Age and course length

[TheWahoo]

My wife is 61 and plays our Red or White tees, depending on whether she loses rock/paper/scissors with the starter. Most all of the ladies play from the Red tees.  She keeps saying that the men keep moving up tees when they get older, but where do the ladies play when they get older?  

A friend of mine's wife says the exact same thing.   Like your wife, she is a pretty good golfer, but plays from the forward tees only because they are perceived to be the Ladies Tees.   Therein, lies part of the problem, through tradition or some other means, the teeing areas have been given certain designations--the Championship tees, the Regular Men's tees, the Senior tees, and the Ladies tees.   So regardless of skill level, many select tee use based on those designations.   The reality is that tee use should be based on skill level, not designations.  That would include the ladies, they should not be expected to just go to the perceived Ladies tees, if they have the skill level to play other tees. I must admit that I am as guilty as anyone, I didn't move up to the designated Senior tees until I became a Senior.   I think the USGA is trying to address this with its "Play It Forward" initiative, but I don't give it much chance of a success in the near future.   

[Rickp]

A friend of mine's wife says the exact same thing. Like your wife, she is a pretty good golfer, but plays from the forward tees only because they are perceived to be the Ladies Tees. Therein, lies part of the problem, through tradition or some other means, the teeing areas have been given certain designations--the Championship tees, the Regular Men's tees, the Senior tees, and the Ladies tees. So regardless of skill level, many select tee use based on those designations. The reality is that tee use should be based on skill level, not designations. That would include the ladies, they should not be expected to just go to the perceived Ladies tees, if they have the skill level to play other tees. I must admit that I am as guilty as anyone, I didn't move up to the designated Senior tees until I became a Senior. I think the USGA is trying to address this with its "Play It Forward" initiative, but I don't give it much chance of a success in the near future.

The Villages added another set of tees just for that problem. They call them the "Friendly Tees". It lets the "older" women & men still play and the best part not hold the groups in back of them up.

The Groundskeeper just added a tee box that is off to the side of the fairways and do not get in the way. Seems to work .

 

 

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[wbealsd]

The 2 courses I play the most are 5650 and 6300, but are very different in their setup as the shorter one has very tight fairways, long par 3s, very rough rough & small but fast greens, the other has generally wide fairways, moderate rough, larger but slower greens and only one long par 3.

 

I can generally cover the distances to reach the green in regulation, if not necessarily accurate enough to do it consistently - lol

 

I consider the longer course the easiest, but the devil in my scoring is my short game

[Rickp]

The 2 courses I play the most are 5650 and 6300, but are very different in their setup as the shorter one has very tight fairways, long par 3s, very rough rough & small but fast greens, the other has generally wide fairways, moderate rough, larger but slower greens and only one long par 3.

 

I can generally cover the distances to reach the green in regulation, if not necessarily accurate enough to do it consistently - lol

 

I consider the longer course the easiest, but the devil in my scoring is my short game

Those distances (white/blue) are similar to the course I played the most in CT. To me that was a good yardage spread.

 

 

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[TBT]

I'm about to be 54 in a month, my home course has a huge jump between tee boxes.

 

The Blue Tees are the regular men's tees and it's 6728 yards, I play these the most because we play all our MGA Events from these tees.

 

I end up with long irons into several par 4's and I can't reach any of the par 5's in two.

 

The White Tees are senior tees (60+ for MGA events) and play at 6023 yards...a 700 yard difference is huge gap...from here all par 5's are reachable and most par 4's I have 8 iron or less.

[RoverRick]

I haven't played much this year, but a few years ago, before my 50th birthday, I played every day. There was a senior group that started on Thursday morning and one day they asked me to play and I moved up to the forward tees. I had visions of lots of birdies, new personal record, and perhaps a new course record.

 

Sadly, that was not the case.

 

I did play well, and it was very enjoyable and less stressful but at the end of the day my score was not much different than the other tees. May have shaved 2 or 3 strokes, but I may have done that anyway. Of course if I played those everyday my handicap would probably go down but not 8 strokes.

 

Having said that, I have also played a 7400 yard course. It took a really good drive for me to reach the fairway and had to hit fm's and hybrids into greens. That course added 15-18 strokes. I'm sure if I were stupid enough to play this monster everyday my handicap would go up 10 or more strokes.

 

The reason there are different tees has nothing to do with age or sex but how far you hit the ball. Of course sex and age does have a bearing on that.

 

 

 

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[revkev]

I haven't played much this year, but a few years ago, before my 50th birthday, I played every day. There was a senior group that started on Thursday morning and one day they asked me to play and I moved up to the forward tees. I had visions of lots of birdies, new personal record, and perhaps a new course record.

 

Sadly, that was not the case.

 

I did play well, and it was very enjoyable and less stressful but at the end of the day my score was not much different than the other tees. May have shaved 2 or 3 strokes, but I may have done that anyway. Of course if I played those everyday my handicap would probably go down but not 8 strokes.

 

Having said that, I have also played a 7400 yard course. It took a really good drive for me to reach the fairway and had to hit fm's and hybrids into greens. That course added 15-18 strokes. I'm sure if I were stupid enough to play this monster everyday my handicap would go up 10 or more strokes.

 

The reason there are different tees has nothing to do with age or sex but how far you hit the ball. Of course sex and age does have a bearing on that.

 

 

 

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How the heck are you my friend?

 

 

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[Rtracymog]

We've had this debate out our yearly golf outing. We have a guy who plays from the senior tee and is in his early 70s and still shoots mid-low 90s. Everyone else plays from the whites regardless of handicap (anywhere from high 70s to 120). He is in the running for all of the money, just not the overall trophy. He probably should have won last year, but the organizer of the outing said as much that he couldn't win the whole thing because he played different tees. I'm on board with that because if we're making the 120 shooters play back there, he should as well. I see the tees as being more of a handicap issue than an age issue.

 

 

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[PlaidJacket]

I moved up from the tips (6560y) at my home course 2 years ago to the men's regular tee (6030y). Our elevation is at 2800'. I'm 62 (soon to be 63 in a few months) The reason was... distance. I was getting hosed at the time by guys that hit their clubs farther. I kept finding myself pulling one-two clubs more than these guys over and over. I've never been a long hitter even in my younger days. Anyway... after I moved up I was now equal distance or slightly further by a few yards. Certainly not a full club though. At first there was a lot of grumbling with my decision. Some guys that needed to move up like me hesitated because, you know; real men play the tips! LOL Of course it wasn't long before others joined me. Especially the ones that needed too. Like me. Here's the deal... why should I have to play at a disadvantage? If these guys playing from the back tee are hitting a 9i or wedge on approach why should I have to hit a 7i? Nowadays they hit a wedge approach and so do I. Sounds pretty fair to me. When I play other courses in my area I play from similar distances plus or minus. My max distance is about 6500 anywhere. Perhaps even less when I play other courses around the country or state where the elevation is much lower. It makes a difference.

 

My home course is old school and short. But it's not a cake walk. It's fairways are tree-lined and narrow, small push-up greens that slope around the edges or with false fronts, and lot's of OB here and there with many water hazards. It's a more difficult course that other bigger, wider courses in the area that also have huge greens. Yesterday I played with some guys over at their course. It's a nice one and I played the white tee (men's regular) which measures on the card at 6100y. The back tee is about 6600y. The other two guys I played with started the first hole on the back tee. However, after the first hole they said, "if he's playing the white tee so am I." LOL We're all the same age but these two guys usually hit the ball farther than me. Our final scores for the match were: Plaid 76, guy1 72, guy3 77. If they had not moved up their scores would have been much higher. It was also windy with many holes playing directly into it.

 

Welcome to the club gentlemen! 

[Rickp]

We've had this debate out our yearly golf outing. We have a guy who plays from the senior tee and is in his early 70s and still shoots mid-low 90s. Everyone else plays from the whites regardless of handicap (anywhere from high 70s to 120). He is in the running for all of the money, just not the overall trophy. He probably should have won last year, but the organizer of the outing said as much that he couldn't win the whole thing because he played different tees. I'm on board with that because if we're making the 120 shooters play back there, he should as well. I see the tees as being more of a handicap issue than an age issue.

 

 

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In my case both age (71 in a few weeks) and 15 hdp. With that combo 6,000+/-, mostly minus works just fine.

 

 

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[Kenny B]

We've had this debate out our yearly golf outing. We have a guy who plays from the senior tee and is in his early 70s and still shoots mid-low 90s. Everyone else plays from the whites regardless of handicap (anywhere from high 70s to 120). He is in the running for all of the money, just not the overall trophy. He probably should have won last year, but the organizer of the outing said as much that he couldn't win the whole thing because he played different tees. I'm on board with that because if we're making the 120 shooters play back there, he should as well. I see the tees as being more of a handicap issue than an age issue.

 

 

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To compete in men's club events at my course, everyone plays from the Blue Tees with the exception that age + handicap = 90 or more play from the White Tees (senior tees).  We have one guy who's 84 that just barely qualifies.

 

The maximum handicap allowed for competition by the USGA is 36 for men and 40 for women.  That would mean that someone who is 54 or older and shoots around 110 would play also play from the White Tees.

[Bags]

64. Started a thread a few months ago called "When I'm 64.." chronicling the distance gains I had achieved in the previous 6 months after a few lessons from a new pro. A couple of months later, still can say I'm still 1.5 to 2 clubs longer on my irons, but the driver has backed off to maybe 15 to 20 yds more than previous. The point being, I played 32 years at a very consistent distance per club, then all of a sudden with a couple of very pertinent lessons, I'm hitting much longer at a more advanced age. So, I don't know that the 60s (or 50s) ought to be that much of an impediment to keeping one's distance.

 

All that being said, we play white tees almost all the time at about 6,150 yds. Though the blues at 6500 are not that much tougher, except for the two back nine par threes that come in at 230 and 190 versus 180 and 165.

great to hear man I always root for my fellow golfers

 

greatest game EVER!!

 

 

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[Trout Bum]

I'm 53 and usually play at around 6700 to 6800, anything longer gives me a fit. Once a year me and my son will play Grand dunes or something at or over 7500 yds just for fun and man it's humbling, If I break 90 I'm happy lol.

 

It makes for a good time with my kid

[chisag]

.... I am 64 but still work out and lift weights, of course for quality of life but mostly to keep in golf shape. I prefer to play 6500-6700 but will play up to 6,999 before throwing in the white flag. Long courses give me a chance to use most of the clubs in my bag instead of driver-short iron, which is admittedly fun but not as challenging. 

[chisag]

I'm about to be 54 in a month, my home course has a huge jump between tee boxes.

 

The Blue Tees are the regular men's tees and it's 6728 yards, I play these the most because we play all our MGA Events from these tees.

 

I end up with long irons into several par 4's and I can't reach any of the par 5's in two.

 

The White Tees are senior tees (60+ for MGA events) and play at 6023 yards...a 700 yard difference is huge gap...from here all par 5's are reachable and most par 4's I have 8 iron or less.

 

... Sounds like this course could use a combo tee on the scorecard. We have several around here with a Blue/White designation on the scorecard. The longest holes are played from the White tees and the rest are played from the Blues. Usually around 8 holes are shortened which is a nice compromise for those not quite ready to move from 160 to 130 on one par 3 but move up from 210 to 180 on another more difficult par 3. 

[Kenny B]

... Sounds like this course could use a combo tee on the scorecard. We have several around here with a Blue/White designation on the scorecard. The longest holes are played from the White tees and the rest are played from the Blues. Usually around 8 holes are shortened which is a nice compromise for those not quite ready to move from 160 to 130 on one par 3 but move up from 210 to 180 on another more difficult par 3. 

There are no courses around here that do the combo tees, but I played a couple this year on golf trips.  I never paid attention to which tees I was supposed to play.  I played a couple from the wrong tee and my wife had to remind me on a couple of others.  I suppose it's not an issue if you play the course all the time.

[alfriday101]

The golfers in my usual foursome are 58, 59 (me), 60 and 70.  We generally play the blue tees, which are 6100 yards, par 69 course.  When we travel, we pick the tees that are around 6400 yards for par 72.

 

Every couple of weeks I'll play with the 70 year old and two other friends from the senior tees (5200 yards).  We play a best ball.  One of the other golfers had a stroke a few years ago and doesn't hit tee shots on most holes.  He's 66.  The other is 64 and has never taken car of himself and is lucky to hit a drive 180 yards.  We have a lot of fun playing, but the one thing I've learned is the importance of good health and taking care of oneself.  

[Canucklehead]

... Sounds like this course could use a combo tee on the scorecard. We have several around here with a Blue/White designation on the scorecard. The longest holes are played from the White tees and the rest are played from the Blues. Usually around 8 holes are shortened which is a nice compromise for those not quite ready to move from 160 to 130 on one par 3 but move up from 210 to 180 on another more difficult par 3.

My course had 2 sets of combo tees last season, and removed them both for this season. My money is on them being back next year, because I heard nothing but complaints from the members I've played with that usually play them. No one in the clubhouse had an answer for the reason either.

 

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[Sluggo42]

6700 for the white tees., at a muni?

Sheesh

Seems most of the tracks around SoCal ar at 5600 to 6000 at whites

6700 would be the tips at a longer track

 

I guess were just a bunch of pussies here in SoCal...

[Kenny B]

6700 for the white tees., at a muni?

Sheesh

Seems most of the tracks around SoCal ar at 5600 to 6000 at whites

6700 would be the tips at a longer track

 

I guess were just a bunch of pussies here in SoCal...

There's nothing wrong with pussies.  

[silver & black]

There's nothing wrong with pussies.  

No... no there isn't!

[revkev]

This topic came up last night over scotch and cigars on the balcony.

 

When we are playing for fun we often create our own course. We will move up or back depending upon weather conditions, mood and state of inebriation. We have even turned a 5 into a 4 and then later on visa versa. We always keep the course at around 6100. That's really ideal for me at Sea Level.

 

 

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[AH1980MN]

We do this too at my home course- can be alot of fun- and if the course is empty, sometimes we'll combine holes to make par 4s out of threes, 5s out of 4s etc. (IF the course is empty!)

[bobdeibel]

I'm 69 and play tees generally 5500-5700 yards. I live in Florida and at almost sea level, the ball doesn't go as far.

 

 

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