label or motto.
Instead of having "play it forward" as the catch phrase, it should be, "make more birdies and pars"
I recently played a course that I hadn't played in a decade, one that I had probably played over 100 times previously.
On the first hole, I played all the way back, just for the fun of it (par 5), then moved up to the next set of tees, which plays at about 6,700 in terms of pure yardage.
The course played long for me due to wind, overseeding, wet fairways, high cut fairways and my deteriorating game, and as the round progressed it dawned on my that I didn't have many "birdie" putts. I consider "birdie" putts to be putts of 20 feet and less.
The more I thought about it, the more I felt that golfers who were reluctant to move up, had lost sight of an object of the game, namely, making more birdies and pars.
Ego and denial keep many from moving forward on courses that, objectively, are too long for them, because they're looking at the process in terms of their tee shots and not from the perspective of birdies and pars.
One is perceived as a negative, the other as a positive.
I love a challenge, but in order to enjoy that challenge, it has to be reasonable and commensurate with my abilities.
I prefer hitting 7 irons into greens versus 3-irons or fairway woods.
The problem I see is as follows.
On a firm and fast course, I can play it back, on courses that are soft, I can't play from the equivalent distance, so the key in determining tee selection isn't on the scorecard, it's in the ground.
And, the emphasis on getting golfers to play courses commensurate with their ability should be geared toward the positive, having "birdies" and "pars", and not geared toward moving up because you can't hit it as far.
That's my story and I'm sticking to it.