"Hey! While we're young!" - USGA Pace of Play

[Dave2512]

Originally Posted by Golfingdad

Never played there but curiosity got the best of me, because your claim seemed doubtful, so I looked it up.  Looks like the fairway starts at the red tees, and all you need is a 200 yard drive to reach the fairway.

Those would be the jade tees. The diagrams are misleading, if you look at the actual course pics you can see the fairway starts beyond the jade tees, that box is behind the fairway up on a little rise that gives the ladies a straight shot towards the hazard. It may not be 250 but it's further than 200, there's some space between that box and the fairway. They don't maintain the area left of the tees like pics show, it's more overgrown than that now. You can see new construction along the fairway and that course has been there several years now. Just tee boxes in the middle of native grass and marshy stuff until you get to the silver tees, I'm sure due to conservation. That course is really fun to play, $19 twilight on Golf Now. Even from the gold tees it's pretty brutal. If you ever get out to Denver put that one on your list. It was once a private club that went public.

I wonder how many OB balls could be avoided by people playing the wrong tees? I hit OB balls somewhat often but nothing like the guys I see swinging out of their shoes from the tips. Even when they're not OB a lot of searching for errant balls takes up their time.

[Fourputt]

Originally Posted by Dave2512

Quote:

Originally Posted by Golfingdad

Never played there but curiosity got the best of me, because your claim seemed doubtful, so I looked it up.  Looks like the fairway starts at the red tees, and all you need is a 200 yard drive to reach the fairway.

Those would be the jade tees. The diagrams are misleading, if you look at the actual course pics you can see the fairway starts beyond the jade tees, that box is behind the fairway up on a little rise that gives the ladies a straight shot towards the hazard. It may not be 250 but it's further than 200, there's some space between that box and the fairway. They don't maintain the area left of the tees like pics show, it's more overgrown than that now. You can see new construction along the fairway and that course has been there several years now. Just tee boxes in the middle of native grass and marshy stuff until you get to the silver tees, I'm sure due to conservation. That course is really fun to play, $19 twilight on Golf Now. Even from the gold tees it's pretty brutal. If you ever get out to Denver put that one on your list. It was once a private club that went public.

I wonder how many OB balls could be avoided by people playing the wrong tees? I hit OB balls somewhat often but nothing like the guys I see swinging out of their shoes from the tips. Even when they're not OB a lot of searching for errant balls takes up their time.

Dave - how about the 3rd hole at Riverdale Dunes?  639 yards, par 5, and a full 240 yards from the gold tee to the red tee, both by the card and measured on Google Earth.

[Slice of Life]

Originally Posted by Fourputt

Dave - how about the 3rd hole at Riverdale Dunes?  639 yards, par 5, and a full 240 yards from the gold tee to the red tee, both by the card and measured on Google Earth.

Easily a par 7 for me.

[Golfingdad]

Originally Posted by Fourputt

Dave - how about the 3rd hole at Riverdale Dunes?  639 yards, par 5, and a full 240 yards from the gold tee to the red tee, both by the card and measured on Google Earth.

Well, I know it's not technically correct but ... the courses around here that have holes with forced carries over hazards/ravines/barrancas/etc. have drop zones beyond the hazard.  Seems like this helps with this portion of the slow play problem ... even if it is akin to blasphemy to some of you.

Examples:  Hole #15 at Talega (where we had our last TST outing) and several holes at Arroyo Trabuco in Mission Viejo (#16 is one of them).

[Dave2512]

Originally Posted by Fourputt

Dave - how about the 3rd hole at Riverdale Dunes?  639 yards, par 5, and a full 240 yards from the gold tee to the red tee, both by the card and measured on Google Earth.

WOW brutal but can't say I've ever noticed, that's where they require permission from the shop to play back there. If the ranger catches you back there messing around you get the boot. I've never really looked at where the back tees are on that hole, pretty sure the cart path winds through ahead of that box. That's another really cool course but it usually plays shorter than listed on the scorecard. Last two times I was there I got paired with guys playing the whites so I played from up there. I remember my GPS showing sub 300 yds to center from white markers on 1 and 2. I don't doubt they shorten it to keep people honest, fast and out of the sticky native grass that surrounds it.

[Golfingdad]

Originally Posted by Dave2512

WOW brutal but can't say I've ever noticed, that's where they require permission from the shop to play back there. If the ranger catches you back there messing around you get the boot. I've never really looked at where the back tees are on that hole, pretty sure the cart path winds through ahead of that box. That's another really cool course but it usually plays shorter than listed on the scorecard. Last two times I was there I got paired with guys playing the whites so I played from up there. I remember my GPS showing sub 300 yds to center from white markers on 1 and 2. I don't doubt they shorten it to keep people honest, fast and out of the sticky native grass that surrounds it.

Wow ... do you mean he boots you from those tees and makes you play from forward tees?  Or do you mean that he boots you from the course?

If they really really don't want people playing back there without permission, then I'd say I agree with fourputt ... just don't put the markers out unless it's a tournament.  I'd guess that anybody who still belongs there could still play back there ... just tee up from the actual plaque in the ground.

[sacm3bill]

Originally Posted by Golfingdad

Right.  Hitting balls 40 yards left and right into OB territory is going to happen no matter which tee you are playing from.

Unless... (see below)

Originally Posted by Dave2512

I wonder how many OB balls could be avoided by people playing the wrong tees? I hit OB balls somewhat often but nothing like the guys I see swinging out of their shoes from the tips. Even when they're not OB a lot of searching for errant balls takes up their time.

Yeah, in theory, playing from the correct tees would also mean fewer OB or lost balls because you're not using the driver as much. That's my experience anyway - if I play the correct tees for me there are a lot of holes where I use a shorter club than I would if I was one tee back.

But in reality, the players who play from the wrong tees usually aren't the kind of players who, even on shorter tees, would exercise the kind of course management that would have then pulling anything other than driver on every par 4 or 5. So GD is probably right.

[cipher]

18 at Erin here is WI shows 660 on the card.  ATCF though it is a mere 645yds.  Just 180 though to get to the fairway from the tips.  The course plays an easy 7820 from there.  I think when I finally get to play it I will unload from the tips. About a 6 hour round maybe.

[Dave2512]

Originally Posted by Golfingdad

Wow ... do you mean he boots you from those tees and makes you play from forward tees?  Or do you mean that he boots you from the course?

If they really really don't want people playing back there without permission, then I'd say I agree with fourputt ... just don't put the markers out unless it's a tournament.  I'd guess that anybody who still belongs there could still play back there ... just tee up from the actual plaque in the ground.

Look up the reviews for Riverdale Dunes, there are some detailing where an employee threatened to physically remove someone from the course for being slow. Not sure how true the removal part is but they don't mess around there. As I mentioned I've never even noticed the tee box on that long par 5 he mentioned and I don't think they put out the championship markers on those boxes despite posting the permission policy. I wasn't exaggerating when I say they shorten that course, it's always shorter than the scorecard from any tee. They don't put markers on the back tees of Colorado National either but I have seen guys playing back there. However one time I did see a guy that was unreal long that could hack it. I mentioned it in one of the "I'm so long" threads. That guy hit a ball from the back tees on #3 to a fairway bunker some 350 yds out uphill. Sounded like a plane taking off when that ball flew by.

[Fourputt]

Originally Posted by Golfingdad

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fourputt

Dave - how about the 3rd hole at Riverdale Dunes?  639 yards, par 5, and a full 240 yards from the gold tee to the red tee, both by the card and measured on Google Earth.

Well, I know it's not technically correct but ... the courses around here that have holes with forced carries over hazards/ravines/barrancas/etc. have drop zones beyond the hazard.  Seems like this helps with this portion of the slow play problem ... even if it is akin to blasphemy to some of you.

Examples:  Hole #15 at Talega (where we had our last TST outing) and several holes at Arroyo Trabuco in Mission Viejo (#16 is one of them).

That hole is actually a shorter carry to the fairway than it is to the red tee - about 210 yards to hit the fairway to the right of the red tee.

Originally Posted by Dave2512

WOW brutal but can't say I've ever noticed, that's where they require permission from the shop to play back there. If the ranger catches you back there messing around you get the boot. I've never really looked at where the back tees are on that hole, pretty sure the cart path winds through ahead of that box. That's another really cool course but it usually plays shorter than listed on the scorecard. Last two times I was there I got paired with guys playing the whites so I played from up there. I remember my GPS showing sub 300 yds to center from white markers on 1 and 2. I don't doubt they shorten it to keep people honest, fast and out of the sticky native grass that surrounds it.

From where you park the carts next to the middle tee, it's about an 85 yard walk back to the tips.

[bplewis24]

Originally Posted by Golfingdad

Maybe this is more common on the "old school" courses that offer only the traditional 3 sets of tees (ladies, mens, championship)?  Certainly, at courses that only have red, white, blue, I see a lot of people that play from blues that probably would be better served on the whites.

When playing courses that have the traditional 3 sets (red, white, blue), I typically think of the blues as the "back" tees and not the "tips."  Some courses here simply don't mark the tips, and leave that tee box empty except for tournament play.  On courses with 4-5 sets of tees, then I do consider the tips to be the furthest tee back.

[colin007]

Interesting tidbit I heard yesterday while watching the old guys US Open - the final pairing on Saturday went around in 3:42.

[Slice of Life]

Went golfing with fellow TST member Spyder yesterday, and we got to see one of the main causes of slow play. Some 60 year old guy and his wife (maybe?).

She actually wasn't the problem, even though she could only hit it 50 yards, she went up, hit her ball, and moved on. He, however...had about the same distance. But here's how he played every shot:

Walk up and setup

Waggle

Waggle

Waggle

Practice swing

Waggle

Waggle

Practice swing

Waggle

Address ball

Waggle

Waggle

Back away from ball (too much pressure)

Practice swing

Address ball

Waggle

Waggle

Swing and almost fall over hitting the ball from being so far off balance

Of course they refused to let us play through...

[Spyder]

Originally Posted by Slice of Life

Went golfing with fellow TST member Spyder yesterday, and we got to see one of the main causes of slow play. Some 60 year old guy and his wife (maybe?).

She actually wasn't the problem, even though she could only hit it 50 yards, she went up, hit her ball, and moved on. He, however...had about the same distance. But here's how he played every shot:

Walk up and setup

Waggle

Waggle

Waggle

Practice swing

Waggle

Waggle

Practice swing

Waggle

Address ball

Waggle

Waggle

Back away from ball (too much pressure)

Practice swing

Address ball

Waggle

Waggle

Swing and almost fall over hitting the ball from being so far off balance

Of course they refused to let us play through...

Haha, that really sucked. It was pretty funny the first time we saw it, but Slice taught me a little time killer on the box. Forgot the name of the game, but I know I suck at it lol.

Also, no exaggeration in this post either. This guy had Keegan's waggle routine with Kevin NA's delayed stare. It was brutal to watch...

[Slice of Life]

Originally Posted by Spyder

Haha, that really sucked. It was pretty funny the first time we saw it, but Slice taught me a little time killer on the box. Forgot the name of the game, but I know I suck at it lol.

Also, no exaggeration in this post either. This guy had Keegan's waggle routine with Kevin NA's delayed stare. It was brutal to watch...

Blocks!

Just gotta learn a little touch with driver putting. Haha.

Yeah, I forgot about the stare...once he finally addressed the ball for the final time and was ready to hit, there was what...a 7-8 second pause before he hit?

[Fourputt]

Originally Posted by Slice of Life

Quote:

Originally Posted by Spyder

Haha, that really sucked. It was pretty funny the first time we saw it, but Slice taught me a little time killer on the box. Forgot the name of the game, but I know I suck at it lol.

Also, no exaggeration in this post either. This guy had Keegan's waggle routine with Kevin NA's delayed stare. It was brutal to watch...

Blocks!

Just gotta learn a little touch with driver putting. Haha.

Yeah, I forgot about the stare...once he finally addressed the ball for the final time and was ready to hit, there was what...a 7-8 second pause before he hit?

Which is guaranteed to turn your forearms to stone, with about the same amount of flexibility.  One of my regular golf buddies had that problem (not the incessant waggles and other crap, just the freeze when he got over the ball), but we kept working on him and he finally started pulling the trigger a bit quicker, and then his scoring got better, which got him moving a little faster, and now his routine is fairly standard, and he scores mostly in the 90's instead of the 110's.

[colin007]

Of course they refused to let us play through...

Why didn't you call the clubhouse and ask for a ranger to be sent out to tell them you let you play thru?

[Slice of Life]

Originally Posted by colin007

Why didn't you call the clubhouse and ask for a ranger to be sent out to tell them you let you play thru?

Didn't care enough. We still finished in a reasonable time...just more downtime than I would have preferred. If they were in front of us from the start that would be one thing, but this was like halfway through the back 9.