Mandatory tee boxes?

[funkyjudge]

7 minutes ago, DaveP043 said:

You may disagree, but statistics will prove you wrong.  In fast, you may actually have this backwards.  In this study published right here in My Golf Spy:

https://mygolfspy.com/the-distance-debate-how-age-and-handicap-affect-distance/

we find this quote:  "The best players are typically around 60 yards longer than the highest handicap group, and while the rates of decline are similar, better players are most typically longer players."

In another one, https://mygolfspy.com/study-accuracy-versus-distance/

we can read "Scratch golfers have a huge advantage over their fellow amateurs, hitting drives 68 yards further on average compared to 25 handicappers. Still, a scratch golfer is roughly 40 yards shy of the average PGA TOUR driving distance."

In that second study, the statistics show that Percent of Fairways hit is relatively similar across handicap levels, 46% to 50%. Of course, if you're hitting the ball 50 yards further, you HAVE to be more accurate (angular deviation) to hit the same percentage of fairways, so lower handicappers ARE more accurate off the tee.

My conclusion to this is that if you believe that recommendations for  tee selection can reasonably be based on driving distance, its also reasonable to base it on Handicap.  And let me be clear, there is plenty of scatter in the data, there are some poorer players who hit it miles, some scratch players who aren't long, but the general trend is very clear.  And these are RECOMMENDATIONS, I believe players should select the tees which will allow them to enjoy the course while playing at a reasonable pace.  If a 25-handicap can play from 7100 yards and keep up with the groups in front, have at it.  If a scratch player wants to play 5000 yards and shoot 65, go for it!. 

Since that is entirely based on Arccos data, it is entirely irrelevant. I play LOTS of golf with lots of golfers of different skill levels, from PGA Professionals and plus-handicap players to golfers with handicaps in the mid-high 20s, and I have NEVER seen one golfer using Arccos sensors or tracking any type of data using any type of tracking device.

Of all the scratch and plus-handicap amateurs and PGA Professionals with whom I have played over the last 35+ years, there are no more than 2 or 3 who could ever drive a golf ball 60 to 68 yards farther than an average high-handicap (20+ index) male golfer age 60 or younger. Sure, there are some 80 to 95 year old guys who may fall into that category of distance-challenged golfers, but all of them already play from tees that are as far forward as you can find on every golf course that they play.  Since I play in a statewide senior travel league comprised of more than 560 male golfers age 60+, and have done so for 8+ years, I see lots of older, higher handicap players (and some really good low single-digit senior golfers). There’s a handful of these senior golfers who don’t hit their drivers more than 195-210 yards, but the longest hitting players age 60+ aren’t out-driving them by 65+ yards. And many of those longest-hitting seniors carry handicap indexes between 0 and 5.

I would wager that the longest-hitting low-handicap golfers cited in those studies are far less than 50 years old. If a high-handicap golfer in that same age group wants to play from the forward tees, I have exactly zero problem with that. People should play from the tees that best suit their games, be that determined by handicap or otherwise (by the way, most higher-scoring amateur golfers do not, and never have, maintained a handicap index). The only reason that many of the players in my statewide senior league have any type of handicap is because it is required for them to play in the league, and because many of them don’t subscribe to GHIN, the league keeps scoring data and issues a “league handicap”. League officials tried forcing league members to maintain a GHIN handicap, and that was a colossal failure. The guys in that league who have legitimate USGA Handicap Indexes are all golfers who play to handicaps of 18 or lower and who play in sanctioned tournaments where you have no choice but to maintain a handicap in the GHIN system.

[DaveP043]

3 minutes ago, funkyjudge said:

I would wager that the longest-hitting low-handicap golfers cited in those studies are far less than 50 years old.

Perhaps you should actually read those studies.  The first one shows driving distance as a function of age for different handicap levels.  There's no question that driving distance decreases as the age increases, but scratch players at age 65 have similar average driving distance to 15-handicappers at age 25, and are 35 to 40 yards longer than 65-year old 15-handicappers.  You may want to disregard those statistics, but you haven't posted anything to back up your claims beyond personal recollections.  "I know a guy...." isn't a really persuasive argument, to me, we all "know a guy" who is an outlier to any statistical generalization.  There are always outliers, but the general trend is still valid.  Again, I don't doubt that there are some 5 handicaps in our age range (I'm 67) who don't hit it much past 200 yards.  But you can't ignore the 20-handicaps at the same age who can't reach 150.  

[TR1PTIK]

This topic got me to thinking about the ideal way to recommend appropriate tees and thanks to technology it would really be quite simple (though admittedly costly). A course equipped with TrackMan Range or Toptracer Range could enlist skill challenges to determine appropriate tees. I haven't done any skills assessments with TrackMan, but I have done one or two with Toptracer and thought it did a pretty good job of identifying the good and bad of my game. Furthermore, you could tailor the recommendation based on course design. If driving is a critical component to scoring well for a particular course, it could weight that skill more heavily than approach play and so on. Bonus points for giving everyone the opportunity to warm-up before their round!

Just an idea though and it would only be practical for clubs with the capital to invest in the technology. The other issue is getting people to show up early enough to allow for the skill assessment.

[DaveP043]

2 minutes ago, TR1PTIK said:

This topic got me to thinking about the ideal way to recommend appropriate tees and thanks to technology it would really be quite simple (though admittedly costly). A course equipped with TrackMan Range or Toptracer Range could enlist skill challenges to determine appropriate tees. I haven't done any skills assessments with TrackMan, but I have done one or two with Toptracer and thought it did a pretty good job of identifying the good and bad of my game. Furthermore, you could tailor the recommendation based on course design. If driving is a critical component to scoring well for a particular course, it could weight that skill more heavily than approach play and so on. Bonus points for giving everyone the opportunity to warm-up before their round!

Just an idea though and it would only be practical for clubs with the capital to invest in the technology. The other issue is getting people to show up early enough to allow for the skill assessment.

A very interesting idea, and I know that Toptracer tech is becoming more available at practice ranges.  But just the thought that you might really need this level of tech to make a really rational recommendation illustrates the difficulty, there are LOTS of different factors involved, including the players distribution of a number of different skills, the course design, and maybe even current weather and maintenance factors.  I think in general simpler is better, driving distance is a fairly reasonable single factor to use, and handicap correlates with driving distance.   

[TR1PTIK]

1 hour ago, DaveP043 said:

A very interesting idea, and I know that Toptracer tech is becoming more available at practice ranges.  But just the thought that you might really need this level of tech to make a really rational recommendation illustrates the difficulty, there are LOTS of different factors involved, including the players distribution of a number of different skills, the course design, and maybe even current weather and maintenance factors.  I think in general simpler is better, driving distance is a fairly reasonable single factor to use, and handicap correlates with driving distance.   

Agree, just an idea is all. Would at least be cool to see the driving ranges that already have this tech provide a recommendation based on distance. Even if you're just playing a virtual course, it could collect an average and spit out something that would be of benefit.

[DaveP043]

Just now, TR1PTIK said:

Agree, just an idea is all. Would at least be cool to see the driving ranges that already have this tech provide a recommendation based on distance. Even if you're just playing a virtual course, it could collect an average and spit out something that would be of benefit.

But each of us would know better than any damn computer, we'd still make our own choices 

[funkyjudge]

1 hour ago, DaveP043 said:

Perhaps you should actually read those studies.  The first one shows driving distance as a function of age for different handicap levels.  There's no question that driving distance decreases as the age increases, but scratch players at age 65 have similar average driving distance to 15-handicappers at age 25, and are 35 to 40 yards longer than 65-year old 15-handicappers.  You may want to disregard those statistics, but you haven't posted anything to back up your claims beyond personal recollections.  "I know a guy...." isn't a really persuasive argument, to me, we all "know a guy" who is an outlier to any statistical generalization.  There are always outliers, but the general trend is still valid.  Again, I don't doubt that there are some 5 handicaps in our age range (I'm 67) who don't hit it much past 200 yards.  But you can't ignore the 20-handicaps at the same age who can't reach 150.  

I read the damn studies before my response to you, and my reading comprehension is perfectly fine.

I am done with you, as you clearly want to be argumentative and obnoxious.

Edited December 26, 2022 by funkyjudge

[Siamese Moose]

2 hours ago, TR1PTIK said:

This topic got me to thinking about the ideal way to recommend appropriate tees and thanks to technology it would really be quite simple (though admittedly costly). A course equipped with TrackMan Range or Toptracer Range could enlist skill challenges to determine appropriate tees. I haven't done any skills assessments with TrackMan, but I have done one or two with Toptracer and thought it did a pretty good job of identifying the good and bad of my game. Furthermore, you could tailor the recommendation based on course design. If driving is a critical component to scoring well for a particular course, it could weight that skill more heavily than approach play and so on. Bonus points for giving everyone the opportunity to warm-up before their round!

Just an idea though and it would only be practical for clubs with the capital to invest in the technology. The other issue is getting people to show up early enough to allow for the skill assessment.

TopTracer ranges have a 30 ball test to estimate your handicap. It actually starts giving a decent ball park number after 10 shots. I have had fun using it to see where my strokes gained/lost are compared to average for my handicap. Of course, it's big drawback is no putting (which must be my big strokes gained area, 'cause everything else seems to be strokes lost).

[GolfSpy_APH]

8 hours ago, Siamese Moose said:

TopTracer ranges have a 30 ball test to estimate your handicap. It actually starts giving a decent ball park number after 10 shots. I have had fun using it to see where my strokes gained/lost are compared to average for my handicap. Of course, it's big drawback is no putting (which must be my big strokes gained area, 'cause everything else seems to be strokes lost).

The top tracer 30 is easily one of my favorite "games" on there and offers a ton of insight. 

I guess a good question is do many of you think the German/Swiss system we have (not sure about other countries) where you must have an official handicap to play most all courses is a good or bad thing? Do you think this could help with a suggested tee system like this? 

[RickyBobby_PR]

Most courses use a black(tips), blue, white, red and yellow (or some other color for front tee box. Most people look at the tee box color and play from whatever tee box color they normally play from and just go there whenever they play a different course, or they look at the distance if the colors don’t match.

I play a few courses that from the whites all have similar distance, but course layout and greens are different and some will eat your lunch off the tee while others will let you swing away on most holes with no issues.

While each person get their handicap in different ways I think suggestions based on minimum handicap to play a tee box is fair. The course’s super and pro staff will have a good idea of what handicaps can play efficiently from what tee box. Same if distance of tee shot was used. They know that certain distances whether straight or not off a tee will have a certain distance in.

You can’t and won’t please all and too many have egos that will have them play the wrong tees, so at the end of the day it’s about speed of play and on the course to do a good job managing it

 

[tony@CIC]

6 hours ago, GolfSpy_APH said:

The top tracer 30 is easily one of my favorite "games" on there and offers a ton of insight. 

I guess a good question is do many of you think the German/Swiss system we have (not sure about other countries) where you must have an official handicap to play most all courses is a good or bad thing? Do you think this could help with a suggested tee system like this? 

The official hcp is a good thing if you're trying to manage tee utilization, but a bad thing if a person is just going out to have fun. 

One thing to keep in mind is that driving distance is not the 'tell all' when it comes to tee selection. I can out drive a number of guys in our league - but they end up beating the pants off me when it comes to their short game. 

[DaveP043]

4 minutes ago, tony@CIC said:

The official hcp is a good thing if you're trying to manage tee utilization, but a bad thing if a person is just going out to have fun. 

One thing to keep in mind is that driving distance is not the 'tell all' when it comes to tee selection. I can out drive a number of guys in our league - but they end up beating the pants off me when it comes to their short game. 

I agree, its not the entire story, but distance is probably the single biggest factor to consider.  When you talk about managing the golf course, tee selection is really about pace of play, which clearly has many factors beyond tee selection sand driving distance.  But there's no question that more shots required means more time, even for the fastest players.  I know I said it earlier here, if you (the generic "you", not @tony@CIC specifically) can keep up with the group in front, play whatever tees you like.  But if you're falling behind, one of the easiest ways to speed things up a little is to move forward a tee or two.

[GolfSpy BOS]

There's a course near me that the starter will ask you your handicap and if you played there before if you walk up to the blue tees versus the whites.  

It's not a particularly long course either, so I always found it funny.  I think these sort of recommendations are meant more for new golfers.  We see time and time again that handicap and driver distance are statistically correlated and since everyone outside this forum (slight exaggeration) thinks they hit it further than they do, handicap is the better number to quote there.

I think I read something at one point in time that looking at the course your average approach should be around an 8 iron and that would give you a fair tee-box.  I remember telling that to my dad when he started to loose distance and it took him a while to be OK with hitting from 3 or sometimes 4 tee boxes up, but now he's still enjoying the game and not hitting three shots into every par 4.  

 

TL;DR - These sort of recommendations seem to work better for players who don't really know their game and what's appropriate yet.  

[Jack1701]

It would be very interesting to see how much difference it makes. It’s obvious that moving up will improve scoring, but by how much? More importantly, does it make much difference to pace of play which is the only motivation to make it mandatory. It would make for a a good study using Arccos data.

[RickyBobby_PR]

1 hour ago, tony@CIC said:

The official hcp is a good thing if you're trying to manage tee utilization, but a bad thing if a person is just going out to have fun. 

One thing to keep in mind is that driving distance is not the 'tell all' when it comes to tee selection. I can out drive a number of guys in our league - but they end up beating the pants off me when it comes to their short game. 

No but it’s something that affects pace of play. One of the courses I play regularly has 3 par 4s on the back nine from the whites that are between 387 and 397 and 401-415 from the blues when tee boxes are in normal locations, they are also pretty tight and with changes in elevation. Sometimes into heavy winds. They are challenging and someone that is short off the tee can slow the course down in a hurry with having to play those holes like a par 5. 
 

[RickyBobby_PR]

Just now, Jack1701 said:

It would be very interesting to see how much difference it makes. It’s obvious that moving up will improve scoring, but by how much? More importantly, does it make much difference to pace of play which is the only motivation to make it mandatory. It would make for a a good study using Arccos data.

There’s no guarantee moving up lowers scores. I play from the “senior” tees periodically with my old group of golf buddies. They all score about the same as they did when they played a tee box back and depending on how one approaches course management they may or may not score better and could score worse because for some areas of the course that could be trouble they don’t have to worry about from a tee box or two back.

[DaveP043]

30 minutes ago, Jack1701 said:

It would be very interesting to see how much difference it makes. It’s obvious that moving up will improve scoring, but by how much? More importantly, does it make much difference to pace of play which is the only motivation to make it mandatory. It would make for a a good study using Arccos data.

Based on the course rating system, playing shorter tees results in only a couple of strokes difference, and I wouldn't guess its much of a time saving for most players.  But for some players it would make a noticeable difference in pace of play, and speeding up the slowest groups means speeding it up for every single player behind those slowest players.  And remember, the ONLY mention of making it "mandatory" was in the title chosen by the OP, and even then he used a sign posting the recommendations, not requirements.

I do remember being in Scotland a few times.  At most courses, there were Members tees, and there were Guest tees, usually a bit shorter.  As Guests, we played the Guest tees, they didn't care who you were, how good you claimed to be, or how far you claimed to hit it, you played the Guest tees.  

[GolfSpy BOS]

29 minutes ago, Jack1701 said:

It would be very interesting to see how much difference it makes. It’s obvious that moving up will improve scoring, but by how much? More importantly, does it make much difference to pace of play which is the only motivation to make it mandatory. It would make for a a good study using Arccos data.

I find that moving up really doesn't change my scoring all that much.  What it does tend to do is take driver out of my hand on a lot of holes where there's a dog leg/narrow approach/pond/hill/etc now in range for me.  I don't really end up in a better spot because of it, so much of my approach and short game remains the same, so pace of play isn't helped at all either.

Sure, there will be an odd hole where I can drive the green.... but also if I miss the green it could be a lost ball in the woods, so it's a really risky play.  It's actually one of the worst parts of playing the in the league that I did for a few years... They all play from the white tees and for the whole course and I still shoot around my average even though I'm closer because of the course design.  There are two short par 4s (220-250 yards-ish) from the white tees that the green is virtually impossible to hit even though I have the length to do so because of the hole shape and tall tree line.

Some courses would favor better scoring for sure, I know one that closed a few years back that was fairly straight and open... that was fun to play up a tee box, but its really course dependent.   

[Jim Shaw]

I have found, in the past 15 years or so, the conversation about which tee boxes golfers play has changed from when I started playing in the 1960's and competitively in the 1970's. It was almost a "right of passage" to get (as Dave said) strong enough and enough distance to play from "the tips". Many many times I would hear, "lets go to "x" course and play the tips". 75% (kitchen math) would have a terrible time because the tips were way too much golf course for them but having said that some of my most memorable rounds were played from the tips. Having said all that, I feel the stigma is going away, the conversation now tends to be "what set of tee's will you have the most enjoyment from". And now we address the front tees as "forward" tees, and coaches are coaching juniors to tee off from wherever then feel their students can hit most greens in regulation (I think this stems from Earl Woods letting Tiger tee off closer to the greens and moving back as he got stronger and longer and this makes total sense to me. 

 

[Jack1701]

55 minutes ago, RickyBobby_PR said:

There’s no guarantee moving up lowers scores. I play from the “senior” tees periodically with my old group of golf buddies. They all score about the same as they did when they played a tee box back and depending on how one approaches course management they may or may not score better and could score worse because for some areas of the course that could be trouble they don’t have to worry about from a tee box or two back.

I don’t disagree and personally, I can play bogey from any tee. I assume however that if I played 10x from each box, I would score better from the more forward tees. I’m more interested in if it really saves time. The absolute slowest player on the course I play is actually a good player. He would be just as slow from any tee. 

[Jack1701]

29 minutes ago, DaveP043 said:

Based on the course rating system, playing shorter tees results in only a couple of strokes difference, and I wouldn't guess its much of a time saving for most players.  But for some players it would make a noticeable difference in pace of play, and speeding up the slowest groups means speeding it up for every single player behind those slowest players.  And remember, the ONLY mention of making it "mandatory" was in the title chosen by the OP, and even then he used a sign posting the recommendations, not requirements.

I do remember being in Scotland a few times.  At most courses, there were Members tees, and there were Guest tees, usually a bit shorter.  As Guests, we played the Guest tees, they didn't care who you were, how good you claimed to be, or how far you claimed to hit it, you played the Guest tees.  

The slowest golfers I have ever followed were slow because of the time they took on the greens, not because of how many shots it took to get there. Also, they tend to be the better players. That’s my observation, but Arccos has the data. I hope they are reading this.

[Tyler Palmer]

I'm in the situation that I play driver and fairway woods better than my mid to long irons,  so playing a longer layout benefits me.  If I was smart, I'd literally take my 4 through 6-iron out of my bag, lol.

Length doesn't add a lot of issues for me just because I'm very confident in my fairway woods and my short game is fairly solid.  I'm certainly not attacking for birdies often, but my pace of play would be fine.

That being said, I usually play the whites.  Our course markers typically are blue, white, red.  On some of the nicer courses we may have black markers beyond the blues, but the few times I've played from the blues, it doesn't really hurt my scores much.  That's usually done more from mental mistakes than anything else.

[RickyBobby_PR]

7 minutes ago, Jack1701 said:

I don’t disagree and personally, I can play bogey from any tee. I assume however that if I played 10x from each box, I would score better from the more forward tees. I’m more interested in if it really saves time. The absolute slowest player on the course I play is actually a good player. He would be just as slow from any tee. 

I doubt you wold play any better from the forward tees than 1 or maybe two tee boxes back and the only signifcant difference would be forward tees vs tips.

It doesn’t save much time despite wish people think. Slow people are always going to be slow and fast people will always be fast. It might even slow it down for some while they debate what club to use and their overall strategy to each hole

[chisag]

9 minutes ago, GolfSpy_BOS said:

I find that moving up really doesn't change my scoring all that much. 

There are two short par 4s (220-250 yards-ish) from the white tees that the green is virtually impossible to hit even though I have the length to do so because of the hole shape and tall tree line.

 

... Much like golfers swings and snowflakes where no two are identical, mandatory tees are really difficult to pin down. Every course is different so playing a new course is always a challenge to pick the right tees. If I move up a tee box on my home course it will drop my scores by 3-5 strokes. Unlike your tree lined course, there are several bunkers I can fly from 15/20 yards closer and 2 greens I can drive when I usually lay up with an iron. There are also several long holes that my best drives land into the top of an upslope and get some roll where my slight misses hit further down the upslope and get little roll. From the next tees up my landing area is now on the flat and I get more roll. The difference between a hy/long iron approach and a mid/short iron approach is more birdies. 

... That said, I talked my 80 yr old pard into moving up from the senior tees to the forward tees on 5 of the longer par 4's and he can now reach those greens with two really good shots when he couldn't from the senior tees. He will occasionally par one of those holes but more often than not he still misses the green so the only difference is a shorter pitch/chip instead of a long pitch or wedge so his scoring has remained pretty much the same. 

... And I can repeat it til I am blue in the face but the best way to play golf is to play the tees that allow you to play the hole the way it was designed, and that means length off the tee is critical. Still any suggestions would require a reasonably repeatable drive in both distance and direction. Many mid index and certainly almost all high index players are erratic off the tee. They can hit a 230yd drive in the fairway one day and miss the fairway hitting it 200 the next. Hard to have a suggestion for inconsistency. 

... In the end unless you are in a competitive league or betting with your buddies, being honest about your ability and keeping pace is all that matters for choosing your tee box. Playing the appropriate tees should give you the most enjoyment as well as a fair challenge but playing a tee box a little too long or too short for your ability won't make much difference if you keep pace. Handicap, how far you drive or average scores are all good "suggestions" but as many have said, no system works for everyone and a suggestion is just a good starting point. 

... I would much rather play a new course I find a little too short the first time than playing it too long. But I also have no problem moving around tee boxes either. If most of the holes look appropriate on the scorecard but one par 4 is a 470 yds, I am moving up to 449 for that hole. Combo scorecards are my favorite because they already take that into account but you can always make your own combo with just one or more holes. 

 

[Borton]

I am a 15 handicap but generally play tees second from the back(blue most places). I am long and consistent off the tee box, my problem is 70-100 yards and in. If I play up because of my handicap, I am essentially hitting my worse shot/club every par 4 on second shot. 

There are too many courses around me that are simply driver, gap wedge, putter. Moving back allows me to play more of my bag. I play regularly with scratch to plus golfers and I don't think any of them have ever complained about my 15 slowing them down. My extra shot(putt) a hole isn't making or breaking anyone's day.

[funkyjudge]

15 minutes ago, Jack1701 said:

The slowest golfers I have ever followed were slow because of the time they took on the greens, not because of how many shots it took to get there. Also, they tend to be the better players. That’s my observation, but Arccos has the data. I hope they are reading this.

Fact!  Nobody on my winter golf tour wants to be placed behind the pros because everyone knows that the pros are the slowest of all golfers on the tour, and it is by a wide margin.

[chisag]

12 minutes ago, Tyler Palmer said:

I usually play the whites.  Our course markers typically are blue, white, red. 

 

... Tee box colors seem to be regional. We had lots of green or black tips, white for "mens", gold/silver for "seniors" and red for forward in the Midwest. Here in Phoenix most are black tips, then silver/white "mens" then gold "seniors" and forward of course still red. I really wish they would change the forward tees to anything but red. I think all courses should permanently retire red tees as too many men with fragile egos just won't play from the "ladies" tees. In fact getting rid of any description like "mens" and "seniors" or "ladies" would be a great idea. 

[chisag]

24 minutes ago, funkyjudge said:

Fact!  Nobody on my winter golf tour wants to be placed behind the pros because everyone knows that the pros are the slowest of all golfers on the tour, and it is by a wide margin.

 

... I am not sure which slow group is more frustrating to be behind. Those "having fun" and never ready when it's their turn, talking on the tee box when the group in front is already on the green and only teeing off because we are walking toward them and they finally look at the hole, stopping the beverage cart every time she appears and taking forever with the "hot girl" and of course all driving their carts to each others shot instead of going to their own.

... Or the "pro" that seems to take forever to look at their position, get their yardage, take several practice swings, stand behind and line up their shot visualizing for a full minute and finally swing only to get on the green and examine every putt like it is a rubrics cube, looking at it from every possible angle then going through their exhaustive routine of lining up their ball mark line and sometimes doing it a second time after stepping back and seeing it is off by 1*, missing the putt and marking only to go through it all again for their 2 foot comeback putt that *SURPRISE* is on the same line when it rolled past the hole.  

[Tyler Palmer]

17 minutes ago, chisag said:

 

... Tee box colors seem to be regional. We had lots of green or black tips, white for "mens", gold/silver for "seniors" and red for forward in the Midwest. Here in Phoenix most are black tips, then silver/white "mens" then gold "seniors" and forward of course still red. I really wish they would change the forward tees to anything but red. I think all courses should permanently retire red tees as too many men with fragile egos just won't play from the "ladies" tees. In fact getting rid of any description like "mens" and "seniors" or "ladies" would be a great idea. 

Absolutely correct.  Ours are black for the tips on long courses, blues, whites for average, red for ladies/juniors.

You're right that the color should change for the forward tees.  

[Micky G]

Players should be recommended to play from tees that allow them to get round in under 3 hours 50 minutes.  This allows all players to enjoy themselves.  Move up if falling behind.