When to move back in tees?

My child, who typically plays from the very forward tees, has asked to play (recreationally) from the next set of tees back. Does anyone have an opinion on when to allow/encourage this?

Thanks in advance.

Whenever he wants. Most people move up when they can’t reach par 4s in two or are using longer clubs into every par 4.

As long as he’s having fun playing from a tee box or two back and not holding up the course have at it

My son is 8. Always have played him from US Kids yardages....until this Summer at the Club we joined he plays "forward" tees on most every hole....a good 35% longer than he is used to. I was surprised how well he handled it. Played our first USKG tmnt of the season last weekend and the course seemed VERY short. Thinking it through- from the longer tees at home he is hitting more mid irons into greens , whereas USKG its rarely anything longer than a PW. On the downside, his wedge yardages were WAY off, as he hasn't been hitting many full wedge approaches at home. I was always hesitant to push him back , but am glad I did - he enjoys the challenge and if he starts to score bad I will creep him back forward a little. I say move him back, see how he handles it.

> @hangontight said:

> My son is 8. Always have played him from US Kids yardages....until this Summer at the Club we joined he plays "forward" tees on most every hole....a good 35% longer than he is used to. I was surprised how well he handled it. Played our first USKG tmnt of the season last weekend and the course seemed VERY short. Thinking it through- from the longer tees at home he is hitting more mid irons into greens , whereas USKG its rarely anything longer than a PW. On the downside, his wedge yardages were WAY off, as he hasn't been hitting many full wedge approaches at home. I was always hesitant to push him back , but am glad I did - he enjoys the challenge and if he starts to score bad I will creep him back forward a little. I say move him back, see how he handles it.

Noticed this as well when we did something similar. At US Kids one season I think the longest club my son hit into a par five was a six iron.

I agree on the 'whenever he wants to' comment or whenever he has to. He will find out very quickly if its fun or he hates it and wants to move back to shorter distances. I took my son over the weekend to play the PGA West stadium course and from the red tees the course was an absolute B*tch. He wanted to move to the forward tees, which are about the same distance as USkids, but he pushed through from the reds and actually broke 80.

My son (12 y/o) wanted to move back to the men's tees. I said no problem...but you have to go under par on the forward tees first. He worked hard on his wedges and putting to make that happen.

> @"Palmetto Golfer" said:

> My son (12 y/o) wanted to move back to the men's tees. I said no problem...but you have to go under par on the forward tees first. He worked hard on his wedges and putting to make that happen.

That is an interesting approach. Developmentally, do you think it is better to play from a set of tees that is too short or too long (assuming best would be tee length that is "just right")?

> @kekoa said:

> I agree on the 'whenever he wants to' comment or whenever he has to. He will find out very quickly if its fun or he hates it and wants to move back to shorter distances. I took my son over the weekend to play the PGA West stadium course and from the red tees the course was an absolute B*tch. He wanted to move to the forward tees, which are about the same distance as USkids, but he pushed through from the reds and actually broke 80.

What was the distance from the red tees?

> @JuniorGolfParent said:

> > @"Palmetto Golfer" said:

> > My son (12 y/o) wanted to move back to the men's tees. I said no problem...but you have to go under par on the forward tees first. He worked hard on his wedges and putting to make that happen.

>

> That is an interesting approach. Developmentally, do you think it is better to play from a set of tees that is too short or too long (assuming best would be tee length that is "just right")?

I am no expert but I think it helps to move around. If my son just plays the men's tees, then his long irons get a lot of work which is great....but his wedges and short irons do not. The reverse is true in the opposite direction. Another aspect of playing different tees is that my son plays the same course a lot. When he changes tees...it does change the course slightly. He has to engage his brain more rather than always knowing what to hit off the tee. On some holes on the forward tees, he can't hit driver and has to think about positioning. If he was on the men's tees, it would be driver every time.

Also, I remembering reading an article somewhere that said some college teams play the forward tees before tournaments sometimes so that they can get the feeling of going low. How many times do you really get an eagle putt? From the men's tees, that will never happen for my son nor will he go low. So playing up can give him those feelings and he can learn to deal with it.

On a selfish note, when I told him to go under par first on the forward tees...his wedges were awful at the time. He had played in a tournament where he had wedge on 10 of 18 holes...and finished well over par. He did not birdie a single hole where he hit wedge into the green. He has never liked to practice wedges mainly because he was so bad with them. By putting that requirement on him, he practiced wedges every chance he got. It took about 3 weeks but he finally got to where he could a least control them enough to go under par from the forward tees. He now always practices wedges b/c he finally realizes the importance.

> @JuniorGolfParent said:

> > @"Palmetto Golfer" said:

> > My son (12 y/o) wanted to move back to the men's tees. I said no problem...but you have to go under par on the forward tees first. He worked hard on his wedges and putting to make that happen.

>

> That is an interesting approach. Developmentally, do you think it is better to play from a set of tees that is too short or too long (assuming best would be tee length that is "just right")?

I agree with @"Palmetto Golfer" Golfer that moving around, short and long, has its benefits. Its been discussed on here before. I see a benefit to playing shorter so you can get used to scoring well and going low...kind of a mindset/mental game thing. As with this past weekends tournament, the shorter distances exposed my sons wedge game weakness...which we didn't really know was an issue Every kid is different. I imagine some kids would be discouraged to be stretched beyond their comfortable distance while others would thrive on the challenge. At least for the younger kids - I always defer back to doing whatever it takes to keep him engaged...sometimes that is challenging him, and sometimes that is giving him an easy "layup" to keep his confidence and interest up.

Mine moves around all the time. He always mixes it up from forwards to tips to make it challenging and fun. We will even play the front nine from the tips and the back nine from the forwards. When he plays the standards to the forwards, there are always stipulations on the round.

Stipulations?

My son played the tips at our course at six years old against bigger kids so he was forced to hit the ball hard to keep up. Now he hits it past all but a few kids his age.

This thread is funny

Some humble/brag's, without the "humble"

> @CTgolf said:

> This thread is funny

>

> Some humble/brag's, without the "humble"

Facts are facts.

> @leezer99 said:

> > @CTgolf said:

> > This thread is funny

> >

> > Some humble/brag's, without the "humble"

>

> Facts are facts.

You are somehow equating your son playing the back tees when he was 6 to now being one of the longest hitters at 12?

> @JuniorGolfParent said:

> > @kekoa said:

> > I agree on the 'whenever he wants to' comment or whenever he has to. He will find out very quickly if its fun or he hates it and wants to move back to shorter distances. I took my son over the weekend to play the PGA West stadium course and from the red tees the course was an absolute B*tch. He wanted to move to the forward tees, which are about the same distance as USkids, but he pushed through from the reds and actually broke 80.

> What was the distance from the red tees?

>

5,100 yards but plays long with almost every green well guarded by bunkers front, left and right.

> @CTgolf said:

> > @leezer99 said:

> > > @CTgolf said:

> > > This thread is funny

> > >

> > > Some humble/brag's, without the "humble"

> >

> > Facts are facts.

>

> You are somehow equating your son playing the back tees when he was 6 to now being one of the longest hitters at 12?

100%

> @leezer99 said:

> > @CTgolf said:

> > > @leezer99 said:

> > > > @CTgolf said:

> > > > This thread is funny

> > > >

> > > > Some humble/brag's, without the "humble"

> > >

> > > Facts are facts.

> >

> > You are somehow equating your son playing the back tees when he was 6 to now being one of the longest hitters at 12?

>

> 100%

>

Leezer is correct.

I been told the same thing play as long as you can and yes it does help them actually be longer. I have also gotten this advice from a lot people who have a good grasp on this. We also played longer tee's when she was younger and my daughter is almost certainly one of the longer hitters her age too.

Wilson Furr a top 10 prospect now a sophomore playing at Alabama speaking about playing up. He was ranked as the No. 6 prospect in the 2017 class according to Golfweek.com, No. 8 by Junior Golf Scoreboard and No. 15 by the Polo AJGA rankings.

WILSON FURR: _It’s funny — my dad always wanted me to play against people who were better than me. So when I was 12, I played in the 15- to 16-year-old group. When I was 13, I played in the high school group. So I’ve always kind of “played up.” So that hasn’t been a weird thing, when I was younger. Then I always played with the older people at the country club, who were really good. So I guess playing with the older people wasn’t that weird...._

> @leezer99 said:

> Wilson Furr a top 10 prospect now a sophomore playing at Alabama speaking about playing up. He was ranked as the No. 6 prospect in the 2017 class according to Golfweek.com, No. 8 by Junior Golf Scoreboard and No. 15 by the Polo AJGA rankings.

>

> WILSON FURR: _It’s funny — my dad always wanted me to play against people who were better than me. So when I was 12, I played in the 15- to 16-year-old group. When I was 13, I played in the high school group. So I’ve always kind of “played up.” So that hasn’t been a weird thing, when I was younger. Then I always played with the older people at the country club, who were really good. So I guess playing with the older people wasn’t that weird...._

He played up because he was great, or he was great because he played up?

> @CTgolf said:

> > @leezer99 said:

> > Wilson Furr a top 10 prospect now a sophomore playing at Alabama speaking about playing up. He was ranked as the No. 6 prospect in the 2017 class according to Golfweek.com, No. 8 by Junior Golf Scoreboard and No. 15 by the Polo AJGA rankings.

> >

> > WILSON FURR: _It’s funny — my dad always wanted me to play against people who were better than me. So when I was 12, I played in the 15- to 16-year-old group. When I was 13, I played in the high school group. So I’ve always kind of “played up.” So that hasn’t been a weird thing, when I was younger. Then I always played with the older people at the country club, who were really good. So I guess playing with the older people wasn’t that weird...._

>

> He played up because he was great, or he was great because he played up?

Those two things are not mutually exclusive.

> @leezer99 said:

> > @CTgolf said:

> > > @leezer99 said:

> > > Wilson Furr a top 10 prospect now a sophomore playing at Alabama speaking about playing up. He was ranked as the No. 6 prospect in the 2017 class according to Golfweek.com, No. 8 by Junior Golf Scoreboard and No. 15 by the Polo AJGA rankings.

> > >

> > > WILSON FURR: _It’s funny — my dad always wanted me to play against people who were better than me. So when I was 12, I played in the 15- to 16-year-old group. When I was 13, I played in the high school group. So I’ve always kind of “played up.” So that hasn’t been a weird thing, when I was younger. Then I always played with the older people at the country club, who were really good. So I guess playing with the older people wasn’t that weird...._

> >

> > He played up because he was great, or he was great because he played up?

>

> Those two things are not mutually exclusive.

A talented athlete with passion for the sport and inner drive to be the best will be a great player, irrespective of whether or not he plays the back tees at 6 or plays up in age group as a pre-teen.

A mediocre athlete without passion and/or drive won't become a great player, no matter what you do.

> @CTgolf said:

> A talented athlete with passion for the sport and inner drive to be the best will be a great player, irrespective of whether or not he plays the back tees at 6 or plays up in age group as a pre-teen.

>

> A mediocre athlete without passion and/or drive won't become a great player, no matter what you do.

Drive and motivation can be negatively impacted if you're not challenging your athlete. When showing up equates to a win there's no reason to play in that division.

> @leezer99 said:

> When showing up equates to a win there's no reason to play in that division.

What you are saying is true, but really only applicable to top players in areas with bad competition.

> @CTgolf said:

> > @leezer99 said:

> > When showing up equates to a win there's no reason to play in that division.

>

>

> What you are saying is true, but really only applicable to top players in areas with bad competition.

I don't care what area you are in once you dominate you need to move up and find a better tournament until you end up in the PGA or LPGA and nowhere higher to go.

I think the timing of playing up or moving back in tees can be tricky. My son is 9 and goes up against much bigger and stronger 11 yr olds at courses in the 2,800- 3,000 range which is very long for him. Recently he's been getting his a** handed to him and not sure he is really having much fun out there. Personally, I would hate it having a 3 or 5 wood into par 4's. The par 5's are also 480-520, which is close to adult yardages. Compare this to the yardages he will play at the USkids California State measuring in at just over 4,000 (for 18 holes). Not sure if I should keep him at these yardages or go back to US kids for another year, which may be doing him a disservice.

We are in the same boat, my daughter is a small 10 yr, there are girls that weigh 20 to 25 lbs more than her and hit it 40 to 60 yards past her. She is hitting fairway wood into most if not all par 4's and her 3rd into par 5's sometimes. We've had this discussion with her and she still likes the challenge and has gotten much better with her woods of the deck that's one positive. Surprising I thought her short game would improve since its harder to hit the greens, but not sure if its a mental thing chipping for par never seems to get as close vs when you have chip for eagle to make birdie. Some girls are only playing these longer events, she however still likes the friendship and caddie tournaments of US Kids so we still do them, but not as religiously as last year but play most of the events. I personally still enjoy caddying and being out there on the weekends in the "action" so I'm happy she wants to play US Kids and will play them as long as she wants to. The kids are so young I think its important for them to have fun, be out there with them and enjoy this age. They have enough years of when they won't want to play with us and will be out there all alone.

> @leezer99 said:

> Wilson Furr a top 10 prospect now a sophomore playing at Alabama speaking about playing up. He was ranked as the No. 6 prospect in the 2017 class according to Golfweek.com, No. 8 by Junior Golf Scoreboard and No. 15 by the Polo AJGA rankings.

>

> WILSON FURR: _It’s funny — my dad always wanted me to play against people who were better than me. So when I was 12, I played in the 15- to 16-year-old group. When I was 13, I played in the high school group. So I’ve always kind of “played up.” So that hasn’t been a weird thing, when I was younger. Then I always played with the older people at the country club, who were really good. So I guess playing with the older people wasn’t that weird...._

I know Wilson well. He wasn’t yet elite at 12 years old but he was better than the other 12 year-old in our area. He was also hyper-competitive so playing with players that could beat him drove him to get better faster and he became elite around the time he was 14. Would he have gotten there anyway? Probably. Did it expedite the process? Almost certainly.

Funny thing is he was the leader of a group of about 7 or 8 juniors at our club and his level of play led to that entire group becoming very good-to-elite junior players. When you don’t like losing and you play against others that can play it makes you better. That group of kids now is spread among Alabama (2), Ole Miss (3), Mississippi State (2) and even a couple of smaller college players.

Only time playing up doesn’t make sense is (a) if you’re gonna get your brains beat in and (b) if getting beat has the effect of demoralizing your kid instead of motivating.

> @kekoa said:

> I think the timing of playing up or moving back in tees can be tricky. My son is 9 and goes up against much bigger and stronger 11 yr olds at courses in the 2,800- 3,000 range which is very long for him. Recently he's been getting his **** handed to him and not sure he is really having much fun out there. Personally, I would hate it having a 3 or 5 wood into par 4's. The par 5's are also 480-520, which is close to adult yardages. Compare this to the yardages he will play at the USkids California State measuring in at just over 4,000 (for 18 holes). Not sure if I should keep him at these yardages or go back to US kids for another year, which may be doing him a disservice.

@kekoa when my son was 9 he started playing against older kids in the SCPGA that were literally hitting it 75+ yards past him. I thought this is ridiculous and he'd never catch up. Over the next year he caught up and passed a bunch of those kids. In fact he played against a 13 year old that you know a couple of weeks ago and beat him. When Randy put the scores up the kid just put this hands on his head while watching my son get his medal. All I'm saying is give it time. Pick some nice flat courses that are an easy walk and he'll be fine. And don't pick events based on who's playing or who isn't playing. Winning isn't the point right now no matter what people are posting on Instagram.