I remember seeing somewhere the ratio between elevating a tee and effective length changes. Something along the line of for every 3' of elevating the tee a drive goes X' further. Does anyone know what that ratio is?
There is a downhill par 3 that I play that has 3 tee boxes going up a hillside that is fairly steep. Each tee adds 15 yards or so, but is also 5-6 feet higher. The effect is that there is only a 1 club difference across four tee boxes.
Jim, it is yard for yard, or foot per foot of drop. That also works out to % of uphill slope, i.e. 21 feet uphill, (7 yards) over 210 yards lengthens the hole 7 yards or 7/210 0r 0.033%. I find the former works easier.
As to elevated tees, yes, they were (are?) pretty standard in gca. Just go look some time. In most cases (on average ground) getting up just a few feet does help the view. One reason to keep tees higher is with more native grasses being planted between tee and fw, your view can be blocked by grass.
If they have been lowered, it may be more because of ADA requirements, or an aging golf population who get tired of hiking up those big tee slopes.
I agree they should vary, and on gently rolling ground, the natural tee elevation often does naturally. I usually try to put one level runway tees at ground level on gently uphill holes, to avoid what TD mentions - tees blocking views from other tees. Many get cut into gentle hillsides to balance cut and fill. On flat ground, they often get built up.
BTW, I recognize that tee in the pic above! Conceptually, Larry Packard started the exaggerated free form tee movement in the 1970's, in reaction to the RTJ runway tees. While many may get tired of similarly elevated tees today, 1970's architects and golfers had by then grown tired of ground level and/or simple rectangular tees. In reality, why not make them somewhat unique artistic elements as well as the functional starting point of the hole? It's not hard to do, even if I admit the above example is probably one of my more extreme. That said, I will never forget my design brief from the Japanese client. After building two fairly plain Willard Byrd courses, he directed me that he "wanted more fru fru."
