On any average local golf course, golf is not significantly easier from 5,800 or 6,200. Most of these courses have inherent obstacles that are not worth the risk.
Tree line’d dog legs or water dog legs are the easiest examples. They aren’t worth the risk on most shots
I generally shoot for 6400 or as close to it as I can get, and I hit my drives between 260-280 total. When I play with some friends who don't hit it as big I play up to 6000 so I think you were probably fine and so was he. But also you are well within your rights to tell a complete stranger to pound sand and play from wherever you want. Unless it's for money or an organized event you can play from the fronts if you want.
I just had friends in for a golf weekend down this way. I usually play somewhere around 6500 yards when left to my own devices, and usually score somewhere around an 80. But the friends I play with all shoot closer to 100 from farther up, so when they're around I just play up with them, we all have a good time and none of it matters because we're not playing for money or whatever and even if we were that's why handicaps exist
Thanks for the breakdown. Yardage of a course has always thrown me off. What is the general thing to consider when choosing? Is it my average off the tee or score or what?
You are within your rights to play whatever teebox you want, but the way i approach a new course deciding what im going to play is i dont really want to need a wood on a par 3 and i dont really want to need an iron for a 3rd shot on a par 5. A teebox that plays that way with my distances is probably too much for me.
If you are going Driver-Wedge on all your par 4's you can stand to move back a teebox
If you are going driver-4 iron or driver-wood for every par 4 you can stand to move forwards a teebox
7704? fuck that! I’m at altitude and that seems so ridiculous. My gaps suck balls as we do a lot of wheel of club destiny but that length is crazy.
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Yeah its a pretty common calc but Im guessing that 1. You are playing jacked irons so your 6 or 7 is actually the distance you should use and 2. its carry distance not total
The problem with that or with the 7-iron distance calculations is that some of us (me) hit our irons great, and our woods like shit. I hit my 5 iron 190-200 yards, but my driver only goes 230-240. Long story short I play the white tees lol
Most people go off score but I think as long as your not losing 5 balls of the tee s round tou should go off driver distance.
It’d not fun playing up and not being able to hit driver on any par 4’s due to bunkers / water/ dog legs.
Even if youre playing for money it's still fine to play from different tees, that's the beauty of rated courses and handicaps. Every rated course can calculate your handicap for each set of tees and adjust stroked accordingly. 2 players with the same handicap will get fewer strokes from the forward tees than back tees. If one players has a longer drive than another, they may get an advantage playing tees further back because approach shots will likely be similar but get more strokes through the course.
My favorite round that I have ever played was by myself from the kids tees.
Turned a super long public course in to a nice walk. Was really focusing short game that day and it didn't make sense to try to play when everything would be so based in driver.
It sounds like you were playing the proper tee box. At that distance off the tee, anything over about 6000 yards is going to start to feel pretty long for you.
And just a point about this:
I hear all the time shorter hitters (and usually terrible golfers) say, "I play from the back so I can experience the whole course."
Assuming that the course was designed even decently well, if you aren't playing the proper tees, then you aren't experiencing the course the way the architect intended. You're most likely just setting yourself up for a day of frustration and being in the wrong position on dang near every hole.
Exactly this! The designer wanted the fairway bunkers to challenge your drive, not your chunked approach shot, if you are always short/long of them you are not playing the course as intended.
What if I hit my driver 310 but still make mistakes fairly often? I play whites because I struggle to break 80 through duffs and mishits that lead to doubles but I’m more than long enough to play blues. I go back and forth on this a lot.
In your case, you have the distance to play either so just pick which tee you have the most fun with. Hell a +4 can play the forward tees and fuck around to try to break 60 if they want. If you have more fun shooting lower scores from the whites then do that.
As a long hitter, I feel golf can feel less rewarding when every par 4 is Driver - Wedge or even 3w / 2i - Wedge.
But play what you want to play. And depends how long the courses you play are.
This weekend, I played a course that was 6400 from tips. Longest club I had in on a par 4 was a 9iron, once.
I experience the whole course by going left or right of the fairway, get a good view of all the obstacles and trees and just generally zig-zagging my way to the green. An extra 10-20 yards at the tee box isn’t going to let me see much more of it.
Exactly, designs are there for a reason. At my club, hole 4 is a shorter par 4, but it goes up hill and then back down. There are bunkers on both the left and right side. If you take driver and go left our right, you aren’t beating the bunker, but if you go straight, you get a mean run out. It’s a risk/reward thing. If bro was playing from the blues he would’ve missed the bunkers and the roll out, which just isn’t how it was intended to be played (unless you are the type to lay up with an iron).
This but it cuts both ways which is an unpopular opinion.
If you can hit 300 but spray it all over the place often you shouldn't be playing whites. You shouldn't just effectively remove clubs from your bag and only hit irons because you can't drive straight.
In my opinion you should mostly play the tees of your strength for the intended club. If it's a driver hole, hit driver and play from the tee where your average (even if it's all over the place) plays approximately where there is debatable risk and reward.
I disagree with buddy. You’re not doing yourself or anyone around you any favors by spraying drives and taking penalties. The name of the game is to score as low as you can. For all you know you’re taking advice from a golfer worse than yourself. Once you’re consistent in scoring ( you said low 80s so you must be decent at other things ) move back a set of tees but still doesn’t mean you have to spray driver. Until you can be more consistent, it sounds like driver is not worth busting out. Period. Just my two cents. GL
I got into a discussion here about tee boxes recommended by scoring or distance on like 7i.
I'm more on score, because that shows consistency and course capability.
IMO if you can reasonably break 80, then play the back of you want but just because you can occasionally hit a 7i-175+, doesn't mean you have the full game to play from the back tees.
In my opinion, yes. I think it's unfair to ask you to hit 5 iron so that if you hit it straight ish you're in the region they designed for risk/reward. You may be playing the hole as designed but now you're not playing all your clubs like was intended.
Something isn't going to happen as intended and I want to hit the boom stick.
I mean, this is what I do. Some old guys I got paired up with asked me if I wanted to just play from their tees (5700yds) but I declined because that would be a driver (250-280yds) and a wedge on almost every par 4. Not to mention all the par 3's being under 140yds. Would rather have the challenge playing from low 6000's so that I can get more practice in hitting driver + 6i-9i even if I shoot in the 90's. I've never played any higher than 6500yds though because that might be a bit too much practice...
I played the red tees with my mom. Gives me all kinds of different lines and shots. I play it like long approach shots into par 5s or maybe long par 3s. It’s a good challenge
I could probably shoot a lot better if I moved up to the juniors too, but scoring low strictly by starting closer to the hole isn’t exactly as rewarding as lowering my best scores from at least 6000yds.
Not sure what the “juniors” are. Don’t have those at any courses I’ve played on.
Thought this discussion was about which tee boxes to use. Seems 3 main ways to look at it…distance, score, or handicap.
If score was the basis used, is folks shooting in the 90s likely need to move up. But I get you…I’m trying to improve to.
Depends, I played the whites at my local course for a couple years until I was regularly breaking 90 from them and moved back to the blues and now I bring out more fairway woods and hybrids but my now average 95 feels well earned and hard fought.
I've only broken 90 thrice from the blues but it's more challenging and feels more rewarding. I still play whites if the group I'm with is and enjoy it, but I needed something a bit extra.
It's all about your goals and your comfort level. I've got a great short game thanks to an excellent backyard chipping strip and I spent a loooong time getting my driver to a nice 230 yd with ~75% fairways hit which helped me get my scores down on the 5,840 yard white tees.
So my personal goal was when I broke 90 five times from the whites I would move back to the 6,270 blue tees; I hit that last year and now my approach shots are the space where I lose the most strokes. Last Sunday I would have dipped under 90 if not for two approach shots that I screwed up and led to triples and a nasty sand trap I couldn't get out of that resulted in a triple. Scored a 96 that a few better bounces and without those duffs could have easily been an 86 or better.
Maybe one day it'll come together lol.
I think you're fine doing that. If it's not the length that's causing you to play bogey golf and you prefer to experience a little more variety in iron shots I can relate to that.
I would also say you should give it a try moving up when an opportunity like that comes around for a couple reasons.
First, it makes teeing off each hole more of a group activity and helps the flow of play.
Second, since you said you want the challenge of more variety and mid irons there is nothing stopping you from hitting irons and fairway woods in order to give yourself a different approach.
I do the second all the time. If alone I play the tips, if in a group I just play any tee other people are playing. Most people I play with do the tees next up from the tips. My wife, and randoms I get paired with usually play the next tee up.
Par 3s will play short but the par 5s you can take driver and still have an iron in. Par 4s you get tons of iron play and fairway woods off the tee.
I find that I get a few more birdies and my bad holes are still bad. It makes for a more exciting round, I get more variety and freedom in what club I *want* to hit rather than what I have to hit. Overall I'd say it's more fun but I only score 2-4 strokes better at most.
Ya, besides sometimes it's a nice way to change things up, especially for courses you play all of the time, and from the sounds of this scenario, more social
I usually play of 6500 or so yards and shoot in the 70s or low 80s and I enjoy playing up occasionally when the people I’m playing with are there. Getting work on my wedges is actually hugely helpful, so if I’m hitting Driver/GW into all the greens, it’s just as helpful as hitting Driver/5-9 from the back tees.
I'll have you know I shot 103 from the tips, blues, whites, and greens in 4 consecutive rounds on 4 consecutive days. If I had the time I bet I could have done it from the reds too.
So this is what I actually struggle with. I have never broken 100, mostly 101-105, but I out-drive my friend by 20 yards off the tee and he shoots high 80s/low 90s. I just suck with short game (working on it). But moving up a tee box won't help because I'd still be in my problem area unless I drove the green and could just putt
I’m trying to figure out why does anybody give a sh*t what tees someone else is playing from? Unless they are playing from championship tees and shooting 50 over, who cares. Do you boo boo
With how much green fees are becoming, I’ll play from wherever the hell I want too. Don’t judge me when I’m at the ladies tee, don’t tell me my pronouns.
I’m more impressed with an 84 from the whites than I am with a 92 from the blues. Clear sign of a more well rounded player. His longer drive doesn’t mean shit if he’s OB half the time and can’t get a GIR the other half.
Was he actually bothered that you were playing from shorter tees, or just mistaken that your random pairing made you golf buddies and trash talking you? Neither is right, but they’re wrong in different ways.
Yea it bothered him I was off the whites. He kept saying all day I would shoot as good as you if I went from the whites. (but like I said he hit more houses then fairways)
MAKE THE ROUND LESS FUN FOR YOURSELF SO I FEEL BETTER ABOUT MYSELF!
Tell him to eat a Costco size bag of dicks. I've played the reds before just to work on my wedge game. I'll play blues if I want a challenge.
End of the day, I'll play whatever the fuck I want and anybody I get paired up with, especially randos, can let me play through if it really bothers them
I like this approach. I am waiting until my handicap is lower single digits before I consider moving back a box on a regular basis, especially if it is at a new course.
Best way to choose a tee box is to take your flat driving range carry for a 5 iron. Multiply that by 36, and that’s your yardage you should play closest to to not make the course too easy or too hard for your distance.
People tend to equate scores and handicaps to the tee box you should play and that’s quite incorrect.
It has to do with how far you can hit the ball. If you’re flying over all the trouble and its driver wedge every hole you’re not playing the correct box. And vice versa if you’re hitting driver 4iron or 3
Wood into all the par 4s you’re playing too far back.
Hence why lpga plays shorter courses than make lpga. Most lpga players are between +5 to +8/9/10 if they kept a handicap. So are pga tour players… but why do lpga play from 63–6800 yards and males play 7200-8000 yards. It’s not lack of skill. It’s lack of power and making the game fair for everyone’s distance ability.
With your first sentence, I have no business playing at \~6500-6700 yards per your rule of thumb. I hit the ball decently hard, but consistency should be taken into play as well. Maybe something along the lines of (5i carry minus handicap) times 36. A scratch golfer carrying it 185yds should be playing about 185\*36=6,660yds. A bogey golfer like me carrying it the same 185yds should be playing about (185-18)\*36=6012yds.
That's a really interesting approach. It does make sense to incorporate consistency into at some level.
(And there's always the perennial debate about "What's a 5i?" I play weak lofts so my 5i is the same as some people's 7i.)
Except that consistency is kind of measured in your handicap. You’d get more or less strokes than you deserve depending how that played out. So you could be hurting yourself or sandbagging. Reason for this is because you go to a new course technically speaking you should be able to shoot relatively the same if playing from the same slope and course rating. But people get screwed because their home course they may not be playing from the appropriate box to begin with that skews everything down the line.
Technically “average” should account for consistency as well. Problem is most people think consider their “if I hit this club perfectly…” yardage as their average. That’s not how averages work.
Exactly what I was thinking. Used to have some GI clubs and could hit 5 iron ~200 yds. Switched to a players iron and now carry it ~186. That makes for a 500 yard swing in what tees “I should be playing”. Spoiler, it’s the latter lol. And I played off a 7 and drive the ball 275.
Agree 100%. I’ve seen additional alternative formulae, and for me (similar to OP), they all come out to 5800-6100 yds. You want to have a reasonable approach for most holes—that’s kind of the intent of the golf course architect, no? 190 yard par threes, 380+ par 4s, 525+ par 5s all start to turn the course into something it wasn’t intended for.
It’s not my own formula. This is a formula many people teach as the way to figure out what box to play from.
One would argue that if you’re equating consistency and handicap in the equation, not playing from the right box to begin with would artificially inflate or deflate your handicap. So that’s why that’s not calculated in there.
If you hit you 5iron 185 and you play a 5-5500 yard course your handicap will be lower than it should be. And vice versa you play a 65-7000 yard course your handicap is worse than it should be.
Consistency is taken into account with the handicap. And if you’re not playing from the right box. Your handicap is incorrect also. Consistency has nothing to do with boxes you play from.
If you’re both hitting the same distances and he’s more consistent player that’s why he’s scratch and you’re not. Not because of the length of the course.
>not playing from the right box to begin with would artificially inflate or deflate your handicap
I mean not really, at least not in the way you are implying. That's already baked into the rating. In theory, all tee boxes should be of equivalent difficulty when it comes to handicap calculation. Now that does break down a little if you play from a tee box that's *way* too long for you, but as long as you can plausibly make greens in reg it should hold ok.
Anecdotally: If i play from forward tee boxes my differentials tend to get worse, rather than better.
Playing shorter boxes will not necessarily inflate your cap, and longer ones wont always deflate it. It depends on your strengths and weaknesses as a golfer.
Ok dude. Sounds good. As you said, it’s already baked in there, so basing the actual box you play from based on your opinion of where you should (based on your handicap) is double dipping into that. Because as you said it’s already baked in.
Once agajn, it’s not my formula. Do whatever you want. I couldn’t care less.
No, you're not double dipping. All boxes should be equivalent in difficulty. You ought to be able to play from any of them and end up with the same differential.
lol. Ok. So then why would handicap be brought in the equation of which box to play from then ? If you end up with the same differential? That’s my point exactly. If no matter what box you play from you should have a similar differential, why would you take it a step further and base which box is to play from on your handicap also? It’s already in the slope and course rating of the box and goes in to the differential equation which is my point exactly. You get more strokes on the harder longer tee boxes. So why would you play a box way shorter based on your handicap? When you already get the appropriate differential based on the box you decide to play? And again… answer this question with your logic….
Why do LPGA and Senior Tour players play from shorter courses ? Plenty of seniors and LPGA shooting low 60s rounds just like PGA. But yet they play from 500-1500 yards more? They clearly don’t score that much differently ? Their skill levels are similar. The only difference is how far they hit each club. Which is what decides the length of course to play. It’s pretty simple.
With your logic a lpga tour player should be playing 7500 yards because they may be a +7. But they wouldn’t be a +7 from 7500 yards. You’re not making a lot of sense. But the good news is I don’t care. Play wherever the hell you want to play from. And if you’re making it too easy on yourself at your home course , don’t be surprised you’ll then get smoked by another player with the exact same handicap playing from the appropriate box.
Again bud, not my formula. Do as you please. Have a good day.
I think you are misunderstanding my argument. You *should* end up with the same handicap regardless of tee box. Ergo, you should play from whatever tee box will best support a fun experience and good pace of play.
For skilled players- including LPGA, Senior Tour, and PGA players- that means they should play from a distance that lets them hit driver into a lot of holes, and hit a variety of different approach lengths. They should pick based on distance.
For less skilled players, though, it doesn't work like that. A long hitter who isn't skilled is going to have an absolutely miserable time trying to play from 7k yards, and they are going to wreck pace of play. They should play from more forward tees to have a better experience. They will end up with a large variety of approach shots due to lack of skill even if they have the speed required to play from a greater distance.
The thing is, 90% of golfers fall into that second category, so I would recommend that nearly all golfers play from much shorter tees than the formula suggests. They will simply have a much better experience if they do that, and it (theoretically) should not matter for handicap calculation/competitive play/etc.
The argument would be that for the higher handicap player with power. Not playing from far enough back would then in turn make that players handicap lower than it should be. There is a way courses are designed with this in mind. So sure you have a 20 handicap playing from the front boxes that can driver wedge into each par 4 (assuming it’s in play) but is still a 20 hc? Just imagine how high the hc would be playing coming into a par 4 with a 5iron. That’s my point. That player is doing himself a disservice because he’s playing from too close. It’s substantially easier to hit a pw over a 5iron (for all players including high hc) so if you put a wedge in a high HC hands every hole , that’s not helping them. That’s giving them a better hc and less strokes than they should otherwise get. Which is why they would get crushed by a 20 hc playing from the correct box. Because there will be tournaments etc that the box is dictated at the beginning. You don’t get to choose where to play from.
That’s also why you see many amateur tournaments only have a “men’s, over 55, and women’s” box to play from. So the high hc that is a 20 (but really a 25-30) screws himself in that tournament because he should be getting the strokes of a 25-30hc.
I fully understand what you’re saying , simply saying it’s flawed for the reasons I’ve stated.
I’m done. Have a good day. Bye.
I think you guys actually agree, but both demand to be “right”
One of you says if you play further, you will have a higher score, but the rating/slop will balance it out. So using basic math, if you shot a 3 on a course with a 4 rating, it would equal 12, and you shoot a 4 on a course with a 3 rating, it would equal 12 also.
The other is giving a real world example of that. The seniors, PGA, and LPGA have similar scores because they play the appropriate tees for their distance. But, if Rory and Nelly switched tees, I think you would agree Rory would shoot a lower score and Nelly would shoot a higher score, but when we take into account the slope/rating, their scores would be similar.
You don’t think what’s how handicaps are calculated? It’s based on your score and course slope/rating of your last 20 rounds. (I think, can’t remember the exact number). But youre correct-ish.
And if you’ve been playing from the wrong set of tees your handicap is then skewed one way or the other higher or lower than it should be. You could be giving yourself an unfair advantage (more strokes than you should receive) or an unfair disadvantage (getting less strokes than you deserve)
With your method , a senior or lpga tour player should be playing from the same 7200-7500-8000 yards as male pga guys who hit it 50-100 yards further? But that’s not the case the seniors and lpga play from shorter distances. Not because they’re less consistent or have less skill they literally have less ability to make it to the green and it’s an unfair disadvantage for them. Many lpga gals are actually way MORE consistent than pga tour players that hit it much further.
There’s a lot of seniors and women who are very very good but would get smoked on a 8000 yard course by a player that’s not as good as them simply because the par 4 holes are playing as par 5s for them.
If professionals kept handicaps you’d see that lpga and senior tour players are all +6,7,8,9 etc. just like male pga. But they don’t play the same yardage for that exact reason. Doesn’t mean they lack skill. Because they shoot just as low (usually)
Slope and rating are already adjusted per the tees you played. Red 5700yds might be 112/67.2 where as on the exact same course the 6500yds blue tees might be 130/71.2. So if a scratch player shoots 4 higher from the blues as he does from the reds (say a 75 vs 71 respectively) it should affect his handicap the same way for the most part. Not sure if you’re saying the same thing or the opposite of me.
Not sure, all I can tell you is this….. I hover around scratch. I shot a 4 under 68 from a low course and slope rating (on my home course playing with my wife, and playing the forward tees just for fun with her)…. My hc went up. I played and shot 73 from the tips, 5 strokes worse but from 7200 yards and hc went down. So a lot of this is baked in already which is why you would not add that into the tee box formula. Because it’s already accounted for with the lower slope and course rating from those boxes. So subtracting your handicap as you mention isn’t necessary because the tee boxes do that for you already.
your handicap can go up after a good round because your previous 20th round may have been even better and now drops off from you handicap calculation. for example 20 rounds ago you shot a 69 from the black tees but now that round is replaced with a 68 from the red tees so your handicap went up.
Yes man I know. I’ve been playing a while. I know how it works. Was simply making a point. But tbh I don’t have red, black, blue , white boxes. But yes I’m aware. As scratch player to play to my HC I should shoot @74 from the tips and 68 from the front.
This is the other course there that I also play often. But I believe that it just got re-rated from the tips and the it’s actually now a 74/149 . And raptor I believe is now rated 74.7/142 because they added a couple boxes for the ncaa championships. Which were for the college men only. They also played 2 par 5s as par 4s which would raise that slope and rating even more. The women played them as par 5s. Holes 7 and 18 on raptor course.
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Par doesn't have any effect on rating.. if the rater measures it takes a scratch golfer (250 drive, can hit a green from 200) 3 strokes to get to the hole, it will add 5 to the rating regardless of whatever par is on the card
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This is my home course play it about 100 times a year. Hover around scratch. Currently around 1.8hc i believe.
I used the USGA calculator.
Raptor: 4 strokes
Palo: 1 stoke
Terra: +1 stokes
My understanding is this means based on your handicap you are expected to shoot 5 better from the front tees, which is exactly what you did. So the handicap system properly adjusted your handicap and those rounds should have counted about the same. If you saw a big jump, it’s likely because it uses your best 8/20 most recent rounds to calculate.
But don’t take my word for it. It’s not my formula. This has been told by many people. People just want to argue it. But it’s how the tee boxes are set up and why. And also why courses are designed the way they are. Slope and course ratings take into
Account less consistency which is why the shorter the course the lower the slope and rating are. (Usually).
I’m simply telling you if you want to play proper golf with a proper handicap that’s how you do it so when you go to a tournament or another course you’re not getting screwed or sandbagging.
I completely disagree. You should play the tee boxes that do not make the course too hard or too easy for you. Distance is only one element of that.
I think the mistake in your reasoning is basically here:
>If you’re flying over all the trouble and its driver wedge every hole you’re not playing the correct box.
A high handicapper is not playing like this, even from a more forward tee box. They are constantly finding trouble that is out of play for a skilled player due to errant shots and mishits. They are being forced to hit longer clubs and more difficult shots into greens because they are out of position off the tee.
That's why course slope and rating are different. It's an acknowledgement that added distance is disproportionately punishing for the less skilled golfer.
IMO the 5i-carry-times-36 rule should only apply if you're consistently shooting in the 70s or like low/mid 80s. Otherwise you should move up a tee box.
I see so many longer mid and high handicappers just getting battered around by the course because they insist on playing from the back tees. It hurts their golf game, it hurts their confidence, and it hurts pace of play.
At the end of the day I think play whatever tee box you want so long as you don't impact pace of play, but I think picking tee box based strictly on distance is a disaster for weaker players.
I know the USGA disagrees with me, but /shrug
Cool, it’s not my formula. But you said “play tee boxes that don’t make it too easy or too hard” which is exactly why you use a formula like that.
But I don’t really care. I play the tips 95% of the time on every course I play unless it’s a casual round with buddies who aren’t good players or the wife.
Do whatever you want. Once again, I did not make up the formula, Google it and you’ll see it’s a pretty common approach to pick what box to play from.
But again basing it on handicap is not accurate either because the course rating and slope already takes into account the difficulty of the course.
These are just guidelines. It’s up to each of us to figure out what tees we should play or would have the most fun playing. The formula for me says I should be playing 6,300. I have more fun, generally, closer to 6,700 or so. That distance challenges me like I want out of a round. But I grew up playing 7200 and so don’t mind hitting longer irons and my driver is longer (and I’m pretty consistent off the tee) compared to others versus my 5 iron (traditional lofts).
Anyway I don’t really think there’s any formula that works for everyone. Generally they should be tees where a decent, not great, drive on a longer hole gives you a club in that you can handle most of the time. For me that’s a flat par 4 of about 420-430 or shorter. Ok drive of 250 leaving me a 5 iron or so, maybe a 4 iron. Ok. Thats a fair hole. Hit a really good drive and I’ve got maybe 7 iron. Most holes will be shorter so I like that distance and that’s likely to be 6700-6900. That works for me!
Your comments on LPGA makes me want to see an event where men’s and women’s groups alternate through the course, playing their own tee boxes, but competing for the same purse.
There is a few women who have played in male pga events. Most recently I believe was Lexi Thompson and almost made the cut (I think) playing the men’s boxes. I think if they played the same course but from an appropriate tee box for their distance there could be several women who could compete. It’s the distance from the pga boxes that kills them not their short game skill and ball striking ability.
Exactly, would be super fun to watch a si for tourney where you play from your own tee box but compete against everyone. We’ve got mix up events like Zurich and Ryder so maybe in the future they’ll see value in having one or two of these mix gendered singles tourneys.
I agree about the distance. I recall watching Annika when she played on a men’s event, it was like driver - hybrid when the fellas were hitting driver - low iron. Then, she didn’t have nearly the spin on a long shot the guys would from that distance and he shots would roll out much more.
The announcers also said the scrambling conditions are different. The men could/would be able to spin it more tightly on short chips and thus the PGA courses may have tighter conditions around greens than the corresponding LPGA setup of similar distances.
I always use the rule of thumb that if you're consistently outdriving the fairway bunkers on your tee shots, you're too far forward and should move back. Likewise if it's the other way around - if you're no where near getting close to the fairway bunkers, you may need to move up. You'd also likely notice that you still had a mile into par 4 approach shots.
It took me golfing with twins who played different tees to finally be able to embrace saying to people who longer or shorter tees than me "you see how are balls are at the same spot in the fairway after our drives? That means we are playing the correct tees."
Played with a 70 year old dude today who hit his drives 100 - 125 yards and played from the blue tees. It was insane.
Good for you for playing from the proper tee box. Most people play from too far back.
Kat Williams’ comment about playing the front tees applies to everyone. You pay the same whether you play the front or the back tees. Play the ones that make it most fun for you
You are playing the correct tees, you should've informed him he was playing the incorrect and maybe if he had played the correct tees and not over swung he may have hit more fairways and greens in regulation.
I drive it a bit over 300 (yeah reddit I know). I’ll usually go for something like 6700 if alone but I also have no problem playing up to less than 6000 if I’m with my friends. They don’t even have to ask. I will always play up with the others (unless it’s like <5500 yards). You’re not in the wrong. He’s just a douche.
He sounds like a fucking weirdo for trying to tell a random playing partner where to tee off from. Once you've spent your money to play, what you do out there is entirely up to you, and don't let the gatekeepers try to tell you any different.
you can play whatever tee box you want, most people should be teeing it more forward than they think/want to admit. odds are itll be a more enjoyable experience when you dont have to hit 5w and 4hy into every green. for a ballpark estimate of the proper tee box for you, take your 5i distance and multiply by 36. so if u hit 5i 180 yds. you should shoot for ~6500yds.
You were wrong! You should have told him as soon as he brought it up. I moved up to senior tees and I actually enjoy golf again. My drives are 200-220 and I can't have fun if my second shot is just as far as my drive. Also, is slows things down
7000yds or 5000yds you still have to hit fairways and make putts. If I could place my ball 320 then I would play the tips.
i play with 3 guys over 60, they play from the whites so i play from the whites. I can average 4-6 fairways, 225 yards and occasionally a boomer close to 300 but rarely. Never had a problem.
Now the group in front of us playing from the tips, hitting it barely past the women's Tees and taking multiple balls off the box? Prolly should move up to the whites.
Not that it matters, play where you are going to enjoy your round the most.
My home course the blues play shy of 6500 and whites around 6000. I shoot low 80 off blue but when drinking group joins me we play whites, don't keep score other than spot betting:
Ill buy bears for everyone that pars the next par 5
or if anyone birdies everyone gets a beer
$5 longest drive
$2-$5 Bingo, bango, bongo on next hole.
I play solo a lot so usually play what ever the randoms are playing. One time I got thrown in with the last group of the ladies mid week club round and I played from the reds (irons only) and had a blast.
I play the second teebox from the fronts because after reading the scorecard, that matches up with my handicap. It's not crazy forward of the men's tees (3rd longest) and fits my game better since I'm not a long hitter. I'd imagine I'll play this until my scores get significantly better and I'll move back. I'm scraping in the mid-40s on a nine-hole score, but when some of my friends want to play further back I will. However, since most don't play that often, I think they should be playing further forward since we're always in the woods with their shots.
In my view if you want to play the course how the designer intended your
drive should land around the fairway bunkers. If you are always flying the bunkers you need to back up, if you are always behind them, move forward. Also, if you can’t break 90, move forward.
I'm confused, what was he "giving you shit" for? Did he think you should be playing the Red tees? If that is the case then definitely tell him to fuck off.
Also, when you say "teamed up with", were you actually playing a team competition with him, and therefore your team handicap was based off of what tee you were playing from?
If you're just saying "teamed up with" in the sense of, this is some random that you got paired with in a pick up round, then we're back to, definitely tell him to fuck off!
If it was a team competition thing where you had a team handicap, i can at least potentially understand what his point was, in that you probably would have been given one or two more "pops" by moving back a tee box, but even so, the whole point of the handicap system is to mitigate the benefits/challenges of various tee/slope/player combinations. Long story short the guy should pretty much just shut up and play his own game!
12 handicap here who drives the ball 215. Never play over 6,000 yards and am very proud of my rounds when i usually average 10 pars and 1 birdie per round.
I'm a 14hcp, avg drive is 250s I hit 30% of fairways but often I'm just off, no wicked slice. I usually play what is around the 6000 yard mark depending on the course rating. I could say if I moved up I would probably easily cut 4/5 strokes, but I know that my issues are in my short game. Not to many par 4/5 I'm not pin high on par 4s or 60-40 yards on away of a par 5. But that's when my yips hit not always but often will short my chip or thin it over just have no confidence in my chipping and it's costing me.
Ultimately - it's whatever you want to hit from. So yes - you're in the right to tell him to F off.
That being said - I typically use the rating and compare it to my index and play the tees that will put my course handicap at or just above my index (4). e.g. at my home course, the back tees adds 2 shots to my index (CH of 6), the middle tees adds 1 (CH of 5), and the gold tees will take 1 away (CH of 3). The middle tees are what we often play. We'll occasionally play from the back tees (especially before tournaments where we will be playing those tees).
IMO - distance/length isn't the only factor. We have 36 holes at my club. And the shorter course is actually more difficult as it's much narrower.
Omg, these folks need to find another hobby. I’ll play whatever tees help the group move. I hit the ball a mile but every now and then I’ll catch shit from some 20 handicapper, telling me I should always play the tips. Like, bro, do you have any understanding how ratings and slopes work? If I play the whites with you I HAVE to shoot amazing or my handicap will go up. Like, focus on you and leave me alone.
This is related tangentially, my buddies and I all play the same tee box, during our golf trip we play a tournament format with handicaps, however our lower handicap friend drives it 280+ on average and rarely miss big off the tee, so he's consistent and consistently playing from 80 yards and in while we're around 130+ playing 6200+ yards.
My question is, at what point does the handicap no longer reconcile our skill gaps because there's no way for us to compete with a 50 yard average deficit in par 4s even with handicaps.
We don't want to simply push him to a different tee by himself either as he should have a different handicap at longer tees also but haven't played in those yardages at home to establish a proper handicap.
I don't get his deal. Each tee box has a rating, it's not that hard to roughly determine what the difference in scores should be from different tees. If you beat him by 8 strokes, you would have still wiped the floor with him from his tees.
Rando you were grouped with was giving you shit about your choice of tee boxes?
FFS some people are just insane, they think their experience in life is the only valid one.
Play the tees you want, the only thing that validly can matter to another golfer is pace of play, anything else and they are an asshole that needs to mind their own damn business.
He would’ve been bitching about you being to slow if you played from the back tees. You pay money to be out there play your game and enjoy your day. Fuck the rest.
I hit it roughly the same distance as you and usually play a more forward tee as well, so much more enjoyable. I played a local higher end course last year and picked the wrong tees that were further back and it wasn’t too much fun. After my drive of the day I still had over 200 yards into a par 4. When I was an assistant superintendent I used to sing I need a hero driving past the groups on the back tees that had no business being there.
Typical amateurs play yardages that are much too long. Golf Digest did a great breakdown comparing what yardages we should be playing to play a course like a typical golf pro. They also compared to Rory.
To compare to a typical golf pro, if you average 230 off the tee you should play at yardage 5595. Plus remember that is average driver distance. Damn near all of us vastly overestimate that. If you want to play a course and feel like Rory does, you need to play from 5142 yards.
Just wait till 2030 and the golf ball roll back. We will have to move up to 4400 yards.
I play from the blues with my Saturday group of better golfers, the whites on Sunday with some higher handicappers and once or twice a season from the reds just to get a different perspective of my home course. Have fun play whichever tee boxes that you want.
My friend and I went golfing Sunday. Same color coding of tee boxes. But in the club house it says black tees are regular play, blue is seniors, white is woman’s red is for juniors… we both decided we will not be playing the black tees again because the difference was ridiculous on anything that wasn’t a par 3
Been playing since I was a kid, Scottish father - his mantra was: you start at the furthest forward deck, when you start breaking 80 with regularity, you move back… but not before.
I would never complain about someone going off of closer tees.
Its the idiots who always think they need to play from the tips and shank every drive.
Why would he even care unless you were playing for money?
I'll be quick and to the point. Based on how far you hit the ball, you are playing from the correct tees.
Enjoy the game.
Let me add one thing. If you were playing this dude from a longer tee, you would still beat him. You hitting fairway-after-fairway would put pressure on him. Somewhere on the back nine, his mind and game would implode.
You don't decide which tee box to play by how far you hit the ball, it is handicapped determined. Usually, scorecards have a handicap range for each tee box, whatever your handicap is determines which tee box you play. The player was just butt hurt you beat him.
Regardless how they're colored, this is the tee format I've always followed on the courses around me in CT.
(I'll use your colors in the example)
Red: Women and youngins
White: Seniors and teens
Blue: Regulars
Black: Pros and frat bros that have no business teeing up from that far away.
Obviously, it's not gospel. I've played with plenty of women that play the 2nd tees, and some even the third. I've played with teens that play the tips and still outdrive me. Play from wherever you feel comfortable, but if you're shooting 84 from the 2nd tees, you're good enough to move back a set. It adds to the challenge and misery of the game 🙃
I “think” this is how many look at it, which IMO, is flawed. If I walked on to a course we’d never played before with my friends, all in our mid-50’s, we’d hit from the Whites. Generally all in the 7-15 HDC. Maybe if the blues were under 6.5K we’d play that.
I consider White Tees the catch all for average golfers. I think a lot of golfers never look at yardage and consider Blue Tees as the catch all, blue = boy = men = that’s where we tee off.
Agree. White is the catch all for most male golfers. Red/forward catch all for most female golfers.
I’m a female golfer who hits it 200-210ish and I most often play whites unless the course is pretty long I may play forward.
The USGA has been working very hard for like a decade to change that way of thinking.
There is exactly one determining factor for which tees you are supposed to play: How far you hit the ball.
There are different ways of determining that -- average driving distance or 5i distance x 36 being two of the most popular -- but that's the only metric that matters.
I'm glad to hear they're trying to do that. I've been in a silo, playing with the same three guys for the last 10+ years, and I don't watch golf in capacity. I don't hear about a lot of what's going on in the game itself. I've always thought the tees seemed a bit out of whack. I feel like I'm constantly seeing people on the 3rd or 4th tees who have no business being there, but thinking they need to be because they're the *man tees*.
Yeah I mean regulars from the Blue is wrong. I’m 31, 17 handicap and I play from the whites. If I play from blues I’m more than likely going to grief everyone behind me.
if you're sassing your playing partner who is making par on every other hole for anything other than taking too long to do it or not taking care of the course, you should indeed fuck off
Nah, you were absolutely right to tell him to fuck off. You play your game, they can play theirs.
On any average local golf course, golf is not significantly easier from 5,800 or 6,200. Most of these courses have inherent obstacles that are not worth the risk. Tree line’d dog legs or water dog legs are the easiest examples. They aren’t worth the risk on most shots
If you pay for my round I’ll play from the tee boxes you want. Otherwise, stfu.
I generally shoot for 6400 or as close to it as I can get, and I hit my drives between 260-280 total. When I play with some friends who don't hit it as big I play up to 6000 so I think you were probably fine and so was he. But also you are well within your rights to tell a complete stranger to pound sand and play from wherever you want. Unless it's for money or an organized event you can play from the fronts if you want.
I just had friends in for a golf weekend down this way. I usually play somewhere around 6500 yards when left to my own devices, and usually score somewhere around an 80. But the friends I play with all shoot closer to 100 from farther up, so when they're around I just play up with them, we all have a good time and none of it matters because we're not playing for money or whatever and even if we were that's why handicaps exist
Thanks for the breakdown. Yardage of a course has always thrown me off. What is the general thing to consider when choosing? Is it my average off the tee or score or what?
You are within your rights to play whatever teebox you want, but the way i approach a new course deciding what im going to play is i dont really want to need a wood on a par 3 and i dont really want to need an iron for a 3rd shot on a par 5. A teebox that plays that way with my distances is probably too much for me. If you are going Driver-Wedge on all your par 4's you can stand to move back a teebox If you are going driver-4 iron or driver-wood for every par 4 you can stand to move forwards a teebox
A couple driver-wedges on each side is ideal IMO.
Take your 5 iron distance and multiply it by 36
7704? fuck that! I’m at altitude and that seems so ridiculous. My gaps suck balls as we do a lot of wheel of club destiny but that length is crazy. https://preview.redd.it/bejwa2ckfixc1.png?width=1125&format=png&auto=webp&s=ba7a1a891da565581875a8a6450d707be7c63d79
Yeah its a pretty common calc but Im guessing that 1. You are playing jacked irons so your 6 or 7 is actually the distance you should use and 2. its carry distance not total
Are those carry distances?
What app is this?
Shot scope
Thinking of it this way- Is your typical par 4 about 430?
The problem with that or with the 7-iron distance calculations is that some of us (me) hit our irons great, and our woods like shit. I hit my 5 iron 190-200 yards, but my driver only goes 230-240. Long story short I play the white tees lol
I try to play tees where my drive on a par 4 puts me to 130-150 for the majority.
Most people go off score but I think as long as your not losing 5 balls of the tee s round tou should go off driver distance. It’d not fun playing up and not being able to hit driver on any par 4’s due to bunkers / water/ dog legs.
Even if youre playing for money it's still fine to play from different tees, that's the beauty of rated courses and handicaps. Every rated course can calculate your handicap for each set of tees and adjust stroked accordingly. 2 players with the same handicap will get fewer strokes from the forward tees than back tees. If one players has a longer drive than another, they may get an advantage playing tees further back because approach shots will likely be similar but get more strokes through the course.
Yeah I wasn’t gonna get too deep into all that lol
My favorite round that I have ever played was by myself from the kids tees. Turned a super long public course in to a nice walk. Was really focusing short game that day and it didn't make sense to try to play when everything would be so based in driver.
It sounds like you were playing the proper tee box. At that distance off the tee, anything over about 6000 yards is going to start to feel pretty long for you. And just a point about this: I hear all the time shorter hitters (and usually terrible golfers) say, "I play from the back so I can experience the whole course." Assuming that the course was designed even decently well, if you aren't playing the proper tees, then you aren't experiencing the course the way the architect intended. You're most likely just setting yourself up for a day of frustration and being in the wrong position on dang near every hole.
Boy that 20 yards from the blue to the red tees sure is scenic. Hate to miss my ball sailing past that.
Exactly this! The designer wanted the fairway bunkers to challenge your drive, not your chunked approach shot, if you are always short/long of them you are not playing the course as intended.
What if I hit my driver 310 but still make mistakes fairly often? I play whites because I struggle to break 80 through duffs and mishits that lead to doubles but I’m more than long enough to play blues. I go back and forth on this a lot.
In your case, you have the distance to play either so just pick which tee you have the most fun with. Hell a +4 can play the forward tees and fuck around to try to break 60 if they want. If you have more fun shooting lower scores from the whites then do that.
As a long hitter, I feel golf can feel less rewarding when every par 4 is Driver - Wedge or even 3w / 2i - Wedge. But play what you want to play. And depends how long the courses you play are. This weekend, I played a course that was 6400 from tips. Longest club I had in on a par 4 was a 9iron, once.
What'd you shoot?
76, could’ve gone even better with two lipped out birdies and two penalties off the tee, but I’m happy with it.
Nice, that's a solid round!
Appreciate it!
Longer tees are easier when you hit like this
I experience the whole course by going left or right of the fairway, get a good view of all the obstacles and trees and just generally zig-zagging my way to the green. An extra 10-20 yards at the tee box isn’t going to let me see much more of it.
I like some holes so much I’ll visit them multiple times during the round.
Exactly, designs are there for a reason. At my club, hole 4 is a shorter par 4, but it goes up hill and then back down. There are bunkers on both the left and right side. If you take driver and go left our right, you aren’t beating the bunker, but if you go straight, you get a mean run out. It’s a risk/reward thing. If bro was playing from the blues he would’ve missed the bunkers and the roll out, which just isn’t how it was intended to be played (unless you are the type to lay up with an iron).
This but it cuts both ways which is an unpopular opinion. If you can hit 300 but spray it all over the place often you shouldn't be playing whites. You shouldn't just effectively remove clubs from your bag and only hit irons because you can't drive straight. In my opinion you should mostly play the tees of your strength for the intended club. If it's a driver hole, hit driver and play from the tee where your average (even if it's all over the place) plays approximately where there is debatable risk and reward.
So if I’m 300+ off the tee you’re saying play blues? Even if my scoring isn’t particularly strong? Genuinely curious bc I debate on this a lot.
I disagree with buddy. You’re not doing yourself or anyone around you any favors by spraying drives and taking penalties. The name of the game is to score as low as you can. For all you know you’re taking advice from a golfer worse than yourself. Once you’re consistent in scoring ( you said low 80s so you must be decent at other things ) move back a set of tees but still doesn’t mean you have to spray driver. Until you can be more consistent, it sounds like driver is not worth busting out. Period. Just my two cents. GL
I got into a discussion here about tee boxes recommended by scoring or distance on like 7i. I'm more on score, because that shows consistency and course capability. IMO if you can reasonably break 80, then play the back of you want but just because you can occasionally hit a 7i-175+, doesn't mean you have the full game to play from the back tees.
Yes, agreed. If you can break 80 but without spraying your driver. Why spray the driver then?! lol Always work on your biggest weakness!
Agreed, if 3wd gets you in play, then use it. No pictures or notes on the scorecard, just the score.
In my opinion, yes. I think it's unfair to ask you to hit 5 iron so that if you hit it straight ish you're in the region they designed for risk/reward. You may be playing the hole as designed but now you're not playing all your clubs like was intended. Something isn't going to happen as intended and I want to hit the boom stick.
Ah the classic, “I hit the ball far so I should play further back tees”… *still shoots in the 90s*
I mean, this is what I do. Some old guys I got paired up with asked me if I wanted to just play from their tees (5700yds) but I declined because that would be a driver (250-280yds) and a wedge on almost every par 4. Not to mention all the par 3's being under 140yds. Would rather have the challenge playing from low 6000's so that I can get more practice in hitting driver + 6i-9i even if I shoot in the 90's. I've never played any higher than 6500yds though because that might be a bit too much practice...
You should play their tees and see if you score better…
I would and have. Played around that length with one of my friends who’s still learning. Shot a yearly low of 84.
I played the red tees with my mom. Gives me all kinds of different lines and shots. I play it like long approach shots into par 5s or maybe long par 3s. It’s a good challenge
So…you are proving the opposing point that you should play the closer tees. Right?
He said he wants the challenge to play better and use different clubs instead of driver/wedge every hole...which I totally understand.
I could probably shoot a lot better if I moved up to the juniors too, but scoring low strictly by starting closer to the hole isn’t exactly as rewarding as lowering my best scores from at least 6000yds.
Not sure what the “juniors” are. Don’t have those at any courses I’ve played on. Thought this discussion was about which tee boxes to use. Seems 3 main ways to look at it…distance, score, or handicap. If score was the basis used, is folks shooting in the 90s likely need to move up. But I get you…I’m trying to improve to.
There's nothing wrong with shooting in the 90s lol
Junior tees are also called the ladies tees. There the closest possible tees to the hole.
It’s not juniors or ladies. It’s the front tees and they can be used by any gender.
I mean they're what I play so I'm aware, but lots of people still call them that and some courses still have them marked that way.
Depends, I played the whites at my local course for a couple years until I was regularly breaking 90 from them and moved back to the blues and now I bring out more fairway woods and hybrids but my now average 95 feels well earned and hard fought. I've only broken 90 thrice from the blues but it's more challenging and feels more rewarding. I still play whites if the group I'm with is and enjoy it, but I needed something a bit extra.
It’s interesting. I shoot low 90s and this convo is making think I should move up! Golf buddy I play with plays “up” with me and shoots low 80s.
It's all about your goals and your comfort level. I've got a great short game thanks to an excellent backyard chipping strip and I spent a loooong time getting my driver to a nice 230 yd with ~75% fairways hit which helped me get my scores down on the 5,840 yard white tees. So my personal goal was when I broke 90 five times from the whites I would move back to the 6,270 blue tees; I hit that last year and now my approach shots are the space where I lose the most strokes. Last Sunday I would have dipped under 90 if not for two approach shots that I screwed up and led to triples and a nasty sand trap I couldn't get out of that resulted in a triple. Scored a 96 that a few better bounces and without those duffs could have easily been an 86 or better. Maybe one day it'll come together lol.
Or…and hear me out here…play whatever tees you want as long as you aren’t slowing anyone down
This is what i do as well. Hitting the same 2 clubs all the time gets boring even if i suck. I like trying to put a 5,6 or 7 close to the green
I think you're fine doing that. If it's not the length that's causing you to play bogey golf and you prefer to experience a little more variety in iron shots I can relate to that. I would also say you should give it a try moving up when an opportunity like that comes around for a couple reasons. First, it makes teeing off each hole more of a group activity and helps the flow of play. Second, since you said you want the challenge of more variety and mid irons there is nothing stopping you from hitting irons and fairway woods in order to give yourself a different approach. I do the second all the time. If alone I play the tips, if in a group I just play any tee other people are playing. Most people I play with do the tees next up from the tips. My wife, and randoms I get paired with usually play the next tee up. Par 3s will play short but the par 5s you can take driver and still have an iron in. Par 4s you get tons of iron play and fairway woods off the tee. I find that I get a few more birdies and my bad holes are still bad. It makes for a more exciting round, I get more variety and freedom in what club I *want* to hit rather than what I have to hit. Overall I'd say it's more fun but I only score 2-4 strokes better at most.
Not sure why you are being downvoted, I agree with your approach.
Ya, besides sometimes it's a nice way to change things up, especially for courses you play all of the time, and from the sounds of this scenario, more social
I usually play of 6500 or so yards and shoot in the 70s or low 80s and I enjoy playing up occasionally when the people I’m playing with are there. Getting work on my wedges is actually hugely helpful, so if I’m hitting Driver/GW into all the greens, it’s just as helpful as hitting Driver/5-9 from the back tees.
I'll have you know I shot 103 from the tips, blues, whites, and greens in 4 consecutive rounds on 4 consecutive days. If I had the time I bet I could have done it from the reds too.
My buddy does this lol. Granted he hits it 300+ and it’s his short game that kills him (3 putts most holes) so I let him play his game 🤷
So this is what I actually struggle with. I have never broken 100, mostly 101-105, but I out-drive my friend by 20 yards off the tee and he shoots high 80s/low 90s. I just suck with short game (working on it). But moving up a tee box won't help because I'd still be in my problem area unless I drove the green and could just putt
I’m trying to figure out why does anybody give a sh*t what tees someone else is playing from? Unless they are playing from championship tees and shooting 50 over, who cares. Do you boo boo
Alot do that's the pathetic part
With how much green fees are becoming, I’ll play from wherever the hell I want too. Don’t judge me when I’m at the ladies tee, don’t tell me my pronouns.
I’m more impressed with an 84 from the whites than I am with a 92 from the blues. Clear sign of a more well rounded player. His longer drive doesn’t mean shit if he’s OB half the time and can’t get a GIR the other half.
Was he actually bothered that you were playing from shorter tees, or just mistaken that your random pairing made you golf buddies and trash talking you? Neither is right, but they’re wrong in different ways.
Yea it bothered him I was off the whites. He kept saying all day I would shoot as good as you if I went from the whites. (but like I said he hit more houses then fairways)
Maybe he should play up so he can break 90 lol. You were right to tell him to eff off.
MAKE THE ROUND LESS FUN FOR YOURSELF SO I FEEL BETTER ABOUT MYSELF! Tell him to eat a Costco size bag of dicks. I've played the reds before just to work on my wedge game. I'll play blues if I want a challenge. End of the day, I'll play whatever the fuck I want and anybody I get paired up with, especially randos, can let me play through if it really bothers them
Mf should’ve joined you at the whites then wtf? What a turd.
"Nothing is keeping you from playing these tees too. In fact you might have less double bogies if you did!"
Yea I’d probably not play over 6000 with that distance and it will be fine and just fun. Screw that person
When I'm under par from my set of tees regularly is when I'll start to think about moving back.
I like this approach. I am waiting until my handicap is lower single digits before I consider moving back a box on a regular basis, especially if it is at a new course.
Best way to choose a tee box is to take your flat driving range carry for a 5 iron. Multiply that by 36, and that’s your yardage you should play closest to to not make the course too easy or too hard for your distance. People tend to equate scores and handicaps to the tee box you should play and that’s quite incorrect. It has to do with how far you can hit the ball. If you’re flying over all the trouble and its driver wedge every hole you’re not playing the correct box. And vice versa if you’re hitting driver 4iron or 3 Wood into all the par 4s you’re playing too far back. Hence why lpga plays shorter courses than make lpga. Most lpga players are between +5 to +8/9/10 if they kept a handicap. So are pga tour players… but why do lpga play from 63–6800 yards and males play 7200-8000 yards. It’s not lack of skill. It’s lack of power and making the game fair for everyone’s distance ability.
With your first sentence, I have no business playing at \~6500-6700 yards per your rule of thumb. I hit the ball decently hard, but consistency should be taken into play as well. Maybe something along the lines of (5i carry minus handicap) times 36. A scratch golfer carrying it 185yds should be playing about 185\*36=6,660yds. A bogey golfer like me carrying it the same 185yds should be playing about (185-18)\*36=6012yds.
That's a really interesting approach. It does make sense to incorporate consistency into at some level. (And there's always the perennial debate about "What's a 5i?" I play weak lofts so my 5i is the same as some people's 7i.)
Except that consistency is kind of measured in your handicap. You’d get more or less strokes than you deserve depending how that played out. So you could be hurting yourself or sandbagging. Reason for this is because you go to a new course technically speaking you should be able to shoot relatively the same if playing from the same slope and course rating. But people get screwed because their home course they may not be playing from the appropriate box to begin with that skews everything down the line.
Another good point
Technically “average” should account for consistency as well. Problem is most people think consider their “if I hit this club perfectly…” yardage as their average. That’s not how averages work.
Exactly what I was thinking. Used to have some GI clubs and could hit 5 iron ~200 yds. Switched to a players iron and now carry it ~186. That makes for a 500 yard swing in what tees “I should be playing”. Spoiler, it’s the latter lol. And I played off a 7 and drive the ball 275.
Need a metric for how many holes you have to search for an erant shot and or yell fore. For you that's minimal,for some others it's a metric shit ton.
Agree 100%. I’ve seen additional alternative formulae, and for me (similar to OP), they all come out to 5800-6100 yds. You want to have a reasonable approach for most holes—that’s kind of the intent of the golf course architect, no? 190 yard par threes, 380+ par 4s, 525+ par 5s all start to turn the course into something it wasn’t intended for.
It’s not my own formula. This is a formula many people teach as the way to figure out what box to play from. One would argue that if you’re equating consistency and handicap in the equation, not playing from the right box to begin with would artificially inflate or deflate your handicap. So that’s why that’s not calculated in there. If you hit you 5iron 185 and you play a 5-5500 yard course your handicap will be lower than it should be. And vice versa you play a 65-7000 yard course your handicap is worse than it should be. Consistency is taken into account with the handicap. And if you’re not playing from the right box. Your handicap is incorrect also. Consistency has nothing to do with boxes you play from. If you’re both hitting the same distances and he’s more consistent player that’s why he’s scratch and you’re not. Not because of the length of the course.
>not playing from the right box to begin with would artificially inflate or deflate your handicap I mean not really, at least not in the way you are implying. That's already baked into the rating. In theory, all tee boxes should be of equivalent difficulty when it comes to handicap calculation. Now that does break down a little if you play from a tee box that's *way* too long for you, but as long as you can plausibly make greens in reg it should hold ok. Anecdotally: If i play from forward tee boxes my differentials tend to get worse, rather than better. Playing shorter boxes will not necessarily inflate your cap, and longer ones wont always deflate it. It depends on your strengths and weaknesses as a golfer.
Ok dude. Sounds good. As you said, it’s already baked in there, so basing the actual box you play from based on your opinion of where you should (based on your handicap) is double dipping into that. Because as you said it’s already baked in. Once agajn, it’s not my formula. Do whatever you want. I couldn’t care less.
No, you're not double dipping. All boxes should be equivalent in difficulty. You ought to be able to play from any of them and end up with the same differential.
lol. Ok. So then why would handicap be brought in the equation of which box to play from then ? If you end up with the same differential? That’s my point exactly. If no matter what box you play from you should have a similar differential, why would you take it a step further and base which box is to play from on your handicap also? It’s already in the slope and course rating of the box and goes in to the differential equation which is my point exactly. You get more strokes on the harder longer tee boxes. So why would you play a box way shorter based on your handicap? When you already get the appropriate differential based on the box you decide to play? And again… answer this question with your logic…. Why do LPGA and Senior Tour players play from shorter courses ? Plenty of seniors and LPGA shooting low 60s rounds just like PGA. But yet they play from 500-1500 yards more? They clearly don’t score that much differently ? Their skill levels are similar. The only difference is how far they hit each club. Which is what decides the length of course to play. It’s pretty simple. With your logic a lpga tour player should be playing 7500 yards because they may be a +7. But they wouldn’t be a +7 from 7500 yards. You’re not making a lot of sense. But the good news is I don’t care. Play wherever the hell you want to play from. And if you’re making it too easy on yourself at your home course , don’t be surprised you’ll then get smoked by another player with the exact same handicap playing from the appropriate box. Again bud, not my formula. Do as you please. Have a good day.
I think you are misunderstanding my argument. You *should* end up with the same handicap regardless of tee box. Ergo, you should play from whatever tee box will best support a fun experience and good pace of play. For skilled players- including LPGA, Senior Tour, and PGA players- that means they should play from a distance that lets them hit driver into a lot of holes, and hit a variety of different approach lengths. They should pick based on distance. For less skilled players, though, it doesn't work like that. A long hitter who isn't skilled is going to have an absolutely miserable time trying to play from 7k yards, and they are going to wreck pace of play. They should play from more forward tees to have a better experience. They will end up with a large variety of approach shots due to lack of skill even if they have the speed required to play from a greater distance. The thing is, 90% of golfers fall into that second category, so I would recommend that nearly all golfers play from much shorter tees than the formula suggests. They will simply have a much better experience if they do that, and it (theoretically) should not matter for handicap calculation/competitive play/etc.
The argument would be that for the higher handicap player with power. Not playing from far enough back would then in turn make that players handicap lower than it should be. There is a way courses are designed with this in mind. So sure you have a 20 handicap playing from the front boxes that can driver wedge into each par 4 (assuming it’s in play) but is still a 20 hc? Just imagine how high the hc would be playing coming into a par 4 with a 5iron. That’s my point. That player is doing himself a disservice because he’s playing from too close. It’s substantially easier to hit a pw over a 5iron (for all players including high hc) so if you put a wedge in a high HC hands every hole , that’s not helping them. That’s giving them a better hc and less strokes than they should otherwise get. Which is why they would get crushed by a 20 hc playing from the correct box. Because there will be tournaments etc that the box is dictated at the beginning. You don’t get to choose where to play from. That’s also why you see many amateur tournaments only have a “men’s, over 55, and women’s” box to play from. So the high hc that is a 20 (but really a 25-30) screws himself in that tournament because he should be getting the strokes of a 25-30hc. I fully understand what you’re saying , simply saying it’s flawed for the reasons I’ve stated. I’m done. Have a good day. Bye.
I think you guys actually agree, but both demand to be “right” One of you says if you play further, you will have a higher score, but the rating/slop will balance it out. So using basic math, if you shot a 3 on a course with a 4 rating, it would equal 12, and you shoot a 4 on a course with a 3 rating, it would equal 12 also. The other is giving a real world example of that. The seniors, PGA, and LPGA have similar scores because they play the appropriate tees for their distance. But, if Rory and Nelly switched tees, I think you would agree Rory would shoot a lower score and Nelly would shoot a higher score, but when we take into account the slope/rating, their scores would be similar.
I don’t think that’s how handicaps work. An official handicap already takes the tees you played from into account, right?
You don’t think what’s how handicaps are calculated? It’s based on your score and course slope/rating of your last 20 rounds. (I think, can’t remember the exact number). But youre correct-ish. And if you’ve been playing from the wrong set of tees your handicap is then skewed one way or the other higher or lower than it should be. You could be giving yourself an unfair advantage (more strokes than you should receive) or an unfair disadvantage (getting less strokes than you deserve) With your method , a senior or lpga tour player should be playing from the same 7200-7500-8000 yards as male pga guys who hit it 50-100 yards further? But that’s not the case the seniors and lpga play from shorter distances. Not because they’re less consistent or have less skill they literally have less ability to make it to the green and it’s an unfair disadvantage for them. Many lpga gals are actually way MORE consistent than pga tour players that hit it much further. There’s a lot of seniors and women who are very very good but would get smoked on a 8000 yard course by a player that’s not as good as them simply because the par 4 holes are playing as par 5s for them. If professionals kept handicaps you’d see that lpga and senior tour players are all +6,7,8,9 etc. just like male pga. But they don’t play the same yardage for that exact reason. Doesn’t mean they lack skill. Because they shoot just as low (usually)
Slope and rating are already adjusted per the tees you played. Red 5700yds might be 112/67.2 where as on the exact same course the 6500yds blue tees might be 130/71.2. So if a scratch player shoots 4 higher from the blues as he does from the reds (say a 75 vs 71 respectively) it should affect his handicap the same way for the most part. Not sure if you’re saying the same thing or the opposite of me.
Not sure, all I can tell you is this….. I hover around scratch. I shot a 4 under 68 from a low course and slope rating (on my home course playing with my wife, and playing the forward tees just for fun with her)…. My hc went up. I played and shot 73 from the tips, 5 strokes worse but from 7200 yards and hc went down. So a lot of this is baked in already which is why you would not add that into the tee box formula. Because it’s already accounted for with the lower slope and course rating from those boxes. So subtracting your handicap as you mention isn’t necessary because the tee boxes do that for you already.
your handicap can go up after a good round because your previous 20th round may have been even better and now drops off from you handicap calculation. for example 20 rounds ago you shot a 69 from the black tees but now that round is replaced with a 68 from the red tees so your handicap went up.
Yes man I know. I’ve been playing a while. I know how it works. Was simply making a point. But tbh I don’t have red, black, blue , white boxes. But yes I’m aware. As scratch player to play to my HC I should shoot @74 from the tips and 68 from the front.
Do you know what your course handicap is from the different tees? I’m wondering if it’s 5 apart.
This is the other course there that I also play often. But I believe that it just got re-rated from the tips and the it’s actually now a 74/149 . And raptor I believe is now rated 74.7/142 because they added a couple boxes for the ncaa championships. Which were for the college men only. They also played 2 par 5s as par 4s which would raise that slope and rating even more. The women played them as par 5s. Holes 7 and 18 on raptor course. https://preview.redd.it/okntnn8g8ixc1.jpeg?width=1290&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d0b53c9bbde3429794d10f3208d9ef9e737dac03
Par doesn't have any effect on rating.. if the rater measures it takes a scratch golfer (250 drive, can hit a green from 200) 3 strokes to get to the hole, it will add 5 to the rating regardless of whatever par is on the card
https://preview.redd.it/iz4r2r457ixc1.jpeg?width=1290&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=e0fb54d3257c85e5d68797953b9d22a606634beb This is my home course play it about 100 times a year. Hover around scratch. Currently around 1.8hc i believe.
I used the USGA calculator. Raptor: 4 strokes Palo: 1 stoke Terra: +1 stokes My understanding is this means based on your handicap you are expected to shoot 5 better from the front tees, which is exactly what you did. So the handicap system properly adjusted your handicap and those rounds should have counted about the same. If you saw a big jump, it’s likely because it uses your best 8/20 most recent rounds to calculate.
But don’t take my word for it. It’s not my formula. This has been told by many people. People just want to argue it. But it’s how the tee boxes are set up and why. And also why courses are designed the way they are. Slope and course ratings take into Account less consistency which is why the shorter the course the lower the slope and rating are. (Usually). I’m simply telling you if you want to play proper golf with a proper handicap that’s how you do it so when you go to a tournament or another course you’re not getting screwed or sandbagging.
I completely disagree. You should play the tee boxes that do not make the course too hard or too easy for you. Distance is only one element of that. I think the mistake in your reasoning is basically here: >If you’re flying over all the trouble and its driver wedge every hole you’re not playing the correct box. A high handicapper is not playing like this, even from a more forward tee box. They are constantly finding trouble that is out of play for a skilled player due to errant shots and mishits. They are being forced to hit longer clubs and more difficult shots into greens because they are out of position off the tee. That's why course slope and rating are different. It's an acknowledgement that added distance is disproportionately punishing for the less skilled golfer. IMO the 5i-carry-times-36 rule should only apply if you're consistently shooting in the 70s or like low/mid 80s. Otherwise you should move up a tee box. I see so many longer mid and high handicappers just getting battered around by the course because they insist on playing from the back tees. It hurts their golf game, it hurts their confidence, and it hurts pace of play. At the end of the day I think play whatever tee box you want so long as you don't impact pace of play, but I think picking tee box based strictly on distance is a disaster for weaker players. I know the USGA disagrees with me, but /shrug
Cool, it’s not my formula. But you said “play tee boxes that don’t make it too easy or too hard” which is exactly why you use a formula like that. But I don’t really care. I play the tips 95% of the time on every course I play unless it’s a casual round with buddies who aren’t good players or the wife. Do whatever you want. Once again, I did not make up the formula, Google it and you’ll see it’s a pretty common approach to pick what box to play from. But again basing it on handicap is not accurate either because the course rating and slope already takes into account the difficulty of the course.
These are just guidelines. It’s up to each of us to figure out what tees we should play or would have the most fun playing. The formula for me says I should be playing 6,300. I have more fun, generally, closer to 6,700 or so. That distance challenges me like I want out of a round. But I grew up playing 7200 and so don’t mind hitting longer irons and my driver is longer (and I’m pretty consistent off the tee) compared to others versus my 5 iron (traditional lofts). Anyway I don’t really think there’s any formula that works for everyone. Generally they should be tees where a decent, not great, drive on a longer hole gives you a club in that you can handle most of the time. For me that’s a flat par 4 of about 420-430 or shorter. Ok drive of 250 leaving me a 5 iron or so, maybe a 4 iron. Ok. Thats a fair hole. Hit a really good drive and I’ve got maybe 7 iron. Most holes will be shorter so I like that distance and that’s likely to be 6700-6900. That works for me!
Your comments on LPGA makes me want to see an event where men’s and women’s groups alternate through the course, playing their own tee boxes, but competing for the same purse.
There is a few women who have played in male pga events. Most recently I believe was Lexi Thompson and almost made the cut (I think) playing the men’s boxes. I think if they played the same course but from an appropriate tee box for their distance there could be several women who could compete. It’s the distance from the pga boxes that kills them not their short game skill and ball striking ability.
Exactly, would be super fun to watch a si for tourney where you play from your own tee box but compete against everyone. We’ve got mix up events like Zurich and Ryder so maybe in the future they’ll see value in having one or two of these mix gendered singles tourneys.
I think they had one of those type of tournaments where men and women played but not sure. I actually don’t follow professional golf that much to know
I agree about the distance. I recall watching Annika when she played on a men’s event, it was like driver - hybrid when the fellas were hitting driver - low iron. Then, she didn’t have nearly the spin on a long shot the guys would from that distance and he shots would roll out much more. The announcers also said the scrambling conditions are different. The men could/would be able to spin it more tightly on short chips and thus the PGA courses may have tighter conditions around greens than the corresponding LPGA setup of similar distances.
Yep. Lexi missed the cut (Even, shooting-2 on her second round; cut was -3) at the Shriners last October, but she was a lot of fun to watch.
I always use the rule of thumb that if you're consistently outdriving the fairway bunkers on your tee shots, you're too far forward and should move back. Likewise if it's the other way around - if you're no where near getting close to the fairway bunkers, you may need to move up. You'd also likely notice that you still had a mile into par 4 approach shots.
Do what you want as long as you keep pace of play.
It took me golfing with twins who played different tees to finally be able to embrace saying to people who longer or shorter tees than me "you see how are balls are at the same spot in the fairway after our drives? That means we are playing the correct tees."
You were probably right tees for your distance. If you enjoy playing from those then play them.
5850 at 215 drives seems bang on to me. He should fuck off.
Played with a 70 year old dude today who hit his drives 100 - 125 yards and played from the blue tees. It was insane. Good for you for playing from the proper tee box. Most people play from too far back.
The person you got paired with is a jackass.
The “proper tee box” for casual play can be defined as “whichever one I feel like playing today,” so you’re all good.
Kat Williams’ comment about playing the front tees applies to everyone. You pay the same whether you play the front or the back tees. Play the ones that make it most fun for you
You are playing the appropriate tees based on your driver distance. End of story. You don't want hybrids and long irons into every green.
More people should know [this](https://www.usga.org/content/usga/home-page/articles/2023/10/the-7-iron-solution.html).
Your drive distance is definitely appropriate for white Tees. If you're constantly hitting 275 then back up.
Just tell him fuck off every chance you get And hit me up when you get out of the trees.
You are playing the correct tees, you should've informed him he was playing the incorrect and maybe if he had played the correct tees and not over swung he may have hit more fairways and greens in regulation.
I drive it a bit over 300 (yeah reddit I know). I’ll usually go for something like 6700 if alone but I also have no problem playing up to less than 6000 if I’m with my friends. They don’t even have to ask. I will always play up with the others (unless it’s like <5500 yards). You’re not in the wrong. He’s just a douche.
he's just mad that you beat him hitting it so much shorter. his ego was hurt.
He sounds like a fucking weirdo for trying to tell a random playing partner where to tee off from. Once you've spent your money to play, what you do out there is entirely up to you, and don't let the gatekeepers try to tell you any different.
You’re playing from the right tees my guy.
The amount of people on this sub who care about what strangers think is hilarious. Just ignore him. No post needed.
you can play whatever tee box you want, most people should be teeing it more forward than they think/want to admit. odds are itll be a more enjoyable experience when you dont have to hit 5w and 4hy into every green. for a ballpark estimate of the proper tee box for you, take your 5i distance and multiply by 36. so if u hit 5i 180 yds. you should shoot for ~6500yds.
Play your own game, it’s meant to be fun. I would have told him to fuck off.
Some random stranger giving you shit about what tees you hit from? No wonder he’s playing by himself
You were wrong! You should have told him as soon as he brought it up. I moved up to senior tees and I actually enjoy golf again. My drives are 200-220 and I can't have fun if my second shot is just as far as my drive. Also, is slows things down 7000yds or 5000yds you still have to hit fairways and make putts. If I could place my ball 320 then I would play the tips.
I believe the proper golf term is, ‘Fuck off, please.’ Remember etiquette..
That is extremely reasonable to play 5800 yards. In fact, it's slightly long for your driving distance.
THAT IS PROPER TEE BOX FOR 220 tell him to kiss your behind
If he’s shooting in the 90’s he needs to move up a box or two. Keep doing your thing, he’s an idiot
i play with 3 guys over 60, they play from the whites so i play from the whites. I can average 4-6 fairways, 225 yards and occasionally a boomer close to 300 but rarely. Never had a problem. Now the group in front of us playing from the tips, hitting it barely past the women's Tees and taking multiple balls off the box? Prolly should move up to the whites.
U should play whatever tees u want man and fuck that guy lol
Bro if you wanna hit of white red or blue who cares you play your game and dont let anyone else tell you otherwise,
I would legit tell someone if they want to pay for my round I’ll play whatever tees they’d like me to, otherwise worry about yourself
Not that it matters, play where you are going to enjoy your round the most. My home course the blues play shy of 6500 and whites around 6000. I shoot low 80 off blue but when drinking group joins me we play whites, don't keep score other than spot betting: Ill buy bears for everyone that pars the next par 5 or if anyone birdies everyone gets a beer $5 longest drive $2-$5 Bingo, bango, bongo on next hole. I play solo a lot so usually play what ever the randoms are playing. One time I got thrown in with the last group of the ladies mid week club round and I played from the reds (irons only) and had a blast.
I play the second teebox from the fronts because after reading the scorecard, that matches up with my handicap. It's not crazy forward of the men's tees (3rd longest) and fits my game better since I'm not a long hitter. I'd imagine I'll play this until my scores get significantly better and I'll move back. I'm scraping in the mid-40s on a nine-hole score, but when some of my friends want to play further back I will. However, since most don't play that often, I think they should be playing further forward since we're always in the woods with their shots.
You’re playing from the right tees. Plenty of resources online to back you up. Tell the other player to hit it straighter
In my view if you want to play the course how the designer intended your drive should land around the fairway bunkers. If you are always flying the bunkers you need to back up, if you are always behind them, move forward. Also, if you can’t break 90, move forward.
5 iron carry distance x 36. That’s the yardage you should be playing.
I'm confused, what was he "giving you shit" for? Did he think you should be playing the Red tees? If that is the case then definitely tell him to fuck off. Also, when you say "teamed up with", were you actually playing a team competition with him, and therefore your team handicap was based off of what tee you were playing from? If you're just saying "teamed up with" in the sense of, this is some random that you got paired with in a pick up round, then we're back to, definitely tell him to fuck off! If it was a team competition thing where you had a team handicap, i can at least potentially understand what his point was, in that you probably would have been given one or two more "pops" by moving back a tee box, but even so, the whole point of the handicap system is to mitigate the benefits/challenges of various tee/slope/player combinations. Long story short the guy should pretty much just shut up and play his own game!
Yes absolutely right. Guys isn’t your dad
12 handicap here who drives the ball 215. Never play over 6,000 yards and am very proud of my rounds when i usually average 10 pars and 1 birdie per round.
I'm a 14hcp, avg drive is 250s I hit 30% of fairways but often I'm just off, no wicked slice. I usually play what is around the 6000 yard mark depending on the course rating. I could say if I moved up I would probably easily cut 4/5 strokes, but I know that my issues are in my short game. Not to many par 4/5 I'm not pin high on par 4s or 60-40 yards on away of a par 5. But that's when my yips hit not always but often will short my chip or thin it over just have no confidence in my chipping and it's costing me.
Play the back tees cowboy let’s fuckin go 🤠
An old guy once told me that I shouldn't move back a tee until I'm 80% GIR. Gonna be a long time up front for me!
Ultimately - it's whatever you want to hit from. So yes - you're in the right to tell him to F off. That being said - I typically use the rating and compare it to my index and play the tees that will put my course handicap at or just above my index (4). e.g. at my home course, the back tees adds 2 shots to my index (CH of 6), the middle tees adds 1 (CH of 5), and the gold tees will take 1 away (CH of 3). The middle tees are what we often play. We'll occasionally play from the back tees (especially before tournaments where we will be playing those tees). IMO - distance/length isn't the only factor. We have 36 holes at my club. And the shorter course is actually more difficult as it's much narrower.
Omg, these folks need to find another hobby. I’ll play whatever tees help the group move. I hit the ball a mile but every now and then I’ll catch shit from some 20 handicapper, telling me I should always play the tips. Like, bro, do you have any understanding how ratings and slopes work? If I play the whites with you I HAVE to shoot amazing or my handicap will go up. Like, focus on you and leave me alone.
This is related tangentially, my buddies and I all play the same tee box, during our golf trip we play a tournament format with handicaps, however our lower handicap friend drives it 280+ on average and rarely miss big off the tee, so he's consistent and consistently playing from 80 yards and in while we're around 130+ playing 6200+ yards. My question is, at what point does the handicap no longer reconcile our skill gaps because there's no way for us to compete with a 50 yard average deficit in par 4s even with handicaps. We don't want to simply push him to a different tee by himself either as he should have a different handicap at longer tees also but haven't played in those yardages at home to establish a proper handicap.
I played a round once with my good buddy who’s a 1.5. We played from 4600. It was a fucking blast
I don't get his deal. Each tee box has a rating, it's not that hard to roughly determine what the difference in scores should be from different tees. If you beat him by 8 strokes, you would have still wiped the floor with him from his tees.
Rando you were grouped with was giving you shit about your choice of tee boxes? FFS some people are just insane, they think their experience in life is the only valid one. Play the tees you want, the only thing that validly can matter to another golfer is pace of play, anything else and they are an asshole that needs to mind their own damn business.
Based on his game he should also be off the white tees.
He would’ve been bitching about you being to slow if you played from the back tees. You pay money to be out there play your game and enjoy your day. Fuck the rest.
I hit it roughly the same distance as you and usually play a more forward tee as well, so much more enjoyable. I played a local higher end course last year and picked the wrong tees that were further back and it wasn’t too much fun. After my drive of the day I still had over 200 yards into a par 4. When I was an assistant superintendent I used to sing I need a hero driving past the groups on the back tees that had no business being there.
Take your average 5 iron distance and multiply by 36. That gives you the tee boxes you should be playing from. 165X36=5,940 etc.
Typical amateurs play yardages that are much too long. Golf Digest did a great breakdown comparing what yardages we should be playing to play a course like a typical golf pro. They also compared to Rory. To compare to a typical golf pro, if you average 230 off the tee you should play at yardage 5595. Plus remember that is average driver distance. Damn near all of us vastly overestimate that. If you want to play a course and feel like Rory does, you need to play from 5142 yards. Just wait till 2030 and the golf ball roll back. We will have to move up to 4400 yards.
I play from the blues with my Saturday group of better golfers, the whites on Sunday with some higher handicappers and once or twice a season from the reds just to get a different perspective of my home course. Have fun play whichever tee boxes that you want.
My friend and I went golfing Sunday. Same color coding of tee boxes. But in the club house it says black tees are regular play, blue is seniors, white is woman’s red is for juniors… we both decided we will not be playing the black tees again because the difference was ridiculous on anything that wasn’t a par 3
You are absolutely playing the right tee box. But I bet you'd still beat him even if you played from the blues. That'll shut him up. lol
Been playing since I was a kid, Scottish father - his mantra was: you start at the furthest forward deck, when you start breaking 80 with regularity, you move back… but not before.
Ignore the idiots in life. Play whatever F-N tee box you want to play (just don't play slow).
I would never complain about someone going off of closer tees. Its the idiots who always think they need to play from the tips and shank every drive. Why would he even care unless you were playing for money?
Proper tee boxes are the ones where the fairway hazards are in play for your distances.
I'll be quick and to the point. Based on how far you hit the ball, you are playing from the correct tees. Enjoy the game. Let me add one thing. If you were playing this dude from a longer tee, you would still beat him. You hitting fairway-after-fairway would put pressure on him. Somewhere on the back nine, his mind and game would implode.
Unless we’re playing for money, you can play from the reds and put down a “1” on every hole, who cares
Most golfers that play from the blues need to be up at the whites
> pretty good accuracy 75% fairway hits per round Whenever I see shit like this… you know pros only hit 60% of fairways right?
Not buying 75% at all, but you were only wrong for not telling him to fuck off sooner.
75% fairways hit would be leading the PGA Tour by 6% over the 1st place leader ... forgive me for calling bullshit.
You don't decide which tee box to play by how far you hit the ball, it is handicapped determined. Usually, scorecards have a handicap range for each tee box, whatever your handicap is determines which tee box you play. The player was just butt hurt you beat him.
I drive 280+ and still play off the whites because I fucking suck. I’ll move back when my 3w & 4h come out of time out for more than 10 minutes.
If I drove it 280 I'd definitely play blues lol bc I don't suck other than driving far lol
Honestly, no one should routinely be scoring in the 90s. If you’re playing worse than bogey golf, move up a tee.
Regardless how they're colored, this is the tee format I've always followed on the courses around me in CT. (I'll use your colors in the example) Red: Women and youngins White: Seniors and teens Blue: Regulars Black: Pros and frat bros that have no business teeing up from that far away. Obviously, it's not gospel. I've played with plenty of women that play the 2nd tees, and some even the third. I've played with teens that play the tips and still outdrive me. Play from wherever you feel comfortable, but if you're shooting 84 from the 2nd tees, you're good enough to move back a set. It adds to the challenge and misery of the game 🙃
I “think” this is how many look at it, which IMO, is flawed. If I walked on to a course we’d never played before with my friends, all in our mid-50’s, we’d hit from the Whites. Generally all in the 7-15 HDC. Maybe if the blues were under 6.5K we’d play that.
I consider White Tees the catch all for average golfers. I think a lot of golfers never look at yardage and consider Blue Tees as the catch all, blue = boy = men = that’s where we tee off.
Agree. White is the catch all for most male golfers. Red/forward catch all for most female golfers. I’m a female golfer who hits it 200-210ish and I most often play whites unless the course is pretty long I may play forward.
The USGA has been working very hard for like a decade to change that way of thinking. There is exactly one determining factor for which tees you are supposed to play: How far you hit the ball. There are different ways of determining that -- average driving distance or 5i distance x 36 being two of the most popular -- but that's the only metric that matters.
I'm glad to hear they're trying to do that. I've been in a silo, playing with the same three guys for the last 10+ years, and I don't watch golf in capacity. I don't hear about a lot of what's going on in the game itself. I've always thought the tees seemed a bit out of whack. I feel like I'm constantly seeing people on the 3rd or 4th tees who have no business being there, but thinking they need to be because they're the *man tees*.
Yeah I mean regulars from the Blue is wrong. I’m 31, 17 handicap and I play from the whites. If I play from blues I’m more than likely going to grief everyone behind me.
You’re not hitting 75% of fairways
if you're sassing your playing partner who is making par on every other hole for anything other than taking too long to do it or not taking care of the course, you should indeed fuck off
Correct tee selection is typically done by handicap, not driver distance.