When To Tee It Back

[iacas]

It was just an example.

It was an exception.

(Please note the smiley.)

[LuciusWooding]

The extra 30 yards per hole or whatever don't add much value to your round, IMO. I think it depends on the course to a large extent. My course is already pretty hard, so there's absolutely no need to play from the tips even though I certainly have the distance for it; all the reachable holes are reachable for me from any tees, and all the par 5s and long holes are really long and make you hit long approaches at times. The rest of the holes tend to be very limited in terms of a safe target, so one ends up playing a different club to the same area from different tees on those holes.

There's no need to limit yourself to a single set of tees on every hole. It wouldn't be usable as a handicap round but it can really help on some of the more annoying holes. Sometimes they lay out the tees in a ridiculous spot so it becomes way more playable from somewhere else. I think my home course's back tees would be very challenging on a few shots just because of the angle. It would require you control your shape and start line pretty well for driver to be an option, and without a driver you'd have possibly 3 or 4 places where you need a fairway wood for your approach. It would also be impossible for someone who hits it less than 250 to hit all the par 4s in two from the back unless they got help from conditions.

So for anyone to play my course I'd recommend they hit it at least a solid 270 with their driver or flat out stay back. Then anyone above about a 25  handicap will generally struggle to keep their shots in play so they need the shorter tees to make hitting the targets easier. Anyone without a strong long game, especially shots off the deck, will also struggle on a few holes. Ball flight or shape wouldn't matter though. I'm forming my opinion based on where I play, so ymmv.

[Lesterday]

I will usually look at the scorecard and see what the yardage is for that particular course. I'm comfortable playing in the 6,200-6500 range. If I play at 6500+ its going to be a lot of woods and hybrids on the second shots on par 4's. I never understood why someone would set them self up for failure for playing too far back.

I also think long hitters should play the tips, it makes it quicker if the balls are in the same general area of the group you're paired with in regards to distance. Rather than bombing past everyone else 50-80 yards and having to wait for for everyone to hit their second shot before getting to your drive.

[Bucki1968]

This topic goes along with the pace of play issue also. I can hit my driver pretty consistently over 260. Even with that I always look at the yardage from the back tees before I decide to go back there. Especially with what the weather is doing or what time of day I'm playing. If it's windy or the course is wet, I will move up a tee so I'm not hitting long irons in all day. Usually on busy days it does no good to smash a 300 yard drive on a par five because it takes to long to wait for the green to clear so I end up holding up the group behind me. Some of the newer courses in this area are 7200 from the back tees which gets a little old after about 9 holes. Most of the time I do "tee it forward" because the guys I play with don't hit it as far and it keeps my handicap low hitting wedges instead of six irons all day.

[boogielicious]

The extra 30 yards per hole or whatever don't add much value to your round, IMO

I just read this book that would disagree with this statement!

I do agree with the rest of your post.  I generally shoot in the 80s.  My driver distance is around 230 yards.  So I don't play the tips.  My league last year made us play the tip for my flight.  It was not fun for me.  There were some holes that the tips were 50 - 60 yards back of the normal tee I would play.  One par 5 was 580.  Ego was the only thing that made the league commissioner required the tips.  He should not have played them either.

[Dave2512]

Consistency, rather lack of and how it affects your ability to recover from mishits is what I see killing golfers playing too far back. Most tend to make tee choices on their very best shots not realizing those shots are the exception. Being closer to the hole is always going to be advantageous. Nobody is piling up all their strokes around the green. Tee choices should be made based on over all skill, your scores/handicap are indicative of how consistent you hit the ball not how far you hit it once in a while. The guy hitting 13/14 drivers on the way to 20 over or whatever is usually in a lot trouble, misses are right, left, short, anywhere but where they need to be to have a chance at par. I play from a distance that allows me to recover from one bad shot. If I blow a drive I don't want to be facing a second shot longer than I can hit a drive. I want to be able to nudge it close to the green with a chance to chip/pitch on and one putt.

[DoubleEagle]

65 years old, still hit the ball decently (just not always straight or on target), carry 19 HDCP...I play from the tees that give me 6000 yds +/- a few....I like to play a pretty quick pace and do not need the ego boost to say I "played from the tips"....I play because I enjoy it, not because I need to push the limits...I will not play from the "Senior" tees....I would love to shoot in 80's consistently...If I did, I would still play form the tees I play from now.

[mdl]

I agree with @Golfingdad ots of randos for whom I think it's silly to be playing as far back as they do.  But I only care if it's causing slow play. That pisses me off.  But if you want to play too long of a course for your game and score poorly, but you keep pace?  Have at it.  I might be less laissez faire about this if I lived somewhere where the courses aren't pretty much always jammed at times I can play and a 4:30 round is the norm, with 5 hours not rare.  If pace is more like 3:15 or 3:30, it's pretty hard to keep that spraying the ball from the back tees and I might be more hard-assed about my attitude.

As to the OP, I'd say move back if two things are true.  One, you've got the distance that makes the course too short at your current tees.  So, at least with good shots with the driver you're playing driver-wedge to a large majority of the par 4s, hitting wedges on the short par 3s and 7i on the long ones, etc. Two, you've got the skill to keep a 3:30 pace (with a foursome, when the course pace allows) from the tees behind the ones you've been playing.

And as far as the driver distance/tee length guidelines, I agree that the driver based system isn't great cause people have an incorrect idea of their driver distance.  But people hit 5i into greens, so they have to be more honest with themselves about their 5i distance.  So I prefer the method of taking your 5i carry distance and multiplying it by 36 and aiming for tees with a distance near that, given you have the skill to keep pace from that distance.

[mdl]

65 years old, still hit the ball decently (just not always straight or on target), carry 19 HDCP...I play from the tees that give me 6000 yds +/- a few....I like to play a pretty quick pace and do not need the ego boost to say I "played from the tips"....I play because I enjoy it, not because I need to push the limits...I will not play from the "Senior" tees....I would love to shoot in 80's consistently...If I did, I would still play form the tees I play from now.

Wait, so you don't choose tees based on ego, but refuse to play tees labeled "Senior"?

6000 yard tees means you hit your 5i 165 yards, right?

[Dave2512]

The course being too short is rarely a problem for most. You see a lot of resistance on forums from higher handicap golfers not wanting to move back stating they don't want to hit a lot of driver/wedge but I don't see that in reality. I played with a club pro last Sun and even he didn't hit a good drive on every par 4 and par 5. There will be enough mishits to use most of your clubs trying to recover. IMO the concern should be what gives the best opportunity to score half decent. Moving up or back won't suddenly make someone a better ball striker. The difference will be how much of a struggle it will be to recover from mistakes. After that crap drive do you want to be hitting a 3w towards the green on a longer par 4 or a mid iron. That is going to happen more often than the crushed drive that leaves you a wedge shot. I didn't move back until I mores scores dropped and I felt my mishits wouldn't destroy me from that distance. It varies course to course, some are so short it's the tips at others I am two up from the tips. All about how the par 4's setup, I want a realistic chance at GIR.

[dbuck]

I tend to agree with Golfingdad that if you keep up the pace, I don't care what tees you use. If you are making a lot of doubles from the tips, though, I think you are probably not keeping the pace and need to move up. An extra shot per hole would be about 10 minutes per side, or 20 minutes per round which is about the difference between dragging and not.

Personally, I play vintage clubs a lot and whites/regular men's tees which are 6338/70.4/123 are pretty comfortable for me. I don't really think about playing the blues at 7035/73.3/125, even with more modern stuff.

My personal criteria are a reasonable challenge, the opportunity to hit multiple clubs for approaches,  and a reasonable chance at par.