What age would you play Senior tees?

[playit]

If non-senior males play the "regular" tees, the next set of tees shorter than the "tips," then the "senior" tees would be the next set shorter than the regular tees. At what age do you think seniors "qualify" for those tees? Do you think how far you hit your drives matters? What would you do? Would you think you "earned" the privilege of playing senior tees based on your age or would you continue to play longer tees? If wonder if this is always a local rule thing or if there is anything "official" about how senior tees are defined.

[raynorfan1]

For club events, we let people over 85 play off the senior tees.

[caniac6]

For me it's a distance issue not age. 67, and still play blue tees.

[jvincent]

What tee you play should never be about age or gender.

 

Play the tees that:

1. Allow you to maintain pace of play

2. GIve you some variety in the clubs you hit into greens.

3. Allow you to enjoy your round.

[Ghostwedge]

I have never understood guys who can't break 100 (even in their dreams) playing from a set of tee's that are obviously to much for  their ability. I guess if chunking it around and having some beers is your golf then..... ok.

 

My home course its 7000-6500-5900 and 4900 yds. I shoot 72-78 from 6500 yds. no desire to shoot 85+ whatsoever.

 

 

 

 

[Carolina Golfer 2]

4 hours ago, raynorfan1 said:

For club events, we let people over 85 play off the senior tees.

Whoa!  Tough Crowd 😉

 

[Carolina Golfer 2]

I agree it shouldn't be tied to age.  You should choose to play whatever tees your are comfortable with that makes the game fun and easy fo ryou.

 

That said, I play in a weekly league that uses 60 and older can play the Gold (one up from the regular whites)  Those are ideal for me.   I only drive he ball about 210 to 215, so I have a PW on some 2nd shots and up to a 5 on some others.  So lets me use the whole bag. 

[dlow206]

This is GolfWRX, everyone plays from the tips, regardless of age... And plays blades.

[BlackDiamondPar5]

2 hours ago, jvincent said:

What tee you play should never be about age or gender.

 

Play the tees that:

1. Allow you to maintain pace of play

2. GIve you some variety in the clubs you hit into greens.

3. Allow you to enjoy your round.

That post should be pinned to the top ^^^^

 

[caniac6]

I played a senior interclub match at a local club, and we played from the gold tees. One guy on the other team was a former D-1 player, younger than me, that just killed his drives. The course was not very long, and I asked him what tees he usually played from. He said he always played from the golds. I couldn't believe that a guy with his ability didn't play from longer tees. 

[Ghostwedge]

6 minutes ago, caniac6 said:

I played a senior interclub match at a local club, and we played from the gold tees. One guy on the other team was a former D-1 player, younger than me, that just killed his drives. The course was not very long, and I asked him what tees he usually played from. He said he always played from the golds. I couldn't believe that a guy with his ability didn't play from longer tees. 

Some guys just like to hit wedges all day I guess. 

When I can't hit a green with a 5-6 iron, i'm moving up, life is to short.

[Pepperturbo]

At 70yrs old I qualify as a senior, yep, I do... even play to 3-5 index.  But I have never played senior tees.  My 12-14 index 50 something wife, at times, plays from the white tee blocks.

 

Choosing Tee blocks to play IS about YOUR skill level, NOT sex or age. 

 

Here in CA tees are back/black or blue, white, senior and red.  I normally play out to 6600yds, tee marker color depends on the course, yardage and conditions that day.

[Ghostwedge]

1 hour ago, Pepperturbo said:

At 70yrs old I qualify as a senior, yep, I do... even play to 3-5 index.  But I have never played senior tees.  My 12-14 index 50 something wife, at times, plays from the white tee blocks.

 

Choosing Tee blocks to play IS about YOUR skill level, NOT sex or age. 

 

Here in CA tees are back/black or blue, white, senior and red.  I normally play out to 6600yds, tee marker color depends on the course, yardage and conditions that day.

Two things Pepper .....

C'mon hit them senior tee's, don't you want to be a -+ cap ?

I know you know how old your trophy wife is.....

 

 

[Pepperturbo]

@caniac6

Some years back I played a game against a buddy for the first time at his hm course.  We both held memberships at another course.  He played to a 1 and multiple years as club champion at a long testy course.  At the time I was playing to a 2/3, we always played even, and he beat me 75% of the time.  But the timetable was turning. lol

 

This was the first time at his hm course and to my surprise, it was only 6k from the tip.  I had to get hold of myself.  My brain was thinking I would smash him and chew up the course before we even started.  That day he used driver on every possible hole, while I used driver twice, rest of the time 2i and 3i off shorter par 4 holes.  It was a fun day of target golf, and I finally beat him badly on his own turf.   With driver in hand, he could really smack the ball too.

[Pepperturbo]

10 minutes ago, Ghostwedge said:

Two things Pepper .....

C'mon hit them senior tee's, don't you want to be a -+ cap ?

I know you know how old your trophy wife is.....

 

 

Moving up to easy old man's tee box just to be a "+" is cheater mentality.  NOT me.

 

And my wife is good-looking but not a trophy.  She is highly educated and a Corporate Director at a large company.  Call her that to her face, you may not like her reaction. 

[GLF4EVR]

Sixty three & the youngest in our weekend group.  Only one plays from the senior tees...and we had to talk him into it about 3 years because he just wasn't enjoying the game.  Attitude really changed once he switched.

 

Again...all about distance, not age.

 

[llamont]

I say play the tees that give you the best opportunity to enjoy the game without holding people up. That said, aside from organized Jr events I NEVER see people playing tees based on their skill set. How awesome that would be though!

[Abh159]

To me it has nothing to do with age. I think if you're regularly having to hit fairway woods into par 4's then it's time to move up a set. Whatever that transition happens to be (tips >> next longest, member tees >> senior tees, or etc.)

[Moonlightgrm]

Our club has five sets of tees. Black (7,100 yards), Blue (6,750 yards), White (6,400 yards), Gold (5,950 yards), and Red (5,800 yards) 

I am 63-years old and still play to a 3-handicap from the Blues. There are some players much younger than I that play from the Whites. Our pro emeritus has past 70 years of age, but still plays the Black tees and can still break 80. I think skill has more to do with tee selection than age. Since our course has become semiprivate, we get enough public play to suggest that many golfers would benefit by moving up a tee box or two. 
For tournament play at our club, any player 70 years of age or older may play from our Gold tee boxes. There are a couple 70+ guys at our club that lick their chops at playing from the Gold tees. They shoot their age! 

Edited October 5, 2021 by Moonlightgrm
Typo

[bobfoster]

7 hours ago, jvincent said:

What tee you play should never be about age or gender.

 

Play the tees that:

1. Allow you to maintain pace of play

2. GIve you some variety in the clubs you hit into greens.

3. Allow you to enjoy your round.

 

This ^^^

 

IMO, while it is a tradition (and golf is all about tradition), the way tees are named has always been a bit odd. While there are exceptions, the longest are nearly universally called the Blues, the next longest the Whites. But when you get to the shorter tees, we almost never call them the Reds or the Greens, we name them - the Senior tees, the Women's tees. 

 

Genuinely misnomers, because tees have absolutely nothing to do with whether someone is a woman, or how old they are. They are simply distances, and more than that, distances specific to the course. The course length from the Whites on a long course could easily be more than the Blues on a shorter course. 

 

So (all due respect to the OP) asking the age at which it is appropriate to move the the Senior tees is sort of a meaningless question. Everyone, of any age or gender, has a rough distance on any course that will let them get the most fun from the round, while being courteous about pace of play, regardless of what the tees corresponding to that distance are called. 

Edited October 5, 2021 by bobfoster

[bobfoster]

9 hours ago, raynorfan1 said:

For club events, we let people over 85 play off the senior tees.

At my club, 85 year olds are only allowed to watch. When we let them play, they always walked really really slowly down the left hand side of the course, frustrating everyone behind them. (You'll only get this joke if you've tried to drive on a south Florida highway hahahaha!)

[golfarb1]

As a rule of thumb , golfers should play a course that is 26-27 times their average drive . 
 

Edited October 6, 2021 by golfarb1

[EmperorPenguin]

Are we talking about the geezer tees?   These are the markers that are between the ladies' tees (most likely red) and the standard men's tees (most likely white).  The new PC-era calls them the forward tees and the middle tees.

 

The question asks a specific age.  Of course there are guys here at 67 who can tee it up on the back tees, but those guys are exceptions.  For latitude purposes, I suggest that the minimum age to play the geezer tees would be when the golfer starts receiving Social Security benefits, so that can be anywhere from 62 to 70.

[Justsomeguy]

Good question. I say 60.

His question doesn't need the correct but nonresponsive answer that it's about distance and ability and not age.

I think his real question is at which age should one accept a distance decline, all else being equal? When can you expect to stop improving or maintaining distance?

I think for most guys that's 60.

50-55 you can still do reasonable strength and endurance work, if not flexibility. 60, most guys are really showing the decline.

Some WRX guys or athletic older guys are still making gains, but it's rare and even those guys are eating it by 65-70 if they're exceptional.

Edited October 6, 2021 by Justsomeguy

[ShowMe]

"The day I start wearing a skirt to the course."

 

Chuck Norris

[BlackDiamondPar5]

1 hour ago, EmperorPenguin said:

Are we talking about the geezer tees?   These are the markers that are between the ladies' tees (most likely red) and the standard men's tees (most likely white).  The new PC-era calls them the forward tees and the middle tees.

 

The question asks a specific age.  Of course there are guys here at 67 who can tee it up on the back tees, but those guys are exceptions.  For latitude purposes, I suggest that the minimum age to play the geezer tees would be when the golfer starts receiving Social Security benefits, so that can be anywhere from 62 to 70.

 

1 hour ago, Justsomeguy said:

Good question. I say 60.

His question doesn't need the correct but nonresponsive answer that it's about distance and ability and not age.

I think his real question is at which age should one accept a distance decline, all else being equal? When can you expect to stop improving or maintaining distance?

I think for most guys that's 60.

50-55 you can still do reasonable strength and endurance work, if not flexibility. 60, most guys are really showing the decline.

Some WRX guys or athletic older guys are still making gains, but it's rare and even those guys are eating it by 65-70 if they're exceptional.

It has absolutely zero to do with age and gender. So the question is as irrelevant as asking how old is too old to wear a white belt 🤣

 

Furthermore it has zero to do with being PC... That's a completely ridiculous notion.  By removing gender and age from tees hopefully reduces resistance to playing it forward and results in faster and more enjoyable rounds. 

 

I'm sure everyone here has followed too many jackwagons playing tees too far back that can't find a fairway, spends too much time searching for errant shots, periodically tops it 150 yards but think their too long to play it forward because they can hit it 300 once in a Blue Moon. Thanks for the 4.5+ hour round a-holes.

 

So yeah age and gender is meaningless for tee selection. 

 

 

[Justsomeguy]

11 minutes ago, BlackDiamondPar5 said:

 

It has absolutely zero to do with age and gender. So the question is as irrelevant as asking how old is too old to wear a white belt 🤣

 

Furthermore it has zero to do with being PC... That's a completely ridiculous notion.  By removing gender and age from tees hopefully reduces resistance to playing it forward and results in faster and more enjoyable rounds. 

 

I'm sure everyone here has followed too many jackwagons playing tees too far back that can't find a fairway, spends too much time searching for errant shots, periodically tops it 150 yards but think their too long to play it forward because they can hit it 300 once in a Blue Moon. Thanks for the 4.5+ hour round a-holes.

 

So yeah age and gender is meaningless for tee selection. 

 

 

It's not completely meaningless. Age reduces strength and flexibility hence distance. That's why they're shorter and that's why they're called senior. We all live, age, and die. In-between is a continuum. At some point in the continuum, if you're lucky, you're playing the tips. At some point in the continuum, if you're lucky, you're playing the seniors.

[Ghostwedge]

3 hours ago, golfarb1 said:

As a rule of thumb , golfers should play a course that is 26-27 times their average drive . 
 

So for the majority of male golfers that would about 5400 yds. This of course excludes WRX guys who hit it 280-300 yds all day.

Just think if Joe Muni played those tee's he wouldn't lose as many balls, waste time looking for them, play in under 5 hours and have more fun an not hold you and me up.

[Ghostwedge]

6 hours ago, Pepperturbo said:

Moving up to easy old man's tee box just to be a "+" is cheater mentality.  NOT me.

 

And my wife is good-looking but not a trophy.  She is highly educated and a Corporate Director at a large company.  Call her that to her face, you may not like her reaction. 

Two more things Pepper... 

When you no longer are the alpha male golfer and the handi hits 10 are you moving up to the cheater tee's ?

Lucky us, my wife is also highly educated and is a corporate head in the medical community. You can call her a trophy wife, she will smile and say " you must have been playing golf with my dumb a** husband."

 

 

 

[MPStrat]

IMO senior tees are for those overr 60 with a handicap more than 10 and/or over 60 and drive it less than 200 yards (the majority)