Does Your Course Support the Longleaf Tee System?

[iacas]

http://www.longleafteesystem.com

Essentially, the Longleaf Tee System is a system that uses seven or even eight sets of tees per hole based on driving distance:

If you drive it 100 yards, you play from the #1 tees. This works out to about 3100 yards for 18 holes. Drive it 250, and the #7 tees are probably suitable for you, at about 6800 yards.

Often doing this only means that the course has to install a few new tee markers in the fairways or mow down some areas in the rough, for the shorter three sets of tees, yet this can greatly aid new players in taking up the game. Sometimes a course will do something like this, and call them "family tees" or something, but the Longleaf system is a really, really solid way to codify this and create somewhat of a standard.

They also recommend you do something as simple as this on your practice range:

And they allow for "half" versions of the tees, creating even more playing lengths, with a simple arrow system:

For example, @NatalieB drove the ball about 150 yards a few years ago, so she'd play the #2 tees, but as she grew a bit, she'd graduate to the "2.5" tees and play a mixture of #2 and #3, before moving on to the #3 tees. Or, on days when it's soggy, she could go back to the #2 tees, and on firm days, even play the "3.5" tees if she was getting a lot of roll.

The beauty of this is multifold:

• It's really inexpensive. Often just some new tee markers.
• It gets everyone involved in the game, yet it still feels like golf rather than just "oh, tee off from about here, kiddo."
• It's standardized and will spread throughout the game, letting juniors compete and learn the game from similar distances at multiple courses.
• It lets you play against your kids in a fair, standardized way, and lets your kids compete against each other, from an early age. Or compete against themselves. Whatever they're competing against, the standardized nature lends credence to their accomplishments, as they can say "I broke 90 from the #2 tees today!"

So, does your course support the Longleaf system? I suspect few will, but I hope more will over time.

[WUTiger]

Some courses in our area have orange tee markers about 100 to 250 yards out from the green, but it's just one set. The courses don't have multiple tee sets between the women's/forward and the beginners.

This thread is my first exposure to the Longleaf program.

[cutchemist42]

First I had heard of it. 

 

I've seen a few courses here in my area with tees in the fairway. I never knew if they were meant for kids, or just meant to approximate an average drive, and you just play the approach shots.

[allenc]

I’ve played a few courses that have added one set of tees around the beginning of the fairway but not this complete system.  I like it.  I like the idea of mowing some teeing grounds in the rough so as not to get in the way on the fairway and to feel more official.

[tristanhilton85]

Like most so far, I've seen courses with "junior" tees that are at the start of the fairways, but nothing as extensive as what is in the OP.

[iacas]

6 minutes ago, tristanhilton85 said:

Like most so far, I've seen courses with "junior" tees that are at the start of the fairways, but nothing as extensive as what is in the OP.

Lobby them to go full in for 2018.

Increased revenues, pace of play will probably be good, reduced stigma for guys playing the "women's tees" (particularly if there are three more sets of tees in front of where the "women's tees" are/were, etc.

[David in FL]

I've known courses that recommend tees based on driving distance, but don't know any that have that extensive of a tee offering, let alone a well articulated system.

I like that they reversed the traditional color coding of the tees so the "blues" are the shortest and the "reds" the longest.  Anything that helps get away from the perceived stigma of the "ladies" tees is a huge step IMO.

Of course, a lot of people severely overestimate their driving distance, but hey, it's a start...

Edited November 20, 2017 by David in FL

[saevel25]

I first noticed their system about 4 years ago when I was in Pinehurst for a golf trip. I love the idea. I agree, it's a very simple, economical, solution for getting kids out on the course.

I will be emailing a few courses around the area here to pass along this system.

[mcanadiens]

Miami Shores, here in Troy, does something sort of like that.  It isn't a really long course, but in addition to four standard tees, they have 2 sets of plates in the fairway for even shorter hitters for a total of six. There's a poster with the recommended tees by driving distance.

Shores, however, is the only one I can really think of. 

[NJpatbee]

There only one course (Cascades, a full-length 9 hole course that is part of Crystal Springs) in my area that has "green" tees which are for juniors, novices, or people that just cannot drive the ball more than 160-170. The LongLeaf system sounds great and I believe it could be done with a minimum of investment but I do not see it happening with the exception of resort courses (which is where the green tees are in my region).  Why?  My guess is that course operators look at it as more on-going maintenance in addition to an initial investment.  I believe it would be worth it by bringing out more golfers while keeping up with the pace of play. 

Edited November 20, 2017 by NJpatbee

[cutchemist42]

So just wondering......do ALL sets of tees have slope and Course ratings? Or would you still keep that to a select few tees?

[iacas]

1 hour ago, David in FL said:

I like that they reversed the traditional color coding of the tees so the "blues" are the shortest and the "reds" the longest.  Anything that helps get away from the perceived stigma of the "ladies" tees is a huge step IMO.

That’s just an example. They go gold green in one and white green in another. I think the actually prefer you use the numbers. Lake View here has six or seven tees now. But only one is in the fairway. The #7 tees. 3 is a combo of 

49 minutes ago, NJpatbee said:

The LongLeaf system sounds great and I believe it could be done with a minimum of investment but I do not see it happening with the exception of resort courses (which is where the green tees are in my region).  Why?  My guess is that course operators look at it as more on-going maintenance in addition to an initial investment.

Put a few colored or numbered pavers in the fairway and mow right over them.

36 minutes ago, cutchemist42 said:

So just wondering......do ALL sets of tees have slope and Course ratings? Or would you still keep that to a select few tees?

Yes. Very possible. See here:

[dennyjones]

My answer, heck no.   The course I belong to has Women's tee, white, blue and gold.  They don't have slope or rating for men from the red or slope and rating for women past the white.   Still old school thinking.  I don't see it happening.   I asked about it last year.

[cutchemist42]

20 minutes ago, iacas said:

That’s just an example. They go gold green in one and white green in another. I think the actually prefer you use the numbers. Lake View here has six or seven tees now. But only one is in the fairway. The #7 tees. 3 is a combo of 

Put a few colored or numbered pavers in the fairway and mow right over them.

Yes. Very possible. See here:

I liked what I saw on the website. Am I just dumb though, Im wondering what the white circles with 1.5/2.5/etc stand for in the slope/CR table?

One thing I liked what was clearly saying black is PGA tour level. Would maybe help a lot of people in setting realistic expectations?

I'm guessing the system assumes that with proper hit drives, no one will really ever be danger of their drive hitting the tee markets on the fairway.

Edited November 20, 2017 by cutchemist42

[iacas]

39 minutes ago, cutchemist42 said:

I liked what I saw on the website. Am I just dumb though, Im wondering what the white circles with 1.5/2.5/etc stand for in the slope/CR table?

They stand for the mixed tees. Look at the scorecard at the top and you'll see they tell you to play white on this hole, green on this hole, etc. So 7 sets of tees can create 13 specific sets of tees by mixing 1 and 2, 2 and 3, etc.

40 minutes ago, cutchemist42 said:

One thing I liked what was clearly saying black is PGA tour level. Would maybe help a lot of people in setting realistic expectations?

Well, most courses won't have black tees. And they still suggest, I think, that the tees are numbered or used in some other non-traditional way so that "red" is disassociated with "women's tees" and so on.

41 minutes ago, cutchemist42 said:

I'm guessing the system assumes that with proper hit drives, no one will really ever be danger of their drive hitting the tee markets on the fairway.

I doubt that's true. Some of the tee markers - whether raised up or sunk in the ground - will be in play.

Some drives from further back tees would hit the tee markers in the fairway.

[Club Rat]

We have PGA Family tees for our Juniors and older members who wish to tee it forward.
There basically markers in the fairway on every hole.

[jsgolfer]

We have 5 sets of tees plus a set of family tees in the fairway.  

[Buckeyebowman]

Since this is the first I've ever heard of this I must plead ignorance. However, there are some things that I've seen that indicate that something like this is taking hold. At Mill Creek I noticed, painted on the cart paths, the words "Youth Tees" with an arrow. They simply mowed short a small section of fairway for kids to tee off from. But this is nothing like the full tilt "Longleaf" method.

Also noticed at Fowler's Mill they had "blended" green/silver tees, which is what we played. The course was plenty long enough for us from there!

This seems somewhat akin to my post about some courses not having proper tees for senior men without them horning in on the ladies tee box. I can tell you, the ladies got as mad as hornets when we showed up!

Overall, I like the idea. You could "customize" any course to your particular game! My buddy and I sure started enjoying golf a lot more when we were slugging our brains out less!