Are you playing the correct tees?

[9wood]

  On 4/3/2016 at 11:03 PM, chilepepper said:

 Does that mean when you play the blues you are holding up people ?

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No, I'm retired and play solo 75% of the time, because almost all of my friends who play golf are either working or are the sort who only play a couple times a year. So playing solo when there is a two-some or four-some behind me doesn't slow them up, but it's usually the case that the foursomes in front of me are slowing me up. Sometimes even the twosomes in front of me are slowing me up no matter which tees I play from.

[SavvySwede]

  On 4/3/2016 at 10:53 PM, 9wood said:

I guess you could use inferior clubs and balls in order to fit you into the chart 

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  On 4/3/2016 at 10:58 PM, golf_guy86 said:

what fun is that tho. lol its always fun going to a short course or retirement course and playing with like 5 clubs. lol

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I'll simply take the driver and/or 3 wood out of the bag when I want to practice some longer approaches. Had one of my most enjoyable rounds playing a 6400y course with just a 5W, had the entire course to myself which was also nice.  

[golf_guy86]

  On 4/3/2016 at 11:12 PM, SavvySwede said:

 

I'll simply take the driver and/or 3 wood out of the bag when I want to practice some longer approaches. Had one of my most enjoyable rounds playing a 6400y course with just a 5W, had the entire course to myself which was also nice.  

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always fun. gives you a new perspective on approach shots and how to play a course. i like to do that once a month in the summer, go find a mid length course and play all irons. 

[Lihu]

  On 4/3/2016 at 11:03 PM, chilepepper said:

 Does that mean when you play the blues you are holding up people ?

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If you aren't being "held up" you're probably playing too slow.

[9wood]

  On 4/4/2016 at 12:39 AM, Lihu said:

If you aren't being "held up" you're probably playing too slow.

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Or the people ahead of you are playing slower than you

[Lihu]

  On 4/4/2016 at 2:17 AM, 9wood said:

Or the people ahead of you are playing slower than you

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...and you should be right up there waiting for them.

[Bill926]

  On 4/2/2016 at 2:11 PM, 9wood said:

Below is a useful chart found at pga.com to help golfers select the proper tee boxes based on their drive ability

 

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This is a good guideline for beginners, juniors, etc.  I would think its fine to play longer if you know your own game and can actually get off the tee box and hit longer irons consistently.  Its the ones that play from 6800 yards and it takes them driver, 3 wood, 3 wood, 9 iron, wedge to get to the green on the par 4's every time are the ones that should move up.

[9wood]

  On 4/4/2016 at 3:56 PM, Bill926 said:

  Its the ones that play from 6800 yards and it takes them driver, 3 wood, 3 wood, 9 iron, wedge to get to the green on the par 4's every time are the ones that should move up.

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Those people should try a different sport other than golf. Perhaps badminton or lawn darts

[rehmwa]

Driver average is around 270.  And I play whatever tees look like fun that day.  Sometimes you want to play long approaches, some days you want shorter ones.  Different tees at some courses make it play like a totally different experience and all those are ways to add variety and fun.

'Generally' - I'll choose a tee between 6500 and 6800 to start.  Then I look at the Par 3's - if the tees get me into the upper 6000's because mainly the par 3's are jacked up, I don't bother - not a fan of super long Par 3's - when that happens I'll take the next shorter tee set.  Or play it mixed tees (play a shorter tee on the 3's).

Whatever is fun and I can keep up.  Yesterday I played a set 2 tees longer than the father and son that I was paired with - though normally I just play what the rest of the group is playing, in this case it worked out nicely, they weren't too long and this let us all hit approaches from about the same distances - better conversation, better to help each other track our shots, and more interesting play.

There's a heck of lot of different ways to select your tees.  I don't care as long we all keep up the pace.

[9wood]

Found this chart for figuring out what tees you should be using. According to what I see on this chart, the tees that are best suited for my game are the whites

 

[Lihu]

  On 4/7/2016 at 12:24 AM, 9wood said:

Found this chart for figuring out what tees you should be using. According to what I see on this chart, the tees that are best suited for my game are the whites

 

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That's 220 carry. if you drive 220 on decent shots my guess is you carry between 180 and 200.

[Buckeyebowman]

Oh, yeah! I've had plenty of occasions to laugh! I think playing appropriate tees is a fine idea, which the PGA picked up on last year with the "tee it forward" campaign, but they seem to have dropped it!

However, course design also comes into play. The majority of holes on a course are par 4's. I really don't like a course where all the par 4's are a drive and a wedge! Give us some of those, but also give some par 4's that are a drive and 5 or 6 iron, and some that are drive and 3 or 4 iron!

Try to design a course that will make us pull all the clubs in our bag! Otherwise, why bother carrying 14 clubs? Just carry 7. It would be a lot lighter!

[Lihu]

  On 4/7/2016 at 6:56 AM, Buckeyebowman said:

Oh, yeah! I've had plenty of occasions to laugh! I think playing appropriate tees is a fine idea, which the PGA picked up on last year with the "tee it forward" campaign, but they seem to have dropped it!

However, course design also comes into play. The majority of holes on a course are par 4's. I really don't like a course where all the par 4's are a drive and a wedge! Give us some of those, but also give some par 4's that are a drive and 5 or 6 iron, and some that are drive and 3 or 4 iron!

Try to design a course that will make us pull all the clubs in our bag! Otherwise, why bother carrying 14 clubs? Just carry 7. It would be a lot lighter!

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Not really, in my area, most sensible golfers are now playing the appropriate tees.

http://pdf.pgalinks.com/p-g-a/Tee_It_Forward_Guidelines.pdf

Also, courses are designed to utilize all your clubs already. I carry between 13 and 14 clubs and have them just in case I duff a drive, hit a tree or something. So, I get to use all my clubs at some point in time or another.

[9wood]

  On 4/7/2016 at 12:42 AM, Lihu said:

That's 220 carry. if you drive 220 on decent shots my guess is you carry between 180 and 200.

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That's probably about right. This year I am going to take a gps with me to get a some more accurate measurements on my carry distance vs. my total distance. I realize both will vary depending on conditions such as wind, slope, and how wet or dry the fairways are, etc.

[Suchmo]

My local course is 6600 yards off the men's tees, and I'm guessing 95% of people who play these tees (inc. me) are driving less than the necessary ~270 yards. The problem is that the only shorter tees are called the ladies' tees and even the worst hacker won't ever be able to swallow his pride to play off them.

Edited June 3, 2016 by Suchmo

[DrvFrShow]

  On 4/2/2016 at 8:26 PM, Lihu said:

Yes. Or shorter.

My rule of thumb for maximum distance is average of the two:

28 times driver average

36 times 5i average 

Note that average includes weak shots.

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If I use the 36 * 7i (mine) it works out fine. See my 7i is a 5i with a 7 stamped on it. Stronger lofts and hotter faces on the new CB irons. If it were a bladed 5 iron it would go about the same distance as my 7 iron. I've checked on a launch monitor. I don't have the control to play a forged blade.

And with the tee it forward, my home course repainted the "ladies tees" green so that men would use them. And added a shorter "white/green" course. So far it's working. 

[Lihu]

  On 6/3/2016 at 6:25 PM, DrvFrShow said:

If I use the 36 * 7i (mine) it works out fine. See my 7i is a 5i with a 7 stamped on it. Stronger lofts and hotter faces on the new CB irons. If it were a bladed 5 iron it would go about the same distance as my 7 iron. I've checked on a launch monitor. I don't have the control to play a forged blade.

And with the tee it forward, my home course repainted the "ladies tees" green so that men would use them. And added a shorter "white/green" course. So far it's working. 

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That's the problem with most generalizations, like the one I made. It probably depends upon an average of 50% FW and 40% GIR or something like that.

In my current state, my drives are potentially shorter and irons are wild. The number would be significantly shorter than 6800 yards (averaging my 5i * 36 and driver * 28). However, I just had a swing "tune up" which could potentially have me seeing the 50%/40% numbers at those distances. For the past month, I've been shooting bogey golf.

 

[Lastpick]

My average drive is 250.  I have no idea how to precisely determine how far I carry the ball.  I enjoy courses that are 6200-6600.  Short courses are just not fun as I won't hit a variety of approach shots.  Courses that are much over 6600 yards can be to much of a challenge if the wind blows.  When the wind blows, so does my game.