Do You Play the Correct Tees?

[Inferno2ss]

I usually play 6300 to 6700, sometimes I will play closer to 6000 and leave the driver at home.  Good way to mix it up and hit some different clubs.

Sunday I played as a single and got paired up with 3 guys who thought they were a lot better than they are so they played the tips at 7000 yards.  A few of the par 4s are over 450 yards and they were lucky to get their drives out to 225.  I doubt any of them broke 95 it was moronic. 

[tehuti]

I should play from 5,600 to 6,000. My local courses are within that range, but on longer courses I'll play the white tees which may be >6,200. I just don't have the distance to try to play any longer. Too many holes with driver, 4 wood, 6 iron just to get on or near to the green.

[pganapathy]

I voted YES and 70 to 85 percent.  My home course is relatively short and with the exception of two holes, both par 4 of 460 and 495 yards, I very rarely struggle to each the green in regulation, distance wise.  It is another factor that I might not hit it straight, but I am able to hit greens in regulation when I get my shots straight.

Personally, I believe that most amateur golfers are playing tees too long for them out of ego.  When I play longer courses I avoid the championship tees and move one up.  But then again, I can hit my driver around 250 now and when playing regularly, 270 to 280 is the norm.

[madsquopper]

Yes, most of the time, but I sometimes have mixed feelings about it. I'm 67 and a fairly short hitter (so far, working on improving but not a huge amount of success). Realistically, I probably average around 180 on drives (nail it for 200 or maybe 210 but then there's the non-optimal hits). Also, my goal this year was to improve by half a dozen or so strokes and also to break 90. Yesterday I shot an 85, best score this year along with two 89's, but did play from the most forward tees which were a little under my "ideal" 28x driver yardage. Waterlogged course so no roll.

I have to admit that playing from the senior/forward tees does work, a lot of the par 4's are now a driver and an 7/8/9 iron rather than a 4/5 hybrid, but sometimes it feels like breaking 90 was a bit of a cheat. May have to just get over it if I can never get the distance I used to have 50 years ago.

Larry

[Dornenglanz]

Possibly I should be playing the forward tees.  That's 5800 yards on my home course - middles are 6088.  My drives will go between 200 and 220, so that's borderline 6000, and my 5I about 150-170, so again borderline 6000.

When I play by myself, I usually play yellows, and likewise when I play with my father (short hitting, 20 handicapper) and my main golf partner (longer-hitting 28 handicapper), but I have no issues playing from the reds - just habit.  I tend to play the reds when I play with my son, as he's (even) more of a novice than me, and it's nice to be on the same tee - feels more social.  It'd be interesting to see the difference in score those 288 yards make... 288 / 18 - 16 yards a hole on average - what do folk reckon?  I don't tend to score when I play with my son - just practice a few things and enjoy being outside.

Edited August 7, 2020 by Dornenglanz

[Golfingdad]

I voted yes, although it's kind of funny - I play so many different courses that I pretty much could be correct in saying yes no matter hat my driver distance actually is.

I also guessed that probably 70-85% of people play tees that are too long for them.  Perhaps that is a bit high though.

I do like that so many courses have added more tees and and/or changed the colors of them so people aren't stuck in the old robotic "men pay white, women play red" mentality.

[DaveP043]

Based on the chart, I do.  I'm between purple and red on the chart, so my suggested yardages would range from 6250 to 6830.  The normal men's tees at my home club are right close to the 6250 number, with a couple of forced lay-ups off the tee, so it plays a bit longer.  From the back tees its almost 6800 yards, and a few holes are absolutely all I can take if I expect to reach in regulation.  There's a rated hybrid set that makes a nice change from the normal men's tees.  When I travel, I generally look for a yardage of 6300 to 6500 yards.

[knott]

I play between red and purple. Our back tee I still have some par 4s that is very unrealistic to get into two due to distance though so I do feel that is to long for my distance. Always go for back tee though. Most seem to do so maybe roughly 75 % at least though there is very few strokes gained based on the average distance between the 56 and 52 tee.

[dennyjones]

8 hours ago, Golfingdad said:

I do like that so many courses have added more tees and and/or changed the colors of them so people aren't stuck in the old robotic "men pay white, women play red" mentality.

I wish there were more.   I heard it just the other day.   "I won't play the red tees, that's where the women play!"  Dude had trouble playing and you could tell he wasn't having fun trying to play from not even the white tees but the farther blues. 

[golfthyme]

Old school!

dont follow charts!

i tee it up as high as possible!

you want the club to hit the ball on the up swing from a tee! Higher the better!

Unwritten rule of golf! it works for me! 

[Sandy Divot]

6 hours ago, golfthyme said:

Old school!

dont follow charts!

i tee it up as high as possible!

you want the club to hit the ball on the up swing from a tee! Higher the better!

Unwritten rule of golf! it works for me! 

I do believe that this thread is about playing from tees that represent proper yardage. For example, do you play from white tees, or blue tees? There is a chart within this thread that helps you figure out what tees you should be playing from based on how far you hit certain clubs. Reading is old school. Oh, I guess since you wrote it, it is no longer an unwritten rule.

[boogielicious]

18 hours ago, golfthyme said:

Old school!

dont follow charts!

i tee it up as high as possible!

you want the club to hit the ball on the up swing from a tee! Higher the better!

Unwritten rule of golf! it works for me! 

The subject of the thread is the tee box with respect to the length course you are playing, not the tee height with the ball. Try reading other posts, including the OP, before responding.

[ScottF]

I play from the correct tees for me. I don't know, and don't care what tees others golfers play from. I have enough to concern myself with in my own game to even suggest what someone else should be doing with their game.

[dennyjones]

1 hour ago, ScottF said:

I play from the correct tees for me. I don't know, and don't care what tees others golfers play from. I have enough to concern myself with in my own game to even suggest what someone else should be doing with their game.

@ScottF, welcome to TST.   We're glad you've decided to join and participate.    How about starting a thread with an introduction, we'd love to hear about you and your background.  😃

[dagolfer18]

I believe I’m playing the right tees. I carry a driver around 215, so I’m closer to the purple level. I find that I enjoy the game most when I play between 6000 and 6100, but I’ll occasionally play tees measuring 6500-6600, just for a bit of an extra challenge. I usually play the whites at my home course, which are 6063 yards. 

I’m playing a course Wednesday where the blue tees are 6474, so I figured I’d try that just for the heck of it. The whites are 5875, and there’s a combo tee that’s just under 6200. Whenever I’m playing a course that’s new to me, unless it’s a tournament, I’ll play the whites, mainly because I don’t want to be viewed as one of those players who might hold people up.

I voted 31-50% of people play tees too long for them. I’ve seen players on adjacent holes dribbling drives off the blue tees, twice recently.

Edited August 10, 2020 by dagolfer18

[FlyingAce]

I carry ~190 on average so according to the chart, I should be playing between 5000-5600. I used to play 5100-5400 and am now playing 5700-5900. Both are forwards tees at different home course. I have played  6100 a few times and didn’t find it that much more challenging, but I am happy where I am.  The minor issue that I am currently facing is that I outdrive the fairway off the tee on a few holes and have to use a 3w instead because I don’t want to move back a tee.

At my old club, most ladies roll out to 150 and we play from the same tee since there isn’t anything shorter than 5000. I have seen older men playing from 6400 or younger guys playing off the tips at 7000 who couldn’t drive past the forward tees/find the fairways, but as long as they are enjoying the game, who am I to say that’s the wrong tees for them...

[Esox]

At 61, I can hold my own from the "regular" white mens tees. But when I am playing with young bombers for wagers I will move up so I can at least be somewhere near their drives. They still have a big advantage because even if we are in the same spot, they are hitting a club or two less on their approach.

[easyjay39402]

8 hours ago, Esox said:

At 61, I can hold my own from the "regular" white mens tees. But when I am playing with young bombers for wagers I will move up so I can at least be somewhere near their drives. They still have a big advantage because even if we are in the same spot, they are hitting a club or two less on their approach.

Exactly! What makes aging and loss of swing speed (I’m now 76) frustrating to me isn’t so much the loss of driver distance ... we can compensate for the driver by moving up. The discouraging piece is the lost spin and distance with irons. So back when I was 60 or so and I could hit the 8i high and have it drop softly from 150 yards is now a low flying 6i that is going to roll out when (if) it strikes the green, sometimes rolling over in the summer.  Birdies (more importantly skins) are hard to come by nowadays. What I loved most about golf was the good tee shot, followed by a high flighted 6i that settled nicely on the green on a long par 4. Even better when it was a 4i on a short par 5 😄

Anyways, when I answered this poll a couple of years ago, I believe that I said more than 50% are hitting from the wrong tees. I’ve changed my perspective and now believe that it is under 15%. Most folks are hitting from the correct tees in terms of how far they hit their driver. The problem is that our drives are often errant, but moving up doesn’t make them less errant and might bring into play additional hazards. The issue of which tees to hit from isn’t so much a matter of distance as it is of skill level. I play with some geezers who are going to score well from any tee because of their short games. They won’t shoot their ages from the tips, but they won’t shoot in the 90s either ⛳️