Forrest,
Let's first be clear on what I mean by "one tee set".
I don't mean one tee deck. Have as many tee decks (ie. a raised flat area of tightly mown grass) as you'd like.
I also don't mean "one starting point". Move the tee markers around each day to reduce wear. Move them onto other tee decks to provide different distances and angles of play, for variety.
What I mean is that you don't NEED gold, blue, white, green and red tee markers. Just one marker could suffice.
Each day, the marker is located at one spot and everyone (man, woman and child, hacker and tiger alike) tees off from that one location. The next day, the marker is relocated (if necessary/desired) and everyone tees off from there.
But that would require a radically different approach in the way architects design golf courses, and a radically different outlook in the way golfers see their scores.
The classic way of designing, say, 400-yard, dogleg-left par four, would be something like a carry bunker 250 yards from the back tee on the inside, and another green-side bunker front-right.
But for Joe Q, if he played the back tee, the fairway bunker is not in play. He can't reach it off the tee. So we add a middle tee, making the hole 360 yards. And Jane Doe, from that back tee, has no chance of reaching either the bunker or the green in two. What's the fun in hitting Driver - 4 wood - 7 iron all day? So we put a forward tee at 300 yards. (Then of course we'd put the forward tee to the right of centre, taking the fairway bunker out of play, thus nulifying somewhat the idea of forward tees, but that's another story...)
But what if Joe Q plays from the back tee. For him, with a 200 yard drive, it's almost a three shooter. So design the hole as a gambling "reachable par five" for him. Honestly, that front-right bunker, while following the credos of traditional strategic architecture for the scratch golfer, really isn't in play if Mr. Scratch is coming in with a wedge. So put the bunker front left instead. It still requires Mr. Scratch to hit a solid approach for his birdie, but now Joe Q must decide whether or not cutting the corner is really going to make it easy for him to reach the green. Maybe the long way 'round will give him a better angle in?
And what about Jane Doe? She hit a good drive and has probably 250 to the green. Now put a bunker short right about 100 yards from the green. She now has to flirt with that one to give herself an easy third. And if Joe Q ever lets his drive leak too far right of the tee, he's also got that bunker to worry about if his second isn't caught flush. Mr. Scratch might wonder what the heck a bunker is doing 75 yards from the green, but who cares?
It's a great idea (IMHO), but it'd never work. It would screw up people's compartimentalized one-track-mind thinking about "par".
oh well...
Patrick,
Yes, TOC has multiple tee decks.
But they aren't necessary. Most (99%) of people play the white (medal) tee anyway, scratch golfer and weekend hacker alike.