Playing Tees Based on Driver Distance x 28

[DeadMan]

You obviously missed this bit, so I'll repeat it for you.

This  is a short course, BTW, under 6780 yards.

You obviously missed this bit, so I'll repeat it for you:

You make it sound like you're playing PGA tour distances there. I would venture a guess and say that the majority of scratch/low single digit golfers in the USA play from tees that are between 6800-7200 yards.

The point of my post was that you make it sound much more ridiculous than that scorecard shows. Find me the 7600 yard course you play all the time, and then I'll be in awe of your prodigious power and how hard it is in Australia.

To me, it sounds like the only difference is that you have to play from the back tees at tournaments in Australia.

[JonMA1]

I'm not sure I need a formula to determine which tees to play from.

I'm a less-than-skilled short hitter and probably couldn't reach - much less make - par 4 greens in regulation from 7000 yards. But the likelihood of a high score wouldn't stop me from playing that distance. The only thing that would matter is the prospect of holding others up.

I took the advice of @vangator last year by "playing it back" and really enjoyed how it changed my course.

[Shorty]

Originally Posted by DeadMan

To me, it sounds like the only difference is that you have to play from the back tees at tournaments in Australia.

No - we only have back tees is what I'm saying.

This is the yawn of a course I'm describing, BTW.

The par 4 on this course, below, which is ranked in the top 500 in the world ,would not be rated by me in the top 5 holes on the course.

[oregongolfguy]

I think that you should play whatever distance you want. I dont know how it works down under but here we have a handicap system that works pretty well course to course on giving a number to ones ability. For myself. I am pretty comfortable around 6500ish yds give or take. Long enough thats it not just driver/wedge every hole. But short enough that i actually have a reasonable chance of reaching all the gir if i do my part.

[Lihu]

I'll have a better sense when I get a some data from my Game Golf, however, from what I have gathered, that would put me on tees that play 7000 yards and I could only imagine what I'd score from those since I put up monster numbers on the middle/men/white tees.

[quote name="JonMA1" url="/t/81028/should-you-play-tees-courses-based-soley-from-driver-times-28/18#post_1120680"]I'm not sure I need a formula to determine which tees to play from. I'm a less-than-skilled short hitter and probably couldn't reach - much less make - par 4 greens in regulation from 7000 yards. But the likelihood of a high score wouldn't stop me from playing that distance. The only thing that would matter is the prospect of holding others up. I took the advice of @vangator last year by "playing it back" and really enjoyed how it changed my course. [/quote] Idk anything about your games, but I think the multiplier is applied to your average drive. For example, I might hit a drive that pummels a tree and bounces back to 180 yards on occasion and have a few 285 yard drives and a smattering of drives between 240-265 yards and average 245 yards which would give me a 6800 yard course to enjoy playing. This is about right too. . . So, if I slice or duff more balls, that would bring down my average distance which in turn will reduce the course length proportionately. I could end up only playing a 6400 yard course commensurate with how much I mess up my drives. This might be why you feel like you might struggle on 7000 yard course? Of course, you should play from wherever makes you happy. . .just not affect PoP as mentioned in the second post.

[Clambake]

Driver x 28 has to be the dumbest rule of thumb anyone has ever attached to this game. Do the math. An average drive of only 250 yards would suggest a 7000 yard course. I average about 265 - no way can I play 7400 yard courses. And an average Tour distance of 290 yards should be playing over 8100 yards? This is a really stupid, senseless metric.

[DrvFrShow]

Tee it forward. I have enough trouble on a 5200 yd course.

[Strandly]

The standard deviation of my drives is 100 yards so I just play the woman's tee and call it good.

[acerimusdux]

Driver * 28 looks like it would work for a good experienced golfer, but is still going to be very challenging for anyone who is starting out and struggling and who  wants to just play a casual round. Something like driver * 25 would seem more realistic to me, if you want to encourage people to play shorter distances where greens are more easily reachable in regulation. The tee it forward yardages though seem to get even shorter than this on the short end, maybe too short.

using 25:

drive yards

100 2500

125 3125

150 3750

175 4375

200 5000

225 5625

250 6250

275 6875

So I would say people should probably be encouraged to start out at something like 25 times a well hit drive, and then move to longer distances only as they get better at golf. And if courses want to accommodate golfers of a wide range of abilities, the shortest tees available probably shouldn't be more than about half the distance of the longest.

[RFKFREAK]

Idk anything about your games, but [b]I think the multiplier is applied to your average drive.[/b] For example, I might hit a drive that pummels a tree and bounces back to 180 yards on occasion and have a few 285 yard drives and a smattering of drives between 240-265 yards and average 245 yards which would give me a 6800 yard course to enjoy playing. This is about right too. . . So, if I slice or duff more balls, that would bring down my average distance which in turn will reduce the course length proportionately. I could end up only playing a 6400 yard course commensurate with how much I mess up my drives. This might be why you feel like you might struggle on 7000 yard course? Of course, you should play from wherever makes you happy. . .just not affect PoP as mentioned in the second post.

The article says different: [Quote][b]Just multiply the length of a well hit drive for you by 28[/b] and that, in my estimation, is the length of a course that will be challenging but enjoyable to play.[/quote]

[cubdog]

DeadMan failed to mention that Denver is a mile high. Thin air, balls travel at least 10 per cent farther. I know, I lived and played golf in Denver for 23 years. I used to have one eagle most every year out there. I've yet to have one at sea level.

[JonMA1]

Idk anything about your games, but I think the multiplier is applied to your average drive. For example, I might hit a drive that pummels a tree and bounces back to 180 yards on occasion and have a few 285 yard drives and a smattering of drives between 240-265 yards and average 245 yards which would give me a 6800 yard course to enjoy playing. This is about right too. . .

So, if I slice or duff more balls, that would bring down my average distance which in turn will reduce the course length proportionately. I could end up only playing a 6400 yard course commensurate with how much I mess up my drives.

This might be why you feel like you might struggle on 7000 yard course? Of course, you should play from wherever makes you happy. . .just not affect PoP as mentioned in the second post.

I get the point of both the tee if forward program and the 28x multiplier method. My point was that unless you're brand new to the sport, the course length and how it affects your score and what club you're using for second or third shot, etc. should be pretty obvious. I think if you're unfamiliar with a course or it's busy that day, it's a good rule of thumb.

If my goals were to play clubs similar to what the pros play on each shot, and to give myself a snowball's chance to shoot par, either of those methods would work for me - which would be around the 6,000 mark. At this distance (at the courses I play), par 3's are less than 200, par 4's are reachable with driver/iron, and some par 5's are reachable in 2 with a good drive and longer iron, hybrid or fairway wood.

But sometimes it's fun to mix it up a bit. Last year I played a 9 hole course that was over 3300 yards (36.4/135). While this is nothing special for most guys, the distances on a couple of the par 4's were just long enough that I was looking at using a fairway wood for my second shot to a tightly guarded green. I opted to play bogey golf on these holes. My resulting score would have lowered my handicap because of the course rating. The reality is that I found this course to be much easier than my home course. Playing from 6700 yards on my course would be an exercise in futility if I was only interested in scoring low.

[dkolo]

This metric would have me playing courses of 6700-6800 yards in length. That's... insane.

[Patch]

Except for a few of the high end courses I might play, most of the courses I do frequent, the difference between the forward, and the back tees is not that big of a deal. Maybe 20-30 feet at best, with the ladies tees maybe 50 yards farther forward. I usually play from the middle tees regardless. Most are 7000 yards or less. Occasionally I will get on a longer course. For the most part I score about the same on any course up to 7000 yards.

There was a course I use to play that had a couple of 600 yard holes from the back tees, with the total yardage from the tips around 6600 yards. If I could navigate those two long fivers successfully, I pretty much guaranteed myself a round in the 70s, since the rest of the course was much shorter than average.

I have to say I have never heard of the this 28 multiplier number until I read this post. It's interesting to say the least. I know of some folks that take the overall distance of a course, and divide that number by 36, half of a par 72 course. Example would be  7000/36 equaling 194 yards. If they could drive the ball father than 194 yards they figured they could handle that course.

[Fourputt]

Play the length you'll have the most fun with.  On a course with a higher slope, a 15 cap or higher should pay most attention to the slope rating and bring that down to his normal difficulty, then see how that looks for length.  A 6300 yard course with a 120 slope is a much easier course to navigate than the same length with a 134 slope.  If you are usually 250 yards and straight, then the 134 slope might be doable, but if you are 250 and wild, then that 134 slope course is going to have your lunch from those tees.  Since I"m not out there to beat my brains in, I look at both numbers and try to pick length that I can have some fun with, especially on a course that I don't know well.

If you don't care and you can still keep up the pace , then go ahead and torture yourself from whatever tees you want.  Be sure to bring plenty of balls along.

Except for a few of the high end courses I might play, most of the courses I do frequent, the difference between the forward, and the back tees is not that big of a deal. Maybe 20-30 feet at best, with the ladies tees maybe 50 yards farther forward. I usually play from the middle tees regardless. Most are 7000 yards or less. Occasionally I will get on a longer course. For the most part I score about the same on any course up to 7000 yards.

There was a course I use to play that had a couple of 600 yard holes from the back tees, with the total yardage from the tips around 6600 yards. If I could navigate those two long fivers successfully, I pretty much guaranteed myself a round in the 70s, since the rest of the course was much shorter than average.

I have to say I have never heard of the this 28 multiplier number until I read this post. It's interesting to say the least. I know of some folks that take the overall distance of a course, and divide that number by 36, half of a par 72 course. Example would be  7000/36 equaling 194 yards. If they could drive the ball father than 194 yards they figured they could handle that course.

What century are you living in?  There are no "Ladies" tees any more.  The shortest tees are the forward tees.  Then, depending on how many tees the course uses, they should go second, third, fourth, then back or tips.  Some courses only put out the farthest back tees when they are holding a competition, or at least that's the only time that they use all of the back tee boxes.

My old home course doesn't even have red tees any more for the forward tees to encourage players to use the tees that are best for their game rather than just selected by gender.

[inthehole]

x 28 seems way long to me ... my drive is 240-250 & I play somewhere around  6000 typically & that's about right for me.    When I get up around 6300 I start feeling the pressure of having to leaning on my driver & it that's when I get outside of my comfort zone & it starts to go bad ...

[bste]

If you don't care and you can still keep up the pace, then go ahead and torture yourself from whatever tees you want.  Be sure to bring plenty of balls along.

Golf is what you make it.

Like getting your a$$ kicked, play longer.

[Lihu]

The article says different:

I think this is for a "challenging" course to play?

If your average drive is 200, a moderate par five distance is 466 yards. (2.33 x 200 yards).  Carry this same logic for each hole and you come up with a distance of (driver distance x 28) for an ideal course length.

The way I interpreted this was that for a "comfortable" level of play, take an average drive. This includes duffs and tree hits, slices, OB etc.

If I look at my driving average now, versus my average 4-5 months ago the formula appears to work well. For instance, 4 months ago I barely averaged 225 yards and was even on the fairway most of the time, and hit my 7i almost 145 yards on a good day. The ideal course length calculates to 6300 yards. This was really hard, and I hated playing even the 6400 yard tees on the current course I play, so I tried the ladies tees at 6000 yards. 6000 yards was much more comfortable, because I hit so short. Now, I have a 243 yard average drive coupled with a 7i carry of 165 yards which makes a 6800 yard course just right or me. . .If I stopped hitting trees and slicing/hooking/fading/worm burning, my average drive could theoretically be up to something like 275 yards (total distance of course), and the 7200 yards tees should be playable under the right conditions. It'll be an experiment.

Try using your average drive in the formula, and you might find that distance to be very comfortable to play?