Good morning Mr. Paul, with a tip of the hat to Mr. Mucci,
I hope this morn finds you and the missus well. I have perused your missive of an hour ago, and do beg to differ somewhat. I would never say you are incorrect, given your superior mental faculites (and the high probability that your tome was not merlot affected at this early hour.
It does occur to me that I am writing from a different perspective than yourself (your ownself as a famous Texas writer might say) and Mr. Mucci. Specifically, as members and frequenters of upper end clubs, your experience is probably far more oriented to competitions, match play and otherwise. I suspect that it is not uncommon in your circles to place substantial wagers on the outcome.
Not all golfers look for the same thing, however. Most play for camraderie and about $0.25 per hole.
I spent yesterday doing 18 holes of research on the topic. As I spied different groups of play very few opted, as far as I could tell, to play from different sets of tees. Now, I was not inclined to ask personal questions about the size of their wagers, but from laughter, shouts, and lack of gun or sword play, I presumed the inducements to be quite minor in the entire scheme of things. In fact, I would wager that only a few even remember their score this morning, since I saw many of the same enjoying a post round beverage!
Therefore, as far as I can tell, designing one set of tees for the few golfers who play match play in a serious competition is statistically invalid. As much as handicaps can take care of players of different abilities, so can formal competition set the exact course for competitors when required. For most of the year, allowing players to choose how long to play the course is still, IMHO, the best option to allow them the most fun, even if they are heathen enough, in your opinion, to consider par as the rules say they should.
By the way, my research again held up the statistics that I put out before - at this course, (Cowboys Golf Club, Grapevine, TX) they average less than 3 players per day from the 7000 yard plus tees. About 25% play at 6600 and 75% play at just under 6300 yards. Sadly, only a few hardy female souls play, perhaps discouraged by the macho attitude that still prevails in golf, manifested by such attitudes that we should only design one set of tees for competitive male golfers and let all others be an afterthought.
If I owned that golf course, I would be very hesitant to discourage 1, 25 or 75% of my potential customers by picking one distance to play from, especially if designing it around the golf experience of some club player types who are only likely to show up at my facility a few times a year and NOT providing a variety of distance options that will make my course fun for those paying my greens fees. Which distance would you pick for that one tee?
Your position might be truly defensible at some golf courses....it might represent an ideal situation for golfers similar to you. But, while you consider it "ideal" in the tradtions of golf, and you might be correct, it simply isn't idea in the real world of public golf, at least in my humble opinion. There is little doubt that debate might be had on the concept and question of whether golf is a pursuit against oneself, a recreational game, or a competitive game. It is flexible enough, actually, to be all of those things, even at one time! I believe multiple tees allow it to be flexible to those recreational golfers who could care less about competition, and perhaps less about the tradition of the game than their own damn, beer drinking, slice hitting, putt missing fun!
Please forgive me for speaking so directly and for the strong language. I trust our friendship will survive such frank talk.
Kindest regards,
Jeffrey D. Brauer, esq.
PS - to play along, please answer my question above - as a course owner/club manager, if you were committed to a one tee course, which approximate length would you consider ideal? It seems to me that it would be critical information to flesh out the rest of the equation of how to design for other players with different length abilities.
Do you favor the 6300 yard course that allows the long hitter to be playing wedge all day? Do you pick 6600 yards or more and make the shorter hitter capable of winning that match only via short game wizardry?