Do you play your home course from the same tees?

[Brian_Gracely]

My brother and I played yesterday afternoon, but being the impatient souls that we are, we played the front-9 twice since we didn't want to wait on the #10 tee.  Both our #3 and #6 holes play as slightly uphill Par3s around 190yds.  I've mentioned to our Superintendant about varying the distance as most of our tees are 30-60yds long and could greatly vary the holes from day to day.  

Do any of you frequently play your courses from different tees than normal, or better yet, do you ever play a mix of tees to create variety of shots?  I'm thinking a bi-weekly or monthly BLACK-WHITE-RED (Back, Men's, Ladies) match might create a good change of pace from time to time....long Par3s, short Par4s, different angles, etc.

Any experiences out there?  

[Jeff_Mingay]

Great idea, Brian.

One of the problems is, the USGA handicapping system discourages using different tees during the same round. Right?

And, boy, if you don't hand in a rules abiding score, every time you step foot on the golf course, damn you  

[A_Clay_Man]

Brian- I mix-up the course I play, by switching between blues golds and blacks, but only day to day. I have golfed in a Red white and blue tourney and it was fun playing the course from different angles and distances. ANother idea for a club tournament format is what we called the heinz 57. Teeing off on the odd holes with a five iron and the even holes with a seven. This really brought out the experince you seek.

[BCrosby]

I've changed tees fairly frequently. When I play with a senior group, I play from the senior tees, and move back with other groups, etc.  (I have never played from the ladies tees, though.)

There's another group I play with where we will decide, arbitrarily, to play all the par 4's all the way back, the par 5's from the senior tees, and then flip it around the next round. It's terrific. Different bunkers and contours come into (and out of) play. Lots of variety. It does, however, completely screw up posting a score for handicap purposes.

In the SE that variety is compounded by the dormant v. green Bermuda fairways in different seasons. You get a course with lots of roll in the winter v. little in the summer. And all the transitions in between. Great stuff.

Bob
   

 

[ChasLawler]

During the winter months, when we're not supposed to post our scores, we try to vary up the tees.

We once played a 2-man team add-em-up gammons match within our foursome, where one group played the back tees on the odd holes while the other played the forward men's tees, and vice versa on the evens. If a team won a hole playing from the back tees, their winnings for that hole doubled. We tossed a coin on the first tee to see who had the evens and odds. A lot of blood was spilled regrettably, and we haven't done it again.

[Tony_Chapman]

Brian - I normally don't mix up tees during the round, but I never subject myself to playing the back tees all the time or the middle tees all the time. I have played our home course from all sets of tees, though the courses I play rarely provide differing angles of play.

As Adam mentioned, I have gone to my course and played with 5-iron and down (not real fun on the 215 yard par 3s)  . It gives a new look to the course and helps with a little course management which we all need now and then.

[Tom Davis]

We have several clients which show 6 sets of yardages on their scorecards (black, blue, green, white, red, gold).  In many cases there are only 4 tee complexes per hole, and 2 sets of tee markers will share the same tee.  

Their state golf association has established 6 different course & slope ratings: four for men (black, blue, green, & white) and three for women (white, red, & gold).  

This set-up allows for variety and functional posting for handicap.

[cary lichtenstein]

We play both the championship tees and the back tees to vary the course, but mostly we play a mixed set of each and have had the course rated and sloped from that combined set of tees.

[JohnV]

The USGA Handicap system isn't that big a problem for this.  You can look in the Handicap manual (online at usgs.org) and find out how to adjust a rating for unrated tees (simply adding or subtracting from both the Course Rating and Slope based on the yardage difference)

Also, if you look back through the archives you might find a thread I started back in November of last year about playing some courses in Atlanta that had mix/match ratings already defined on their cards.  If you have a regular mix that a number of people play, a simple phone call to your golf association should get you a new course rating for that mix.  They already have the data and it should be easy to generate it.

I usually play the back tees at Hannastown when I'm by myself or with friends while the mens club plays the next ones up so I used playing different tees out there.  At Pumpkin Ridge where I used to be a member, the scratch pot game played a mixed set of tees every weekend, although they never got a rating done by the OGA.

I think it is fun to mix up the course.

[Jeff_Mingay]

John,
 
Very interesting info. I'm going to look at the handicap manual. Thanks for the suggestion.  

[KJaeger]

Not my home course, but when I play Wente Vineyards in Livermore, CA, I sometimes play the round from the blues (middle tees) and sometimes from the whites (next shorter set), depending upon my mood, where others in the group would like to play and the conditions.  If I do play the whites, I will at least play the 10th hole from the blues because it uses the back tee box on top of a high ridge, with a gorgeous view of the surrounding valley.

[Jeff_Brauer]

With a 16 year old limberback son being my most common playing partner now, I find myself going to the back tees more and more.

Last year at our pre-opening tour of the Quarry, I prevailed the first time around and played the middle tees, while he convinced me to play the backs later in the day.    That has become our typical pattern of late.

Surprisingly, playing the back tees ain't so bad, even at 7200 yards plus.  In fact, I stay well short of the bunkers!

[Lloyd_Cole]

Our little 9 hole club championship is 54 holes, 27 each day - blue (middle), white (front), black (tips, only in play 2 days a year). Due to the fact that I almost always play from the blues (the back tees 363 days of the year) I often score comparatively poorly on the shorter, supposedly easier white course. This year I intend to split my time between both sets, even though the white course is less interesting. I would like to win.

[RJ_Daley]

Yes it seems everyone gets hung up on the course rating and handicap if the tees are mixed.  But, friendly impromtu match play and skins games are perfect for this.  OUr home course here in GB has a perfect situation to mix and match during the round.  One can even play one of the par 5s fro senior tees as a long and very good 4, and one of the long 4s from tips as a fantastic risk reward par 5.  I get upset that our regular men's club NEVER places the member mid-tees back with the blues once in a while.  It would take two of the holes from 135-40 to 170 and really spark up the enjoyment.  The same with a 165 'redanish' playing hole to back to a 185 changing the approach loft and making it even more redanish.

I love to play Wild Horse and disregard the tee block settings and play distances according to changing winds as we progress.

I read somewhere where Jack Nicklaus like to go out and play the ladies tees at Muirfield now and then.  Makes sense to me...

[Jim_Bick]

We frequently vary the tees on the par threes so that we have four significantly different distances (150,170,190, 210 for example). With a lot of newer designs with multiple tees that I've seen, course setup can otherwise be pretty uniform, with each marker on its respective tee, which stretch across a 60 -70 yard range. Of course, creative setup can handle this.

As a practical matter, I think the possible handicap impact is immaterial.

[Jim Thompson]

Brian,

Perhaps a little off the track, but my club hosts a Red, White & Blue tourney every July 4th.  We set up the course, and players are allowed to choose which 6 holes to play from the Red, White, and Blue Tees respectively.  The strategy is pretty amazing! The bombers play the short fours from the reds and go for greens in two while the "experienced" players hit the par 3's from the front for sure fire birdies.  Try it some time!

JT

[Steve Pozaric]

I don't have a home course per se, but play one fairly frequently here called Aberdeen a "true" links course built on good Missouri clay (a bit a sarcasm there), but overall a good and fun design.  I switch btw. the whites (at 6200) and the blues (at 6700), usually not the same round but sometimes from round to round.  Some of the shorter holes I like better from the whites b/c it brings more thought in from off the tee and bunkers are more in play too.  I think my last round from the whites I hit it in at least 6 fairway bunkers.  The course can play pretty hard and fast though, so, to some extent, 6200 can be too short.  All about variety and making sure the one course does not get too boring.  

Maybe one day, if I am "man" enough, I will play the silver tees (i.e. the forward tees).

Steve

[Doug Wright]

My home course Denver CC is way too short from any tees, right BillV/Redanman     , so I play each hole from behind the back tees to make it a fair test...

Actually, I play it from both the back blue and middle white tees depnding on the preferences of the group. The red (ladies) and gold (over 70) tees will be there for my use soon enough...

I really enjoy playing 36 at either Bandon or Pacific with one round from the back and one round from the next up tees. There's great variety and challenge from each tee out there.

Best,

[Carlyle Rood]

Our club actually has course ratings and slopes for mixing tees.  Our scorecard tells you how to mix the tees.

This is particularly helpful because we have an older membership.  They're still quite skilled; but, some of the holes are too long for them now.

Our championship tees are pretty ambitious too, so our "scratch" group will play a few holes from more forward tees.

From furtherst to closest, our tees are Gold, Blue, White, and Red.  I usually play Blue with our regular group.  My brother and I will walk back to the Gold when playing together.  I enjoy the variety.

[Michigan_Man]

Yes,
A buddy and I have matches where we play 3red, 5white, 5blue, 5black...... It adds a little strategy to the match having to decide when you want use your chances from the forward tees.....Its a fun change of pace when playing our home course gets monotonous.

[Darren_Kilfara]

When I saw the thread title, I thought the question being asked would be, "Do you play your home course from the same tees that you play when you visit another course?" That's an equally interesting question to me - if you regularly play from the middle tees at home, how often will you play from the back tees "to experience the entire course", especially when you get the chance to play a well-known or highly-regarded course? Or for that matter, does anyone ever move forward on away days, figuring that you can cope with added length better on a course you're more familiar with

Cheers,
Darren

[jim_lewis]

When the course is wet my group often plays the "intermediate" aka. "mixed" tees which are a combination of some long and some middle tees.  The course has been rated from these tees and we can post scores for handicap.

Cuscowilla and the Quarry at Laquinta are two other courses that I know offer a card with "mixed tees".

[JohnV]

Jeff, in case you haven't found it, it is section 5-2g in the Handicap Manual.  Page 21 if you have a hard copy.  Or you can look on the USGA website.

[Dave_Miller]

Brian:
At Charles River we generally play the Blue tees which are not usually all the way back.  We have a gold set that is placed at the back of each tee.  
The Blue tees are moved around quite a bit so the holes can vary from time to time.
Best,
Dave

[tlavin]

Lake Nona has a "members card" in which they mix up the blue and white tees, to give the members a break on some of the real long holes, but also allow them to play a number of holes from the back portion of the tees.  It's a reasonable, practical and challenging format.  The card simply tells you whether to hit from the blue or white on each hole.