Moved up a set of tees and broke 80 for first time!

As a 13 handicap, I've put up a 82 and a few 84's, have never seriously threatened the 80 mark. I only drive the ball maybe 210-220ish with run-out, and my home course (70.9/130, 6432y) has a few par 4's I have almost no chance of reaching in regulation. There's two par 4's with a forced carry over water for second shot which I usually have to lay up on (185-195) over water unless I hit a remarkable drive). I'm averaging only about 4-6 greens in regulation, but have a very strong chipping/putting game, consistently scoring between 84-88.

Well yesterday I went out by myself and decided to play the yellow tees for the first time. 69.4/125, 6129 yards. I never thought I'd manage a round like this. 13 greens in regulation (I think 8 is my all-time best), only one birdie, one double (chunked an approach shot into water, then two-putt after a penalty drop), for a 78! Off the tee my drives were nothing special but my iron play was as good as it's ever been. Hitting 8/9/pw into some greens that usually require 5 iron/hybrids was like a totally new game. And I think the confidence worked its way onto the green where I had some really nice two-putts for par from some tough spots. Had two or three birdie putts that barely missed. Didn't miss a single putt under 3-4 feet until a three-putt on 18. Posted the round for a 7.8 differential, my first ever round in single digits.

I've played about 3-4 rounds a week for the past couple months and for whatever reason I'd never even considered playing off the yellow tees. I don't think I'll be going back anytime soon.

Nice.

I've said to friends before. It doesn't matter what set of tees or yardage you play. If you shoot a good score or a career best you still have to put the ball in the hole.

There was an article or something that said a good way to pick what yardage you should play was based on how far you hit your 5 iron. It was interesting.

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Couple thoughts/questions about choosing tees to play from. Am I using a variety of clubs for my approach shots? Am I generally hitting driver, fairway wood chip/pitch shots into greens over and over again?

Many rounds I play with guys who are younger therefore longer and I'll tee it back there and have a great time. But I wouldn't want to do it every round. No shame in playing from tees that provide the most enjoyment.

Congrats to the OP. Play the tees where you can succeed and improve.

Congrats on your great round!

I usually play from the white tees. I have one friend that strongly prefers the blue tees. I definitely don’t enjoy my rounds as much from back there. That’s enough of answer for me as far as what tees to play. Conversely I’ll take my godchildren (8 and 10 years old) out sometimes and play from the gold tees just so we can all tee off together. I usually will hit irons off the tee and just work on things, but I always have a good time doing that.

Half of the golfing population should move up a set a tees. Nice job

I'm in the exact same boat. I moved up a set of tees this Spring, especially since the temperatures were in the 40s and 50s for so much of April and May. It's nice to hit a short iron into a green after a good drive, rather than a hybrid. The game is so much more fun.

i like to play from the tees that challenge you to hit every club in your bag

As a senior, I have moved up to the senior tees. It makes the game more enjoyable. Laying up on par 4's, as well as hitting fairway woods into greens is not much fun for me, lol.

Congratulations on breaking 80...it's a great feeling. :-)

With me, it depends on the the partner:

My older son," dad, move it back."

My younger son, "dad, playing there is cool."

Great job! I am in the camp that there is not one set of tees that a player should play based on their HCP (or distance); playing the whites/blues/blacks gives a different challenge to the same course...its like having multiple courses on the same track. For me playing up allows me a couple risk/reward par 4s, maybe the chance to reach some par 5s in two while playing back tees will give me more mid-long irons on the par 3s. The rating/slope is there to normalize those scores for HCP purposes so as long as you are playing straight up golf then go for it!

Some guys here are very stringent about which tees to play etc but I have fun at my club playing them all. I'm a 1.2 handicap right now and can enjoy most any yardage or post a good score from sub 6k to 7k plus. If I'm travelling I'll pick a middle box unless I get to play more than one round at the same place.

Mens night at my home club is from the middle tees (Mostly senior members), weekend money rounds we play the back tees. When I travel I'll play whatever tees the group feels comfortable playing. (No use pushing my 23 cap best buddy to 7000+ yards).

If its a short course I have to hit more irons, maybe try and drive a few par 4s. If its a long beast of a course I get to hit more drivers which is fun.

The main complaint I have with my home course and many others is when the par 3's are all mostly the same yardage. Four of my par 3 holes at my home club are between 144-155 from the mid tees which annoys me since I'm usually hitting the same club on that night.

Matter of fact I played the ladies tees last night at my home course with my wife. I gave her a stroke a hole and she dusted me hahaha.

I'm in sort of a tough situation with this topic. My club has 2 tee boxes- regular and senior/womens. The official rule is that anyone (male) over 70 is permitted to use the front tees.

I am not a long hitter, and I would Love to play from the fronts. My scores would certainly drop and it would be more fun. It gets old having to hit my 3-wood all the time for my 2nd.

My problem is not that I would be kicked out or anything, but I don't think I would be allowed to establish a handicap with it. On top of that, I feel there would be some social stigma against doing it. Not cheating exactly, but certainly looked down on. If I tried to play in any sort of scramble, (which are Really Fun) there would be no way I would be allowed to use the fronts.

So I'm stuck. My time golfing could be a Roman Orgy, but instead I must live among the Amish.

I know, learn to drive it longer. But that doesn't seem that likely any time soon.....

Life is too short to let others dictate what tees you can use in casual rounds. If the club will not let you submit scores from the front tees for your handicap, then so be it and don't submit those scores.

I made the move up last year at age 49 and after having 7 back surgeries. I'm never going back, couldn't be happier. My longest club non driver goes about 180 max, but I can actually get off the tee really good and get it out there about 220-230. If I'm playing a course around 6100 or less and I'm playing well I can really flirt with some good scores. Shot 74 twice last year despite being a 12+ handicap. On that same course if I play the next tees back I'm lucky to break 90 and I spend the entire day going Driver-hybrid over and over again.

some of my friends give me a hard time (only when I'm playing well), but i don't care one bit. I tell them they are more than welcome to move up and join me. Or, I tell them I'll go back and join them if they promise to swing their clubs without rotating/turning their core like I have to. Makes the golf swing a lot tougher when you can't rotate your body.

First off congrats!

Second, I would say learning to score regardless of the tees is a great lesson. Several College and high school coaches have used this as a test for their players. Making them play womens tees until they break par then move back to the next set until par is broken. It's a good way to force pressure. I have done it myself.

Lessons have me in a big swing change. I think I'm going to move up a set of tees until I can dial things in and score consistently again.

My dad has a group of guys he plays with 3-4x a week in some small money match team games. Most of them are 10+ handicaps and out of maybe 20 guys, only 3-4 of them are really capable of getting it over about 235 total. There's one "stud" of the group that is a solid scratch from the blues at 6074 yards and a rating of 69.2/119. I always forget how they calculate those things but I imagine that is pretty easy compared to most courses. He is pretty long, I played with him last year and flies it about 260 in the air. He doesn't need anything longer than that.

That was just for illustrative purposes. My dad will hit a driver about 200-210 in the air. He is one of the longer ones of the group, out driving a lot of the guys 15+ years younger than him at age 73. There are many guys in this group who are in their mid to late 60s all the way up to some who are in their early 80s. They've been playing together for something like 20 years at least. The rule is that everyone has to play the blues if you are of a certain handicap. I think the cut off is a 10. Not one of these guys is remotely long enough to be playing the blue tees at ~6100 yards. They can barely reach a 444 yard uphill par 5 in 3 a lot of them. 2 of the par 3s are over 200 yards from the blues, which requires driver for a lot of these players.

My dad has been trying to lobby them that it shouldn't matter what the handicap is, it should matter how far you hit your drive/your age. Nope, a lot of them are strictly against it because of the $5-10 each week. He's stuck playing tees he doesn't enjoy playing and going out and shooting 85-95 because the tee deck is about 2-300 yards too long for him and his friends all in the name of "tradition". Stupid, IMO. He agrees but the leader of the group won't budge and neither will the younger guys as they see it as unfair. It takes away the "advantage" they have because some of them are a bit longer...but most of the older guys are actually better players.

I can't ever remember at the end of a round thinking a player in the group should have played back a set of tees. It's a lot more fun to hit a 9 iron for your approach than a 6 and heck the pros rarely have to hit more than an 8 iron on a par 4 anymore.

Courses could help themselves by getting rid of the standard black/blue/white/gold/red tee format. Too much of a stigma.

I agree. It should be done by handicap as I have heard a lot of courses do. Sure you might get the odd bomber 20 who is forced to play off the reds and whites, but their handicap will drop fast and they can move back. It should also be stipulated that just because you are a 5 (for example) doesn't mean you have to play the Blues/Blacks. You can play wherever you want if you want to move up but you cannot move back if your handicap does not allow it. But really nothing stopping people from teeing off on the proper sets and then just going back where they feel they should be "to see the whole course"....I've heard that a lot.

Moving up will never cause your cap to go down. It's actually will make it go up if you don't get any better. Your course handicap might go down because of the adjustments.

so true. See too many average players on the back tees....but they paid their money and love to suffer.

I find that if I move up a set of tees my handicap tends to go up as any reduction in my scores is less than the reduction in course rating. For example, moving up to a set of tees rated just over 3 strokes easier(65.x vs 68.x) my average score is only about 1/2 stroke less. So my differential between course rating and my score is higher!

That is a terrible rule. The two tee boxes have a different slope/rating to account for the differences in yardage. People should have the freedom to choose what tees they want to play for non-tournament rounds. I would not get on well with that club if I was a member.

Thanks for the support. I love the club, and there is nothing stopping me from playing the fronts per-say, but it just wouldn't work out.

I read that same thing, it was 5 iron distance time 36. It's been spot on for me choosing what tees to play, 175 x 36 says I should play the tees closest to 6,300 yards.

IMHO, if you are not hitting a mid iron or shorter into the greens after your drive, you are on the WRONG set of tees. Move up, have fun.

Doesn’t matter what tees I play, I shoot around the same score. My putting needs work lol

I tend to stick with whatever tees are around around 6400-6800 or so. First time playing or traveling, I'll go towards the shorter end to make it more fun. Playin with the boys though, we'll lean towards the longer side to facilitate proper trash-talking.

My favorite course to play is a touch over 6800 from the blues but that's moreso due to all the par 5s being unreachable in two for most - one of which stretches to around 620-630. Also has one par 4 that's about 440-450; which is a nice challenge. The rest of the par 4s, depending on the wind - which can howl there - I rarely need more than 7 and most are more like 8-PW in. #2 is NEARLY drivable if the wind's right. There aren't any SHORT par 3s - if memory serves, they go around 160, 170, 190 and one a touch over 200.

Really enjoy that sort of layout as yeah, it makes you play most all the clubs in your bag.

I have been doing blended tees when I am out casually as a single or with another buddy. Sometimes the tee box from the white to blue is a huge difference. On one hole there is a par 3 that from the blue tees is like 175 yards but the white tee is only 135 yards. I sometimes like to challenge myself with the 175 yards from the blue. Another hole is a par 5 that from the blue tee is an automatic 3 shot hole. From the white tees with a good drive I can get home in two or at the very least near hole high. Using the 5 iron x 36 method I should be playing around 6200-6300 and that actually makes sense because this course where I do blended tees the White tees only play at 5985 and the Blue plays at nearly 6400 yards.