Am I a wuss?

[John_Conley]

I am 40 years old and have not experienced a loss of clubhead speed yet.  15 years ago I used to walk to the back tees, peg it, and go.  Lately it isn't like that.

A month ago I played a course and went up not one, but TWO, markers to play from 984 yards in front of the Championship tee.  Today it was 1,408 yards up.

Two rounds, 2300 yards of golf missed.

Am I a total wuss?

Should I at least man up and go back one set of markers?

[Ronald Montesano]

What was your reasoning?  I've mentioned before that the Kaluhyat course at Turning Stone DEMANDS (or your score will suffer) that you play up.  Thundering Waters in Niagara Falls, America's Hat, does the same.

I coach a girls' h/s team in the spring and love remembering the game as Buffalo thaws from the forward tees.  I think that playing from the up tees brings an opportunity to do different things, especially have more chances at birdie/to feel the pressure, and is worthwhile.

If you did it to beat the old lady next door out of her milk money, then you're a scoundrel of calumnious proportions.

[Michael Dugger]

Lord no you are not a wuss.

Playing from the tips is akin to having a hugely raised  pick-up truck........
a wife with a fake rack..........
way more house than you need............
four different putters.........
a computer you don't even know how to operate all the features.......

[Phil Benedict]

Play tees that are appropriate for your game.  One of my pet peeves is players who choose a set of tees that is beyond their skill, particularly seniors who refuse to play senior tees.  A couple of weeks ago I played with a relative who is 75 years old and not a good golfer.  But he wouldn't play the senior tees.  Every mishit drive ended up in the rough before reaching the fairway.  It was a long day.

The other side of the coin is playing tees that are too short.  Happens to me regularly in business golf.  One of the consequences is that on sharp doglegs I can hit my driver pretty far off line and still end up in a good spot, because the shot will clear the dogleg but not reach whatever trouble there is on the far side of the dogleg.  Takes away from the architecture.

[Rick Shefchik]

John,

Did you enjoy the rounds? There's your answer, one way or the other.

[Mike_Cirba]

Lord no you are not a wuss.

Playing from the tips is akin to having a hugely raised  pick-up truck........
a wife with a fake rack..........
way more house than you need............
four different putters.........
a computer you don't even know how to operate all the features.......

Great post, Michael!

I used to know a woman who had LOTS of worldly experience, and she told me once that she could tell the size of a man by the size of his truck or the speed of his sports car....evidently there was a very scientifically sampled clearly inverse relationship she was able to garner from her vast experience. 

[Kyle Harris]

Play tees that are appropriate for your game.  One of my pet peeves is players who choose a set of tees that is beyond their skill, particularly seniors who refuse to play senior tees.  A couple of weeks ago I played with a relative who is 75 years old and not a good golfer.  But he wouldn't play the senior tees.  Every mishit drive ended up in the rough before reaching the fairway.  It was a long day.

The other side of the coin is playing tees that are too short.  Happens to me regularly in business golf.  One of the consequences is that on sharp doglegs I can hit my driver pretty far off line and still end up in a good spot, because the shot will clear the dogleg but not reach whatever trouble there is on the far side of the dogleg.  Takes away from the architecture.

One of my pet peeves are the same seniors who are too proud to move to the forward tee, so have the super add a 5th set of tees that averages out to two clubs lengths per hole longer than the forward tees....

[Tom_Doak]

John:

Play from wherever you are going to have fun.  If you feel like going back one day, go back ... but don't do it often if you don't enjoy it.

If I ran a golf course, if the players weren't smiling coming off the ninth green, I would force them to move up on the tees.

[Peter Pallotta]

Two schools of thought there, John. Either 40 is the new 30, or it's the first year of the rest of your life.  Think of it like being a rookie on the Champions Tour...

Peter

[Tim Leahy]

I used to be a bomber and had to move up, I'm 47 and this started about five years ago. Anything over 6800 at sea level, I'm playing the tees I enjoy instead and I have a lot more fun. I noticed that the LPGA plays at about 6500 yds and with the way those girls hit it these days I don't feel so bad.

[Ronald Montesano]

I will say that three things have allowed me, at 42, to hit the ball farther than ever before:

1.  Nike Sasquatch (not the ugly, quacking square one)
2.  Modern Golf Balls
3.  Bob Gosch (http://www.discovergolfbuffalo.com)

Working out in a golf-targeted way has not eliminated my little belly, but it has opened up my hips, filled out my bis and tris, and stabilized my base/stance.  I haven't even gotten to the core yet!

[Rob_Waldron]

John

Welcome to the club! I did not move forward until I reached 50. At that point my theory was that I have played the back tees for 38 years and I have earned a slight move forward!

[Doug Ralston]

Age and arthritis have me pounding mighty 190yd drives. Where should I stand to do this?

My upper limit seems to be about 5700yd. After that, par-4 = par-5. Often I play low 5000's. ["Hey! Those are 'forward' tees, not 'ladies' tees  ]

But I still love the game, the courses, and being out there.

Doug

[Jeff Tang]

I'd say if you find yourself hitting mostly wedges into the part 4 greens, move back, if you find yourself hitting mostly long irons and woods into the par 4 greens, move up.  It's more fun playing a course with clubs into greens that the architect probably intended for the player to be hitting.

[Jeff_Brauer]

John,

You're a wuss.....but it has nothing to do with tee selection!  You don't play hockey anymore.....


I say move up.  What's wrong with hitting a bunch of driver - short irons?  At least you get to feel like what the pros feel like when they play.  And face it, you probably have that little announcer in your head that will now be more accurate announcing your club selection!

(Now on the tee.......out of Orlando, Florida.......John Conley!  (golf clap)


He plasters his drive, right down the middle, and leaving only 142 to the pin.......

[Greg Tallman]

If you are I am. Was sharing story with Ran yesterday as we toured around new courses in the Cabo area.

Shortly after the Ryder Cup at Kiawah a group of 6-8 professionals and 6-8 five or better ams were playing The Ocean Course at Kiawah. This is back when I could still play a bit. We played from the back markers and on the 5th tee I turned to the others and said... do as you wish but I am playing from the next set of tees the rest of the way. My companions were relieved and followed suit. We all enjoyed the day after a rocky start.

[Doug Ralston]

John,

You're a wuss.....but it has nothing to do with tee selection!  You don't play hockey anymore.....


I say move up.  What's wrong with hitting a bunch of driver - short irons?  At least you get to feel like what the pros feel like when they play.  And face it, you probably have that little announcer in your head that will now be more accurate announcing your club selection!

(Now on the tee.......out of Orlando, Florida.......John Conley!  (golf clap)


He plasters his drive, right down the middle, and leaving only 142 to the pin.......

Ouch! 142yd is a 6-iron for me. What do you hit from there?

Doug

PS: "My game's shorter than your game, my game's .......... " LOL!

[tlavin]

Nothing wrong with playing the forward tees every once in a while.

[John_Conley]

Nothing wrong with playing the forward tees every once in a while.

Terry, this isn't every once in a while.  Still nothing wrong with it or am I a wuss?

[Doug Ralston]

Wusses of the World, unite!

I was once teeing off when a ball came wizzing past me from behind. The group was playing the tips, and the forward tees were out of site below and right. You know you are a wuss when people hit into you while you are teeing! 

Doug

[Daryl David]

A friend and have a similar games distance wise.  Our version of being a wuss is to actually move back to the longer tees.  I will explain: 

Sounds counterintuitive, but because one course we play frequently is so well defended off the tee by fairway bunkers, we avoid all the trouble when driving by laying up short.  This of course leaves longer approach shots, but eliminating the need to blast out sideways on half the holes actually lowers our scores.  We can bomb with impunity, and then feather a hybrid into the green making pars and the occasional birdie.  Drives the long hitters nuts as they can't seem to figure out why we are never in trouble.  If they ever figure it out and make us move up a tee, we will be screwed!

[cary lichtenstein]

Lord no you are not a wuss.

Playing from the tips is akin to having a hugely raised  pick-up truck........
a wife with a fake rack..........
way more house than you need............
four different putters.........
a computer you don't even know how to operate all the features.......

Great post, Michael!

I used to know a woman who had LOTS of worldly experience, and she told me once that she could tell the size of a man by the size of his truck or the speed of his sports car....evidently there was a very scientifically sampled clearly inverse relationship she was able to garner from her vast experience. 

I beg your pardon, my Cayenne was 523 horsepower, gulp

[Mike Bowline]

Following below is a post I recently made on another thread but it applies here, too:

My home course has back tees with a rating/slope of 73.3/134 and I shoot in the upper 70s, giving me a differential of about 3 - 5 for handicap purposes. One day, I randomly met a single on the 2nd tee who was playing the next set of tees forward from the back, so I moved up and joined him for a friendly round. The next set of tees forward are at 69.8/125. I therefore should shoot 3-4 strokes lower from these tees, and in fact, I did so that day, carding a 73.

The reason I am boring all of you with these numbers is to illustrate a point: I had a lot more fun playing from the shorter/easier tees than I would have thought. Shorter irons hit into greens, a few lay-up tee shots vs. the back-tee drivers, etc. It was lots of fun and it opened my eyes to the golfer I had unconsciously become: play it all the way back no matter what!

I enjoyed shooting a lower score despite the easier tees being played. I will not play every round from forward, but it sure was fun when I did it. As an aside, I was playing with only 7 clubs (selected by me in the parking lot based on the anticipated yardages into a few greens) and my planning got totally screwed up when i moved up a set! It still was lots of fun, and that's what it is all about.

[Phil_the_Author]

John,

No you're not a wuss... My God, playing a hole where there is "984 yards in front of the Championship tee" to get to the regular tee! How the hell long is that hole?!? 

[Matt_Ward]

John:

I'd much rather play with people who are honest about what they can do (remember the ole Eastwood line, "A man's got to know his limitations") then get stuck behind denial clowns who have a good case of "blue tee syndrome" and are rarely able to get the ball to where the fairways usually begin. This happens plenty of times at Bethpage / Black and it irks me big time to play behind such fools.

Plenty of the issue is tied to what Greg T alluded to - you have this macho sense of "I'm not going to be the first guy to admit I can't handle the tips," usually at work.

John, sometimes it's best to do what a few of my friends do -- they play the holes that are into a headwind at least one or two tee boxes up. In the situation where the hole plays downwind they go further back. It does provide a good bit of balance and preserve the fun potential.