Your view on Seniors

[9wood]

1 hour ago, 70sSanO said:

My only beef yesterday as to see "seniors" (quite a bit older than I), hitting from the back tees. 

THAT IS ONE OF MY MAIN PET PEEVES.

I notice both young and older golfers using the back tees who don't demonstrate the ability. On one of my last outings there was a twosome in front of me that were using the back tees and it was taking them 4 or 5 strokes just to get on the par four greens. I am not a long hitter so I was playing the middle tees, and was being slowed down because the twosome ahead of me was using tees that didn't match their ability. After the 4th hole they finally did let me go ahead of them however.

[No Mulligans]

3 hours ago, 70sSanO said:

I'm 64 and had a chance to play with our son yesterday at a local course that is dominated with seniors.  For the most part, they seem really nice, having a great time, and I enjoy their company.  It is not an executive course, but it certainly isn't long.  Now I have a bum shoulder and I can only drive it around 200 yards... it is what it is.  I hit from the middle tees.  I have recently discovered how much more fun it is to play without having to strain to reach longer holes.

My only beef yesterday as to see "seniors" (quite a bit older than I), hitting from the back tees.  I know that even I am out driving them by a bunch, but here they are trying to reach 175 yards par 3's with their driver when they should be playing it down at 160 yards.  And it wasn't just one group.  It seemed like they were all playing form those tees.

So my question is... what's up with this back tee mentality?  Do they really think no one notices?

John

Since your course is dominated with seniors, perhaps that's a club culture to hit from the back tees on this short course.  Maybe they have frequent men's club tournaments from the back tees and they feel it makes sense to play their casual rounds also from the backs.

My observation has been it is much more likely to see short and/or wild younger players playing from the "wrong" tees than it is to see seniors playing from the wrong tees.  After all, there is not nearly as much back tee inducing testosterone in the seniors compared to the younger players.

[Mop Bucket]

I voted that they contribute to the game.

Personally, as long as their group keeps up with pace of play, I will sometimes go out of my way to join up with a group of seniors. I like to play a lot of solo rounds but I am never disappointed when I am matched up with a group of 55+'ers. Oftentimes, they have been playing long enough to have great insight on the game, and their sportsmanship is usually second to none.

It is even more of a treat when the group can score well. Some of the best rounds I've had is when I can be competitive with someone 30 years older than myself. Golf is in a different era these days, it's all about being aggressive and not letting up off the gas for 18 holes. But oftentimes when I have played with seniors, they embrace a style that is far more relaxed and short-game orientated. It blows my mind watching some of the older guys putt at my local course, and I usually end up picking up some tips on how to play difficult greenside shots. I'm not a big fan of golf lessons, instead I look for the opportunities to pick the brains of people who have been doing it far longer than myself and this, I have found, is the best way to do so.

Edited April 28, 2016 by Mop Bucket

[colin007]

Depends on the senior.

Play the appropriate tees, play at a good pace, don't think you own the course. That pretty much applies to everyone.

[DaveP043]

8 minutes ago, colin007 said:

Depends on the senior.

Play the appropriate tees, play at a good pace, don't think you own the course. That pretty much applies to everyone.

That's the thing, any time we lump people into categories we're going to be wrong a lot of the time.  I don't care if its Armenians, buddhists, Europeans, hispanics, old crotchety men, women, Alaskans, whatever, there are stereotypes for every group, and the stereotypes are wrong for most of that group.  

[parman]

I just read an article on the loss of golfers and the reason for golf's decline. It seems the Millennials don't like golf and are one of the top reasons for golf going down hill. They would rather run or play soccer. It takes too long to learn to play well. So w/o seniors more courses would close. Do you know more now than when you were 20 y/o? How about when you are 30 y/o or 40 y/o? As we age we gain knowledge. That process continues all through your life and most will eventually learn this. Some will be clueless all there lives.  

[colin007]

Here's the one thing I have noticed about some seniors though - they are hesitant to move all the way up. They might move to the tees in front of the whites, but not all the way up, which they need to because they're not even reaching the green on 130 yard par 3s...

[parman]

Remember, if you are lucky you will be a senior someday. I feel that grouping golfers in categories by age is not a good idea. Everyone is different, regardless of age. There is no place on a golf scorecard for age. I see long hitters hitting from shorter tees than they should be never have seen a senior use the tips unless they blast the ball which is rare. 

Edited April 29, 2016 by parman

[9wood]

1 hour ago, parman said:

 never have seen a senior use the tips unless they blast the ball which is rare. 

I see plenty of seniors every week who are playing the tips and they definitely are not blasting the ball. 

6 hours ago, colin007 said:

Here's the one thing I have noticed about some seniors though - they are hesitant to move all the way up. They might move to the tees in front of the whites, but not all the way up, which they need to because they're not even reaching the green on 130 yard par 3s...

The only seniors I see that don't reach the green on 130 yd par 3's are the senior women

7 hours ago, parman said:

 w/o seniors more courses would close. 

Personally I believe that many more courses than people realize would close if it weren't for senior golfers. If you have a course to play on, you probably should thank the senior golfers.

[newtogolf]

I golf on Thursdays with seniors, great bunch of guys and they all maintain pace of play and follow the rules.  Oldest guy is 78, he walks 18 and is one of the best golfers in the group of 16.  I hope at 78 I am healthy enough to do what he's doing.  

[gatsby47]

As a Senior and now the Coordinator for the Senior League at my club, I know that by far, the Monday morning Seniors League  is the largest weekly league, As well, our club plays a home and home series with 3 other clubs officially and several other courses around the province, in the adjoining provinces and in Maine. It is the same at all of them  My friends are the Snowbirds who flock to Arizona  and Florida and contribute to the economies of those states.  Except for an increase in Power cart usage, they buy product and support their clubs. Within the last two years a change is evolving on the courses and in the clubs.  New tees  and new attitudes are allowing seniors to lose the stigma of playing forward and enjoying golf more. Jack Nicklaus the generational hero of Senior golfers, says he does and is designing courses with enough tees to accommodate the trend.  This of course does not affect younger powerful golfers who need the length to contain their prodigious drives and uncanny skills. There will always be some who look like the Favishams in Caddyshack.  But it better be known that for a number of reasons, our generation the Baby Boomers, have ALWAYS caused the greatest shakes to society and now as we are in Seniors, the courses MUST adjust. We will be gone someday. the courses will be a LOT emptier and pricier.

good luck with that as they say.

 

[Dan42nepa]

I played in a senior league last year. Several players were WW2 vets. I heard one discussing his service.  1 bronze 2 silver stars in europe. You would never know it playing with this nice friendly old man. Even pulled a flask on 9th green for post round shots.. (sambucca rye concoction). Played fast and tees were moved way up if you were 70.

[uitar9]

I'm 63 , still working and enjoying golf.

I agree with the poster who mentioned overall golf costs if seniors stopped playing. Hopefully the next millennium wave takes up the slack.

I regularly see slow play from all types, male or female, young or old. 

I like it when someone asks me if I qualify for a cheaper round. Playing less to golf is a good thing

[uitar9]

Playing from the wrong tees is not senior exclusive.

I read somewhere yesterday that 1 per cent of the golf population plays par or better.

My par is bogey-if I hit that I'm thrilled.

[iacas]

1 hour ago, uitar9 said:

I agree with the poster who mentioned overall golf costs if seniors stopped playing. Hopefully the next millennium wave takes up the slack.

At the same time, that's not how supply and demand it works.

[Lihu]

10 hours ago, 9wood said:

I see plenty of seniors every week who are playing the tips and they definitely are not blasting the ball. 

I rarely see seniors playing the wrong tees.

 

10 hours ago, 9wood said:

The only seniors I see that don't reach the green on 130 yd par 3's are the senior women

Very strange.

 

10 hours ago, 9wood said:

Personally I believe that many more courses than people realize would close if it weren't for senior golfers. If you have a course to play on, you probably should thank the senior golfers.

This is very true. Seniors are the bread and butter of golf courses.

[saevel25]

4 minutes ago, iacas said:

At the same time, that's not how supply and demand it works.

Pretty much. 

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1 hour ago, uitar9 said:

I agree with the poster who mentioned overall golf costs if seniors stopped playing. Hopefully the next millennium wave takes up the slack.

That is the counter to supply and demand. The more golfers want to play a course the higher the price should be. If you live in the NE, lots of people, ton of demand, constantly packed courses then you should jack the prices up as long as your courses are packed. 

Let's say you have an excess of 20 people you turn away daily due to a packed course. If you can raise your prices by 20% and still pack the course then do so. That is why golf courses get expensive in the in-season in places like Hilton Head, Pinehurst, and Myrtle Beach. 

If you have a course that has a lot of senior play that suddenly goes away then you should lower prices to hopefully to create demand for the course. If you are losing golfers and you keep jacking up prices to compensate for revenue loss then you are just pricing yourself out of the market. 

You are already seeing it with the demise of golf courses around the country. A handful of courses in the SE Ohio have already gone under. In the end it will balance out over time. It might not be desirable for so many golf courses to go away, but it's how things go with businesses. 

 

[parman]

I see way more long hitters up too far so they can play driver wedge. At the local course I play I have NEVER seen a senior golfer at the wrong tees since I moved here in 2008. I think senior golfers has had it's run Now how about children on the course or loud radios. 

Edited April 29, 2016 by parman