Tee Boxes: "Squared off" or rounded?

[Ian Mackenzie]

We have debated this for years at our course: should tee boxes be rectangles with 90 degree angles everywhere, or should they be more rounded and natural?


What is the "prevailing sentiment"? Is there one?


On one hand, I see it as very neat, clean and visually attractive.
On the other, I am told, it is "visually distracting" and difficult to maintain.


Does it make a difference if your course is "Golden Age" or "from 2001"?


What do you see/hear out there?

[Tom_Doak]

I think it should be up to whether the original architect wanted the tees with square corners or not.


Contrary to prevailing wisdom, I don't think a lot of the Golden Age designers favored rectangular tees.  Alister MacKenzie certainly didn't draw them up that way, nor did Ross or Tillinghast or Thomas or Colt or many others.


On flattish sites, they can be okay in the landscape.  On hilly sites, especially where they have to be sited on a slope that's not facing or perpendicular to the line of play, they look absolutely terrible and should be avoided at all costs.


The more sets of tees you've got, the worse they look when staggered off the centerline ... because making them all point toward the landing area means they aren't going to be square to each other.

[Patrick_Mucci]

Tom Doak,

From a playing perspective,  I need all the help I can get, and rectangular tees are a great help with alignment.

On the other hand, like # 8 at GCGC,  they can direct you into trouble if you're not careful.

But, there's no  question that I have a far more difficult time with alignment when the tee is a "free form" tee.

I wonder how many other golfers have the same problem with alignment ?

[Jeff_Brauer]

Pat,


I generally use rounded tees, but make sure the "bow of the boat" as I call it points the right direction.  It seems to help alignment challenged golfers like you, even though there is no rule that I must do that.


Agree rounded tees just naturally fit rounded land forms, not to mention being more practical for most to mow. Even when I use rectangles, they have small rounded edges, maybe 8" Radius so the mowers don't have to pick up on the clean up pass.  Some, not all, superintendents find that sort of a waste of time for a specific look.


I recall visiting the RTJ II office many years ago.  The subject came up, and their take was rectangles made sense as "form follows function" unless there was a dramatic natural land form or tree you wanted to work around.  Of course, they were from the runway tee school of thought.


BTW, I'm not 100% sure any course has to have all of one or the other.  Nothing wrong with an eclectic mix of rectangles on flat ground, round ones fitting slopes, etc.  Even free form tees, a la, Larry Packard and Innisbrook are very nice, little pieces of art.

[Joe Bausch]

And if you play both courses at Stonewall (outside of Philly), you can experience each style (squared on the Old, rounded at the North, IIRC).

[Lester George]

I couldn't agree more with Tom.  Not many examples of squares exist until after the war.  They became more popular when equipment changed and specific mowers were available to mow them.

I had a rather interesting challenge by a golf digest rater who asserted that if the tees were square a classically designed course it would be rated higher because the raters thought that was more "correct".  I contacted Ron Whitten to ask him if it was true that ratings were influenced by "classic" (square and rectangle) tee shapes.  His response was wonderful.  Bullshit, he replied.  He sent a nice letter to the club which deflated the argument once and for all.

Lester

[Jon Wiggett]

If you need square tees to line up tee shot how do you line up from the fairway or green? I do like traditional square tees but agree with Tom D that the tee should fit the surroundings.

Lester,

not sure you can argue that. One of the reasons that there were so many square greens prior to the war was because mowers were much easier to push in a straight line. I cannot imagine that tees were any different from the mowing technology point of view. It could be because tees were often mown at the same time and with the same machine as the fairway often effectively being part of it.

Jon

[Patrick_Mucci]

If you need square tees to line up tee shot how do you line up from the fairway or green?

My target from fairway to green is finite and more clearly defined.

I do like traditional square tees but agree with Tom D that the tee should fit the surroundings.

What does that mean.

When does a tee NOT fit it's surrounding ?

Lester,

not sure you can argue that. One of the reasons that there were so many square greens prior to the war was because mowers were much easier to push in a straight line. I cannot imagine that tees were any different from the mowing technology point of view. It could be because tees were often mown at the same time and with the same machine as the fairway often effectively being part of it.

Jon

[Jeff_Brauer]

Sometimes, BTW, square tees in rolling settings set up odd little corner and landforms as they don't tie in very well, not unlike some of the early courses that did have them, which we tend to call quirk. 

Rounding tees and shaping to the general land form (i.e., across the line of play if that is the steepest slope, etc.) got, I think, to look too standardized, and is somewhat responsible for the resurgence of the square tee from 1990 on.  Another thing that made them look "sterile" is the long broad slopes intended to ease machine mowing.  On the other hand, small round tees look sort of propped up and unnatural, too, if they have steep slopes all around.

Fazio does a nice job of integrating his round tees into a setting, by grading beyond the tee bank.

[Thomas Dai]

Did, or maybe does, the positioning and cost/maintenance of sprinkler heads and lines effect the choice of straight-sided, rounded or free-form tees?
Atb

[Pete_Pittock]

Ian,
Here is a 2009 thread on the subject: http://www.golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,38923.0.html

[Ian Mackenzie]

Ian,
Here is a 2009 thread on the subject: http://www.golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,38923.0.html

Thanks, Pete.




I see many well-regarded Golden Era courses here in Chicago use the squared-off approach.
When we restored our course in 2013, the tees were all rounded-off (were squared before)and  many members still ask why.


The alignment issue has never come up as I see that as more applicable to the greens staff who drops the tee markers back on the tee after mowing....;-)


We have 4 green side areas (fairway) that "bleed" nicely into tee boxes and hence the rounded style now works quite well.

[Jon Wiggett]

Patrick,

a half decent player will have a very defined target whether playing off the tee or to the green from the fairway. I had assumed you were above the hacker level of just hit it in the direction the tee is pointing. My mistake

A tee fits its surroundings when it is in harmony with them and when it is not it does not fit

Jon

[John McCarthy]

My wife is a great fan of the fashion reality shows so I have sat through a lot of seasons of Project Runway in the last decade or so.  A great compliment of a garment maker is stating that a dress "looks expensive".  People dress in the way they do because it conveys who you are and how you expect to be treated.  People crave status...as social apes it makes us happy to have status.  Generally, having the means to buy and expensive garment is communicated through that garment.  This is why women buy $10,000 bags. 

In a similar vein, I personally think square tees look expensive.  I equate them to old line clubs with classic courses.  I understand hand mowing them to get the 90 degree corner takes up a lot of manpower for no playability advantage but I do not care.  It just pleases my eye. 

[Sean_A]

Purely personal opinion, I much prefer squared off tees for low lying or slightly built up tees.  The pad should be more or less squared off as well. 


However, when tees are built on natural land forms (I see this on links quite a bit) I like the cut grass to follow the shape of the land form. 

If a green is close to a tee I prefer the short grass to flow from one to the other.  One of my favourite tees.  The green is literally a few paces from the tee...the collar is the tee and the hollow in front is a bunker!


Ciao

[Tom_Doak]

And if you play both courses at Stonewall (outside of Philly), you can experience each style (squared on the Old, rounded at the North, IIRC).

When we built the Old course, the project manager insisted on the square-cornered tees.  He even assigned one crew member to making sure the corners were perfectly aligned by laying bluegrass sod around them.  It seemed like a dumbed-down solution to me, and when we built the second course years later, I went to my preferred style.

[Patrick_Mucci]

Patrick,

a half decent player will have a very defined target whether playing off the tee or to the green from the fairway. I had assumed you were above the hacker level of just hit it in the direction the tee is pointing. My mistake

Jon,


I know that my memory is not what it used to be, but, I don't recall that many fairways with flagsticks in the ideal DZ

A tee fits its surroundings when it is in harmony with them and when it is not it does not fit


That's a good non-definition.


GCGC, WFW, Seminole, ANGC, MRCC, Baltusrol, Pine Valley and I believe Merion all have rectangular tees, could you or anyone else tell us how they are not in harmony with their surroundings ?


Could you or anyone else tell us how non-rectangular tees wouldn't fit those same surroundings ?

[Mike Bowen]

The greener the grass the more square the tee boxes should be.   

[BHoover]

The greener the grass the more square the tee boxes should be.   

The courses on the Open rota generally have square tee boxes. Those courses don't seem too concerned with the greenery of the grass.

[Joe Hancock]

Tom mentions the difficulties in getting several square tees to play nice together. But what really grinds me more than the square mowing pattern is the truncated pyramid that gets built to accommodate the square tee. It is possible, and preferable IMO, to build a natural landform that just happens to have a tee mowed on top of it.....

[Ryan Coles]

My general preference is for squared tees.

My home club reverted to these recently as they had been mown in a circular fashion over time reducing the amount of available teeing ground.

Square tees seem more difficult / time consuming to machine cut, hence why ours ended up circular.

The 18th tee at Augusta always springs to mind when discussing this topic.

I've seen some nice U shapes around, particularly on par 3's, and some nice stepped ones on drop holes.

Hopefully modern tees are built with ease of maintenance in mind. Again, ours has too many steep banks that need fly mowing.

[Patrick_Mucci]

Joe,

Drainage is largely responsible for elevating tees.
One would think that either an elevated crowned or canted tee would be preferable.

One of the most unique tees on a golf course is the elevated right tee on # 14 at GCGC.

While there are some significantly elevated tees at GCGC, such as # 15, the truncated nature of # 14 makes it unique.

It's certainly NOT natural, but somehow it fits.

Tom mentions the difficulties in getting several square tees to play nice together. But what really grinds me more than the square mowing pattern is the truncated pyramid that gets built to accommodate the square tee. It is possible, and preferable IMO, to build a natural landform that just happens to have a tee mowed on top of it.....

[Joe Hancock]

Pat,

My displeasure with truncated pyramids has nothing to do with elevation. It's the shaping that bugs me. Imagine one of the great pyramids with its top lopped off. That's the look that gripes me, because it just doesn't fit with anything else on the course, unless your playing in Egypt. And, it's an unnecessary, awkward, much too common way to implement square tees where they may not have existed before.

Hope that helps.

[archie_struthers]

 




Count me in as a free form tee guy. They just seem more artistic and natural to me. Lots of clubs went hard line rectangles in attempting to emulate "classic" architecture , but I never bought in that it's the only way to go. Many times it does look quite nice but it's a bit restrictive .


Suppose you want to build a smallish tee for special events and the expert player. It's kind of hidden back away from your everyday play area. It's so much easier to fit a free form tee and quite a delight to discover it for someone looking for an extra special challenge.


As for their use as directional aids , it certainly makes it harder without direct lines in concert with the fairway. Not a fan of intentionally mis-aiming to fool the player, but you can adjust free form tees as you see fit.


As a rule I think they should outlaw all aiming crutches , beginning with the stripe for putting, but that's me . Certainly I'm against caddies lining up their player and then walking away , it should be outlawed entirely .

[Patrick_Mucci]

Archie,
 
We agree on 2 out of 3.
 
But, as Meat Loaf says, "that ain't bad"