Are you playing the correct tees?

[Dan42nepa]

I dont want to use driver 5 iron or higher on every hole. I enjoy a challenging par 4. Fairway woods and a good short game you can still make par without much difficulty. I like the game the way it is. I dont need it dumbed down.

[Buckeyebowman]

I don't know what you mean by "dumbed" down.

[Patch]

Sometimes I play the wrong tees. Most of the time (66%)  I do. Just depends on my game, the mood I am in, and/or how busy the course is on that day.  

 I can break 80 on a 7000 yard course, and I can card a 85 on 6000 yard course. Doesn't really matter to me. I just want to have fun, and play my own game. 

[Club Rat]

I've often thought, when I use every club in my bag and shoot in the low 80's, it's been a good day.

A friend told me just a few weeks ago, the game is designed for players to play off the tee between 100 yards and 150 yards with a few holes beyond 150 yards.

 

[Lihu]

3 hours ago, Club Rat said:

I've often thought, when I use every club in my bag and shoot in the low 80's, it's been a good day.

A friend told me just a few weeks ago, the game is designed for players to play off the tee between 100 yards and 150 yards with a few holes beyond 150 yards.

Kind of makes sense. Although, I kind of wonder if it also depends upon what club is your 150 yard club? If you hit a PW 150 yards it doesn't seem like a very interesting game?

The Average PGA hits a driver roughly 290 yards total and hits a 9i about 150 or more. So if the average par 4 hole is 425 yards with some 300 yards and some 528 and many in between, then that pro would only need to hit PW or less on average. The 528 yard holes would be something like driver and 3i or hybrid.

On the other side of the spectrum of decent golfers, the 150 club might be a 5i. This person would play 350 yard par 4 on average. So, for this person and people in between a PGA pro and the average 208 yard driving 150 yard 5i hitting player 150 yards and in makes sense.

Take 350*10+475*4+135*4=5940 yards. Guessing average par 3 at 135 and par 5 at 475.

If you take a rule of thumb assessment using the following formula a player with these distances would be more comfortable playing a (208*28+150*36)/2= 5612 yard length course.

[Dan42nepa]

8 hours ago, Buckeyebowman said:

I don't know what you mean by "dumbed" down.

made too easy.. 

[Fourputt]

3 hours ago, Dan42nepa said:

made too easy.. 

So....... that means you shot par or better from those tees? 

[DrvFrShow]

I figure the course is too easy when I start shooting 70 for 18 from my tees. Given the number of years I've been playing and my age if you were to make that bet, you have a better chance of winning Powerball.

[Fourputt]

55 minutes ago, DrvFrShow said:

I figure the course is too easy when I start shooting 70 for 18 from my tees. Given the number of years I've been playing and my age if you were to make that bet, you have a better chance of winning Powerball.

That's for sure.  My PB is 73, and I shot that almost 27 years ago.  Since I'm 69 right now, that will mean that in 4 years, I'll have shot my age 31 years before I reached that age.  

(does that count?  )

[JonMA1]

The right tees for me make it possible to hit greens in regulation using all the clubs in my bag, not just my irons.

Having said that, I am playing shorter tees this year in an attempt to solidify my iron game. Probably 3 out of 5 rounds are played from these short tees. On the other 2 out of 5, it's from 5500 to 6100. At that distance I'll need every club in the bag.

Anything longer than 6300 and my strategy is to play most of the par 4's like 5's. It can still be fun, I just have to make sure the course isn't crowded and I'm mentally prepared for a high score.

[Dan42nepa]

8 hours ago, Fourputt said:

So....... that means you shot par or better from those tees? 

Well I have parred or birdied every hole on the course at least once just not all at the same time.

[Jeremie Boop]

I typically don't need to use more than a wedge on all the par 4s I play, unless I totally screw the pooch on the tee shot. I think the longest par 4 I've played only required like a 7 iron. In all honesty, When I'm hitting good drives the courses I play are too short. Since I've worked on my swing this year my typical drive, via GG stats is 272 with 44% fairways *which for me is pretty dang good*. Most of the holes if I move back only add about 20 yards which will still end up being a wedge or 9 iron. Just as an example, the last 9 holes I played the clubs I used for approach on par 4s were 60* x 2, 50*, 56* x 2. The 50* would most likely have been a 56* but I had pulled the drive left and was blocked out by trees so I had to play out to the right. There really aren't any courses near me that play longer either. The max distance of any of the local courses is the 6810 and that's the same course I play only from the back tees. I could mix things up and play a shorter club from the tee to give me a chance to play longer clubs on my approach shots but that's not the smart way to play if I'm posting the round. Or, I could move back. Maybe the best idea is to do both of those when I'm playing my practice, aka solo rounds to get more experience using my other clubs.

 

All the talk about distance aside, I still struggle with short game so unfortunately I don't shoot nearly as well as I should given my length. This is the main reason I don't bother moving back.

Edited June 4, 2016 by Jeremie Boop

[Dan42nepa]

8 hours ago, Fourputt said:

So....... that means you shot par or better from those tees? 

and what tees are you referring to? I play the seniors unless the senior tee is a drive and Lob wedge as oposed to driver 7 from the whites. I hit the ball in the fairway and a 180 or 200 yard second doesnt scare me. I have a good short game which allows me to get up and down pretty often. + ?
"]

[bkuehn1952]

Does anyone have a definition of "correct tee"?  Given the broad spectrum of abilities and personalities that make up the golf world, I don't think we have an accepted definition of the "correct tee."

Ultimately, isn't the only thing we expect of the people playing ahead of us or with us is to keep pace and maintain a reasonable demeanor.  If someone wants to play the tips and shoot 127, I am fine with that as long as they keep up with me, keep up with the group ahead and don't expect me to spend most of my time between shots looking for their ball.

[treestand57]

I drive around 225-230 on average and my home course is 6700 yards, but I make up most of the distance with my irons, which I hit really well.

[isukgolf]

I definitely "play it forward" even when others in the group want to play a set back ... I just don't have fun when every approach shot is long for me.

[Fourputt]

1 hour ago, Dan42nepa said:

Well I have parred or birdied every hole on the course at least once just not all at the same time.

I have birdied or eagled every hole on my home course from the 6400 yard middle tees (lifetime ringer score there is a 57, 25 under par), but I'd never be inclined to say that it's too easy.  Those accumulated scores came over a 25 year period.  When you play a course for that long, you can make a lot of excellent hole scores, just not in the same round.  

1 hour ago, Dan42nepa said:

and what tees are you referring to? I play the seniors unless the senior tee is a drive and Lob wedge as oposed to driver 7 from the whites. I hit the ball in the fairway and a 180 or 200 yard second doesnt scare me. I have a good short game which allows me to get up and down pretty often. + ?
"]

I was just busting your chops... you said that moving forward was "dumbing down" the course, and I was exercising my prerogative to question how that made the course enough easier to be "dumbed down".  I've played every tee set on the course I spoke of above at one time or another, except for the new back tees that were just opened 4 years ago.  None of them were so much easier that I'd call it dumbed down.  

In fact my personal best came from the middle tees, and the few times I've played the forward tees, I didn't exactly excel.  I've made better scores from the blue men's tees than I ever did from the red forward tee.  The new tee setup has the whites at 6100 yards and the blues at almost 6600, yet I shoot about the same regardless of which I play from.  My lowest score this year, 82, was from the blue tees.

[MasonAsher2014]

I play as far back as I can. It's no fun to hit a Driver wedge on every course 6700 and below. Or reach par 5s in two with an iron. I want to be challenged. So I play it all the way back and still usually hit a 8-PW into greens. Most I play are 69-7200