They listened

[revkev]

I recently played a round at Bardmoor golf and tennis club. Bardmoor is a classic upscale daily fee course (it's Bayou'd sister course.) Rack rate for a non Florida resident is 125 in season, 75 off but I doubt they ever get that. It was the host of the old JC Penny classic. Its a solid track that's in very good shape.

 

The problem with the course in season is pace of play is atrocious sometimes approaching 5 hours.

 

One of the primary reasons for this is that 90 percent of the guys who play select the 2nd to back gold tees. Its 6500 yards long from there and far too much course for 75 percent of the guys who think it's like their 6500 in Midwest or Northeast. It plays closer to 6900 yards up north because there is almost no roll. Sadly the next set of tees is 5900 yards and that does play short plus no guy is going for it. Not with our ego.

 

I received an email inviting me to fill out a survey about my round. The last section asked for suggestions. So I suggested either a blended tee option or keeping the gold tees up particularly on selected holes.

 

I got an email from the director of golf today thanking me for my suggestion, asking me what holes I'd recommend moving the tees up on and telling me it makes so much sense he will start doing it next week.

 

I'm pretty excited! It's a leader in our area so maybe some other courses will follow suit,

 

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[JudgeSmails]

that's great, listening to their customers should be priority #1

[Golfspy_CG2]

Love hearing that.  We received some similar feedback from some of our senior players and our pro staff is at work creating a blended or "silver" set of tees that wold accomplish the same thing your are talking about at that course.

[Kenny B]

Good job!!  6500 to 5900 is quite a jump in yardage from adjacent tee boxes.  I can understand why people pick the 6500 yardage if they are used to playing 6000-6300.  That range seems to be fairly standard on the courses that I see when traveling.  Guys don't like going less than 6000 because that is getting close to some of the forward tee yardages at some courses.  I know that elevation, type of grass, and firmness/wetness play a big factor, but most people don't understand that.

[fozcycle]

Great job Rev,  at Pebble Creek we are consistently running out of sand bottles and half the time the ones we start with are only half filled.  I sugegested that they set up a rack so we can swap empties for full bottles at the turn......well, slap my hiney and call me Rachel!  Two weeks ago a rack showed up at the turn full of sand bottles!  Woo Hoo! They Lisrented!

[Kenny B]

Great job Rev,  at Pebble Creek we are consistently running out of sand bottles and half the time the ones we start with are only half filled.  I sugegested that they set up a rack so we can swap empties for full bottles at the turn......well, slap my hiney and call me Rachel!  Two weeks ago a rack showed up at the turn full of sand bottles!  Woo Hoo! They Lisrented!

Good job Rachel!!  

 

We have a similar arrangement.  But for the life of me, I cannot understand why sand bottles cannot be filled completely each and every time the carts are put on the line.  They are cleaned, washed, and put out with half a bottle or less of sand.  Why?  Should be a no-brainer.

[revkev]

Good job!! 6500 to 5900 is quite a jump in yardage from adjacent tee boxes. I can understand why people pick the 6500 yardage if they are used to playing 6000-6300. That range seems to be fairly standard on the courses that I see when traveling. Guys don't like going less than 6000 because that is getting close to some of the forward tee yardages at some courses. I know that elevation, type of grass, and firmness/wetness play a big factor, but most people don't understand that.

This is exactly the issue. When I play up north a 400 yard par 4 is driver 6 or 7 iron. Down here it's driver hybrid.

 

By leaving the 6500 number and moving the tees up on 5 or 6 holes you create a manageable for most course of around 6200. Guys won't even know.

 

The blended route is better because you could have an accurate course rating for that set of tees. Honestly though more guys are going to go for the 6500 yard set and take 5 hours doing it.

 

It will start on 2 when they leave their 190 yard approach twenty yards short right in the pond. It will continue on 3 when they hit 6 from 186 and end up in the nasty trap short left or the water right. 5 hours will be certain when they can't reach the 436 in regulation or have to hit fairway wood to a tight pin thereby looking their 3rd ball of the round.

 

Its a course that was built to host a your event. Its not easy when you play it from the proper tees. Start having to hit long clubs into the green and it stops being fun. Quickly

 

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[PlaidJacket]

I'd like to see some blended tees on my home course too. Maybe not all the time but for something different it would be a nice change. Rev's post is a blended posting of slow play and wrong tees.

 

My home course is old and compact. I get a kick out of looking over at an adjacent tee box and seeing some dude playing the back tee while whaling on his giant reverse pivot swing. LOL

[revkev]

I'd like to see some blended tees on my home course too. Maybe not all the time but for something different it would be a nice change. Rev's post is a blended posting of slow play and wrong tees.

 

My home course is old and compact. I get a kick out of looking over at an adjacent tee box and seeing some dude playing the back tee while whaling on his giant reverse pivot swing. LOL

Yes and no I would say that between 6100 and 6300 is ideal for a large percentage of male golfers here. Sadly there is no option at that yardage, at least currently.

 

Just consider that when club pros take their playing test in our area it's at around 6200 yards.

 

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[Kor.A.Door]

Our men's group has talked about this very thing for our course, we play at about 6600 yards, which isn't bad, but there are a few holes where a blended tee would be better, we have a mix of guys some short hitters some long, there are several holes where the short hitter can't play the blue tees, so he is forced to play the white tees, but if we were to blend s few holes, we could all play the same tees, I like the idea of having a blended set of tees, particularly for long par 4's and longer par 3's. It's just a good idea, I'm glad they took Interest in what you commented Rev.

[IcemanYVR]

We have two sets of blended tees on my "home" course. Both are rated as well. I think it works out quite well and also gives you a slightly different course to play from time to time.

 

It's great that they listened to you. Nice to see courses following up on suggestions.

 

 

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[Jmikecpa]

Can you go play Bethpage and give the same feedback?  The Black is pretty much a 6 hour round at anytime and just about everyone plays the wrong tees.  The Red and the Blue should theoretically be shorter rounds since they allow carts and are much more straightforward tracks.  Last round on the Red was over 6 hours mostly due to the fact that the two groups in front of us played the tips at about 6,900 yards.  First hole nobody in either group sniffed a fairway and 6 of the 8 could not reach it on the best of days.  Last round on the Blue I got in 15 holes and was called in for darkness after over 5 hours on the course.

[L.I. Rich]

Although I haven't played Bethpage this year, I would say that there is almost no such thing as forward tees and they need them. I recall they removed quite a few trees on the Blue (#2 in particular) and Red #9 that would swat down drives hugging the left fairway edge to make things a bit easier.

The Black rough is so brutal for the average golfer that they just can't cope, and a missed drive that would typically mean bogey turns into triple or worse.

[revkev]

I've played the Black once and that was in the 70's way before the US Open make over.

 

If you can imagine all of those crowned greens with shaved sides. When you missed the green it was going to run off 40 or 50 yards and almost always into some junk. It was really impossible and given that there were no tee times a round was an all night, all day affair.

 

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[Jmikecpa]

Although I haven't played Bethpage this year, I would say that there is almost no such thing as forward tees and they need them. I recall they removed quite a few trees on the Blue (#2 in particular) and Red #9 that would swat down drives hugging the left fairway edge to make things a bit easier.

The Black rough is so brutal for the average golfer that they just can't cope, and a missed drive that would typically mean bogey turns into triple or worse.

The Black is impossible unless you have length and are a strong player. You need to be able to take a good swing just to get the ball back into the fairway if you miss it in the rough and not even the heavy stuff. I have watched single digits struggle to break 90 there and they did not really hit it all that bad.

 

 

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[revkev]

The Black is impossible unless you have length and are a strong player. You need to be able to take a good swing just to get the ball back into the fairway if you miss it in the rough and not even the heavy stuff. I have watched single digits struggle to break 90 there and they did not really hit it all that bad.

 

 

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It also favors a high ball hitter. Those approaches have to be high and soft.

 

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[sp0rtsfan86]

Can you go play Bethpage and give the same feedback?  The Black is pretty much a 6 hour round at anytime and just about everyone plays the wrong tees.  The Red and the Blue should theoretically be shorter rounds since they allow carts and are much more straightforward tracks.  Last round on the Red was over 6 hours mostly due to the fact that the two groups in front of us played the tips at about 6,900 yards.  First hole nobody in either group sniffed a fairway and 6 of the 8 could not reach it on the best of days.  Last round on the Blue I got in 15 holes and was called in for darkness after over 5 hours on the course.

I foolishly played the tips on the reds as a 15-18 handicap back in the day. First drive went all of 230. We still were pushing groups though even as I was hitting driver 5 wood on the back. I think slow play is one thing and distance may be another. When you combine both it's terrible. I've played some courses where I played a longer tee set just because I wanted to challenge myself on easier holes and make the hard ones worth it. But I'd never play a tee if I didn't think I could keep up pace.

[Kenny B]

I draw the line at playing a tee set that has carry distances that exceeds my distance capability, but I also do not find it fun playing driver, 3 wood on every hole.  Actually, that's what my wife does from the Forward tees on a lot of courses that we play.  I don't know how she stands it.  I had better figure it out soon though, because with each year I seem to be getting closer to doing that.  AND I will not move up to her tee box!!!!