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I finally convinced my friend to move up a tee

hjimzaf

hjimzaf

I beat the Razr Challenge
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Puyallup, WA
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Yesterday, My normal foursome went out for our weekly round. At the first tee, I head to the white tees, where we normally play from, when my friend, the shortest hitter in the group, starts trying to convince us to move back to the whites because "it's only 450 yds longer, don't be scared." After a couple of minutes of back and forth arguing, we all agreed to play the whites. Everything is going ok until we get to the first "long" par 4, 405 yards. He hits a nice long drive that he was very happy with. I measure it with my GPS and it was 203 yds. He pulled his 3 wood for his second shot and landed short of the green. I then asked, "Is that fun for you, having to hit 3 wood into the green? If we played from the blues, you'd be doing that on quite a few holes."

Also, he landed short on the first 2 par 3s, because he thinks he's longer than he really is. On the 3rd par 3, 160 yds, he pulls 6 iron, leans it against the bench, and runs off to the side to relieve himself. I put his 6i back and replace it with his 5i. He grabs it without looking at it and lands right in the middle of the green, about 10 feet left of the pin. I then tell him what I did, it really opened his eyes. Hopefully he'll be more realistic about his length and start to enjoy the game more.
 
I know my dad plays the wrong tees(but it mainly depends on the swing he brought that day) the back tees are a slope of 119 with 6677 yards I find the course to be easy but if we moved up to the blue tees I would be hitting wedges into every green.

Glad you convinced him now he can enjoy the game more hopefully
 
I wish more people would swallow their dang pride and play from a more appropriate tee. I personally enjoy playing from 6300-6600 yds, not to long on the par 3's yet fair on the long 4's. Typically I play late rounds after work on Sundays and it never fails that I get paired up with someone playing the tips, near 7000 yds, or run up behind someone that's trying to be a player they aren't.

Sadly these folks aren't only hurting themselves, but anyone playing with them or behind them.
 
SW said:
I wish more people would swallow their dang pride and play from a more appropriate tee. I personally enjoy playing from 6300-6600 yds, not to long on the par 3's yet fair on the long 4's. Typically I play late rounds after work on Sundays and it never fails that I get paired up with someone playing the tips, near 7000 yds, or run up behind someone that's trying to be a player they aren't.

Sadly these folks aren't only hurting themselves, but anyone playing with them or behind them.
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Well stated and great thread in general!! I sometime suffer from increased ego when I play with some friends who are signifcantly better than I am and I try to play from the blues or even beyond when I should go no furhter back than whites. Additionally, my club selection is not the best and I am trying to work on that based on the conditions of the day, (hot, cold, humid, dry), the wind , and the elevation changes on the course.
 
The funny thing is, the whites provide a good challenge to us making us use every club in our bag. It's not like we're hitting driver wedge into every green.
 
hjimzaf said:
The funny thing is, the whites provide a good challenge to us making us use every club in our bag. It's not like we're hitting driver wedge into every green.
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Hey speak for yourself!!!! hehehehe

Spoiler
I kid, I kid!! :D
 
Good for you. Today we were behind 3 guys. The youngest had to be in his Late 60's. Can you guess where they played from. Yes the Tips.It wasn't fun at all watching these fools for a lack of a nice word. Hit it from tips to front tees their 3rd shots were around our drives. Oh and I'm not a long ball hitter at all Happy 240-250. Now dont get me wrong I play with a guy that is 72 years old and he can out drive me & a lot of others. It is great to know that i will be able to play golf for many years to come. But damn You have to play to your ability . Be considerate of others.
 
hjimzaf said:
Yesterday, My normal foursome went out for our weekly round. At the first tee, I head to the white tees, where we normally play from, when my friend, the shortest hitter in the group, starts trying to convince us to move back to the whites because "it's only 450 yds longer, don't be scared." After a couple of minutes of back and forth arguing, we all agreed to play the whites. Everything is going ok until we get to the first "long" par 4, 405 yards. He hits a nice long drive that he was very happy with. I measure it with my GPS and it was 203 yds. He pulled his 3 wood for his second shot and landed short of the green. I then asked, "Is that fun for you, having to hit 3 wood into the green? If we played from the blues, you'd be doing that on quite a few holes."

Also, he landed short on the first 2 par 3s, because he thinks he's longer than he really is. On the 3rd par 3, 160 yds, he pulls 6 iron, leans it against the bench, and runs off to the side to relieve himself. I put his 6i back and replace it with his 5i. He grabs it without looking at it and lands right in the middle of the green, about 10 feet left of the pin. I then tell him what I did, it really opened his eyes. Hopefully he'll be more realistic about his length and start to enjoy the game more.
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It amazes me that people want to play a course too long for them, I am old enough now that I can't play comfortably anything over 6300 yards. That tells you how short I have become over the years. Anything longer and I am going to try to hit harder and completely lose my tempo, then it is not fun.
 
I was just about start a thread about this. I am riding back as I type this from a round with my father and father in law. Both are in their 60s and play from the men's tees with me. Neither of them can drive it longer that 200, so I am routinely 80-100 past them off the box. The past two days they've become so frustrated with having to hit three or four shots into every green that they end up just picking up on 3/4 of the holes. Supremely frustrating for me too.

I've tried gently suggesting that they move up to the senior tees, but they just stare at me like a couple of palookas. My dad even said that he's never seen anyone play from the senior tees before, even though the group ahead of us had two guys that were playing them.
 
And once again, as long as you're not holding up the rest of the course, what difference does it make what tees someone else plays from? :D
And also - once again - I've been held up many times by people who are playing from the "correct" tees, so what to do about them? :banghead:

As far as I'm concerned, I don't care if someone wants to tee off from the parking lot as long as we keep moving and aren't causing a traffic jam.
 
Yesterday had nothing to do with pace of play. It was more about enjoyment of the game. I don't think it's fun to hit woods and hybrids into more than half of the greens because my drives still leave 190 plus to the hole.
 
JWLI said:
And once again, as long as you're not holding up the rest of the course, what difference does it make what tees someone else plays from? :D
And also - once again - I've been held up many times by people who are playing from the "correct" tees, so what to do about them? :banghead:

As far as I'm concerned, I don't care if someone wants to tee off from the parking lot as long as we keep moving and aren't causing a traffic jam.
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I agree. The PGA of America and their current play it forward program is a start in helping more people move up to get more enjoyment out of the game, but at the same time, I could really care less what tees someone plays, as long as they keep up.

A couple of the replies in this thread has less to do with the tee choice and more to do with proper etiquette.
 
Great idea to switch out those clubs. Sometimes it takes a nice session with a trackman to get your numbers dialed in and realize you can actually hit your PW or 9i as far as you think.
 
Who said anything about pace of play? I'm talking about people who get so frustrated that they quit on half the holes as opposed to just swallowing their pride and moving their butt up a tee.

When 2/3 of your threesome quits on a hole, it makes for a pretty quick round. Pace of play is not the issue.
 
The fools in front of us were playing from the tips, and they were AWFUL. I saw them hit their second shot from the ladies tees on ore than once occaision. They were unbelievably slow as well. It wasn't just the fact that they were 30+ handicappers playing a 7200 yard course, but they were just overall slow.

I'm going to take this to the rant thread now, lol.
 
Since my recent heart attack I moved up a tee box. I'm having more fun. :)
 
My biggest issue with some of the guys I play with, is that they are "tips only" guys. We will go to the first hole and they will immediately walk to the set of tees furthest back, and 99% of the time they will have no clue as to what the distance is. I play the tees based on the yardage, and prefer to play a course that is around 6500 yards. Some courses will be shorter, some longer, but most people dont even realize what yardage they are playing. Quite annoying.

Also, thought it was funny in the OP, you said you had a guy who thinks he is longer than he really is. There is a guy I play with that is the same way, and after every shot, he will say something along the lines, "How is that short? I can get that there." Where in reality, it's always short, and no, he cant get that there.
 
war.eagle said:
My biggest issue with some of the guys I play with, is that they are "tips only" guys. We will go to the first hole and they will immediately walk to the set of tees furthest back, and 99% of the time they will have no clue as to what the distance is. I play the tees based on the yardage, and prefer to play a course that is around 6500 yards. Some courses will be shorter, some longer, but most people dont even realize what yardage they are playing. Quite annoying.

Also, thought it was funny in the OP, you said you had a guy who thinks he is longer than he really is. There is a guy I play with that is the same way, and after every shot, he will say something along the lines, "How is that short? I can get that there." Where in reality, it's always short, and no, he cant get that there.
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Hence why I always look up yardages before going to the course or I always look at the scorecard before getting out of the cart. I'm a "tips" guy unless the slop is up in the 140s then I play what the group wants to(group has choice in my opinion)
 
andimetrum said:
Who said anything about pace of play? I'm talking about people who get so frustrated that they quit on half the holes as opposed to just swallowing their pride and moving their butt up a tee.

When 2/3 of your threesome quits on a hole, it makes for a pretty quick round. Pace of play is not the issue.
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:drinks:
 
If your foursome can't play in less than four hours you need to pick up the pace. Of course you can only play as fast as the group in front of you but if you can't keep up with the group in front of you, you might be playing from the wrong tees. Our group plays from the senior tees and I am the highest handicap in the group (10.1) we go out three times a week at 8:30 AM during the week and it takes us over 4 1/4 hours every round. This is way too long for a foursome. In the winter we can get around in 3 1/2 hours but come summer time it takes at least 30-60 minutes longer. This is one of the reasons many people stop playing this game.
 
hjimzaf said:
Yesterday, My normal foursome went out for our weekly round. At the first tee, I head to the white tees, where we normally play from, when my friend, the shortest hitter in the group, starts trying to convince us to move back to the whites because "it's only 450 yds longer, don't be scared." After a couple of minutes of back and forth arguing, we all agreed to play the whites. Everything is going ok until we get to the first "long" par 4, 405 yards. He hits a nice long drive that he was very happy with. I measure it with my GPS and it was 203 yds. He pulled his 3 wood for his second shot and landed short of the green. I then asked, "Is that fun for you, having to hit 3 wood into the green? If we played from the blues, you'd be doing that on quite a few holes."

Also, he landed short on the first 2 par 3s, because he thinks he's longer than he really is. On the 3rd par 3, 160 yds, he pulls 6 iron, leans it against the bench, and runs off to the side to relieve himself. I put his 6i back and replace it with his 5i. He grabs it without looking at it and lands right in the middle of the green, about 10 feet left of the pin. I then tell him what I did, it really opened his eyes. Hopefully he'll be more realistic about his length and start to enjoy the game more.
Click to expand...

So you moved up a set of tees, I would expect that the scores were all lower? And you had more fun!


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Tadashi70 said:
So you moved up a set of tees, I would expect that the scores were all lower? And you had more fun!
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We didn't move up, we played from where we always play. Short hitter was trying to talk us into backing up to the blues, the rest of the group argued against it.
 
My group I play with every weekend consists of my Dad, my Uncle, and then one of their friends and varies week to week. Well my Uncle and Dad are 56 and 57 respectfully and after my Uncle's latest back surgery, we have started moving up a tee from the tips on most of the courses. Now I'm a pretty long hitter and my game matches most courses in the area pretty well; but shooting 76 or lower was a darn good round for me even if I didn't rally have a problem distance wise on 6700+. Since we have started moving up a tee my scores have really started dropping.

We have been playing the main public a town over the last few weeks as it's in the best shape of all the non-privates (this drought is hitting the courses hard), my scores have gone from a season best of 76; to what I've shot my last 3 weeks, 75, 70, 71. I've shot 2 of my 3 best ever rounds in back to back weeks; screw the guys who say (was it from the tips?), I've never felt this confident in my game, and my Dad and Uncle are certainly enjoying the rounds more. The week I shot 70 my group went 70, 72, 73, 76; we felt like buying a round of beer for everyone in the 19th hole lol. I also played well above my handicap in the tourney that I played in the week of the 70.

So the moral you should take from this, the USGA is going in the right direction, making 4 birdies in a round is WAY funner than scrambling for par every whole.
 
Fantastic. I only have one friend I let play from the back tees - everyone else I force to play shorter tees. That one dude, well, he walked on at ASU, he can pretty much play whatever tees he wants.
 
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