Lengthening the forward tees

[Doug Siebert]

Of course the tips are getting longer and longer on many courses for many reasons, that's old news now.

But my home course is lengthening its white (senior/forward) tees, and I'm curious how common this is.  These tees are/were about 5800-something yards, and seem to work pretty well for my dad and his friends.  It took them years longer than it should for them to admit to themselves to that the 6600-ish yellow tees were too long for them, but once they moved up they were happier for it as they could again have a chance to reach greens in regulation as many of them had moved out of reach for even their best shots.

However last fall I noticed some earthwork and now they have planted grass on what will be new teeboxes for the white tees.  Based on their locations and how much distance I estimate they will add, my hunch is that they have decided that the white tees needed to be 6000 yards, and needed to have their own teeboxes on those holes where they shared the box with the women's tees.

I suppose it makes sense, sharing teeboxes with the women's tees is probably a turnoff to some golfers who might otherwise consider them, and a 5000-something yard course is a women's course in many minds.  But its too bad that they are lengthening some of the par 4s just enough that they will be just out of reach for my dad and his friends.

Is this a good idea if it gets more play on the forward tees than they otherwise would have seen, even if it hurts those who had already moved up?

[Bryan Izatt]

Are they keeping Ladies tees, in addition to the new "forward tees".

Who's the moving force behind this idea?

I suppose 6000 yards is some kind of demarcation line.  For many men, anything below that is not a real golf course.  If a set of blocks at 6000 yards gets more people to play at that length and it's suitable for them, then it's a good idea.

A cheaper way to do it is print the scorecard at 6000 yards and routinely set the blocks up at 5800.  That's the equivalent of putting the tees at the front of a tee block rather than the back.  Most courses are measured and rated based on the furthest point you can go back on the tee block (all in the interests of appearing long).

I've noticed in a lot of the sun-belt (retirement) areas that there are 5 or 6 tee blocks, none of which are called Ladies or Seniors.  I think that is a better idea.  Let people choose based on length or rating or slope, not by some demographic identifier.

Personally, I wish more courses would shorten their most forward tees.  My wife is most capable of tackling a course that's in the 4500 to 4800 yard range.  I'd like to play around 6500 yards.  It's very hard to find courses with that combination of tee blocks.

[Doug Siebert]

The ladies tees are staying on their own boxes, which are about 5300 yards.  And they are just red tees, not called ladies' tees, but everyone knows what they really are

I don't know who is directing this.  It is a University course, so it could be any of a number of people behind the scenes making it happen.