What tees are appropriate? Do you want to go as low as possible, or look for a greater challenge?

[Pepperturbo]

Typically, I like demanding courses with obstacles that add attention getting flavor, demand execution and self-control. Color of tees means nothing, course rating and yardages under 6700yds. If some holes are outside my ability to reach them in regulation, I am fine pressuring my short game. Not sure how long I can keep it up but will keep pushing myself.

[Augster]

If I’m playing a course I have never played, or rarely play like on vacation, I’m playing the tips every single time. I’d rather shoot 90 from the back tees than 82 or 78 from a further tee up. I enjoy the challenge. And when I do shoot a decent score, it’s amazingly satisfying to know I took on the entire course and didn’t get chewed up.

At my home course, we play white tees at about 5900 every single day. Boring. But it’s what the other guys want to play, so I go along with it.

[rxk9fan]

I have never heard of the 5i x 36. Interesting!

[Sean2]

I multiply my average drive by 28, and that is the yardage that is best suited for my game. The formula works for the vast majority of golfers. Though there are those who enjoy hitting fairway woods into par 4's, or like to see the "whole course".

[Argonne69]

That rule of thumb has been floating around for years. I started using it roughly 10 years ago. It's more or less equivalent to driver x 26. It should result in a 7i being the average club used for par 4 approaches.

The PGA and LPGA both play at approximately 25 to 26 times the median tour driving distance.

 

[trilerian]

I think how well you get off the tee should determine what tees you play from. I'm not talking strictly distance here. A guy who hit 225 yds, but down the middle most of the time is going to be able to better handle tees that are further back than the guy who hits 250 but is rarely in play. Usually when trying to figure out what tees I am going to play, I look at the longest par 4s. If there are a lot of par 4s that are over 400 yds, I look at the next box up. Par 3s, so long as they are not over 220. This usually results in the tees around 6200 yds for me. If I took my 5i and multiplied by 36, I would be at 6800 yds, and that would put me way out of my league.

[DaveLeeNC]

I ran into something interesting related to this a while back. I am now past age 70 but still am the youngest player in my 'Friday Group' of 16'ish golfers. Years ago we moved up to the 5300-5700 yard tees. Just based on how things feel to me, 5800-6000 (par 72) would be a good distance for me.

I used to play and practice a lot and now my golf is one round a week and not much else. I was getting more and more frustrated at my inability to find the center of the clubface (and having no idea how to address that other than more practice which was not going to happen). Driver was not an issue because the ball moving around a good bit on the face of a 460 cubic cc face yields usable results. So I started using nothing but half swings on everything other than driver (e.g., my 100 yard club was a 6i). With that swing a green 150+ yards away was out of range. So those shorter tees (that I was playing anyway) suddenly became very important.

Haven't been on the course since March so I have no idea WRT the state of my game. I have been doing a practice session occasionally and on the last 2 I tried some full swings. Don't know what I might do on the course right now. I will probably start out with full swing approach shots and fall back to half swings if/when that does not work.

dave

[Seidinho]

I’ll pick the tees where I can reach the longest par 3 still with a 4 iron. Anything longer doesn’t seem to make sense to me.

[4x4GGG]

Just seeing this, which is funny because this season Tees have been a topic with my group. So out of 12 people I play with all work togethere. I have 3 PGA instructors who are scratch golfers, 3 guys who are single digits, and the rest of us range from 12 to 20. Me a 14. Most of our rounds are pick up rounds of who's off on what days of the week. Naturally the low guys like to play close to or over 7K yards. My driver is about 240ish and trying to hang with those kids has gotten old. Over the last month I've been shooting to play in the mid to low sixes. We're all fast players, and I'm one of the usual walkers. I can keep up with them, but I just can't play their boxes. I think the hardest day was playing Penderbrook which maxes out at 6500 so we all played the tips and I got my butt handed to me.

[brew4eagle]

I base tees off my driver length. Course I play most often has a nice placard before the 1st hole guiding players to the appropriate tee based on average drive. I hit driver in the 240 to 250 range, so usually play up 1 or 2 boxes, never play the tips. Like others have said, I don't want to have 200 yds for every 2nd shot, having several birdie opportunities is more fun than grinding out pars and bogeys all day.

[Naptime]

I get enough of a challenge from the senior tees.

[DavePelz4]

It all depends on the conditions. If the course is playing fast, 6,800 yards can play like 6,200 yards. We played a course last Saturday that was fast and firm. We played from 6,700 and as a shorter hitter (240-250 drive), I hit 1 hybrid in to a green.

[llewol007]

Great question. It depends on my grouping. I mostly play the back tees which for me is more comfort distance wise versus playing up a yardage. Most of the challenge comes in to play on the par three’s. I do play middle tees when everyone plays off my handicap and it means I’m hitting wedges into greens which isn’t bad either. It comes down to distance comfort but I can make the need adjustments.

[lefty1978]

I'm honestly not long enough for tips at most courses built in the past 30 years. I usually like to play 6000-6500 yards.

[Carl Spackler3]

I am tired of hitting 3W on every approach, but I am only 50 and my group plays 63-6600

[jbrunk]

Hmm, my 5i x 36 number is 6300y. That’s blended tees. Next time I play solo, I’ll try stroke index 1-9 white, 10-18 blue.

[Greenie]

I'm 60 now. I moved up around 5 yrs ago. Hitting woods, hybrids, and long irons into every par 4 got old for me.

I think looking for a greater challenge is a matter of opinion on how you go about finding it.

When my group moved up it gave us a more challenging approach to the game. The game turned back into a thinking game. It changed from hitting driver on every hole to bringing back into play risk and reward. Those fairway bunkers came back into play. The ones that you couldn't reach any more. Do I tee off with my driver or do I tee off with a wood to take possible trouble out of play? Doglegs turned back into a thinking process. A possibily of going for it on a par 5 instead of laying up. I found there were alot more decisions to be made on course management. I found golf to be more fun and exciting once again.

I don't think moving up guarantees lower scores. If the course is layed out right and I am playing the correct tees for me I've see more chances for trouble that weren't there when I played back. I have shot plenty of good rounds since I moved but I have also had my share of blow up holes that I use to not have playing back.

[brew4eagle]

Great post @Greenie

[puttingmatt]

I just look at the card, play the tees that are around 6500 yds.,

[Pepperturbo]

Though carry shots from the tee are a factor, not sure Tee shot length should be the measure of what tees an amateur golfer should choose. Most carry shots that I encounter from 6700yd tees or less are not over 180yds to cover. I can still cover that with 3i. Again, rather often a much younger guy out drives me but adds up strokes on the subsequent shots where score is really determined. That's been surprisingly obvious over the last four rounds.

Decent or good drive but nothing from there into the green. You'd think anyone that's been playing for a decent length of time would focus on developing subsequent shots, but all they seem to worry about is how far to hit driver, and they use it on nearly every hole. Mind you, I don't care if that's a person's game, but given we have 14 clubs in the bag it's hard for me to imagine that's how golf was meant to be, with only a few clubs and then whine about course or tee setup. I'd rather have driver 245yds+ relatively straight and a balanced bag of shots using ALL clubs as opposed to 15-30yds more with driver.

Saturday fairways had some run out and undulation. I watched a 40 something guy smash a monster drive that landed near the end of the upper fairway, only to roll into a 30' deep extended fairway area, it's cut all the way down and up to the elevated green. He had 70 yards left to pin. As I stood on the tee we could see the green was elevated above the fairway a cross hurting breeze. The design intended on the player hitting a club that would leave 130-150yds uphill into the Par 4 green.

From bottom of the swale he struggled. It took 5 shots to cover 70yds and get the ball in the hole, a double-bogie on Par 4. His play was rather similar all 18. I hit driver and missed the fairway left into first cut, ball below my feet, used 5 iron for uphill shot to apron, pin high, up/down for par. On that course there were only a few holes with forced carry and I could easily cover all of them using 3i - Driver. Said it before, if we want to reign in big hitters all we need to do is tighten fairways, increase rough and or add obstacles like that deep swale with uneven lies. Even saw some pros on TV yesterday dealing with fairway challenges in uncommon, even some dumb ways that cost the player.

[bsavy83]

I too had never heard of these calculations. Prior to seeing these I was about to type up a reply saying I like to play a yardage range of about 6700-6800. That just gives me great variety. So then I I did my driver distance 270 X 26 and I get 7,020. I live at sea level and my fairways give literally no roll. I have always said courses in my area play about 200 yards longer than the number on the card. If I travel I'm comfortable at the 7000 yardage. So those calculations are pretty dead on balls accurate!

[Argonne69]

I use them as a starting point. Conditions will certainly be a factor. Firm and fast, with a good chance of rolling through many fairways? Move back 200 yds. Soft and wet? Move up 200 yds. Sea level? Mountains?

I'll wind up playing anything from a 6000 yd par 70 course to a 6800 yd course, but 6400 is in the ballpark.

[vandyfan]

To the OP's point, I now play the tees where I have the most options (don't HAVE to hit driver off every par 4 tee) and prefer going low over increasing my challenge. Now that it is winter I will typically play courses shorter and one thing I have found that is handy is to use the "Handicap Calculator" on the GHIN website to determine my tee. Basically, as a 6.1, I want to find the tees that put me around a 1 or 0 course handicap so that if I shoot even par it is basically a 1 or 0 differential on my HDCP. The fun part, for me at least, is that is a 65 or 66 rated course generally and the total distance is generally 5,500 yds or so. As someone who has an average drive of about 250-260 yds, that is a huge advantage and I am enjoying it so far. I can finally reach some (not all) par 5s in two with two good shots and I can hit 5 iron off almost every par 4 tee (if I wanted to) and still reach them in regulation. Or I can go driver/wedge on all of them (which I don't find boring) or a mix of the two. 

 

I am aware of all the various "your average distance (A) multiplied by a random number (B) = total ydg" and I think those are great for people who want a general guidance. For me, many of those calculations would have me playing 6,500-6,600 yd courses which I generally don't find fun. Best of luck to everyone out there but so far I am enjoying using the Handicap Calculator as a guide (unfortunately none of my friends would ever commit to playing this short even though they are all double digit handicaps):

 

[Mcgeeno]

I can have fun from 5800 to 7500. It just depends on the quality of my playing partners to be honest. My low cap group we will play back and others I play with I'll move up to join them on a more casual day.

 

Never been a fan of pushing my high cap buddies to the tips (I did it once and we spent all day searching for balls) and I never have a ton of fun if we are all walking to different tees and kinda separated for 4 hours on different boxes. I'll just play up if I have to no sweat. 

 

My 5i x 36 number would be just under 7000 carry-wise.

 

 

 

[Golferpaul]

I played the tips on every course until age 50 or so.  Then started moving up a tee every ten years or so.  Now at over 70, I play the whites or tees from about 5900 to 6200 yds.

[596]

I play any of our 4 sets of tees on a given day.  Depends on what part of my game I'm working on. 

 

Our money game is from the senior tees as we don't have enough guys playing further back so they moved the few of us up. 

[bcjim]

I don't like the 5i x 36 thing. Golfers over 5hc can't hit a 5i with any consistency. I'm a 10, my dispersion is huge and my "average " 5i probably goes an embarrassing distance. 

[TonyDAnnunzio]

I will play whatever tees it just depends on the course and how open it is off the tee.  I hate playing courses that if you miss a fairway your ball is gone.  For example, we played a course on Friday that was only 6400 yards and was rather tight.  When I say tight, I mean narrow fairways, approximately 5 yards of rough then thick woods with 2 feet deep of leaves.  If you missed the fairway, you were hitting three off the tee.  I felt claustrophobic standing on every tee box and tried to "steer" the tee shots which only made it worse...

 

I am not advocating that courses should be wide open off the tee.  But I prefer to play courses that are penalizing if the fairway is missed but at least gives you a chance to find your ball, get it back in play, and hit it close to save par.  For example, last Saturday I played a course that was 6900 yards but was more of a "classic" course.  The fairways where tree lined but there were no thick woods where your ball would disappear.  You could find the ball, get it back in play or get creative and try to get it on the green.

[chisag]

On 8/3/2020 at 2:56 PM, Argonne69 said:

I use them as a starting point. Conditions will certainly be a factor. Firm and fast, with a good chance of rolling through many fairways? Move back 200 yds. Soft and wet? Move up 200 yds. Sea level? Mountains?

I'll wind up playing anything from a 6000 yd par 70 course to a 6800 yd course, but 6400 is in the ballpark.

 

 

... Like most things in golf a "starting point" is always a good idea The easy answer for someone with a fairly repeatable game is to use the tees that allow you to play the hole the way it was designed. All holes are designed to be played with specific clubs. A shorter par 4 with deep bunkers guarding the front of a narrow green requires a short iron and at worst a mid iron. Hitting a hybrid or fairway wood that won't hold the green or plug in the steep face of the bunker isn't the way the architect designed the hole. A longer par 4 that has an open front is designed to allow a shot to run on the green so if you are reasonably proficient with a hybrid or fairway wood, one or two holes like that can be a nice challenge. 

... I love a difficult hole if it is combined with the rewards of a short holes and mostly average challenges. I am a big believer in combo tees. My home course is only 6403 but hides it's yardage well and plays much longer. A 108 par 3 and 277/294 par 4's with water guarding the green are great high risk/reward holes combined with difficult putting surfaces. But 4 of 5 par 4's play very long because unless you are a long hitter, the landing area is uphill off the tee so driver distance is often just carry and a few more yards. 409/439/412/426 all play longer than the yardage. 2 of them you can't see the green if you don't hit it 240. The 430 yarder is the only long par 4 that is level then a downhill slope and if you can carry it 230 you can get another 30 yards of roll. I am almost 70 and when the day comes that I can't reach these greens with a hybrid after a good tee shot, I will move up a tee box and play a combo. 

[bobfoster]

On 6/17/2020 at 8:54 AM, Argonne69 said:

That rule of thumb has been floating around for years. I started using it roughly 10 years ago. It's more or less equivalent to driver x 26. It should result in a 7i being the average club used for par 4 approaches.

The PGA and LPGA both play at approximately 25 to 26 times the median tour driving distance.

 

^^^ This. I play the middle tees 90% of the time. I'm 65. Too young for the reds, too old for the blues. I want a 7i or 8i into the green on a P4. Not a wedge or (on the other end) a FW. I used to be very competitive, but at this point golf is just for fun. I'm comfortable in my own skin. Don't need to prove anything to anyone (not even myself). Unless it is really short course, I just can't hit from the tips anymore. Age does that to you. 

 

And thanks for this post Argonne69. I'd never heard of driver x 26. But I think I've been doing it instinctually for many years.