Last round I played, I mentally gave kudos to the very senior men’s foursome I saw, they went to the forward tees and proceeded to play! Not letting ego take the lead.
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That’s great. It’s the way it should be. Play where it’s enjoyable for you and everyone else behind you.
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Yet you want to tell people where to play based on handicap…
And you judge people for hacking it up from the tips…
It astonishes me how many people in here say they’re all for people playing whatever tees they want as long as the keep play but are so supportive of telling people where they can’t play lol.
[quote=“papageorgio, post:10, topic:631”]
The first round I played at Mt Osmond I shot 151. The only way I can get a handicap is to enter the $7 comp every round as they don’t count social golf. I play stroke as I believe it is the only way to truly compare rounds. Usually my blowup holes are ob and 3 putting so those shots don’t take much time. I am a walk up to the ball and just hit it type of player and consider myself a brisk player ( my quickest round is 5 hours for 36 holes) I average 22 to 23 over. When I play in a group of comp palyers I say my score in points while writing stokes on my card and I never pick up.
This is an interesting topic. Ever since i began playing about 30 years ago, we always played from the whites. Back then i really never knew better because i was just playing where everyone else was. Now i am a 20+ handicap, although this is the first year that i have ever begun to take it more seriously and am steadily trying to improve. I personally feel i should move up one tee, but have yet to do so. I don’t hold anyone up, or slow anyone down. I keep up with the group. Right now i average between 98 and 103. But i am now playing every saturday and sunday so i am getting there. Also the league i have been in for about 20 years has always had the rule that no matter handicap, we play the tee closest to 6000 yards. Sometimes it does get frustrating at some of the courses with carry over some areas. Now my question with regards to all of this is, if i were to move up and start seeing lower scores, how does that effect handicap. I mean if someone asks you what your handicap is, would you have different handicaps according to different tees? Like i said, i never really gave it any thought until actually seeing this thread so now it has me curious. Thank you OOO also i will say i will be 64 this year.
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Even though your handicap isn’t supposed to depend on what tees you play, I guarantee my handicap would be higher from the forward tees. On the other hand, the guy who only hits it 200 but straight as an arrow would have a higher handicap from the back tees. I’ve always pondered how easy it would be to sandbag simply by establishing my handicap on a short narrow course and then only play events on longer more open courses. As far as I’m concerned a handicap is only accurate to one set of tees on one particular course.
The different tee boxes have a different rating and slope (it should be listed on the scorecard). Sometimes the difference is minimal, sometimes it can be 10 strokes on the slope. The rating and slope of the course & tee boxes you played are factored into the handicap calculation. So shooting 95 from the back tees may actually result in a lower handicap differential than shooting 89 from the front tees for example.
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Yea but if you play different courses and have a ghin and make sure you record your scores, that is supposed to average it out according to the different levels of courses you play. So the handicap should be the average of all of them.
But between tournaments what’s stopping you from playing a ton of rounds on a course that doesn’t suit your game?
Nothing at all, that is what i have been doing this season. The first time i really had a chance to play alot more. So on saturdays i play alot of different courses and on sundays i play with a regular group at our home course. I really enjoy seeing the differences with all of the different courses. You get to think about a variety of different shots. But again this is the first season i am putting myself more out there for it and loving it.
I don’t think there is a perfect solution to handicap or tee selection… both are imperfect systems that are better than any other options I can come up with…
Honestly, anyone who knows enough about golf to know their handicap should probably be able to pick out the appropriate tee box… there is probably some pride pushing people back a tee box but such is life.
I’m all for people enjoying golf. I’m not even sure what correct tee box really means? Most appropriate for their skill level? Best for their distance?
As for sandbagging by playing a course that doesn’t suit your game, there are easier ways to do this and enough rounds on the same course and hopefully you’ll adapt to play it better.
I disagree. I know a lot of guys who can hit it 300 yards but can’t keep it on the planet. I know everybody wants to get out and wail on driver, but if you’re nowhere near in play with it, then move up, hit something shorter you can control, and score better/play faster.
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But those guys would still bring out their drivers even if they were playing from the gold tees.
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I mean if a guy who can hit it 300 wants to pull driver on a 250 yard par 4, then by all means go for it. Hope they enjoy never breaking 100.
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Honestly, I think this is an overly broad topic that has a ton of nuance behind it that tends to get overlooked when discussing “the right tees”.
I play the same course 90% of the time… I’ve play the whites regularly, can play the blacks and have played the greens… the majority of the guys I’m playing with play whites or greens… there are a few that should move up to the greens (and probably up to the golds in the next five years) but they are mostly hurting their own enjoyment… hybrid into most par fours isn’t a ton of fun. These guys aren’t going to listen to anyone else about what tees they should play, they’ll just eventually realize more forward tees are more enjoyable for them (my dad has done this recently).
Public courses are more of a mess… people aren’t playing routinely and can’t necessarily tell the difference between the different tee boxes if they are only playing the course once a month… guidance here is good, but I’m not sure how many will know their handicap or listen… my guess is the majority of guys under 50 play the second back tees and call it a day.
I think tee box selection is an interesting mix of ego, overestimation of skills and norm following…
I don’t think the uncontrolled 300 yard driver is well served playing forward tees… yes, they’d be better off with a different club in their hands for that round, but at some point you need to learn to put your distance into play. I believe pain is the best motivator (not my parenting philosophy!) and so making the guy hit driver and figure out the best way to score is to get driver into control is the best way for him to learn.
That said, I have no complaint about the same guy acknowledging he can’t hit driver, playing the forward tees and hitting hybrid…
I guess to me, ultimately what makes golf great is our ability to choose our path forward and that we live with the consequences of those choices. Playing the wrong tee box brings its own consequences and I’m fine with that.
At the end of the day, I’d rather have people be able to make an informed choice, so I like having guidelines… but I want them to have the freedom to choose… but I also think if you can’t keep up with the group ahead of you, there should also be consequences…
I don’t really have a cohesive point… so my summary is play the tees you want, but accept the consequences… keep up with pace of play or get out of my way.
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This 100%. Also, to your uncontrolled driver person point, I agree they should work to get driver under control but 10:30am on the second tee box of a packed public course isn’t the place.
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Haha, yes.
I guess more than anything wrong tees can punish everyone behind you AND diminish your own experience…
I think a lot of people try to hide fixing the first problem by addressing the second problem…
Honestly, this would be a funny way to address place of play… every time you get a warning from a marshal, you have to move up a tee box. If you can’t keep pace from the forward tees, it’s not your tee box selection!
Two of my favorite courses (Rustic Canyon and Pasatiempo) have a mixed tee option on the scorecard (for Rustic, the Hanse tees, for Pasatiempo the blue scorecards) and whenever I see that, it is an automatic play. It keeps you thinking as you approach the next tee box and it so much fun to see where the mixed tees put you relative to the rest of the tee box and it does change what is in front of you for your next shot.
I wish more courses would offer a mixed option on the scorecard. No need to create different boxes, just different thinking!
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I’ve been seeing more of this, too, and it’s such a good fix.
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This player is going to hit it all over the course regardless of what tees they play or what club they tee off with.