I'm a 9hc and don't really ever play the tips. There are a couple courses that I'm familiar with and will play them tipped out if others are too. But I like to settle between 6500-6800yds
13hc here, playing for about 12 years or so. I have literally never even once played the back tees. Not with business partners, in-laws, college friends, never.
Haha right? I’m a 25 cap and never play from the blues like all my other 20+ cap friends want to do. Some of most fun I’ll have is shooting the forwards with someone that’s same or worse than me. Usually end up shooting around the same scores too because it’s my short game that sucks, not the yardage lol
This will sound dumb, but I've worked for 3 companies in my professional career - each on the engineering and business sides. My two first companies the business guys always wanted to play the back tees and they sucked, lot of small dick energy. In their professional lives I saw them (even before playing golf with them) as not the smartest bunch. Both companies.
My current company? I aspire to be like our business folks (men and women). Very intelligent, calculating, deliberate, all sorts of good business acumen. When I started playing golf with them a few years ago, nobody played the back tees. Good and bad golfers, long and short hitters.
Maybe it's a big brain thing. They weren't compensating for anything, maybe? I dunno, small data set of course.
Not dumb at all, and definitely can agree to the “compensating” part of your theory! Any work outings I’ve been on it’s always the blues or back that are suggested, but you’ll catch me at the whites regardless. That’s why we have slope/rating for each tee box, so have fun back there lol!
My last round out, a group for four younger dudes were in front of us from the blues. Not even joking, every hole we’d pull up and at least two of them were hitting their second shots from 10-20 yards in front of the whites - rarely passing the forwards. Was a long round lol MOVE UP for god’s sake!
There are a couple courses around me that tip out around 6200 yards. So I'll play those but yeah normally just stick to my yardage that feels good for my skill set
I got paired with 2 college golfers who wanted to play from the tips, I figured why not… I’m a big guy with longer than average distances, they were 3w off the tee, I was 20 yards short of them with driver, they’d be on in 2, I’d be on in 3, etc… I was on the struggle bus for 18 holes, they were bitching about sharing a set of brand new clubs.
Iv never played the tips since.
It's been 37 minutes /u/ballsagna2time - just a reminder that each set of tees has a different rating and slope that gets calculated into your handicap.
I’m not sure you understand how the handicap system and course ratings work lol. I play from the whites and typically shoot 85. If I played from the reds then I’d have to be shooting like 75-80 to keep my handicap where it’s at. If I played from the tips I’d probably be having to stay under 90 or something like that
Edit: I’m kinda curious what your original point was though. You think I’d be a 15 if I played the tips or what?
The whites aren’t the forward tees by the way. They’re one up from the tips.
I love when courses reference what tees you should be from by handicap. Distance helps but i played a course recently that was listed as 6200 but was short due to 6 par 3s and the par 4s and 5s were decently long. Im good enough to play up to 6600 max so i was fine but the guy we were paired with said he plays 6-6200 and he struggled mightily and did not listen to the starter.
The only reason I'll ever play from the tips is if the tips offers a fun "challenge" that the front tees don't.
If its just extra distance, then nah. But if the tips have a carry over water or over a canyon from an elevated tee box, something fun, yeah I'm all in for that.
When the back tee box is open on this one hole, we always play it because while it adds about 40yds to the hole, it is elevated about 50ft and has an amazing view.
I think when you have a boomer for a starter telling them "the ladies tees are up there" pretty much kills any chance of a new guy to the sport heading that way. That would be the reason I never went up there at the start of last season (which was my first).
When I started I wanted to play from the front tees but was told I **wasn't allowed** play from there as they were "the ladies tees". Next tees back are 6500 yards and I'm still trying to break 100.
Honestly it was a boon for me when i started because it was great practice for hitting the 3w off a real world lie, especially when you are getting a half dozen reps with it a hole. Don’t worry i sucked fast.
Guy in my foursome arrived late and we had all agreed to play the whites. When he asked and we told him we were playing the white he scoffed and threw a tantrum.
He shot like 110 that day from the whites. I don’t get why people are like that. Maybe an ego thing? Who knows.
Yeah, don't start at the tips. It seems like most courses have stopped using ladies, seniors, men's, tournaments, etc. and have started suggesting tees based on handicap. Like 18+ is front, 12-18 middle, 6-12 back, and under 6 tips. Another good metric is how far you hit your 7 iron. Unless you are playing at a low handicap though it's not worth it to play the tips. Unless it's an easier than normal course and the slope and rating from the tips is going to help prevent a decent round from raising your handicap.
Some of the best advise I've heard for a beginner is to start at the forward most tee and stay there until you break par, then move back to the next tee until you break par again, and continue to repeat until you find yourself on the tips.
Now for the majority of players, they'd never get off the font tee. But if you changed the benchmark to break 80, that's a different story. A lot more players following that progression would be able to break 80 than the game has today.
While breaking par seems like too much, it's a good idea to move back as you progress. If you are shooting low 80s from the front tees and able to hit 7 iron 150 yards and hitting driver 220+, you should be playing middle tees at least. One of the best decisions courses have made, though, is changing tee names to forward middle back, etc. Or just using color. In the 90s, it was always women's, seniors, men's, championship, so any guy even just starting was playing the back tees. There are still courses that use those designations, but people seem much more willing to play the shorter tees to enjoy the game more. I play with one guy who just turned 90 and he always plays the front, if the course has them labeled women's, he will always make the joke "I guess I'm a lady today". Honestly though if I can still play as well as he does at 90 from the front tees I would be happy, he only goes for 9 holes but it's still impressive that he occasionally shoots a score lower than his age.
> If you are shooting low 80s from the front tees and able to hit 7 iron 150 yards and hitting driver 220+, you should be playing middle tees at least.
Why? What hardship is coming about from them still playing the front tee? If they can hit a 150 yard 7 iron it would seem control and short game scoring are probably their biggest weaknesses, where else is better for them to work on those aspects of the game than the front tees?
There is a course near me that made the tips the Red tees, then white, green, and finally Blue as the front tees.
Its funny to see some men drive up to the front tee and do a double take on where they are.
I mean, you don't really have to play further back. It would just be recommended. Playing too short of tees can cause slight pace issues. Par 5s from the front tees usually aren't over 500 yards so most would be reachable in 2 if you are hitting that far, meaning you are going to be waiting for the group ahead to get off the green, then there would also be more par 4s than become reachable in 1 that would require waiting for the group to finish to tee off. It wouldn't be a major issue, and it's still a better option than playing tees too far back, but using handicap or a certain clubs distance to determine the optimal tees is the standard rule of thumb. You can play whatever tees you want though, if playing the forward tees makes it more enjoyable, then you should play them.
I promise you it is not fun at all to play at blue tee and drive the ball to water / wood / bunker. There is a pressure to play at the tips because now you have the "voice" in you mind that you have to hit as hard as you can and it would never end well.
Playing on the the tips not only require skills but require a strong mind to deal with pressure. Especially you play with partners that can driver 280 yards straight to fairway on 18 holes.
Don’t think this makes sense at all… Ask a 6-8 handicapper how many times they’ve ever broken par and the majority will say never. Also playing the course that short potentially creates other issues based on one’s strength/weaknesses.
I think it’s up to the player to understand where they should be hitting from knowing the strengths and weaknesses of their game. Some high handicappers have no problem off the tee but can’t putt or chip to save their life. For them the tee box makes no difference. For example my 14 year old carries his drives around 275 but is most likely going to blade his ensuing wedge 200 and 4 putt. Although his handicap would suggest play from the front tees, in doing so we’d be literally be waiting for the majority of par 4s to clear the green as he’d have the potential to scare most of them.
Then there are the players who play steady Eddie golf, don’t hit the ball over 150 yards but chip and putt like a Masters champion. There the tee box location would matter.
For those that i know that play a lot, I would say most gauge new courses on total yardage. So we typically target 6500 +/- based on playing conditions… I don’t expect beginners to even have stock yardages but most know what they typically hit a go to club which is why I’m intrigued by this 7 iron metric (never heard of before) but it makes sense to me.
You're right that most players won't break par, which is where the adjusted benchmark of 80 may work the best. But part of the reason most players can't break par is they've never been taught, nor put them into the situation, to learn how to break par.
If a player struggles with wedge play, playing from shorter tees will put more wedges in their hands more frequently, allowing them opportunities for improvement.
There is no reason a player has to hit driver off of every tee box on every par 4 or par 5. Playing from a shorter box is often much more about control and ball placement. A driver up in a green side bunker for the average player may not be the better option than an iron off the tee into the fairway. Especially if the person can't putt and chip to save their life.
The reason players don't break par isn't because they've not been taught to, it's because it's incredibly difficult and nigh-on unachievable for the vast majority of golfers
It is very difficult and if you instituted the policy today most players would be unable or unwilling to adapt their game to the new challenge.
Current players may be stuck at the front tee for a long time. But if every new player started from the front tee knowing that they can only move back after posting an under par score, the priorities around how they develop their skills will change. Power is still important but control and accuracy become even more so.
It may be rare for many players to make it back to the tips, or even the 2nd to back, but most new avid players would move back at least 1 to 2 boxes within their career
You’re looking at it from the lenses of current day players having to adapt. From that perspective you’re right.
If a policy like this was enforced, the fundamental change to how players enter the game and progress would be such a stark difference that current expectations would not correlate.
I'm sorry but that's just not true. You're acting as if players don't break par simply because there's a lack of desire to do it, and all they need is an extra incentive and they'd get there, and that's just wrong. There's a huge amount of players who could practice day-in, day-out for their entire lives, dedicating their life to golf, and would still never break par. Golf is simply too difficult a sport for some people to be able to perform at that level, it's out of reach for a lot of players
You are right that many players won’t ever break par. But many will. And many who can’t break par will leave the game, just as they do today. None of which is a bad thing, shrinking the size of the course has tremendous value on the progression of the game. One being a much lower barrier of entry into the game.
Just remember course ratings from the front tees are often 4-6 shot lower than they are from the “men’s” tees, so breaking par would end up being 4-6 shots easier. If we reframe the expectation based on that difference, it’s not as overwhelmingly daunting as one might think.
I understand this is a radical idea, and sometimes many would be against at first, which is why I suggested a benchmark of breaking 80 as a compromise.
The benefits would be similar while alienating less players.
I don't like this idea. I play from the men's tees (white or blue) but not tips. If I played from the senior or ladies tees I'd basically never hit driver. It'd be like playing a pitch and putt.
Odds are most par 4's and 5's would still be longer than you hit your driver, so It would be your choice not to hit driver.
But the game of golf is not about hitting driver and just because someone can hit the ball far does not make them good at golf.
Just looked at my home course on the grint, and I'd only be able to hit driver on 4 holes from the front tees without significant risk of being OB or in a hazard.
> But the game of golf is not about hitting driver and just because someone can hit the ball far does not make them good at golf.
Found the guy who can't hit his driver
I'm not against playing forward tees occasionally, but to tell people they should break par or even 80 before moving back to the appropriate tees for their distance is fucking weak.
So the long and short of it is your a player who could never possibly break 80, let alone par, on a course regardless if its the front most tees or rear most tees?
Sounds like you're not angry at me, but your weak golf game.
It's almost as if there's a recommendation based on the distance you hit the fucking ball.
https://www.usga.org/content/usga/home-page/course-care/green-section-record/61/issue-11/helping-golfers-choose-their--best-tees--.html
It could be that buddy just doesn’t realize the front tees at his course aren’t senior tees but junior tees. There’s only 1 course around me that I know of that has junior tees and to be fair it really would be pitch and putt from there. Still very useful sometimes but if his course has that and he thinks that’s the seniors his opposition to the idea makes sense.
Here is a link, the table is near the middle of the article
https://www.usga.org/content/usga/home-page/articles/2023/10/the-7-iron-solution.html
(TL:DR)The main point of the article for using 7 iron instead of driver is driver distance usually has quite a bit of difference, someone who averages 250 will likely hit between 225 and 275, while most 7 iron shots will be within 5-10 yard of average. So it's a more accurate way to judge your average distance.
Driver distance can work just as well, as long as you are basing it off the low end of your average. Handicap should still be the primary measure, but if you don't keep one, then a 7 iron average or low-end driver average is a quick determining factor that can be used.
Driver low end average, or real driver average is miles better than 7-iron average.
I switched from Cobra F9 GI’s to taylormade P770s. Lost like 10-20 yards. Realized that i get lower scores and more control when i hit irons with 90-95% effort instead of 100%. Lost 5-10 yards.
-> i hit 7-iron like 15-25yards less now at 10 handicap than i did hit 7-iron at 18 handicap. Should i go back teeboxes?
(I also hit driver longer and straighter now than at 18 handicap)
I mean, play the tees you want. If you are keeping a handicap that is going to be the better measure anyway. The club distance recommendations are more for beginners, that's primarily why they use 7 iron, as drivers are less consistent for the majority of newer players. It's not a rule, just a recommendation. If you are keeping a handicap it will take into account your entire game, there are plenty of people who could hit a driver 280, and a 7 iron 175, then because they don't have any touch in putting or short game could be shooting high 90s, I've known a couple people like that who could bomb driver and had lots of power, but couldn't break 90. It's definitely not a one size fits all thing.
I think they should have tees every hundred yards.
If you shoot over par for the round, you move forward to the next tee for your next round. If you shoot par or better, you move back.
If you can't make par on a par five from 100 yards out, take lessons.
I might try this sometime - find a cheap course and start every hole at 100 yards, using the normal par for the hole. I'm guessing even then it would be close for me, because my putting sucks.
Older guys are really bad about moving up, probably pride. You should play from tees that allow you to be GIR on most holes with decent shots. I did though play with an older guy, I think he was 91, and he teed it up on the edge of the fairway for his drive on every hole.
A few months back, while playing around with my brother, we got stuck behind a group with an older gentleman that was constantly duffing, and his ball wouldn’t even pass the front tee. After one shot where he duffed it and his ball landed on the front tee box my brother said “why don’t you just start from there, sir? Save your self a stroke on the next one.” He turned around and yelled at my brother “why don’t you mind your fucking business“. We laughed and I said “I think you bruised his ego” to my bro.
What can you do…
There is nothing worse than sitting and waiting on a group who has no business playing from the back, when they can barely make it past the front tees on tee off. No shame in starting closer until you get a handle on your game.
Agree! I’ve been getting down to the low 80’s pretty consistently, but I’m not planning to go back a space any time soon. I like actually having a decent score I can feel good about!
As a short hitter, I’ve moved up to the forward tees or the gold “senior” tees which are typically right behind them. No sense hitting a 3W into the long par 3 on the course, or having all of par 4s require a long iron.
Honestly I think being tee agnostic should be encouraged. Even if you’re a good player. At my best I was like a 6 handicap, and would find myself hitting the same shots with the same clubs on every single hole. Moving up a tee box every once in a while to mess around can be a lot of fun to work on different shots
This. I'll play the tips on shorter courses to give me variation in clubs on second shots or if my friends who are newer to golf than me want to have a more competitive round. Sometimes, it's just fun to see what I can do (or fail to do mostly) when the course isn't too busy.
I turned 72 this week and I've been playing from the gold tees since I got back into golf last year after many years of being away. There's a couple of things to add. First, if you only drive, say, 200 yards most of the fairway hazards aren't going to be in play for you if you hit from tees further back. If a fairway trap, of example, is 300 yards from the white tees and you generally drive 200, you're not going to be challenged by it. So you could be missing big parts of the course design. Second, when things are slow and you're waiting on the tee, you can wander off into the nearby brush/weeds and look for balls. It's the best place to find ProV1s hit there by people who have no business hitting from the back tees and are too embarrassed to go look for a duff in the weeds by the forward tees.
Waaaaaaaay to many players get caught up in hitting their driver far, or having a proper challenge on the course.
But I don't know how the game is fun when you hit your drive far into the woods and are challenged to break 100.
When you move up to the front tees you will have more opportunities to hit more greens, which will lead to more birdie putts, which will lead to more birdies, and finally to more fun.
birdies=fun.
You know whats challenging? Staring down an 8' putt for your 4th consecutive birdie. Or sitting at -1 with 3 holes to play trying to bring in an under par round. That's a lot more challenging, and a lot more rewarding, way to play golf.
People forget the target is a 4 1/4" hole, the games about accuracy, not distance.
> Waaaaaaaay to many players get caught up in hitting their driver far, or having a proper challenge on the course.
So fucking true, man. Like, I play with this guy who utterly refuses to play from nothing but the blues (2nd longest tees).
Doesn't matter what the rating/slope is, he thinks it's emasculating for him to play from a forward tees.
Like, bro, you only break 90 once in a blue moon, why make this fucking game harder than it needs to be?
I love when I play with another buddy who's relatively new and we play from one of the forward tees (whites) and for me, I love that I'm going driver-wedge on most of the par 4's because then I can shoot something like +2 or +3 if I can make some putts. Plus there's the additional mental aspect of knowing you're scoring well and staying focused with every shot and nothing thinking ahead. Learning to keep playing within yourself knowing you're on the pace for a PB (regardless of the tee) is an important piece of the mental game.
I play with a guy who's literally the worst golfer I've ever seen. He does however hit an enormous shot (when he doesn't airmail it). He'll smoke a 6 iron 200+ yards and walk to his ball giving it large all the way and I'm like 'mate it's the 10th tee and you're 40 over, wind your neck in!'
That was me the other day. Hit a drive over 300. On in 2 on a par 5. 4 putt (it was a large green okay...). I'm bad at golf but the 7i chart isn't the answer. Finished the day with a 112. I just started again after a damn 10 year break, but shit it feels bad.
I don't mean to have a go, this is a genuine question. How do you hit the ball that far and score 112? I've been playing just over a year and hit my driver around 200 carry. I would give anything to hit drives that far. Were you just wild off the tee and going OB? What were you playing off before your 10 year break?
Playing off around a 30 back then. Former baseball player. Short game has always been atrocious. Can strike my irons alright but inside of 50 yards I am a hot freaking mess. Bladed chips and the whole 9. Have a huge deceleration problem with chipping.
Toe down I have tried. We have extremely tight lies here in Texas. I want a lower bounce wedge. Lowest I have is an 8. Even when I use the bounce I tend to get on top of it.
This is strangely coincidental. I had the round of my life a couple weeks ago, where I was one under with three holes left to go. I bogeyed all three unfortunately, but it was still so insanely fun. The shots I remember are the long birdie putts and 2-3 the irons/flops that I flushed
When things are going well, its really really hard to get out of your own way and keep the good times going.
Once you get comfortable making a few birdies and playing under par, your mindset seems to naturally shift to preserving what you have, which far too often leads to trouble.
You really have to train yourself to keep your foot on the gas and try to make more birdies.
I've found its much much more challenging to keep a good string of holes going than it is to correct a bad string of holes.
I started doing this a few years back when one of the regulars in my group had knee surgery. Not only do you get lots of opportunities for par or birdie but the increased pace of play really helps the whole group.
My first time playing I joined a group of three older guys. Up to that point I had only hit the range and been on the course with my instructor. None of the guys kept score but they kept saying the forward tees are for ladies. I am new to the game so I just rolled with it.
Saw a post a while back that may help with the mentality of which tee to start from.
Labeling them women's and men's is not good for beginners, and some places have started labeling them with recommended handicaps per tee instead.
If you can't play golf well because your a beginner, shooting from the back is just wasteful and useless.
Yeah I saw something too that was a Pro or club pro or someone like that, who said its not men and womens tees, its actually just skill level. If youre 120+ probably use the front tees then move back as you get more comfortable/skilled but most dont because they are deemed the ladies tee.
Good on you. Wish I'd swallowed my pride earlier and done the same tbh. Playing from the tips forces such bad practice habits early on. 100yards in matters more then anything, not 250+ drives.
This is my course, I'll be practicing on the putting green and just watching these idiots fire ball after ball into the woods from the tips when they'd even have a hard enough time hitting the fairway from the whites (mid-tees.)
The amount of people that play from the tips at my home course, then you see them playing their second shot around the forward tees is insane. Never understood it.
A good rule of thumb is to play from the tees you can par. I drive the ball about 240 yards so the tips makes a lot of holes a par 5 for me. I play from blues normally but some rounds I might feel like working on my wedges and will tee it up from the whites.
I mean I play golf to have fun and the only person I’m competing against is myself. Play from whatever tees provide the most fun and engaging experience for you.
From someone that teaches golf for a living, you shouldn’t bother playing anything over 6800 unless you can consistently hit driver 260-280. Otherwise it’ll be a lot of woods/hybrids into par 4’s
Unpopular opinion. Pick a tee based on your distances not your handicap. I'm a 20 but driver is actually my most consistent club so I pick tees that let me use it as much as possible. Forward tees would give me a lo of long irons that I can't hit for shit
This is the way!
I’ve been having a blast the past year playing from the front tees until I shoot my goal score.
I’ve had the most fun seeing my golfing buddies shoot their best scores and really learn how to score.
10/10 would recommend.
♠️
I’m turning 70 this April. My best friend is six months younger than me. He started playing from the front tees about a year ago as he was finding that he was never reaching the par fours in regulation. I asked him how he enjoyed playing the front tees. He said he absolutely loved it and should have done it sooner. I think I’m probably going to join him upfront this year once the snow melts.
Golf is already hard enough as it is without making it harder on ourselves by playing from the wrong tees.
100% agree on men playing front tee. Suffered thru game 27yrs, 67yrs old w/44 HC. Have privilege of playing great courses (including Augusta '23). Like Clint said: "A man's got to know his limitations". Mine is golf and front tee makes it fun.
I am a 24 hcap. I don't enjoy playing from the front tees because I end up hitting an iron off most tees. It doesn't help my score much, if at all. I've played the tips once in the last decade or so (because the twosome I was playing with was playing the tips) and it raised my score about 2 strokes. Nothing wrong with moving up, but it is worth checking out the USGA guide that is based on how far you hit a 7I. Then you can consider your handicap. I followed the guide and actually moved back to try to play 6100yds (typically blues instead of whites). A beginner, no matter how far they hit it had no business playing the tips in the first place.
No reason to penalize yourself. I just play from the whites(or whatever course says per handicap) as it's more fun. The quantity of times I have seen random single that gets put with my group playing from the pro tees/tips and has no business is quite large.
Me and my 3 regular golfing mates sometimes play front, middle and back - first 6 we’ll play fronts etc etc. it’s good fun and makes the round even more interesting. 3 of us are 12 hcp, one is 2. None of us care where we play from. But yeh tips all the time is bold.
I’ve only been playing for like 3+ years, and I can count on one hand the number of people I’ve seen play from the tips. I don’t understand where are all you people playing that this is so common? lol
It's pretty common here in AZ. The course I play at most often actually has "championship" tees that are only out when the college players have a tourney, and I regularly see people teeing off from the tee boxes where they would be. I'd say at least 20% of the groups on the course are playing from the tips every time I play.
I've played the tips, and occasionally play the "black/white" combo (whites on odd holes, tips on even), but most of the guys I see playing from the blacks should be playing the whites/golds.
Championship - ~7200 yards
Black - ~6700 yards
White/Black - ~6300 yards
White - ~6100 yards
Gold - ~5700 yards
Red - ~5100 yards
If you have friends who think they’re too good to join you at the front tees, throw down a bet. Challenge them to get their same average score but using only 3 clubs + putter from the front tees for the whole round.
Then the next time you go out have them do it again but with a different 3 clubs.
So maybe the first time they do it, they pick driver / 6i / SW. They get their average, give or take. Next time make them do it again but they can’t use their driver, 6i, or SW.
Course I'm a member at allows you to pick your tees for competitions (outside of club champion/honor board events)- Black, Green, Orange and Silver.
I play quite well from Green (our old Blues) but I recently played with a +3 handicapper and he was off the silver tees which are much further forward he said why make things harder, I can avoid 99% of the trouble off the tee providing I hit the fairway.
I've now since moved myself off the forward tee's and the game got a lot more fun.
I think it’s valuable to have this message go out once in a while, what with so many douchebags out there loudly boasting about their round from the tips.
Depends on how you enjoy the game. Making the hole easier is fine for some, but others enjoy the challenge. I'd personally rather make a par on an extremely difficult, long hole than birdie on a hole that's driver/chip or driver/wedge.
I've also played half a dozen or so rounds from the very front tees at my course and have never scored a differential that lowers the handicap. So why would I want to move up and score worse?
I mean there's literally no reason a brand new player has any business playing from the tips anyways.
I'm a 9hc and don't really ever play the tips. There are a couple courses that I'm familiar with and will play them tipped out if others are too. But I like to settle between 6500-6800yds
13hc here, playing for about 12 years or so. I have literally never even once played the back tees. Not with business partners, in-laws, college friends, never.
i have because i have a gigantic dong
What? I can't hear you from the forward tees. :)
Haha right? I’m a 25 cap and never play from the blues like all my other 20+ cap friends want to do. Some of most fun I’ll have is shooting the forwards with someone that’s same or worse than me. Usually end up shooting around the same scores too because it’s my short game that sucks, not the yardage lol
This will sound dumb, but I've worked for 3 companies in my professional career - each on the engineering and business sides. My two first companies the business guys always wanted to play the back tees and they sucked, lot of small dick energy. In their professional lives I saw them (even before playing golf with them) as not the smartest bunch. Both companies. My current company? I aspire to be like our business folks (men and women). Very intelligent, calculating, deliberate, all sorts of good business acumen. When I started playing golf with them a few years ago, nobody played the back tees. Good and bad golfers, long and short hitters. Maybe it's a big brain thing. They weren't compensating for anything, maybe? I dunno, small data set of course.
Not dumb at all, and definitely can agree to the “compensating” part of your theory! Any work outings I’ve been on it’s always the blues or back that are suggested, but you’ll catch me at the whites regardless. That’s why we have slope/rating for each tee box, so have fun back there lol! My last round out, a group for four younger dudes were in front of us from the blues. Not even joking, every hole we’d pull up and at least two of them were hitting their second shots from 10-20 yards in front of the whites - rarely passing the forwards. Was a long round lol MOVE UP for god’s sake!
This
Name checks out.
My mate Leon's dong is so big when he sits on the toilet the head sits under the water.
There are a couple courses around me that tip out around 6200 yards. So I'll play those but yeah normally just stick to my yardage that feels good for my skill set
I got paired with 2 college golfers who wanted to play from the tips, I figured why not… I’m a big guy with longer than average distances, they were 3w off the tee, I was 20 yards short of them with driver, they’d be on in 2, I’d be on in 3, etc… I was on the struggle bus for 18 holes, they were bitching about sharing a set of brand new clubs. Iv never played the tips since.
I’m an 11 and I try to keep it under 6500. Ideally 6200yds
You ever considered that the reason you're an 11 is because you play forward tees?
Each set of tees has a different rating and slope that gets calculated into your handicap.
Oh crap! I forgot about that. I feel stupid 😞
You should…and we’re never gonna let you forget about it either.
It's been 37 minutes /u/ballsagna2time - just a reminder that each set of tees has a different rating and slope that gets calculated into your handicap.
I’m not sure you understand how the handicap system and course ratings work lol. I play from the whites and typically shoot 85. If I played from the reds then I’d have to be shooting like 75-80 to keep my handicap where it’s at. If I played from the tips I’d probably be having to stay under 90 or something like that Edit: I’m kinda curious what your original point was though. You think I’d be a 15 if I played the tips or what? The whites aren’t the forward tees by the way. They’re one up from the tips.
I love when courses reference what tees you should be from by handicap. Distance helps but i played a course recently that was listed as 6200 but was short due to 6 par 3s and the par 4s and 5s were decently long. Im good enough to play up to 6600 max so i was fine but the guy we were paired with said he plays 6-6200 and he struggled mightily and did not listen to the starter.
The only reason I'll ever play from the tips is if the tips offers a fun "challenge" that the front tees don't. If its just extra distance, then nah. But if the tips have a carry over water or over a canyon from an elevated tee box, something fun, yeah I'm all in for that.
When the back tee box is open on this one hole, we always play it because while it adds about 40yds to the hole, it is elevated about 50ft and has an amazing view.
I think when you have a boomer for a starter telling them "the ladies tees are up there" pretty much kills any chance of a new guy to the sport heading that way. That would be the reason I never went up there at the start of last season (which was my first).
When I started I wanted to play from the front tees but was told I **wasn't allowed** play from there as they were "the ladies tees". Next tees back are 6500 yards and I'm still trying to break 100.
Honestly it was a boon for me when i started because it was great practice for hitting the 3w off a real world lie, especially when you are getting a half dozen reps with it a hole. Don’t worry i sucked fast.
Guy in my foursome arrived late and we had all agreed to play the whites. When he asked and we told him we were playing the white he scoffed and threw a tantrum. He shot like 110 that day from the whites. I don’t get why people are like that. Maybe an ego thing? Who knows.
That guy is a douche for: 1. Showing up late 2. Throwing a tantrum 3. Having a false perception of how good he is. F that guy.
Yeah, don't start at the tips. It seems like most courses have stopped using ladies, seniors, men's, tournaments, etc. and have started suggesting tees based on handicap. Like 18+ is front, 12-18 middle, 6-12 back, and under 6 tips. Another good metric is how far you hit your 7 iron. Unless you are playing at a low handicap though it's not worth it to play the tips. Unless it's an easier than normal course and the slope and rating from the tips is going to help prevent a decent round from raising your handicap.
Some of the best advise I've heard for a beginner is to start at the forward most tee and stay there until you break par, then move back to the next tee until you break par again, and continue to repeat until you find yourself on the tips. Now for the majority of players, they'd never get off the font tee. But if you changed the benchmark to break 80, that's a different story. A lot more players following that progression would be able to break 80 than the game has today.
While breaking par seems like too much, it's a good idea to move back as you progress. If you are shooting low 80s from the front tees and able to hit 7 iron 150 yards and hitting driver 220+, you should be playing middle tees at least. One of the best decisions courses have made, though, is changing tee names to forward middle back, etc. Or just using color. In the 90s, it was always women's, seniors, men's, championship, so any guy even just starting was playing the back tees. There are still courses that use those designations, but people seem much more willing to play the shorter tees to enjoy the game more. I play with one guy who just turned 90 and he always plays the front, if the course has them labeled women's, he will always make the joke "I guess I'm a lady today". Honestly though if I can still play as well as he does at 90 from the front tees I would be happy, he only goes for 9 holes but it's still impressive that he occasionally shoots a score lower than his age.
> If you are shooting low 80s from the front tees and able to hit 7 iron 150 yards and hitting driver 220+, you should be playing middle tees at least. Why? What hardship is coming about from them still playing the front tee? If they can hit a 150 yard 7 iron it would seem control and short game scoring are probably their biggest weaknesses, where else is better for them to work on those aspects of the game than the front tees? There is a course near me that made the tips the Red tees, then white, green, and finally Blue as the front tees. Its funny to see some men drive up to the front tee and do a double take on where they are.
I mean, you don't really have to play further back. It would just be recommended. Playing too short of tees can cause slight pace issues. Par 5s from the front tees usually aren't over 500 yards so most would be reachable in 2 if you are hitting that far, meaning you are going to be waiting for the group ahead to get off the green, then there would also be more par 4s than become reachable in 1 that would require waiting for the group to finish to tee off. It wouldn't be a major issue, and it's still a better option than playing tees too far back, but using handicap or a certain clubs distance to determine the optimal tees is the standard rule of thumb. You can play whatever tees you want though, if playing the forward tees makes it more enjoyable, then you should play them.
I promise you it is not fun at all to play at blue tee and drive the ball to water / wood / bunker. There is a pressure to play at the tips because now you have the "voice" in you mind that you have to hit as hard as you can and it would never end well. Playing on the the tips not only require skills but require a strong mind to deal with pressure. Especially you play with partners that can driver 280 yards straight to fairway on 18 holes.
what if I hit 7 iron 170y & driver 240y but I have 4 putt ?
I think I’d finally break 100 from the front tees 🤔
I bet over 75% of us ain't breaking par from the front tees
Don’t think this makes sense at all… Ask a 6-8 handicapper how many times they’ve ever broken par and the majority will say never. Also playing the course that short potentially creates other issues based on one’s strength/weaknesses. I think it’s up to the player to understand where they should be hitting from knowing the strengths and weaknesses of their game. Some high handicappers have no problem off the tee but can’t putt or chip to save their life. For them the tee box makes no difference. For example my 14 year old carries his drives around 275 but is most likely going to blade his ensuing wedge 200 and 4 putt. Although his handicap would suggest play from the front tees, in doing so we’d be literally be waiting for the majority of par 4s to clear the green as he’d have the potential to scare most of them. Then there are the players who play steady Eddie golf, don’t hit the ball over 150 yards but chip and putt like a Masters champion. There the tee box location would matter. For those that i know that play a lot, I would say most gauge new courses on total yardage. So we typically target 6500 +/- based on playing conditions… I don’t expect beginners to even have stock yardages but most know what they typically hit a go to club which is why I’m intrigued by this 7 iron metric (never heard of before) but it makes sense to me.
You're right that most players won't break par, which is where the adjusted benchmark of 80 may work the best. But part of the reason most players can't break par is they've never been taught, nor put them into the situation, to learn how to break par. If a player struggles with wedge play, playing from shorter tees will put more wedges in their hands more frequently, allowing them opportunities for improvement. There is no reason a player has to hit driver off of every tee box on every par 4 or par 5. Playing from a shorter box is often much more about control and ball placement. A driver up in a green side bunker for the average player may not be the better option than an iron off the tee into the fairway. Especially if the person can't putt and chip to save their life.
The reason players don't break par isn't because they've not been taught to, it's because it's incredibly difficult and nigh-on unachievable for the vast majority of golfers
It is very difficult and if you instituted the policy today most players would be unable or unwilling to adapt their game to the new challenge. Current players may be stuck at the front tee for a long time. But if every new player started from the front tee knowing that they can only move back after posting an under par score, the priorities around how they develop their skills will change. Power is still important but control and accuracy become even more so. It may be rare for many players to make it back to the tips, or even the 2nd to back, but most new avid players would move back at least 1 to 2 boxes within their career
You genuinely believe that most players would be able to break par? That is just so not the case
You’re looking at it from the lenses of current day players having to adapt. From that perspective you’re right. If a policy like this was enforced, the fundamental change to how players enter the game and progress would be such a stark difference that current expectations would not correlate.
I'm sorry but that's just not true. You're acting as if players don't break par simply because there's a lack of desire to do it, and all they need is an extra incentive and they'd get there, and that's just wrong. There's a huge amount of players who could practice day-in, day-out for their entire lives, dedicating their life to golf, and would still never break par. Golf is simply too difficult a sport for some people to be able to perform at that level, it's out of reach for a lot of players
You are right that many players won’t ever break par. But many will. And many who can’t break par will leave the game, just as they do today. None of which is a bad thing, shrinking the size of the course has tremendous value on the progression of the game. One being a much lower barrier of entry into the game. Just remember course ratings from the front tees are often 4-6 shot lower than they are from the “men’s” tees, so breaking par would end up being 4-6 shots easier. If we reframe the expectation based on that difference, it’s not as overwhelmingly daunting as one might think.
I understand this is a radical idea, and sometimes many would be against at first, which is why I suggested a benchmark of breaking 80 as a compromise. The benefits would be similar while alienating less players.
I don't like this idea. I play from the men's tees (white or blue) but not tips. If I played from the senior or ladies tees I'd basically never hit driver. It'd be like playing a pitch and putt.
Odds are most par 4's and 5's would still be longer than you hit your driver, so It would be your choice not to hit driver. But the game of golf is not about hitting driver and just because someone can hit the ball far does not make them good at golf.
Just looked at my home course on the grint, and I'd only be able to hit driver on 4 holes from the front tees without significant risk of being OB or in a hazard. > But the game of golf is not about hitting driver and just because someone can hit the ball far does not make them good at golf. Found the guy who can't hit his driver I'm not against playing forward tees occasionally, but to tell people they should break par or even 80 before moving back to the appropriate tees for their distance is fucking weak.
So the long and short of it is your a player who could never possibly break 80, let alone par, on a course regardless if its the front most tees or rear most tees? Sounds like you're not angry at me, but your weak golf game.
It's almost as if there's a recommendation based on the distance you hit the fucking ball. https://www.usga.org/content/usga/home-page/course-care/green-section-record/61/issue-11/helping-golfers-choose-their--best-tees--.html
You got downvoted bc people got butthurt but you came correct with the facts here
Lol it's the internet 🤷♂️
It could be that buddy just doesn’t realize the front tees at his course aren’t senior tees but junior tees. There’s only 1 course around me that I know of that has junior tees and to be fair it really would be pitch and putt from there. Still very useful sometimes but if his course has that and he thinks that’s the seniors his opposition to the idea makes sense.
I haven’t heard the 7 iron metric, what are the distance range per tee on that?
Here is a link, the table is near the middle of the article https://www.usga.org/content/usga/home-page/articles/2023/10/the-7-iron-solution.html (TL:DR)The main point of the article for using 7 iron instead of driver is driver distance usually has quite a bit of difference, someone who averages 250 will likely hit between 225 and 275, while most 7 iron shots will be within 5-10 yard of average. So it's a more accurate way to judge your average distance.
Thats a stupid metric. Quite a big difference if your 7-iron is a modern GI iron, or a 10 year old blade. Driver distance makes more sense.
Driver distance can work just as well, as long as you are basing it off the low end of your average. Handicap should still be the primary measure, but if you don't keep one, then a 7 iron average or low-end driver average is a quick determining factor that can be used.
Driver low end average, or real driver average is miles better than 7-iron average. I switched from Cobra F9 GI’s to taylormade P770s. Lost like 10-20 yards. Realized that i get lower scores and more control when i hit irons with 90-95% effort instead of 100%. Lost 5-10 yards. -> i hit 7-iron like 15-25yards less now at 10 handicap than i did hit 7-iron at 18 handicap. Should i go back teeboxes? (I also hit driver longer and straighter now than at 18 handicap)
I mean, play the tees you want. If you are keeping a handicap that is going to be the better measure anyway. The club distance recommendations are more for beginners, that's primarily why they use 7 iron, as drivers are less consistent for the majority of newer players. It's not a rule, just a recommendation. If you are keeping a handicap it will take into account your entire game, there are plenty of people who could hit a driver 280, and a 7 iron 175, then because they don't have any touch in putting or short game could be shooting high 90s, I've known a couple people like that who could bomb driver and had lots of power, but couldn't break 90. It's definitely not a one size fits all thing.
Metric says basically if you can’t hit your 7 iron 160-170 yards you shouldn’t be playing from blue tees and back
I can hit my 7i 165 but I still suck at golf lol
I think they should have tees every hundred yards. If you shoot over par for the round, you move forward to the next tee for your next round. If you shoot par or better, you move back. If you can't make par on a par five from 100 yards out, take lessons. I might try this sometime - find a cheap course and start every hole at 100 yards, using the normal par for the hole. I'm guessing even then it would be close for me, because my putting sucks.
Older guys are really bad about moving up, probably pride. You should play from tees that allow you to be GIR on most holes with decent shots. I did though play with an older guy, I think he was 91, and he teed it up on the edge of the fairway for his drive on every hole.
A few months back, while playing around with my brother, we got stuck behind a group with an older gentleman that was constantly duffing, and his ball wouldn’t even pass the front tee. After one shot where he duffed it and his ball landed on the front tee box my brother said “why don’t you just start from there, sir? Save your self a stroke on the next one.” He turned around and yelled at my brother “why don’t you mind your fucking business“. We laughed and I said “I think you bruised his ego” to my bro. What can you do…
There is nothing worse than sitting and waiting on a group who has no business playing from the back, when they can barely make it past the front tees on tee off. No shame in starting closer until you get a handle on your game.
Yea. Its more fun when you have a chance at Par
Agree! I’ve been getting down to the low 80’s pretty consistently, but I’m not planning to go back a space any time soon. I like actually having a decent score I can feel good about!
As a short hitter, I’ve moved up to the forward tees or the gold “senior” tees which are typically right behind them. No sense hitting a 3W into the long par 3 on the course, or having all of par 4s require a long iron.
Too many people get hung up on which tee box without even paying attention to distance. I play whatever is 6000-6500 yards. That fits my game well.
Me an my buddy call that playing from the front tips.
Honestly I think being tee agnostic should be encouraged. Even if you’re a good player. At my best I was like a 6 handicap, and would find myself hitting the same shots with the same clubs on every single hole. Moving up a tee box every once in a while to mess around can be a lot of fun to work on different shots
This. I'll play the tips on shorter courses to give me variation in clubs on second shots or if my friends who are newer to golf than me want to have a more competitive round. Sometimes, it's just fun to see what I can do (or fail to do mostly) when the course isn't too busy.
I turned 72 this week and I've been playing from the gold tees since I got back into golf last year after many years of being away. There's a couple of things to add. First, if you only drive, say, 200 yards most of the fairway hazards aren't going to be in play for you if you hit from tees further back. If a fairway trap, of example, is 300 yards from the white tees and you generally drive 200, you're not going to be challenged by it. So you could be missing big parts of the course design. Second, when things are slow and you're waiting on the tee, you can wander off into the nearby brush/weeds and look for balls. It's the best place to find ProV1s hit there by people who have no business hitting from the back tees and are too embarrassed to go look for a duff in the weeds by the forward tees.
Waaaaaaaay to many players get caught up in hitting their driver far, or having a proper challenge on the course. But I don't know how the game is fun when you hit your drive far into the woods and are challenged to break 100. When you move up to the front tees you will have more opportunities to hit more greens, which will lead to more birdie putts, which will lead to more birdies, and finally to more fun. birdies=fun. You know whats challenging? Staring down an 8' putt for your 4th consecutive birdie. Or sitting at -1 with 3 holes to play trying to bring in an under par round. That's a lot more challenging, and a lot more rewarding, way to play golf. People forget the target is a 4 1/4" hole, the games about accuracy, not distance.
> Waaaaaaaay to many players get caught up in hitting their driver far, or having a proper challenge on the course. So fucking true, man. Like, I play with this guy who utterly refuses to play from nothing but the blues (2nd longest tees). Doesn't matter what the rating/slope is, he thinks it's emasculating for him to play from a forward tees. Like, bro, you only break 90 once in a blue moon, why make this fucking game harder than it needs to be? I love when I play with another buddy who's relatively new and we play from one of the forward tees (whites) and for me, I love that I'm going driver-wedge on most of the par 4's because then I can shoot something like +2 or +3 if I can make some putts. Plus there's the additional mental aspect of knowing you're scoring well and staying focused with every shot and nothing thinking ahead. Learning to keep playing within yourself knowing you're on the pace for a PB (regardless of the tee) is an important piece of the mental game.
Learning to score AND keep the mental side of the game is HUGE. This helps your game way more than anything.
I play with a guy who's literally the worst golfer I've ever seen. He does however hit an enormous shot (when he doesn't airmail it). He'll smoke a 6 iron 200+ yards and walk to his ball giving it large all the way and I'm like 'mate it's the 10th tee and you're 40 over, wind your neck in!'
That was me the other day. Hit a drive over 300. On in 2 on a par 5. 4 putt (it was a large green okay...). I'm bad at golf but the 7i chart isn't the answer. Finished the day with a 112. I just started again after a damn 10 year break, but shit it feels bad.
I don't mean to have a go, this is a genuine question. How do you hit the ball that far and score 112? I've been playing just over a year and hit my driver around 200 carry. I would give anything to hit drives that far. Were you just wild off the tee and going OB? What were you playing off before your 10 year break?
Playing off around a 30 back then. Former baseball player. Short game has always been atrocious. Can strike my irons alright but inside of 50 yards I am a hot freaking mess. Bladed chips and the whole 9. Have a huge deceleration problem with chipping.
Have you tried toe down chipping? I find it brilliant as long as there's not a bunker in the way. https://youtu.be/c1IFVaKlU1A?si=_KDtpbjICtK6S_TH
Toe down I have tried. We have extremely tight lies here in Texas. I want a lower bounce wedge. Lowest I have is an 8. Even when I use the bounce I tend to get on top of it.
Well good luck with it! Hope you get it sorted because with that sort of distance you can go low! 👍
I'm shooting better than I was before. Continuous improvement is all I care about! Thanks for the well wishes
This is strangely coincidental. I had the round of my life a couple weeks ago, where I was one under with three holes left to go. I bogeyed all three unfortunately, but it was still so insanely fun. The shots I remember are the long birdie putts and 2-3 the irons/flops that I flushed
When things are going well, its really really hard to get out of your own way and keep the good times going. Once you get comfortable making a few birdies and playing under par, your mindset seems to naturally shift to preserving what you have, which far too often leads to trouble. You really have to train yourself to keep your foot on the gas and try to make more birdies. I've found its much much more challenging to keep a good string of holes going than it is to correct a bad string of holes.
Spot on
I started doing this a few years back when one of the regulars in my group had knee surgery. Not only do you get lots of opportunities for par or birdie but the increased pace of play really helps the whole group.
Life's too short to be pissed off, and especially as a beginning golfer. Facilitate fun. Keep doing your thing, OP.
Thanks. Just trying to have fun.
Who’s the imbecile who told you to play from the tips?
My first time playing I joined a group of three older guys. Up to that point I had only hit the range and been on the course with my instructor. None of the guys kept score but they kept saying the forward tees are for ladies. I am new to the game so I just rolled with it.
Saw a post a while back that may help with the mentality of which tee to start from. Labeling them women's and men's is not good for beginners, and some places have started labeling them with recommended handicaps per tee instead. If you can't play golf well because your a beginner, shooting from the back is just wasteful and useless.
Yeah I saw something too that was a Pro or club pro or someone like that, who said its not men and womens tees, its actually just skill level. If youre 120+ probably use the front tees then move back as you get more comfortable/skilled but most dont because they are deemed the ladies tee.
This is the way
Good on you. Wish I'd swallowed my pride earlier and done the same tbh. Playing from the tips forces such bad practice habits early on. 100yards in matters more then anything, not 250+ drives.
[удалено]
This is my course, I'll be practicing on the putting green and just watching these idiots fire ball after ball into the woods from the tips when they'd even have a hard enough time hitting the fairway from the whites (mid-tees.)
The amount of people that play from the tips at my home course, then you see them playing their second shot around the forward tees is insane. Never understood it.
I started using ‘tee it forward’ guidelines it has made a huge difference in how much more I enjoy the game
A good rule of thumb is to play from the tees you can par. I drive the ball about 240 yards so the tips makes a lot of holes a par 5 for me. I play from blues normally but some rounds I might feel like working on my wedges and will tee it up from the whites.
I mean I play golf to have fun and the only person I’m competing against is myself. Play from whatever tees provide the most fun and engaging experience for you.
Thanks for not calling them the ladies tees.
Kudos man for an early enlightenment!
Tired or being upset. I want golf to be fun.
Agreed!
From someone that teaches golf for a living, you shouldn’t bother playing anything over 6800 unless you can consistently hit driver 260-280. Otherwise it’ll be a lot of woods/hybrids into par 4’s
Found Katt Williams’ burner.
😂😂😂😂 this made me laugh ! I did try the front tees after I saw him say it. It’s worked out for me
I do this in the fall when leaves are all over the ground. Tee off with irons and hybrids. Nice change of pace and I lose fewer balls
Took my 8 year old out for his first time on the course for a little twilight 9 last week and played from the front tees. It was a lot of fun.
Unpopular opinion. Pick a tee based on your distances not your handicap. I'm a 20 but driver is actually my most consistent club so I pick tees that let me use it as much as possible. Forward tees would give me a lo of long irons that I can't hit for shit
I wish they changed the tees names go by handicaps or average total score.
I’m a 9 handicap and I’ve never seen the tips. This is nuts.
This is the way! I’ve been having a blast the past year playing from the front tees until I shoot my goal score. I’ve had the most fun seeing my golfing buddies shoot their best scores and really learn how to score. 10/10 would recommend. ♠️
Even as a single that gets paired with people who want to play the tips...play your tees...make the game fun!
I’m turning 70 this April. My best friend is six months younger than me. He started playing from the front tees about a year ago as he was finding that he was never reaching the par fours in regulation. I asked him how he enjoyed playing the front tees. He said he absolutely loved it and should have done it sooner. I think I’m probably going to join him upfront this year once the snow melts. Golf is already hard enough as it is without making it harder on ourselves by playing from the wrong tees.
100% agree on men playing front tee. Suffered thru game 27yrs, 67yrs old w/44 HC. Have privilege of playing great courses (including Augusta '23). Like Clint said: "A man's got to know his limitations". Mine is golf and front tee makes it fun.
I play forward tees for practice. Last time I did irons only.
I will try this. Sometimes I don’t use my driver at all because some days it just doesn’t work.
3i fairway finder all day if you need to lol
I would absolutely score better from the front tees with 6 iron and up than with my full bag from 2 tees further back.
I am a 24 hcap. I don't enjoy playing from the front tees because I end up hitting an iron off most tees. It doesn't help my score much, if at all. I've played the tips once in the last decade or so (because the twosome I was playing with was playing the tips) and it raised my score about 2 strokes. Nothing wrong with moving up, but it is worth checking out the USGA guide that is based on how far you hit a 7I. Then you can consider your handicap. I followed the guide and actually moved back to try to play 6100yds (typically blues instead of whites). A beginner, no matter how far they hit it had no business playing the tips in the first place.
That almost sounds like a cruel joke a buddy would play on a beginner playing from the tips. I’ve played a long time and I’m cool with the blues
Duh
Why did you ever think you should be playing from the back tees
No reason to penalize yourself. I just play from the whites(or whatever course says per handicap) as it's more fun. The quantity of times I have seen random single that gets put with my group playing from the pro tees/tips and has no business is quite large.
I play the whites and have been paired up two weekends in a row with people who should let their ego go and move up lol
I prefer to play from the second to front tees unless someone in the group pushes otherwise. You do you, it’s more fun for me this way.
Me and my 3 regular golfing mates sometimes play front, middle and back - first 6 we’ll play fronts etc etc. it’s good fun and makes the round even more interesting. 3 of us are 12 hcp, one is 2. None of us care where we play from. But yeh tips all the time is bold.
I played from the front tees and shot a normal score I would’ve shot from one tee back.
I’ve only been playing for like 3+ years, and I can count on one hand the number of people I’ve seen play from the tips. I don’t understand where are all you people playing that this is so common? lol
It's pretty common here in AZ. The course I play at most often actually has "championship" tees that are only out when the college players have a tourney, and I regularly see people teeing off from the tee boxes where they would be. I'd say at least 20% of the groups on the course are playing from the tips every time I play. I've played the tips, and occasionally play the "black/white" combo (whites on odd holes, tips on even), but most of the guys I see playing from the blacks should be playing the whites/golds. Championship - ~7200 yards Black - ~6700 yards White/Black - ~6300 yards White - ~6100 yards Gold - ~5700 yards Red - ~5100 yards
The tips should have a sign that says "here there be dragons. Turn back while you still can"
Whoah, I wonder if everyone should play from the tees that are appropriate for their handicap?
If you have friends who think they’re too good to join you at the front tees, throw down a bet. Challenge them to get their same average score but using only 3 clubs + putter from the front tees for the whole round. Then the next time you go out have them do it again but with a different 3 clubs. So maybe the first time they do it, they pick driver / 6i / SW. They get their average, give or take. Next time make them do it again but they can’t use their driver, 6i, or SW.
I play from the tips started playing last year from the tips and I'm a bogey golfer on most holes sometime double if I can't get my putts to go
Sorry but why were you playing from the tips lol? Just didn't know or something?
I've never met anyone who was new to golf and played from the tips. Why would you?
I ball out from the tips of my local par 3
And this is why we have slow play
Jack wouldn't let his kids move back a set until they broke par. More people should do this
Play the tees closest to this distance: Average 5i carry distance X 36 = total yards
Course I'm a member at allows you to pick your tees for competitions (outside of club champion/honor board events)- Black, Green, Orange and Silver. I play quite well from Green (our old Blues) but I recently played with a +3 handicapper and he was off the silver tees which are much further forward he said why make things harder, I can avoid 99% of the trouble off the tee providing I hit the fairway. I've now since moved myself off the forward tee's and the game got a lot more fun.
I’m just as bad from 5000 yards as I am from 6700. Fun to play the different approaches for sure
Golf is suppose to be fun. I barely break 100 and will always play forward tees. Make it an enjoyable afternoon which will bring you back for more.
Sorry to tell you but everyone knows this haha. The only thing that should matter when deciding where to play is driving distance.
I think it’s valuable to have this message go out once in a while, what with so many douchebags out there loudly boasting about their round from the tips.
I almost always play from Blue (middle). Why is the back called a tip?
Depends on how you enjoy the game. Making the hole easier is fine for some, but others enjoy the challenge. I'd personally rather make a par on an extremely difficult, long hole than birdie on a hole that's driver/chip or driver/wedge. I've also played half a dozen or so rounds from the very front tees at my course and have never scored a differential that lowers the handicap. So why would I want to move up and score worse?
I can see that. I’m not good at all though. So almost everything is challenging right now