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Playing The Back Tees

RealPretendPsychic

RealPretendPsychic

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I’m genuinely curious to get some input from THPers here:

I’m a 13.2 handicap and drive the ball 250-280 when I hit it well; however, I’m fairly erratic and hit less than one in four fairways. I generally play from the tees closest to 6,000 yards. If I’m playing the back tees at a course, we’ll say it’s 6,700 yards or more, do I get eye rolls as folks watch me hit a majestic bomb into no man’s land and prepare a display of my legendary recovery abilities?
 
I would say that as long as you are not holding up the pace of play, most people wouldn't care either way. You'll always have the people who might make a smart remark, but that's unavoidable no matter what.
 
Like I told one of my buddies, "We may be playing from 6200yds but I hit it 6800yds playing soldier golf, left, right,left,right! " 😎
 
Jank said:
I would say that as long as you are not holding up the pace of play, most people wouldn't care either way. You'll always have the people who might make a smart remark, but that's unavoidable no matter what.
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I get an earful of that from 6,000 anyway :LOL:
 
You are certainly long enough to play from 6800 yards but the wildness could slow things down. If you can get around the course quickly and don't hold people up I don't see an issue with it. 6000 yards is kind of short for someone with your length at times you actually might have more room off the tee from tees that are farther back.
 
Anybody who does eye rolls after seeing someone hit a bad shot is someone who is going to do it no matter where you teed it from. Play from wherever you darn well please. Just keep up.
 
250-280 is plenty long enough for 6700. Like you said, just depends on how accurate you are for the day. But you will have no problem with it if you stay any kind of consistent during the round. Give it a shot and see how you like it!
 
As a 13 there will always be people making more of a mess of it than you from further back. Like @Jank said people will comment no matter what, no matter who you are or where you play from, generally as soon as you're less than perfect. lol I think if you're hitting 1 in 4 and likely get in a fair amount of trouble off the tee you should play to your average driver distance (probably more than 6k), which might get you in less trouble anyway, and just really stay conscious of time looking for a ball. Don't be afraid to take strokes and a drop or know you par + strokes + 2 and pick up. Neither one is that big of a deal. People seem to think of it as a failure, when it's just a bad hole either way. It's just a great way to move things along and or have a few minutes to reset yourself to have a good next hole.
 
I've played with my BIL in California before from his normal 7000-7400 at my insistence and, as long as I'm keeping up and having fun, screw everyone else. If falling behind, I just pickup and play bartender for that hole. I don't let the eye rolls and remarks bother me.
 
I am in the camp of if you aren't holding up play then I have no issue with it. Sounds more like you are asking about fixing the swing, lessons will do it.
 
Turtlerancher said:
I've played with my BIL in California before from his normal 7000-7400 at my insistence and, as long as I'm keeping up and having fun, screw everyone else. If falling behind, I just pickup and play bartender for that hole. I don't let the eye rolls and remarks bother me.
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Oh I fully agree! I’m out for three reasons. To have fun, respect the course, and keep pace of play! :LOL:
Snickerdog said:
I am in the camp of if you aren't holding up play then I have no issue with it. Sounds more like you are asking about fixing the swing, lessons will do it.
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Swing transformation is in progress as we speak! I was just genuinely curious if I’d be getting eye rolls for hitting those errant shots from the back tees. My Arccos 3W smart distance is 242 and I’m comfortable taking a whack with it from almost anywhere, so distance generally isn’t an issue except when Aunt Pullhook is in town. I really don’t like her :cautious:
 
RealPretendPsychic said:
Oh I fully agree! I’m out for three reasons. To have fun, respect the course, and keep pace of play! :LOL:

Swing transformation is in progress as we speak! I was just genuinely curious if I’d be getting eye rolls for hitting those errant shots from the back tees. My Arccos 3W smart distance is 242 and I’m comfortable taking a whack with it from almost anywhere, so distance generally isn’t an issue except when Aunt Pullhook is in town. I really don’t like her :cautious:
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Most of the houses at the Hideaway will be to your right, so pull hooks are somewhat safe. ;) I did say most, not all.
 
Play whatever tees you want - for me a lot of times, the longer the better. Now, what drives me absolutely bonkers is the golfers that I play with that cannot swallow their pride and play the appropriate tees, but instead, insist on playing 7100 yards despite barely knocking it 210-220. That's the rounds that drive me insane.

Who cares if a ball goes errant. It doesn't matter what set of tees I play from - I'm going to hit a bad tee shot at some point that will get me in trouble. That's why I'm a high single digit / low double digit player and not a scratch golfer.
 
Are you a fellow GIR%>FIR%? :LOL:

This sounds extremely familiar as my driver flip flops from right side to left, completely missing the center most days. It's all about pace of play. No hold up? No problem.
 
dAS0 said:
Are you a fellow GIR%>FIR%? :LOL:

This sounds extremely familiar as my driver flip flops from right side to left, completely missing the center most days. It's all about pace of play. No hold up? No problem.
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I think I may be a legacy member of the GIR>FIR club 😆
 
I often find that playing from back tees is less about the added distance and more about how the tee shots setup. Some of those back boxes are off in no man's land and put lines of trees and hazards into play from new angles. I personally like playing back tees to mix it up; it can be like playing an entirely new course.
 
Just don’t don’t cold top your first one 120 yards with the starter giving you “the eye” on hole 1 and you should be ok. Oh yeah, don’t hold people up. If you’re off the planet (I’m there at times too) wild, any distance is too much. I’d think unless soaked, windy, and cold you should be ok at 6800 yards with your distance. I play most of my rounds from 6600 as that’s the tips at my home course. Windy wet days it can seem long. Dry and summer? It’s totaly different.

I play another course that’s only 5600 yards long. It’s just so short that it’s not even fun if you hit it moderately far. All but a couple of the 4’s are driveable, some on the edge of range some I’ve hit 4i on. The 5’s are usually driver/short iron, but I’ve hit less than GW with good drives and hard conditions. I still play it, but I’d prefer not.

Even the course I play at 6600 yards, they made the distance between it and the one ups on the 4’s. Which was nice when I was a little longer as it makes me look like less of a fool waiting for a green to clear only to miss it 40 yards left. It takes 4-5 of the 4’s out of driver range and since a lot of those greens are blind, makes the course much safer. I’ve hit a couple of the blind ones with people still on them as I’ve seen what I thought to be their group heading away only to get up there and have someone that’s putting tell me “nice shot, please don’t do that”.

But your length is fine out to that distance as long as their isn’t carries you can’t make and the par 3’s aren’t set up so you have to hit driver. Shouldn’t take you any longer to drop and hit from 175 if you go in a hazard than if you hit into a hazard at 120. Yeah you’ll not hit the green as much but as long as you’re not slow and deliberate over everything (read as slow) I think you’ll enjoy the challenge.

I know I do... to a point. That point is so condition dependent that it could be 6500 or 7500.
 
I'm in the camp of "play from wherever you want as long as you're not holding anybody up".
 
As long as you don't hold up play I say play whichever tees are fun for you. Either way it sounds like you'll be chasing the ball around anyway 🤣.
 
RealPretendPsychic said:
I’m genuinely curious to get some input from THPers here:

I’m a 13.2 handicap and drive the ball 250-280 when I hit it well; however, I’m fairly erratic and hit less than one in four fairways. I generally play from the tees closest to 6,000 yards. If I’m playing the back tees at a course, we’ll say it’s 6,700 yards or more, do I get eye rolls as folks watch me hit a majestic bomb into no man’s land and prepare a display of my legendary recovery abilities?
Click to expand...
Last time I checked I'm a 13.? handicap. I don't hit my driver anywhere near 250 anymore. Maybe 215-220 on a good day. This from the 6500 yard tees. Thing is, I'm usually hitting my second shot from the fairway.

I will play from the tips, up to 7200 yards sometimes. I know I shouldn't, but I still do. (My money/My time) I will still be shorter off the tee than anyone else, but still playing from the fairway quite often. Ibjust hit the ball far enough to get into much trouble.

The fact that I'm in the fairway more often, while the longer guys are in the rough some where, kind of evens things out.
 
Agree with comments, as long as you’re not holding up, go for it!. Good lesson should be able to straighten it out plus a bit of practice. Just don’t try to swing out of your shoes and go at it 80%. If I swing at 80% and maintain good balance and posture thru the swing, result better center face contact....longer, straighter distance. Just have fun and don’t worry about anyone else, they worry about their own swing/score not yours.
 
The problem is....people are slow, but don't know that they are slow because friends and family won't tell them. Trust me, the slow player will eventually thank you for your honesty. If anything they'll harbor resentment towards you for not telling them sooner....
 
For me the choice of length should be determined more on your ability to achieve GIR than if you occasionally miss a fairway or three. I don't enjoy playing courses where I know I'm outmatched length wise and even the par 3s are more than I can reach. But I deal with that by playing the appropriate tees on those courses.

If you want to step up to the challenge of additional yards every now and again I don't personally see anything wrong with that, provided the group behind you isn't sitting in their carts watching you fail to advance ball after ball ahead of the forward tee...
 
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