Should I play shorter Tees?

[Luchnia]

Ok, so I am 65 years old and I normally play the white tees which can range from 5800 to about 6200. I see many guys my age playing the slightly shorter tee box. I have played the shorter tee box and did really well but felt as if I was cheating (could not find a better term) LOL

I can hit around 200-225 on my drives with an occasional longer drive (very rare though). I see many say for older golfers to play the next nearest to the hole tee box from white. Is there some sort of standard as to what tee to play or how do you determine what tee you play? Is that mostly based on your driver distances or is there something else that determines that?

 

[DG_1234]

Here in the SF Bay Area the tournaments with a Super Senior flight (65 and older) play tee boxes at 5,800 to 6,100 yards.

 

[MWard]

Ok, so I am 65 years old and I normally play the white tees which can range from 5800 to about 6200. I see many guys my age playing the slightly shorter tee box. I have played the shorter tee box and did really well but felt as if I was cheating (could not find a better term) LOL

I can hit around 200-225 on my drives with an occasional longer drive (very rare though). I see many say for older golfers to play the next nearest to the hole tee box from white. Is there some sort of standard as to what tee to play or how do you determine what tee you play? Is that mostly based on your driver distances or is there something else that determines that?

I typically go by the par 3’s, if you’re hitting fairway woods into all of them or longer, move it up. You should have a few clubs worth of options vs hit it and hope it was enough club

 

[GolfTravelDude]

Markers I play are more about who am I playing with and which tees are they playing. If all your mates play white, I'd stay there. If they play forward, move up.

 

[Johan185]

Play it Forward. It's just More Fun.

Not Cheating

 

[Sox_Fan]

Unless the par 3's and 5's are very short and the distance is added to par 4's, I would think you are fine with your driver distance and that total yardage. If you are hitting long irons or more into a lot of the par 4's, then it may be time to move up for a more enjoyable experience. My driver length is a little more and I play at the upper end of your total yardage scale on a course with narrow fairwars and small greens. There are 3 pars 4's where I am hitting 6 iron - 5 wood into every time. Overall, I feel that mine is a fair test that makes good use out of my entire bag.

 

[SquirrelyDave]

This comes from the long leaf tee system, it seems like a very solid idea of where to play from

 

[Johan185]

 

[fupresti]

Play whatever tees make you happy.

 

[Luchnia]

Looking at the yardage charts I seem to be sitting right between the two....hhmmmm Now my tiny brain is working again.

 

[Snickerdog]

At the distance you hit your driver you should be able to play up to 6000 pretty regularly. But if you have to hit fairway woods on every approach shot, I would move up. I try to stay at 6200ish and rarely go over it and can use every club in my bag during a round.

 

[PKorf]

What’s your avg score from your normal tees?

 

[chefkritter]

Play what you want and that lets you enjoy the game the most.

 

[Grins]

Looking at the yardage charts I seem to be sitting right between the two....hhmmmm Now my tiny brain is working again.

Like others have said, if you're hitting hybrids/woods into par 3s, or into most approach shots for GIR, then you'll enjoy moving up & playing a shorter course. If all your golfing buddies are playing from the whites, I can see why you'd want to stay, but ultimately you gotta do what is the most enjoyable for you.

 

[Luchnia]

Like others have said, if you're hitting hybrids/woods into par 3s, or into most approach shots for GIR, then you'll enjoy moving up & playing a shorter course. If all your golfing buddies are playing from the whites, I can see why you'd want to stay, but ultimately you gotta do what is the most enjoyable for you.

I can see how this would be a game changer depending on you approach shots. I do plan to experiment some when weather changes around here.

 

[Scorp]

I was going to mention the Tee it forward...

I've seen some courses with 5 sets of tees: children, ladies, seniors, mens, championship.

I normally play from the men's tees. My drives go 200-220 yards if I'm lucky. I'd be best served playing either from the senior tees or ladies tees. I'll be 50 this year so I can maybe rationalize that to myself... I'm not sure about playing from the ladies tees though. I'm sure it would make the course easier for me.

My son is beginning golf. I'm going to have him play from the most forward tees when he sets foot on the golf course.

 

[Flipit]

Here in the SF Bay Area the tournaments with a Super Senior flight (65 and older) play tee boxes at 5,800 to 6,100 yards.

Yep this. I’ve played those tees because our course says my HC should play those. Definitely a bit easier due to better approach shots.

 

[Snickerdog]

I was going to mention the Tee it forward...

I've seen some courses with 5 sets of tees: children, ladies, seniors, mens, championship.

I normally play from the men's tees. My drives go 200-220 yards if I'm lucky. I'd be best served playing either from the senior tees or ladies tees. I'll be 50 this year so I can maybe rationalize that to myself... I'm not sure about playing from the ladies tees though. I'm sure it would make the course easier for me.

My son is beginning golf. I'm going to have him play from the most forward tees when he sets foot on the golf course.

Make sure he understands he isn't playing the ladies tees, as they don't want them described that way anymore. Forward tees as the name describes.
All the PC BS we have nowadays in ridiculous.

 

[DG_1234]

Yep this. I’ve played those tees because our course says my HC should play those. Definitely a bit easier due to better approach shots.

For the Super Senior Nor Cal events most of the fields are guys who shot par golf in their younger days and now at age 65+still swing a club reasonably well.
Some of them can still get the tee ball out there 250 yards or more , but others are in the 190 to 210 range.
One of my friends is 67 and he can carry a driver 260, so at these 6,000 yards he is reaching every par 5 in two with ease. Another friend is 79 and he is carrying his driver about 190, plays a 4 hybrid from 145 yards etc... Both of them routinely shoot 72, they just do it in their own way.

 

[Scorp]

Thanks Snickerdoodle. You make a good point. Remove the stigma associated with the forward tees and play what suits your skill level. I now have rationale to tell myself that.

 

[Luchnia]

Make sure he understands he isn't playing the ladies tees, as they don't want them described that way anymore. Forward tees as the name describes.
All the PC BS we have nowadays in ridiculous.

Ain't that the truth!

 

[Luchnia]

I was going to mention the Tee it forward...

I've seen some courses with 5 sets of tees: children, ladies, seniors, mens, championship.

I normally play from the men's tees. My drives go 200-220 yards if I'm lucky. I'd be best served playing either from the senior tees or ladies tees. I'll be 50 this year so I can maybe rationalize that to myself... I'm not sure about playing from the ladies tees though. I'm sure it would make the course easier for me.

My son is beginning golf. I'm going to have him play from the most forward tees when he sets foot on the golf course.

It seems your drives are about like mine. I do have some challenges on approach shots, yet I think that is because my game is still a bit weak.

 

[millsan1]

Is there some sort of standard as to what tee to play or how do you determine what tee you play?

Yes, play from the tees that give you the most enjoyment.

 

[Gus R]

When I was your age I also was playing from the white tees. They were 6500 from the whites on my course. What I did in the winter when our OGA did not allow posting scores, I played from the short tees on the really long par 4 and 5 holes and the whites on the others. I did this just to see the difference in scores. What ended up happening our course took the holes I played in the winter and made combination of whites and greens(senior) and submitted it to the OGA and they gave it a rating and many of the seniors that were in the same boat as I was played those and could post scores in the summer. I would try to play them now if you can and if it works out fine talk to some of the older members who still play the white tees and see if they would be interested in having the course set up a combo so you can post scores using them. Of course the alternative is to just move on down to the senior tees. I did that when I turned 70 and it makes a more competitive place to play from for me.

 

[SquirrelyDave]

Make sure he understands he isn't playing the ladies tees, as they don't want them described that way anymore. Forward tees as the name describes.
All the PC BS we have nowadays in ridiculous.

I don’t think the Tee it forward thing is about PCness. Really, honestly, there’s a lot of ego that won’t let someone hit from the “ladies” tees. Calling them forward tees, hopefully removes that and lets them enjoy the game more.