[Chris_Clouser]

I played at a course north of Indy this week that had five colors of tees and some of them had alternate tees for several of the sets (white and blue and black) on many of the holes.  I found it extremely confusing in trying to figure out where we were supposed to play from and what some of the distances were to some of the hazards because of this.  The kicker was that I saw two other tee boxes being constructed around the course.  The tees at the course were also all hooked up to the irrigation system, so I would think this would be a huge expense for water.

The course as a whole was quite nice, but had this one characteristic that I found very annoying.  

What is the most set of tees you have seen?  And is it standard practice for the architect to set up so many tee boxes on a course?

[Jason Topp]

Here is one with 6 sets, the most I have seen.

http://www.heritagehighlands.com/

[Bob_Huntley]

Chris,

I am not sure if it was Mike Stantz's idea or it was something requested by the Committee but his Shore Course has something like five or six sets of tees.

There is the Gold for the good players or guys who think they are.

The Blacks for the mid to lower handicappers.

The Blues for old codgers just trying to play the game.

The Whites for the hot shot Ladies section.

The Green for the high handicap ladies.

The Silver for the really old, old ladies.

After a while it makes sense.

Bob

[Tom_Doak]

Bandon Dunes had five or six sets of tees when it opened, but they quickly stopped using the back set.

I really like the lack of any tee markers at Ballyneal.  Not sure if it will be practical once the course gets busier, but for now, the informality of it is terrific.

[Bob_Huntley]

Tom,

I don't think you will see many geriatrics, male or female, at Ballyneal, so I think the absence of multiple tees is a blessing.

Bob

[JohnV]

Bob,

Ballyneal has multiple tee pads, just not any markers on them.  Pick where you want to play on each hole and go from there.  Plenty of places for the geriatric set to play from.

[Steve Burrows]

Chris,

Without you even saying which course on the northside of Indy that you played, I know exactly which one you're talking about.  

It's overkill, for the most part, as some of these tees are very similar in distance and angle to their neighbors, but I think we might all be surprised (or maybe we wouldn't be?) at how many people are impressed by big numbers, whether it be 7,800 yards for the entire course, a hole that measures over 700 yards, or something as trivial as six or seven tee boxes.  These same individuals rarely play all that yardage and may not even be able to find some of those extraneous tees, but people are often looking only for a number, and it seems to sell a course pretty well.

[John Kavanaugh]

I've missed Ron Kern...Post some pics..

[Doug Ralston]

Victoria National has 5-6, and that expands to 8 or 10 on certain par-3's, i think, so a lot of angles as well as distances can be tried. I like the options, myself.

Doug

PS: VN looked good on the Golf Channel during senior am.

[Chris_Clouser]

Steve,

Actually the course was not Purgatory.  But they have a similar issue.  Due west and on the other side of Morse Reservoir and you might be able to figure it out.  

It was the first time I've seen the course in years, but must admit it was in fine shape and had some great holes.

[Steve Burrows]

I guess I did get a little ahead of myself there.  I'm assuming now that you are referring to Bear Slide.  If remember correctly (it's also been a few years for me), number 7 may ask you to double back trying to find the right tee after coming over the hill from the previous green, and number 15 is loaded with hard to find tees.  

But, I've always enjoyed that place and think that it's probably the best value of any public course near Indy.

[John Nixon]

I think some tees at Bear Slide are just plain hard to find unless you're pretty familiar with the course - regardless of how many sets of tees there are.

As for 6 or 7 or however many sets of tees there are - I guess I don't see how the existence of sets of tees other than the ones you are playing would detract in any way from your enjoyment of the round. It's not a zero-sum game. If multiple tees allows more golfers to find a comfort zone and enhance their round, I'm all for it.

[Tom_Doak]

John:

I have a problem with there being so many sets of tees ... it's an aesthetic one.  I hate seeing 3-5 other tees in the foreground when I get up to tee off.  It's distracting and ugly.  Now, if the architect can build those tees into the landscape so they don't stick out like a sore thumb (as do rectangular or round tees), then maybe it's okay.

But, I still think it's silly to believe that golfers need that many choices.  You play the ball as you find it most of the time, why can't you play the tee as you find it, too?

[John Nixon]

John:

 I hate seeing 3-5 other tees in the foreground when I get up to tee off.  

Then become a short hitter like me - they're all behind you  

[Paul Richards]

I recently played North Shore CC near Chicago again.  They were recently redesigned by Rick Jacobson.  

Frankly, it was amusing to see 5 sets of tees on each hole - and the scorecard - what a mess!

One that comes to mind is the tenth hole - a back set, 4 feet in front of those is another set, then 5 yards in front of those is the third set, and the fourth set - about 3 feet in front of the third.

At least the 5th set had its own tee box.........

[John Nixon]

Actually, Chris, I don't remember Bear Slide having that many sets of tees. I haven't played it for about two years, though, so either my memory is faulty or they've added a few sets. I seem to remember three sets.

[Eric Franzen]

Hills Golf Club (Arthur Hills/Steve Forrest) has seven sets of tees.

They are named after the yardage (70, 65, 61, 57, 53, 47, 41).

Scorecard for the course can be viewed here: http://www.hillsgolfclub.se/files/Scorekort%202006%20Hills%20(2).pdf

[Tim Copeland]

a course I was a part of for a brief period in Miss had 10 sets of tees.....6 too many

[Patrick_Mucci]

Chris Clouser,

I must confess to creating another set of tees for a golf course when I was the green chairman.

The club had white, red and blue tees for the men and yellow tees for the women.

Think about that concept.

One set of tees for women of all handicaps and abilities, but, three sets of tees for men of all handicaps and abilities.

Thus, I created a forward set of tees with a more benign angle of attack.

And, I tried to shy aware from referencing them as men's and lady's tees.  Instead, I just referenced them by color code.

Many older members thanked me and claimed that they made their first par or birdie in more than a decade by playing from the new green tees.

Hi-tech has created some of the dilema.

If you had a golf course that played to 7,200 yards, you couldn't expect more than a few members to play that course every day.  Having a course at 6,800 would also seem to be the domain of the lower handicap, with the 6,400 course the course of choice for the majority of the male members.

Shouldn't the same principle apply to the women members ?
Shouldn't there be a concession to differing levels of ability ?

While I happen to like the concept of one tee with several markers, that configuration doesn't address angles of attack and degrees of difficulty.

To further illustrate part of the problem.  The members began to play a hybrid golf course, using some red tees and some white tees, or some blue tees and some red tees, so, in effect, by mixing and matching, you had seven sets of tees.
They even created mixed scorecards to accomodate play from the mixed set.

If hi-tech continues, unbridled, you'll need another set of tees, land permitting, for the scratch player.

The issue doesn't rest with the architect, it rests with the desires of the members.

[Bryan Izatt]

Stoneybrook Golf Club, south of Fort Myers, FL claims to have seven tee blocks, although the scorecard only shows six.  Ranging from over 7300 to around 4600 yards.  It worked out well for my wife and I on our winter holiday.  At 4600 yards the "Competitor" tees were almost in her range, although it was tough to get her to go that far forward, since they are advised for juniors and seniors.  The "Players" tees at 6700 yards worked for me.  It's really tough to find courses that can accomodate both of us.

Worst in the world in this respect are Scottish courses.  Since they don't let you play the medal tees, there are really only two tees, one for men and one for women.  Women get a good 10 yard head start on many holes.  Very egalitarian.  I prefer the multiple tee block approach - not to say the Stoneybrook could hold a candle to any of the Scottish courses.  But to accomodate a variety of playing abilities, multiple tee blocks are great.  Too bad that so few architects design tee blocks to accomodate average women golfers for whom 4500 yards might be a suitable length.

Patrick,

Aw, now you've gone and ruined my perception of you. Good on you for appreciating and addressing the variety of playing skills of the women and seniors of your course.  Too bad I can't convince the ownership of my course to do the same.

[Eric Franzen]

Worst in the world in this respect are Scottish courses.  Since they don't let you play the medal tees, there are really only two tees, one for men and one for women.  Women get a good 10 yard head start on many holes.  Very egalitarian.  

Ladies quite often plays the course to a different par (longer par 4 turns into par 5's) at Scottish clubs. But I'll agree that a wider selection of different tee's is a better solution.

[Patrick_Mucci]

Sean,

The problem with "keeping things simple" is the desires/needs of a diverse, democratic membership.

Once you have more than one owner, things become proportionally more complicated.

[John Kavanaugh]

At Lawrence County CC some guys thought the women were a bit slow so they simply mowed some new womens tees around 170 yds out on every  hole...The women saw through this farce and were disturbed until they started breaking 80...The tees remain and everyone is happy.

[Bryan Izatt]

Sean,

We do chat regardless of where the tee markers are.

Adding to par is fine as long as you allow par 6 or even par 7.  And, there are no forced carries beyond the realm of the shorter hitting player.  How would you play a hole from a tee where you know before you hit the ball that even your best shot can't carry the hazard.  And, there are no options.  Happens too frequently for my wife.  

I'm OK with no tee blocks at all, as long as there are teeing areas that are far enough forward that they suit my wife's game, so that she can choose to play from there.

[Chris Cupit]

The problem I see with the proliferation of tees is that it gets to the point that each player has "customized" the course to their game instead of adjusting their game to the course.  

The worst example may be the proliferation of combination tees or "players tees".  It seems that what often happens is that good players who can no longer play the tips create this players set to avoid moving an entire set of tees forward.

What they end up doing is adding length on holes where it realy doesn't make a difference.  They will add 10 yards or so on par 5s, short par 4's and short par 3's. On the longer holes where the architect was trying to challenge the player's fairway wood or long iron game, the player moves up to the next set of tees!

This also has the effect of minimizing the difference between the short holes and the long holes since now the player has made all the holes about the same.

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