The elevated tee shot is destroying golf!

[George Pazin]

I feel sorry for anyone subjected to a steady diet of downhill tee shots to fairways in a tunnel of trees. You have my permission to run amouk with a chainsaw or bulldozer.

[Andy Troeger]

What do people think of the elevated tees at Lost Dunes. If Tom Doak sees this he can actually explain why this is, but the edge of the property is built up as if it were a bowl in spots (I'm assuming its a former quarry?). A few of the tees are built up on the sides/top of this hill with the holes themselves sitting in the valley. Its not overdone--it occurs on at least the 12th and 14th and perhaps more, but one could argue that it wasn't necessary to have the golfer trudge up the hill just to hit back down.

[Ben Sims]

I think a balance should be struck.  I'll use a course most are familiar with, Stone Eagle.  I haven't been there yet, but will be experiencing the course in a week or so.  To use someone else's words, the "sensory feast" of following ones tee shot across arroyo, green, mountain, sky, back to mountain and green is one of the pleasures of the one shot 7th.  That simply wouldn't be as exciting if not for elevated tees.  I'll juxtapose that tee shot with the ones at 2 and 10.  Both appear (again, I haven't been there yet) to be played uphill with a fairly level tee site.  I would say that all are above average tee shots on a course that prides itself on how good it's initial shots are.

As with most things on a golf course, it's abut variety.

[Adam Clayman]

I'm curious about those who apparently see the ET as an essential feel about TOC?

[Stewart Abramson]

I just returned from Sugarloaf Mountain in Florida. If I recall correctly, half the holes had elevated tees: 10, 13, 14, 16, 17, 1, 4, and 8.  On a couple of holes you don't even realize how elevated the tee is because the drop in elevation is over as crest that results in a blind landing area below the teeing ground. There were also  a number uphill tee shots, some pretty steep: 12, 15, 18, 6, 7 and 9.  Not sure how a golf course could be constructed  on that parcel without so many uphill and downhill tee shots being required.  As others have indicated in some cases its dictated by the land. I don't see anything inherently good or bad in elevated tees. It depends on the particular hole and course.

[Steve Lang]

 

Just a little perspective is all that's required George..

[Kirk Gill]

Some holes carry the feel of an elevated tee when the land drops off between the tee and landing area.

Drop shot holes, as extreme examples of elevated tees (like the Devil's Cauldron above), can be fun, and seem especially hard on the first time you tackle them. The 16th at Pradera is a Drop shot par five:



It's really a lot higher up than it looks in that picture. A really fun drive. I did not walk my round there, and if I had I don't know that I'd have hoofed it up to the top to play those high tees, so there's that. Even without that hole, Pradera is on a fairly hilly property, and would be a tough walk, although I know folks that have done it.

[Sean_A]

I don't think George is questioning the concept of of elevated tees and I certainly am not.  For me, the issue is too many artificially created raised tees are being employed by archies when in truth, a lowered tee can act as one of those "natural hazards" that I often write of as opposed to sticking in bunkers all the time - which btw, I believe raised tees encourage.  Its just another opportunity for archies to put in eye catching bunkers and/or water.  Unfortunately, this idea of elevated tees is more than likely a hangover from the Golden Age where the idea of blindness or obscuring the view (eitehr from the tee of toward the green) was generally frowned upon.  Indeed, its probably one of the main reasons archies started to push dirt around in the first place. 

Ciao

[Niall C]

And I'm amazed anyone would feel the added height makes a hole feel or play narrower. I guess maybe that one's just me.

George - usually, I agree with you.  However, I believe a tee shot that is significantly downhill to a fairway in a tunnel of trees seems tighter than a flat tee shot. 1 at Pasatiempo is an example as well as a couple of courses I played as a kid in Des Moines.  If you hit a hook, or are in the wind, the ball has a lot more time to curve as it falls. 

I totally agree Jason. George, have a look at the recent thread Mark Rowlinson did on Royal Troon and have a look at the photo from the medal tee on the Railway Hole (no. 11). From first hand experience, first tee shot over gorse on right and second in gorse on left, that this tee shot is definitely scary especially in to a wind.

Niall

[Mike Bowline]

However, I believe a tee shot that is significantly downhill to a fairway in a tunnel of trees seems tighter than a flat tee shot

I agree and I think a large part of this has to do with the fact that the ball is above the trees for longer and more exposed to the wind.  I always get more concerned about the wind in this situation and it can cause more anxiety standing over the ball.

Another point to raise about a raised tee is that for the shorter hitter it may mean they feel a shorter club is a possibility for a tee shot.  Is this a way to add variety for the player that has to hit driver every time just to give themsevles a chance at hitting a green in regulation?

The longer a ball is in the air, the longer amount of time it has to continue curving off-line. Curving off-line can be a result of side-spin, wind, or launch mis-direction .

I therefore agree that an elevated tee shot in effect makes the fairway play narrower.

[Kirk Gill]

If you are actually teeing off from a dip instead of a slight natural rise, well that's a case of bad routing, not bad construction.

I'm interested in the notion that setting a tee in a dip or depression would constitute bad routing. I can't see making a regular diet of it, sure, but on occasion would a tee in a natural hollow not make for a potentially difficult tee shot? Would having to place a tee in such a place always be a choice of last resort?

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