One tee, why not?

[JESII]

Pat

Many good points, and interesting comments about NGLA.

In thinking a bit more about this over night, you nailed it on the head with the correlation to par driving an opposing opinion. The expense of creating a hole with features that would challenge and please both me and my grandmother (when starting from the same point) shouldn't be astronomical, but I would imagine the actual visualization of that hole might be.

This question is on the top of my mind;
In attempting to build features that all players will confront, is the architect trying to create the same hole playability for all players? Does he want an 18 to play the hole the same as a Scratch (albeit from the appropriate markers)?

Few average players are reaching, let alone hitting, many greens in regulation as it is. So them considering par as a reason to not want to play the same tee as me seems a bit off. Maybe that's just me.

[George Pazin]

I'd rather see fewer tees than more, with one really being the goal.

Speaking as one of the few higher handicap golfers (hopefully it's on the way down, I have recently discovered this thing called practice), I don't think the current concept of multiple tees is very helpful to us. I am just as likely to hit a lousy shot with a shorter club, unless the difference is something like 4 iron versus 9 iron, which is usually not the difference in tees.

Also, having played many a round with a longer hitter like JohnV, I can tell you that the courses often play shorter for him from the back tees than for me from the regular tees. It doesn't do much good to give me a 20 yard headstart when he outdrives me by 40. And I hit the ball moderately far for a high handicapper.

I always liked the tee markers show in the Garden City Golf Club threads back during the salad days of GCA, way back in 2000 or 2001. They didn't appear to be much more than markers set at the beginning of the fairway, no real boxes or odd shapes. Seems like an ideal worth striving for.

When you try to be all things for all people, you often end up being nothing for everyone.

[Jason Topp]

I'm in favor of multiple tees and it has nothing to do with par.


To me this should be evaluated based on what would provide the most enjoyable experience for most players.  One must never forget the monotony of hitting fairway wood after fairway wood for a short hitter.  To me the game is more fun if you hit a variety of shots.

I hit the ball about 250 yards and if I play a 7000 yard course, I feel like the course gradually wears me down.  My swing problems are magnified if I'm trying to hit a three iron rather than a seven.  I don't consider that a bad thing, but I wouldn't want to do it every day.  

In addition, many women and seniors can't hit the ball more than 150 yards.  Forcing them to play the same tees would lead to a long, unhappy slog for them.  By the same token. forcing long hitters to play at 6100 yards might be fine on an exceptional course, but for more courses, results in a series of wedge shots, which can also get repetitive.

A good example is Augusta, where your choice is a short 6300 yards or a 7300 yard slog.  Almost anyone will get killed from the back tees and good players will feel the course is short from the front tees.  Wouldn't everone love to play from the tees they used in 1986?