Not necessarily the course I play I hit driver on 7 holes off the back tees. Off the tees one forward I hit driver 10 possible 11 (11 if the tee box is way over on the left) times as there are hazard I can carry with Driver off the front tees.
Fail to see how this is going to help the guy who hits every club in his bag all over the place.
That guy needs to be on the range. Not the course.
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Disagree. Anyone who wishes to be on the course should be on the course. This player just needs to be conscious about spending too much time looking for balls.
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The handicap tee box assignment is the most proper, IMO. The difference between a guy/gal who can bomb driver and a guy/gal who is a scratch golfer is huge, no matter which tee box they’re assigned. A 230 yard average distance drive for a scratch golfer would be rather uncommon, but for arguments sake, he/she clearly has great control of his/her overall game if he’/she’s a scratch golfer. Therefore they could play from the tips, if you will and manage to get around the course rather quickly. Where a long hitter but high handicapper will be bombing and searching and slowing down pace of play. Golf isn’t all about how far you can hit the ball, but how you can manage the course. The long drive competition is for a bomber and maybe that’s where the focus should be.
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The long bomber whose slowing down play because of searching for balls, will be searching for balls regardless of what tees they play. They need to spend less time looking for balls, not move up tee boxes. Also it’s pretty ridiculous to suggest they just focus on long drive - maybe they like golf more.
I think this said person is a rarity amongst golfers and the focus for them should be to manage their pace of play. If they are with people who have proper golf etiquette hopefully they can impart wisdom as to not slow the course down. Otherwise, this person shouldn’t be playing golf if they can’t follow the general rules of golf. No reason to make everyone else’s life miserable to accommodate one person who has total disregard for the game and the people who are trying to enjoy it.
I agree about looking for lost balls. Moving to 3 minutes for a search was one of the best rules changes.
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^^ I’m in agreement there!
I like to think of it as a driving analogy…
You get in your car, it’s 1/2 hour from where you are to home on a single lane road. You start out ok, but soon you catch up to a slower moving car in front of you.
Again… hypothetical single lane road with no room to pass anywhere … so you’re stuck behind this person.
And now 1/2 hour has passed and you’re barely 1/2 way to your destination…
Do you…
- flash your lights?
- honk your horn?
- tailgate trying to “push” the car ahead to move faster?
…or… - do you start to yell and curse and let the road rage take over?
My point is - the golf course (like a public road) is a shared resource and functions best when all people using that resource do it cooperatively and with consideration of others.
My $0.02
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Love this analogy, makes perfect sense and puts it into everyday perspective.
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How about: “If you’re more than 1/2 hole behind group in front, play faster or wave group behind thru”. PoP has nothing to do with tee box.
Personal rant: if PGA enforced that along with a rule that if you don’t complete your round in 4hrs, your score doesn’t count (DQ). No excuse for a 6hr twosome IMO.
Or maybe force pros to play from forward tees? 
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I went down to Myrtle with the same group for probably 25 years in a row. We averaged anywheres from 30 guys one year to maybe 50 the next, back and forth. Always had a great time. Well our buddy that ran the trips would always put together different kinds of tournaments or competition for us to play. One year we even did a ryder cup match. But one of the things we always did at least one round down there was this. We would all start off playing from the white tees. If you got par, you stayed at that same tee, if you got bogey you would move up one tee and if you got birdie you would move back one tee. So get two bogeys and now you are playing from the red tees. And you know you would get busted if you stayed there too long. It was just a different way of playing between alot of friends and then you got to hear about it that night when you all went out.
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Your handicap would be higher from the forward tees? I get it, you like to hit your driver, but there is no way that’s true.
Maybe hitting a 5 iron off the tee isn’t as satisfying, but it’s still golf. I think TW won an Open Championship with maybe hitting his driver once all week.
Yes - each set of tees has its own rating & slope indices … and the forward tees are typically lower-rated, aka “easier”, and so for a given handicap player will have a smaller net effect.
It’s all explained much better in CoryO’s article…
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As soon as I posted that, I realized my mistake. I was thinking score would be lower, but right, based on the rating/slope not necessarily your handicap.
My point being, there’s a lot more to golf than blasting a driver on every hole, and playing shorter courses can be as much fun, if not more.
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That’s really cool!
I run a golf trip through Twitter, and we had 16 guys this year. We did a fun 9 holes at twilight this year where we played a 2 club challenge from the front tees! Most fun I’ve had on a golf course all year.
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Totally, completely agree!
For me golf is about hitting the shot that’s in front of you … to the best of your (current) ability … and trying to learn more from every shot … plus navigating your way around the course as it’s presented to you.
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I totally agree with this. I am maybe in 4th grade as far as my golf game goes.
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HA!! Literally LOLing!
…and now makes me wonder if I’m ever gonna get outta first grade…
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You can do it! Fourth grade is a stretch, I’ll probably flunk it.
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