What kinda play is acceptable for the tips?

[WhySoSerious]

Originally Posted by Dave2512

It's really a skill issue IMO. I've yet to see bad golf played fast. It's more than the just the distance between shots. The person that plays that way is always inconsistent. Being ready and considerate isn't the problem. Move the unskilled up and it leaves less room for problems. Put a shorter club in their hands and the mishits don't travel as far. Ask yourself am I faster kicking through the weeds or walking to a ball you can see. Ignorance is a factor as well. The people I see struggle from the tips aren't just one tee wrong. I see just as many on the whites that would benefit from being up at least another set. Problem is the more tees courses offer the further it seems people play from where they should be. Especially young men, lot's of misspent testosterone on the course.

My thoughts exactly. I often see the kids with borrowed clubs hitting from the tips and swinging out of their shoes trying to reach in one,usually with an iron in their hands and hitting it so fat the grounds crew's ears are burning.

[Dave2512]

I was just looking at the site for the course we'll be playing tomorrow, I haven't been there since the 90's. They have tee recommendations on the scorecard based on average drive distance. Surprisingly they have men's ratings all the way up to the red tees.  First time I've ever seen that.

Just looked some more. They also have a tee is forward tab and "it's okay rules" section that includes advice to not keep score, improve your lie, move ball away from trees, pick it up if you get frustrated, only play from the 150 marker if you are new etc. Basically they suggest to ignore the rules until you have enough skill to make it worthwhile without holding up the pace of play. Which is also the first thing you see from the top of the scorecard.

[WUTiger]

When I was in my 20s, I would play big-name courses from the tips, just from the "pro" experience. Back then I got about 240 yards from my deep-faced persimmon driver, and hit solid fairway woods, so I had the distance for most holes.  In 1974, I shot 102 at Pebble Beach, and three weeks later played Torrey Pines - South, and shot an 87.

About age 40, I quit trying to play famous courses from the back tees.

[Lihu]

For the life of me, I don't understand why people pick tees based solely on distance. From the USGA website: Bogey Rating: the one number every golfer worse than a scratch should check before deciding which tees to play. This rating is the evaluation of the playing difficulty of a course for the bogey golfer. It is based on yardage, effective playing length and other obstacles to the extent that affect the scoring ability of the bogey golfer. To figure out this number, other than from looking at this database, the bogey golfer should take the Slope Rating®, divide it by the set factor (5.381 for men, and 4.24 for women) and add that to the Course Rating. The result is a target score for the bogey golfer, and is a truer yardstick of the challenge that lies ahead for the particular set of tees. Example: 96.3- which predicts the bogey golfer's average of his ten best (out of twenty) scores would be approximately 96.3 from this particular set of tees.

Great prediction, but discounts the intimidation factor. I played 3 times off the blue rating which is about 3 course rating units higher than whites. The first two times on the blues, I got 99 and 101, while I got 92 from the whites. When I finally warmed up to the blues, the 3rd time, I finally got 95, as predicted by the formula. Amazing how well this formuls can predict performance.