Wednesday, May 9, 2012

Tee Boxes....Just my Opinion

I've always had a disagreement with courses on their Tee Box positions.  That is, most courses.  Maybe I don't understand why we have different Tee Boxes.  Do you know why there are different Tee Boxes?
The way I understand it is that we have different tee boxes for the difference in the level of players.  That is, low handicap players would use the longer distance boxes, where the higher handicap players would use the Tee Boxes that would make the holes play a little shorter.  This would also hold true for the players who hit the ball further, would play the longer tee boxes.  While players who just can't hit the ball far would play the shorter Tee Boxes. 
Each hole has a par assigned to it.  That is, either a par 3, par 4, or par 5.  Most courses have, on each nine holes, 2 par 3 holes, 2 par 5 holes, and 5 par 4 holes, for a score of a par 36 on each nine, and par 72 for 18 holes.  Par for a hole is decided by the number of strokes it would take to reach the green, plus 2 putts.  Therefore, a par three should be reachable from the tee, with two putts for par.  If you have a par 4 that is 400 yards long, and you have a player that can only hit the ball 180 yards of the tee, then that player will not be able to reach the green in 2 shots.  It will take him 3 shots to reach the green.  But, if he moves to a forward tee that makes the hole play 360 yards, then it would be a playable par 4 for him.
This is why I don't understand the reason that most courses have 3 tees that are each 10 yards apart.  10 yards?  What exactly is 10 yards supposed to do?  Placing Teeing grounds 10 yards apart would be fine if you had about 12 tee boxes per hole.  Most courses have 3 to 5 Tees.  These Tees should always be 30-40 yards apart, to allow the player to choose which Tee Box would suite his game to allow him to play the course in the designed par.
And, while I'm at it.  Get rid of the names for Tee Boxes.  They shouldn't be called:  Championship Tees, Senior Tees, Women's Tees, Junior Tees.  Just use the color or number,  and let where you play suit the distance you hit the ball.
One other point.  If I play against someone and I'm using a forward Tee Box from the one they are playing, when my drive is the same distance theirs is, I'm still at a disadvantage.  While from this distance they may hit a 7 iron, I would be hitting a 4 iron.  So, my theory is, my drives should be far enough ahead of theirs so that I'm hitting nearly the same iron to the green that they are hitting.  So, by doing that, at least we're playing on the same level.
Yes, I understand handicaps take care of a lot of the difference.  But, to the normal player, it is not nearly as much fun to play a course when you know on many of the holes you cannot reach the green, even with your best shots, in regulation.
Well, that's my opinion on tees.  Do you agree?  Disagree?  Have something to add? 

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I couldn't agree more! Jit's league has assigned tees to each player this year based on their ability instead of age and I think it's a great idea. Some of the guys don't like it due to the "pride" factor of moving to the "senior" tees when they aren't a senior or even the "ladies" tees since they aren't ladies. I agree that naming the tees strictly by color would change the stereotypes associated with them. Now for the real problem....I play from the forward tees and still can't reach a lot of greens in regualtion!! Do you think it would be ok if I tee off from the 150 yard marker?!?!?
Julie

Bad Bob said...

First, I think if they put the required distance between tees you'd be close enough to reach the green. Second, I think you should tee off from where it makes it a hole you can play in regulation par if you hit the ball well.