Does your golf course play "winter tees" in the off season?

[Jim Shaw]

I am wondering if golf courses take the initiative and reduce distances or leave it up to the players.

[GolfSpy_APH]

Everyone regardless of ability plays from the Blue tees (senior tees). It isn't anything to do with distance, but all to do with wear and tear on the course in these months. Also there are no carts (driving or push) allowed. Carry bags only till end of March or even April.

[TJ Hall]

I’ve seen courses move some tee boxes around and leave some in place, while other courses just have their regular boxes.  

We still have carts allowed, but depends on how wet the course is, some days go cart path only.

[Dilly22]

Hello everyone,

I play at Falmouth CC in Falmouth, ME. It’s a private club that stays open outside until snow “sticks” for >24hr. Last year they didn’t close until mid-Dec and we’re still open currently. They only remove tips and white(senior) and leave Blue, Green, Red. They also have Trackman outdoor range with heated bays as well as Trackman4 indoor set ups. Playing year round in some capacity is convenient and nice to be able to play outside longer than any other courses as they have the grounds crew to do it. Would love to hear about other snowy places and how their courses handle closing.

[d0m41n]

Hey everybody,

 

Living in Texas, it's not so much an issue at this point. Maybe going into late January or February. Overall they just eventually make it cart path only and I will just go to my push cart since it might actually be faster. I haven't heard of winter tees but that's probably because winter here is basically non-existent. I am very curious to hear other areas decisions on this!

[Preeway]

Some of the courses don't even put out tee markers. More of an open tee approach and people just tee from where they prefer.

[Jim Shaw]

38 minutes ago, GolfSpy_APH said:

Everyone regardless of ability plays from the Blue tees (senior tees). It isn't anything to do with distance, but all to do with wear and tear on the course in these months. Also there are no carts (driving or push) allowed. Carry bags only till end of March or even April.

ahh, thanks, we are "cart paths only" and also can only use "multi mats" on the cut portion of the fairway, you can hit out of the rough without them if you want, it really helps keep the course in good shape and allows us to "compact" the ball instead of sweep it off the wet muddy ground.

[Jim Shaw]

30 minutes ago, Dilly22 said:

Hello everyone,

I play at Falmouth CC in Falmouth, ME. It’s a private club that stays open outside until snow “sticks” for >24hr. Last year they didn’t close until mid-Dec and we’re still open currently. They only remove tips and white(senior) and leave Blue, Green, Red. They also have Trackman outdoor range with heated bays as well as Trackman4 indoor set ups. Playing year round in some capacity is convenient and nice to be able to play outside longer than any other courses as they have the grounds crew to do it. Would love to hear about other snowy places and how their courses handle closing.

At Olympic View on Vancouver Island we only close when the frost gets too solid, we open on occasion with temporary greens or some temporary greens, and we use Multi Mats, I would like to see the total yardage of the course adjusted to maybe 56-5800 yds as the ball probably fly's 10% shorter in the winter.

[funkyjudge]

Almost all of the courses that I play on my winter golf tour that plays in NJ and PA keep all of their tee boxes open year-round. We all play the same tees (usually a mix of blue and white tees that play to an average course length of 6,300-6,400 yards), regardless of the player’s age, handicap or gender. We have two female golfers on the tour; one is an LPGA Professional and the other is a top nationally-ranked female amateur with a plus handicap. This applies to golfers from age 21 to 89 (our one 90+ year old participant who had played 55 years on the tour finally dropped out this year).

Now, as for reducing wear and tear on these courses, many of which are at high-end private country clubs, some require power carts to remain on the cart paths, some ban the use of power carts including powered push carts, and a few mandate carrying one’s golf bag. I use a MotoCaddy powered push cart much of the time, although I own a standard non-powered push cart as well. However, I have gone to carrying my bag in recent events and will likely continue doing this for the balance of our winter season, dropping a few clubs from my bag to lighten the load on the longer, hilly and spread-out courses. Last week, I had only 10 clubs in my bag, and for this week’s event I will be carrying 12 clubs (this week’s course is relatively flat, and has been touted as one of the most “walkable” courses in NJ).

Edited December 5, 2023 by funkyjudge

[Jim Shaw]

17 minutes ago, Preeway said:

Some of the courses don't even put out tee markers. More of an open tee approach and people just tee from where they prefer.

Now there is a great idea, thank you....

[Jim Shaw]

1 minute ago, funkyjudge said:

Almost all of the courses that I play on my winter golf tour that plays in NJ and PA keep all of their tee boxes open year-round. We all play the same tees (usually a mix of blue and white tees that play to an average course length of 6,300-6,400 yards, regardless of the player’s age, handicap or gender (we have two female golfers on the tour, one is an LPGA Professional and the other is a top nationally-ranked female amateur with a plus handicap). This applies to golfers from age 21 to 89 (our one 90+ year old participant who had played 55 years on the tour finally dropped out this year).

Now, as for reducing wear and tear on these courses, many of which are at high-end private country clubs, some require power carts to remain on the cart paths, some ban the use of power carts including powered push carts, and a few mandate carrying one’s golf bag. I use a MotoCaddy powered push cart much of the time, although I own a standard non-powered push cart. However, I have gone to carrying my bag in recent events and will likely continue doing this for the balance of our winter season, dropping a few clubs from my bag to lighten the load on the longer, hilly and spread-out courses. Last week, I had only 10 clubs in my bag, and for this week’s event I will be carrying 12 clubs (this week’s course is relatively flat, and has been touted as one of the most “walkable” courses in NJ).

I like the flexibility you are showing by only taking the amount of clubs you feel you need, great idea

[RickyBobby_PR]

Most courses I play keep the same tee boxes. They will use 2 different holes with a single flag and the hole is rotated by the group as they get to the green by placing the flag in the other hole

[Rob Person]

Certain tee boxes are lumped together due to inclement weather circumstances,  wear and tear, etc. Sometimes all 4 are on 1 box, sometimes on 2 boxes. Also depending if they have a tournament playing the following week.  Very rarely do they have them on temporary tee boxes (ie, off to the side or in front of a tee box)

[funkyjudge]

By the way, we have been averaging about 110 players per weekly event on this winter golf tour, which runs from late October through early April (25 events for the 2023-24 tour, including two 2-day events). There is a cap of 120 golfers per tournament, and this week’s event has 114 registered despite forecasted temperatures in the low-mid 30s all day.

Our one female amateur player currently has a GHIN Handicap Index of +2, and her tour handicap has been as low as +5. She has only shot two rounds above par on this season’s tour, and both of those scores were one over par.

[Preeway]

19 minutes ago, Jim Shaw said:

Now there is a great idea, thank you....

Grass is pretty dormant this time of year so they don't really mow the tee boxes. Makes it easier to go find a place to hit from when you can just hit from where there is still grass present. Can also make those longer par 3's a lot shorter, lol

[cnosil]

All the courses I play have the same tee boxes they have during the summer.   There may an occasional movement if the tee box is in really bad shape,  

[Josh Parker]

What is this thing called Winter?  

My course struggles to move the tee boxes in general and they definitely don't remove any.  

 

[William P]

Located in North Texas, we usually don't see changes in tee box due to winter, however, we will encounter cart path only days due to overly wet conditions on the course. 

We are fortunate enough to be able to play year-round and our local golf association has events scheduled every week with exception of holiday weeks. 

While frost may delay start times, rain or icy conditions tend to be the only limiting factors in maintaining our scheduled rounds.

[Kenny B]

Our course is open all year, but closes when it snows and we have frost delays occasionally.  We played today in the rain; I hate rain.  We only have cart paths around the teeing grounds, the greens, and par 3's.  The fairways are wide open, so no CPO.  Tees are the same, except this time of the year they have a goose poop hazards.  Distance off the tees is not significantly limited in winter; cold weather causes loss of distance, but firm (sometimes frozen) fairways gives quite a bit of roll.  The greens have two permanent holes with a plug in the one not used, but if the weather cooperates, a new hole may be cut.  Greens and fairways are still surprising green for this time of the year.

[CLenahan]

My course uses winter tees that aren't zoysia, and may actually close off the tournament tees, but I'd have to double-check as I never play from them anyway.

The course is cart path or walking only between Nov 15 and April 15, and the championship course closes on weekdays for that time period as well.

[Parshooter36]

My course moves the tees up in front of the tee boxes in the winter.  My 1st hole in one came on winter tees, so they didn't officially recognize it as a hole in one.  We still hooped and hollered like a bunch of idiots though.

[AvgGolferinPA]

My regular course here in PA tries to stay open until the weather closes in.  They had been closing the tee boxes and moving 1 set of tees forward or to the side to an open area in the rough between the regular tee boxes and the fairway.  Usually not very flat or mowed low like a regular tee box.  At some point this area gets so muddy it's not very usable.  Whatever.  We're still getting to play until the snow starts to fly.  

I'm always walking with a pushcart to stay warm at this point.