New tees at Royal Dornoch

[Brian_Ewen]

Could not see a mention of this, which surprised me.




http://www.scotsman.com/regions/inverness-highlands-islands/new-tees-shrink-the-links-at-royal-dornoch-golf-course-1-4458105



New tees shrink the links at Royal Dornoch Golf Course
ALISTAIR MUNRO
Friday 26 May 2017





One of the world’s most prestigious golf courses is being made more accessible to a wider range of players by shortening the course.


The Championship Course at the internationally-renowned Royal Dornoch Golf Club – ranked No.5 in the world and No 1 in Scotland by Golf Digest in 2016 – is regarded as one of the best links courses never to have hosted The Open championship.


In keeping with efforts to encourage greater participation in golf, and make the game more enjoyable and speed up play, a new set of tees have been introduced which cut the yardage by more than 1,300 yards.


The Par 70 course is 6,748 yards from the furthest back blue tees and 6,267 from the less daunting yellow tees. Red tee positions, traditionally used by women, reduce the course further to 5,940 yards.


However, the new green tees – to be used by both men and women – means the course is scaled back to 5,359 yards, with a par of 76, to make it more playable for shorter hitters, seniors and younger players.


Women members of the club marked the introduction of the tees with a Wear Green and Play Green event.


Neil Hampton, the club’s general manager, said the move by the council of management has been warmly welcomed by members and is in line with a Tee it Forward campaign in the US.


“The new green tees make the game more fun and accessible to people with different abilities. It means the Championship Course will be less of a challenge for some players.


“It’s a move away from gender-specific tees and in line with discussions within the game to encourage people to play off tees that are relevant to their ability.


“The Championship Course is there to be enjoyed by everyone. Players can still use the back tees, but introducing the new positions opens the course up to a broader range of people.


“The biggest challenge and the most fun at Royal Dornoch is around the greens. Some higher-handicap players can take three or four shots to get to the green, but with the new tees they can get there quicker and have a much better all-round experience.”


Royal Dornoch Golf Club has been the venue for a number of leading events, including last year’s Northern Open. It also hosted the biggest gathering of ‘royal’ clubs ever organised as part of celebrations in 2016 to mark 400 years of golf being played in the town.

[Rich Goodale]

I hadn't seen this either, Brian!  Thanks.


This is a very good idea for Dornoch (and most other courses in the world).  95+% of the men visitors who play Dornoch could not break 80 from the back tees (if playing by the rules of golf).  The vast majority of these men who do play and "enjoy" the course struggle to break 90 from the middle tees.  50% of them would struggle to break 90 from the new "front tees" per your post.  As for women, only elite players can break 80 from their back tees ( ~6100 yards), and if they do so they will be playing woods to the green from more than 1/2 of their approach shots.


Golf should not be a masochistic experience, and it is great that myt club has recognized this.


Rich

[Peter Pallotta]

Rich - I too think it a fine idea, and a good thing that so high profile and well regarded a course has instituted it. But an honest question: what does the fact that most men couldn't break 80 from the back tees have to do with anything? In your mind, are those visitors who play from the back and shoot, say, 85 or 88, foolish? Misguided? Missing out on a great deal more fun than they might otherwise have? Not engaging with the course in an ideal way?
Thanks
Peter

[Rich Goodale]

Hi Peter


Every year, 10-20 very low handicap golfers come from North America to play in the Carnegie Shield tournament.  All that is needed that one shoots ~160 over two rounds from the not-completely back tees to qualify as lone of the 32 lowest scratch players who move into match play.  Every year, most of these players (e.g. Lorne Rubenstein in his summer in Dornoch experience) crash out ignominously.  It is not a pretty sight.....


Rich

[Peter Pallotta]

Thanks, Rich.
What you're saying is that it's an unusually/particularly challenging 6700 yards....and 6300 yards too! I did not know that. All these years when I've read that it's the 'best' course in Scotland and one of the best in the world, it didn't occur to me that it could also be 'one of the hardest'.
Peter

[Matt Dawson]

There is something about this that I find intensely irritating, and I can’t quite put my finger on it.


Firstly, it’s the language - I appreciate it’s probably the journalist rather than the club, but it is a case study in 21st century PR manifesto newspeak guff that is like nails down a blackboard to me


“more accessible…efforts to encourage greater participation…more enjoyable…make it more playable …warmly welcomed…move away from gender-specific…to be enjoyed by everyone…better all-round experience”



My buzzword bingo card is almost full, I’m just missing “inclusive” and “vibrant” for the full house


More saliently, my suspicion, although it says that players can still use the back tees, is that over time these forward tees will become the norm for green fee players.


Big name courses, especially those in Scotland (yes I’m looking at you TOC, North Berwick and Troon) have a habit of forcing visitors to play from tees a long way forward on every hole, neutering often challenging holes down to irons and pitches. To me it completely spoils the experience.


Full green fees for only 70% of the course, faster rounds = more revenue - what’s not to like from the club POV?


Perhaps I am in the minority here…but I would still like to reserve my right to choose what tees I play from when I test my mettle against the course, rather than being advised it’s “a better all-round experience” to play from forward tees. I don’t order a pint of beer and expect to get a half, because it’s better for me…


Grumble over

[Niall C]

When they say new tees I presume they mean simply putting a couple of tee markers to the side of the fairway and not actually building a proper tee ? That's basically what they did about 15 years ago when I played RD "off-season". I recall on the 7th the winter tee was so far forward of the normal tee box that the walk from the normal tee to the winter tee was longer than the walk from the winter tee to the green.

It struck me then I'd have been better off hitting a ball over that distance rather than just walking but maybe that's just me. Certainly if you can't make the carry, move it forward but otherwise accept you aren't the player you were and revel in your higher handicap.

Niall