What age did you decide that it was better for you to play the course at a shorter yardage?

When we are young we always want to play the tips. We have too much pride to not do so.

Then fast forward 20 years and you say to yourself "You know I really enjoy the game better playing a shorter golf course."

I usually like to keep the golf course between 6400 and 6600 yards. I feel I give myself the most birdie opportunities at this distance plus I'm past the stage in my life where I have the belief that if I don't play the tips I'm less of a player. Sometimes I'll even mix and match tee boxes according to the yardages and how the holes are laid out, just like they would in a tournament.

Maybe its cause I am older and don't hit it as far or maybe its just because I enjoy playing the hole as intended. Instead of hitting 4 irons into greens I'm hitting 6 or 7 at the most which the green's were designed for.

I personally have never set out to play from the tips, but for one course here which is short-ish anyways. Not sure if that helps or not but there it is.

I was in my mid 40s. I was taking numerous golf trips each year, playing the top ranked courses around the country, often in less than ideal conditions. It was a recipe for frustration. Not sure why I expected to score well on a tough course I had never seen in marginal conditions. After one too many a-- whippings, I decided to move up. It definitely helped. At roughly the same time I became a huge fan of the LPGA. What do you know? They hit the ball roughly the same yardage as me. Why would I play 200 to 600 yds longer with no where near the same ballstriking and short game skills. Playing 6300 to 6600 allows me to compare my game to my favorite players. It's generally a humbling experience. Lol.

6000 yards became my fun-meter limit in my 50s. I'm 67 now and after two knee surgeries, a lumbar surgery and a shoulder replacement, 5500 is about right. I played from 6100 yards last week in a tournament and could NOT reach most of the par 4s in reg with a good drive and a fairway wood shot.

I don't think that it's totally age related. I've heard it suggested to play a length that allows you to hit no more than six iron into most of the par 4 holes and most of the par 3 holes.

It really wasn't about age. In my 50s, I could play courses that were 6500+ yards without a lot of grief. In my 60s, I saw a decline in my distance off the tee and tried to play around 6200-6300 yards when I could. Once I turned 70, 6000-6100 is about all I can do. Just no fun hitting 3wood or hybrid into every par 4 and multiple par 3s. rogolf pretty well summed it up above.

Is there a USGA rule on this?

Anyway, haven't so decided, but if I ever do the factors I will consider are amply listed in a couple of other ongoing threads on the subject.

If it's based on yardage, it really isn't based on age, is it?

I was about 38 when I would willingly play the white tees when whoever I was playing with wanted to. At 40 I swore off the back tees unless the course is about 6,600 max. When I was younger I said I’d rather shoot 75 from the tips than 67 from the white tees. I was probably right then. Now I’d rather shoot 77 from the white tees than hit drivers all over the lot and get up and down for bogey 3 times per nine. I played the back tees once last year when playing with 2 club pros and a college player, but the course was short and at elevation. Last week I played a par 60 course from the white tees.

I try to keep it in a certain yardage like it seems many do. 6500+- is usually my target. Sometimes the course design creates some silliness too though. I know one course around here that plays 6200 yards from the tips, yet has a par 5 that’s around 575 yards and a par 3 that can play 215 with a back pin. Don’t know what they were thinkin’, but whatever.

Sometimes I end up playing long rather than shorter depending on course design too though. There’s 500 yards between the whites and blues (not tips) at my home course. I would move up one in the winter, but ironically enough, I don’t find it fun to be able to hit driver over every fairway trap and cut every dogleg on the course. I also play blade irons, so I guess that just makes me a glutton for punishment?!? Haha.

In the end, I guess I try to make the course play like it was intended for the time it was built. If the design is good, that normally puts me on a tee box that’s challenging, but that’s also comfortable where I don’t feel like length is my biggest problem.

.

I typically play the forward tees with our ladies group, local tournaments, or state senior tournaments (kind of a shame this, but...). However, if playing for fun I will stretch it out to 6300 - 6400 yards at sea level. It is good practice for playing against the kids at the state stroke play tournament. I have been playing these lengths more or less since I started playing. I expect this will soon come to an end, but it is still fun challenging myself hitting all the clubs in the bag. So at age 58 I am still embracing the challenge of the longer tee boxes.

How many times has this happened to you ? Following a group of guys in carts spraying tee shots all over the place, never hitting a green, taking an hour to putt out. 5 hours later you see them * itching about the course and there 90 scorecard which was actually 100+ strokes easily. WTH is that all about ?

Life is much to short for that nonsense, move up a set of tee’s guys, embrace those occasional birdie looks. ; )

> @Irishman1979 said:

> When we are young we always want to play the tips. We have too much pride to not do so.

Never had this instinct. The course I grew up playing on had tips that were ~7,250 with a rating/slope of something like 74/145. Nobody was allowed to play the tips without permission from the owner or a USGA handicap card with a + handicap. So it just never occurred to me that the tips were a place for anything short of a professional tournament or USGA event.

I don't put a ton of thought into what tees I play; there's usually a set that "everybody" plays...and that's where I go.

> @rogolf said:

> I don't think that it's totally age related. I've heard it suggested to play a length that allows you to hit no more than six iron into most of the par 4 holes and most of the par 3 holes.

Or maybe you need to move back to avoid all those 435 yard par 4's that are going to show up next year at the forward tees -:)

dave

ps. This comment is regarding a discussion that is part of this lengthy thread - https://forums.golfwrx.com/discussion/1795354/new-world-handicap-system/p1 - WRT the possibility that courses will start following a 'stricter definition' of par. This could mean that a 475 yard par 5 from the middle tees is a 435 yard par 4 from the 'senior tees' (as an example). There is no answer as to whether this speculation is correct here in the US, although there are examples of this already being in place in some parts of the world.

435 par 4 from the senior tees? I hope that means the Men’s Tees in Spanish?

> @Soloman1 said:

> 435 par 4 from the senior tees? I hope that means the Men’s Tees in Spanish?

> @Soloman1 said:

> 435 par 4 from the senior tees? I hope that means the Men’s Tees in Spanish?

Check out post #364 in this thread

https://forums.golfwrx.com/discussion/1795354/new-world-handicap-system/p13

to see a scorecard where every hole/tee's par is kind of 'determined on its own'. You will see several moderate length par 5's (back tees) that turn into par 4's when doing up 2 tees (or even 1 tee).

dave

I’m 55 and and average around 250 off the tees these days. I still find a short iron in my hands approaching most greens on most courses around here. I have noticed I score far fewer eagles (on par 5’s). But often from the tips I have found a lot of the trouble goes away. My long game has always been pretty good so distance has never really been an issue despite not being a big hitter, oddly enough. One thing I would not like, however, is having to hit more than a 6-iron into the green on most holes. Anyone know what “senior” tees mean? I know my league doesn’t allow for the shorter tees.

In answer to the question - 68 years old - but it was more a function of reduced driving distance than anything else.

I started at age 40 and never felt I belonged on the tips. My current course is 6330 from the white (middle) tees and at age 68 and I can play them knowing there are a few holes I cannot reach in regulation. But as 16 HCP I am only on a few holes in regulation counting par 3's so I earn the pars I get many times with a good pitch or chip. The next set of tees (gold) are 6030 and I have tried them but there is not that much of a difference. I can see myself moving to the green tees at 5485 down the road. By the way the "Tips" are at 6950 which are totally out of the question for me.

I started playing from the short tees when most of my friends did. In my early 50's. As I said in another thread, I will mix it up when practicing by myself.

The general rule of thumb is 36 * 5i distance, or 26 * driver distance. Both the PGA and LPGA play at roughly 25 * the median tour driving distance. Actually, the PGA are now playing at ~24 * the median driving distance.

As others have said, it's not really age related, but distance related. I'm 53 and my course is 6500 from the tees I usually play. Unless I'm going for a par 5 in two, here is what I usually have as my approach iron assuming I don't hit a terrible tee shot.

SW, GW, 9i, 7i, 4i,6i, 8i, 7i, 9i, SW, 5i, 8i, 6i, 9i, 6i, SW, GW, GW

Those numbers also don't factor in changes in wind direction or unusually strong winds.

I tend to play a lot as a single. I play whatever tee the group wants to keep play rolling. Sometimes it 6100 sometimes it's 6700. I'm 52 and probably don't score too differently from either set of tees.

I'm 65, and longer than I was at 35. New equipment is great!

Maybe this year? My home course has certainly planted the seed this season. I've always played the blue tees there (they got rid of the black tees a couple of years ago). It's not a long course, around 6500 but very tight, target golf. But midway through this season, they started putting the blue tees where they are really supposed to be, i.e at the MGA marker distances. Whereas previously you're really playing a mix of the blue/white tees. So now all the par 3s are at least 185 yds. And a couple of the par 4s suddenly got 20-30 yards longer. Definitely noticed I was hitting a lot more hybrids on those holes than in the past. So I may have to talk my partner into moving up to the whites. He really should be there anyway, he's about 10 years older than me but won't move up because he doesn't want to be the "reason" we do that.

> @jdl said:

> Whereas previously you're really playing a mix of the blue/white tees.

Our club actually got our local golf association to create official ratings for sets of hybrid tees. So now in addition to black, blue,white, and green for the men, we have blue-black, blue-white, and white green.

It lets guys who don't really want to move up a full set of tees to play a slightly longer combination that still has a valid rating/slope for handicap purposes. Lots of guys play the combo tees.

At age 67 I like to play courses between 5500 - 6000

I am 31 and have never wanted to play from the tips. I have average length and enjoy playing courses at 5800-6400 yards.

For someone of my skill level, the tips just aren't my idea of enjoyment. I end up hitting a bunch of long irons into greens and every par 5 is a 3 shot hole.

We generally play from the whites at around 6100 or sometimes the blues at 6300ish.

> @Argonne69 said:

> The general rule of thumb is 36 * 5i distance, or 26 * driver distance. Both the PGA and LPGA play at roughly 25 * the median tour driving distance. Actually, the PGA are now playing at ~24 * the median driving distance.

I've never heard of this rule of thumb, but plugging in some numbers it looks shockingly accurate. Great post!

I moved up to the senior tees this year at age 69. I still have the distance for the regular tees but no longer the consistency.