight course is just not going to be fun for me at all.

[Lihu]

I played my Monday morning round yesterday at a course here that is shortish, but very tight and fairly difficult. Definitely a target golf, shot makers course. Upon (strong) suggestion by the member we were playing with, we ended up playing the Blue tees instead of the white. He was concerned the white tees would "take driver out of play" on too many holes. My thought is, "so what"! There are plenty of courses that are long and wide open and designed to rip driver. This is not one of them. My concern is that the golf course itself only suggests the blue tees if you are a single digit handicap. None of us are. The added distance was about 500 yards. The slope jumped from 127 up to 137. There were forced carries off the tee of 215 yards just to clear waste bunkers and reach the fairway. Into a stiff wind coming off the Intracoastal Waterway. The added distance made the tight course very difficult. I shot 97. The other guys didn't break 100. I won't play the blue tees there again.

Agree, you don't need driver even 10 times a round. Nicely written. Playing 7200+ yards properly is for golfers that hit a hybrid that sounds like a rocket landing 230 yards away and can choose to roll it another 30 yards or stop it at 230. OTOH, playing back could be fun for many of us non low single digit players.

[Hatchman]

Agree, you don't need driver even 10 times a round. Nicely written. Playing 7200+ yards properly is for golfers that hit a hybrid that sounds like a rocket landing 230 yards away and can choose to roll it another 30 yards or stop it at 230. OTOH, playing back could be fun for many of us non low single digit players.

I agree 100%. Think it's a line of progression up the chain of progress. However, it does influence other parts of my game like scoring, club selection, etc., topics this discussion eluded to hitting wedge or 8i regularly rather than a mid / long iron that peaked my interest.

[Chron]

You know, I used to try to keep up with my friend on the blue or even the tips, but I've learned to check my ego at the clubhouse. I don't hit it nearly as far as him, so rather than beat myself up on the back tees, I just always play whites. I have been getting much better doing it this way, and more importantly, having much more fun! If I'm in a foursome with the other 3 playing blues, but I know that I can't take on the blue tees, I'll just be the lone white tee player! Play to your strengths, not your weaknesses! Furthermore, you don't have to play from the same tees to play a competitive match against a friend. You can calculate course handicaps from the different tees and subtract the difference in course ratings! Use it!

[Osnola]

You know, I used to try to keep up with my friend on the blue or even the tips, but I've learned to check my ego at the clubhouse. I don't hit it nearly as far as him, so rather than beat myself up on the back tees, I just always play whites. I have been getting much better doing it this way, and more importantly, having much more fun! If I'm in a foursome with the other 3 playing blues, but I know that I can't take on the blue tees, I'll just be the lone white tee player! Play to your strengths, not your weaknesses! Furthermore, you don't have to play from the same tees to play a competitive match against a friend. You can calculate course handicaps from the different tees and subtract the difference in course ratings! Use it!

Totally agree. I play weekly with my 2 brothers. They insist on playing from the blue tees and neither is under a 15 handicap. I play from the whites because that is my skill level (19 handicap) and at times I struggle from there. As I have aged it has become easy to take their crap and teasing about not playing the blues...I just walk up to the white tees to play and doesn't bother me a bit.