Move Up A Tee or Not

Move up. Hitting par 4's in regulation should be key. That's the reason Tom Watson will not play at Augusta anymore.

Play where you will have the most enjoyment and fun with your peers.

You should play the tees that allow you to have a chance to reach the most greens in regulation. Don't think about gaining or losing handicap strokes. If you have a reasonable chance to reach greens in regulation then you are playing the proper tees.

I find it interesting that a lot of players would rather play from 7000 yards and hit 3 wood/5 wood or long irons to every green (and miss most of them!) than play from 6400-6500 yards and have middle / short irons in. They are just working to hard. Golf is a game that we PLAY, it is hard enough without making it even harder.

As we tell the guys on my annual golf trip, if eligible, you have earned the right to play from the senior tees. Move up, give them a stroke and take their money!

Thanks for the replies. You are right that golf should be fun and hitting a 7 iron into a green is a lot more fun than a 2 hybrid or a 3 wood. Also greens in regulation give you more birdie chances and as of now I average about 1 birdie every 3 or 4 rounds. My handicap is 11.0 but I would love to get down to a single digit. I am very close to making a decision and will let you know what happens.

agree with most on here. Play to whats fun. on both sides. If you like the challenge from hitting par 4's with hybrids, woods, long irons but here is the key (can keep up the pace!!) then do it. If you want to hit more greens in reg with a mid to short iron then move up. Age shouldn't be a factor nor should gender to what tee you play. I typically play 6500 yards plus or minus 200 yards regardless of the set of tees. Meaning one course it might be the tips and another course might be the second or third set of tees and that is based my personal distance off the tee (avg 285 with roll out) and gives me great opportunities on par 4's and i can reach a 1-2 par 5's in 2 shots a round. this is what people need to realize its about what you enjoy (again without slowing others up) unless you have the course to yourself.

Carl, you are 69 and are able to play 3-4 rounds per week! You my sir can tee it up where ever you want. Don't put yourself in a position to be fustrated where the game is not fun anymore, or you have to swing out of your shoes on every shot. Have fun move up and smile at your buddy's like the cat that ate the canary!

I'm 70 and have always played from the member tee, until last year. We played a course with the yardage of 6300, the only greens I could hit in regulation was the par 3's and the par 5's, all par 4's were over 180 second shot! No fun, always chipping hoping to save par with a one putt. As one ages, it is a matter of fact you will lose yardage. I am now playing for forward tees, more fun to hit 7 iron in than a fairway wood! No longer play for money, only drinks afterwards, and sometimes not even that. We play for the fun being with friends and having a good time.

I agree with the majority of the replies. Play from the tees that gives you the most enjoyment from game of golf. The game is difficult enough without having 200 yd second shots to reach par 4 greens. My dad will be 81 in July and moved to the forward men's tees (yellow) at 70 yrs., and to the ladies tees (red) when he was 80. If you need more than a 5 or 6 iron after your best drive to reach the green, move up to closer tees. I am 59 yrs old and have had 3 failed back surgeries. On a good day I can hit 260 -280 yard drives, leaving me with 7 iron or less on par 4's, make par 5's reachable w/ 3 wood, 3 iron, or hybrid. This is from teeing off from the men's standard tees (green). These are forward of white and blue (championship) tees. Teeing off from the green tees makes the game more enjoyable for me.

Golf is meant to be fun unless your playing for a check on the weekends. If you have holes you cannot easily (that is, not having to hit a 3W for your second shot on a par 4) reach in regulation from your current tees that is not fun and should tell you something. The reality is to score you still have to have a short game, which is irrelevant to hole distance. Like they say, drive for show, putt for dough. I have guys who clean my clock regularly not because they boom drives, but because they are masters of the flat stick.

From how you describe your game, you will probably enjoy golf more from the forward tees. I do. I think men want to get that macho, "bang the ball," thing in their heads and do not want to accept that swing speed does slow over time (usually due to shorter swing length). Don't let that "I'm losing my manliness," get in your head and ruin your enjoyment. Remember what's enjoyable is regularly taking money out of your friend's pocket! Start doing that and you will quickly have more company at the forward tees.

Also, if you don't currently, get out of that cart and walk. It will improve your health and physical ability, which will benefit your game in the long run more than anything...except maybe more practice. Another goal you should have is to still be enjoying the game at 89 and this will help that goal. Tee it forward!

Try it! Maybe you love it and stay there. Maybe you decide its not for you yet. But what's the harm in doing it at least once? (I know this is an older topic but it never hurts to bring it up).

I played today with a gentlemen who is 74 and he hit it as far as I do (54 years and 255 yards) off the tee. We were off our 3rd set of tees (combos, 6240) and we could have played off the 4th set of tees (blues, 6555). Age is not a factor, just an attitude; play the tees you are comfortable with.

We have 5 sets of tees; 6788, 6555, 6240, 5882 & 5345. Playing from the different tees makes your game more rounded and makes you think more about course management.

Here's my deal. I am 62 years old and drawing social security. Plus I am the one paying the green fee, so I will play whatever tees I damn well choose. :)

Agree that picking the correct tee box based on your age and skill level adds fun to the game.

I think all agree that as we age we do not hit the as far as we once did..hence we move up to a tee box that shortens the length of the hole.

I am 78 and now play the forward tees.

My wife is 76 and has no where to go..already at the forward tees.

Why don't golf courses add a forward-forward or call it a "golfer friendly" tee box for the women? Like us men, they too lose distance with age.

dave

Have your wife tee off from the fairway in front of the forward tees so her drive is approximately the same distamce off the tee as yours and enjoy the game together.


Deno

Our club will not allow the seniors to play the senior tees in competition. It is truly a case of age discrimination.

Some clubs choose to have a senior division in the competition or they offer flights which gives everyone an opportunity based on their skills. Hardly fair for a 75 year old to compete with an 18 year old scratch, but there are a lot of seniors who are scratch golfers and still play from the regulars tees. I am not one of them. Are your competitions handicapped. If so, this could be an equalizer. Do they have a senior tournament during the year? Our course has the City Am and City Sr Am. The City Am is open to all golfers and the all must play from the regular tees. The Sr Am is open to only Senior's and naturally we play the senior tees.

Suggest your club have a separate Senior competition. USGA has an Amateur and Sr. Amateur. A senior can play in both but you don’t create a concern over different conditions of play.

It's dumb rules like this, is the reason why I no longer play in anything, or play for anything. Hopefully, people will realize that this is not the PGA Tour and for the most part we are just a bunch of hackers trying to do our best and have some fun with this great game.