[Tim Nugent]

I recently read that the ideal shape for a tee box is an oval shape, in terms of efficient irrigation.

Since a tee is usually less than the radius of a turf sprinkler, it's shape usually isn't of any consequence. An Oval is a poor shape as the front and rear portions need to be maintained but become too smal to use.  From an alignment vantage point, a circluar tee would be the best, but again, you would be maintaining the front/back and to some extent, the sides that aren't used.

[Anthony_Nysse]

I love square tees. They were added during the renovation at Colonial and I know the Friar's had some square tees at one time, but I've seen pics where that may have changed.

[Ally Mcintosh]

I recently read that the ideal shape for a tee box is an oval shape, in terms of efficient irrigation.

Since a tee is usually less than the radius of a turf sprinkler, it's shape usually isn't of any consequence. An Oval is a poor shape as the front and rear portions need to be maintained but become too smal to use.  From an alignment vantage point, a circluar tee would be the best, but again, you would be maintaining the front/back and to some extent, the sides that aren't used.

When you're irrigating the tee surface only in a temperate climate, I'd say that a square with a ninety degree arc and no overthrow is the most efficient... free-form tees being the least efficient and expensive... long-thin tees being more expensive also...

[Jeff Shelman]

I am not an architect or a super. I'm just a golfer.

But I really like square tees. I think they look cool. And they say to me that this is a course that really pays attention to details.

[Mike Tanner]

I never thought of the tee box as a safe area either. But I like the concept. After all, it's the one place on the course where you can touch the ball, improve your lie or move it around with (relative) impunity.

As for shape, I really don't care if the tee box is a tee oval, tee circle, tee oblong or tee ameoba. What I really care about is that it has an even surface, drains well and is well maintained.

[Michael Burrows]

I love square tees but I'm also a fan of free flowing natural shape tees. I think the square tees we have at Austin Golf Club are pretty good but I'm a little bias.

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[Michael Burrows]

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[Kyle Harris]

How else would you describe the line between the two tee markers, in front of which the ball may not be teed?

Yeah your right, I supposed we should just keep that concept going on down the fairway.  Would you like square greens too?

Yes.

Mountain Lake has a wonderful set of square greens that work very well. They hazards are integrated well with the green edges.

Squares and sharp, straight edges have their place on the golf course just as well as any arbitrarily free-form, naturally influenced, or aboriginal line.

[Mike Jansen]

For Tim and Ally:

 To justify the statement I made about the ideal shape in terms of irrigation being oval... that information was learned from an article written by Giles Wardle (irrigation consultant of Irriplan) titled "Value of Engineering in golf".  He states " The most value- engineered tee is the oval shaped one, as it requires least sprinklers with no loss of uniformity or irrigated area"  In his exampled and diagrams he uses a 200 sq. meter tee box.

[Tom_Doak]

Tom D

 Curious about the use of square boxes at Stonewall given your dislike of them.

Rory:

The client wanted the tees to be rectangular, and we were so busy trying to design and build every other aspect of the golf course in a six-month window, that we didn't have time to argue the point.  Several of those tees were built on cross-slopes, so Stonewall is really where my dislike for rectangles set in, I realized they weren't practical on hillier terrain.  Kapalua (Plantation) has the same problem, only more.  The other big problem with rectangular tees is that if you are building three or more sets of tees per hole, and you don't want to put all the tees in a line, the rectangles don't align with each other and it looks really weird from the back tee.

Honestly, I think that rectangular tees became popular with many architects precisely because they didn't require any thought or design and no one would complain about them.  If you do free-form tees, you have to think about the shape of every tee, and inevitably someone will tell you they are aligned incorrectly.

The same used to be true of free-form bunkers, back in the 1980's ... Pete Dye and Art Hills and Jack Nicklaus never had to think about their bunker shapes back then, because the sand was flat anyway and the grass faces blended in.  But the popularity of flashy bunkers changed all that, now some architects spend more time on bunkers than anything else.

[Rory Connaughton]

Tom

I suspected that that was the case.  From the players perspective I think it works fine at Stonewall but I can see where it would have been advantageous to go with informal shapes at 5, 6, 8, 9, 10 where even slight changes in angle could make a big difference in the line off the tee.

[Carl Johnson]

I prefer "square tee boxes."  I'm not sure why, and it is not something I lose any sleep over.  It may be because the "teeing ground" is itself a rectangle ["The 'teeing ground' is the starting place for the hole to be played. It is a rectangular area two club-lengths in depth, the front and the sides of which are defined by the outside limits of two tee-markers. A ball is outside the teeing ground when all of it lies outside the teeing ground."].  I think the symmetry of the two appeals to me in an anal sort of way.  Although the outlines of the teeing ground don't have to be symmetrical with those of the tee box, it seems to me that they are always set up that way.

[Lynn_Shackelford]

I am a proponent of square tees.  I know if not walk mowed, they are burdensome for mowing but:

1.  It tells me that this is the last(only) place on the hole where I am playing on a manufactured surface.  From then on I am out there with mother nature.

2.  It has a traditional look, thus management must have some appreciation for tradition.

3.  It is easier to built square tees on flat ground, which is where most tees should be built.  Some rounded tee that I have to walk up to is okay, but still artificial.

4.  I also love it when the tee markers are set-up on the edges of the teeing area.  This allows me the decision of which side of the tee do I want to use.  This is not so easy when the tee markers are on the front or back of rounded tees.

5.  The pictures above of AGC make me want to go out there and just tee it up and go.

6.  The only thing preferable might be the look of mowing the entire area at one cut, which is done at Augusta and Gil Hanse has used on some occasions.  Then the teeing area looks neither round nor square, just level.

[David_Madison]

Tom D.,

Maybe slightly off topic, but what was Jack Nicklaus' reaction/contribution to the tee shapes at Sebonack? I play at a course designed by him where most of the tees are elevated ovals that could have been clipped off cones, and almost everything else I've played of his had very regularly shaped tees. From what I remember, the tees at Sebonack were widely varied but very free-form, fitting in well with the terrain.

[Peter Zarlengo]

While I'm generally not a fan of square tees, I think the worst looking ones are:

1) Where squared edges and straight lines form L-shaped or zigzag shaped tees
2) Where curving fairway or approach lines bleed into a tee with squared edges
3) On uphill holes where the symmetrical pads for the forward tees clutter the foreground of the golf hole

I do think on a flatter site with some taller trees a square tee tends to look better. But maybe that gets back to Lynn's tradition thing. This one's not so bad.

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