Brad,
Let's try something wierd and introduce some common sense into the discussion.
If you are hitting wedges and 9-irons into the greens at your home course from the regular tees, then clearly you need to be playing further back. Shooting in the mid-70's is close enough to par, you have my permission
Evan,
"Golf courses are meant to be played from the back tees."
Okay, fair statement if you believe it. There are still members of the "Flat Earth Society."
Shooter made the ultimate point about playing Kiawah all the way back. Using your theory, maybe I ought to play the Black Tees next time I play PGA West. Of course, I cannot reach the fairway on some of the holes, but no matter. That is the way Pete Dye intended it to be played right?
Wrong.
I got the chance to discuss this very subject with the icon himself several years ago. A month previous, I had played the Stadium Course from the Blue Markers and found it to be fun, playable, and testing of my nerves - not my strength.
Most of the holes I was left with an appropriate stick into the greens given the size of the target - even if there was something terrifying on one side or another. It was tough, but not beyond my physical capabilities.
However, the Black Markers would have been impossible. How am I going to hit a 3-wood into an elevated green surrounded by pot bunkers?
Pete told me the following: "Young man, you are probably a pretty good player, but guys on the amateur level have got no business playing from the Black Tees. They were built for PGA TOUR PROFESSIONALS ONLY. Even the big boys don't want to play from there, so why would an amateur?"
Case in point.
I'm going to say the same thing about Cuscowilla. The back tee are just too damned long for me and coming down the stretch I had a hard time enjoying it - or even evaluating the architecture - because I was so thoroughly overmatched.
I don't give a rip what color the tees are on a golf course, under normal circumstances, 6800 yards is my absolute limit. And on an intelligently designed course, at around 6600 yards, the turn points in the fairway, the carry bunkers and green complexes are appropriate for the Armenian.
Most of the time, on a golf course with 4 sets of tees, that means I belong on #2.
Shooter is a bulletproof Plus-2 handicap, but he does it with artistry, panache and is not particularly long. If he gets worn out by beating 4-irons and more into greens, what business does my hockey move have playing from even those tees?
??