My handicap is almost always between a 3 and 4. Last year I moved up 1 set of tees and started to have a lot of fun. Our back tees are 6900, but I just found it more fun to play 6500 - 6700.
I play in a Saturday morning game - usually 4 tee times with handicap ranging from 0 - 26. We all enter our scores after each round and 1 person keeps track of all the handicaps. We don't care which tees anyone plays from, just adjust according. Sometimes I play with a scratch player (he is a Pro) and he even likes to move up at times and we just add 2 strokes to his handicap. This year our winter is actually "cold" - but we can still play - so most of us move up at least one tee and hopefully that will stick.
Paul,
This is my experience exactly. We have 4 sets of tees, plus three combo sets, ranging in 200 yd. increments from 7000 to 5800. The player selects the tees he will play (with an age restriction of 65 for the two most forward, which is one of the combos and the front tees). You can change twice a year when the time changes.
In our points/skins game, we have everything from a 25 yr. old aspiring Tour player to a 78 year old who is 5-6 and weighs maybe 140 lbs. We have guys who played professionally and got their amateur status back and still play competitively at the state and national levels, and we have guys with pacemakers and artificial joints who can't see or hear.
In my case (61 and a 5.6 index) I play a combo set at 6400 most of the year, but move up to a 6200 set in the winter. Our 3s and 5s are on the short side, but the 4s are a bear due to several forced carries, so the winter is an issue for me.
And it all works great! We usually have 20-25 guys at $20 a head, and it is a blast. If there is ANY issue it is in the gross skins game; net skins and points pretty much take care of themselves despite the yardage differences. And the gross skins aren't really an issue often; more birdies are made by the low handicappers no matter where they play from.
Since the TIF movement has started, it seems to have taken some stigma away from moving up. Play is faster, the group is bigger, there is more money to be won, and guys seem a bit happier with the whole process. I often hit last in my group on Sat. and Sun. because I'm up a set of tees from my younger fellow competitors, and on Tue./Thurs. in the Senior game I usually hit last from the same tees because I'm one of the younger seniors.
But it all works.