Have you ever No matter how many sets of tees there are - and nowadays it's not uncommon to find five or six - I've yet to witness the phenomena of man venturing into the territory known as "forward".
There's an invisible
At least that's what I've observed, in the three seasons I've played the game. In yesterday's New York Times, there was a perceptive piece by Bill Penington about playing the right tees.
Accompanied by a short video, it featured an all too familiar character by the name of "Billy Backtees". As a result of the
Lots of balls lost, but masculinity intact. How ironic is that?
There's an effort underway to make the forward tees more... palatable... to big egos; using colors not normally associated with "ladies" tees and never calling them "ladies" tees hasn't helped much. The line transcends name and color. In some parts of the world, a certain handicap is required to play particular tees, which eliminates some of the tee box overreach, and which is why I single out American men in this post. Here in the US, such rules are extremely rare. However, Mr. Pennington does point to Harbor Rocks Golf Club in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley; you need permission from the pro shop to play the back tees (7,151 yards) there.
I know a couple of ladies who clamor to "play from the tips with the guys" though they clearly don't have the distance. However, several studies confirm what we've all always suspected; women are far less likely to overestimate their distance when asked. Yep, basically, it's a guy thing. And while I have no problem with a little tee box overreach when the course isn't busy, it's extremely annoying on a busy Sunday when Billy Backtee and his buddys allow their oversized egos to sabatoge the pace of play.
I think a partial solution might lie in the golf shirt I've designed for those men who wish they could play the forward tees...but just worry about what their peers might think. With this shirt on even a diehard Billy Backtees will be able to march forward with his dignity intact. And probably play the best round of his life.
Solution's simple, Patricia. Carry a Billy club in your bag and swing it at will, or Fred, or whoever slows down your game.
ReplyDeleteAnd let's not kid ourselves, lady. I've seen/ogled every Pat pic on your fun but flirty site, and you're the Queen of the Back Tease.
What is today, Irony Day?
But do keep it up. I insist.
Ahh another topic near and dear to my heart. I'm a male American golfer with decent length (250 off the tee on an average good shot, 275-280 if I really get a hold of it). Unless the course I'm playing is extremely easy or short, I try to play from the white tees.
ReplyDeleteMy reasoning is simple. I'm a 14 handicap, and I'm not doing myself any favors by making the course unnecessarily longer. Until I can get the handicap down into the single digits and keep it there, I have no reason to move back a tee. I'd prefer hitting a 7-iron into a par 4 any day over hitting my 3-iron into it.
I see this same sort of behavior from a few male friends of mine when it comes to buying new clubs. Many of them feel like they have to buy "what the tour pros use" instead of buying clubs that might actually improve their game. That means they often buy blade irons, drivers with stiff shafts even though their swing speeds probably aren't fast enough for them, and Pro-V1 golf balls. The golf balls probably aren't that big of a deal, but their games would do much better with a cavity-back iron as opposed to a blade. I think it comes down to ego, like you said.
You and your valid points.
ReplyDeleteBut listen closely, Patricia, and you can hear thousands of guys already screaming, "Leggo of my ego!"
Tee and sympathy, but it just ain't gonna happen.
I wonder how many of those "ego guys" keep an honest score? Not all of them, I suspect.
ReplyDeleteAnd there are some famous courses that won't even let on the first tee anywhere if you don't have a letter from your pro saying you have a handicap worthy of playing there.
Whew - can you imagine if a man had written something like this about a female subject ? Look out - "woman hater !" - and that's a nice one.
ReplyDeleteHow about a comment for the ladies who dribble the ball 50 yards off the tee, then get back in the cart - then have to decide on a club (it's the three wood !! you're going to need it on your next 6 shots).
Ok ok - the article was aimed at the men - I'll shut up - but the problem isn't just with the men. The shots at the male ego are a bit out of line.
great point on the equipment, Roody !
ReplyDeleteI'm a casual golfer with a 20-25 handicap... and just like Roody, I do myself no favors by playing the extra 400-800 yards.
ReplyDeletePace of play (and ice cold beers) for guys like me is more important than saying I played from the tips.
Courses are built from the tee forward. Move up a set of tees and each track plays differently.
ReplyDeleteI played in a tournament today with tees that were much farther back than normal ladies tees. It's a different perspective and a different game. Certainly more challenging.
Honestly I don't care what tees people use as long as they keep up the pace.
I'd love to play from the tips one day--just for fun. I was hoping to play the tips at Bethpage Black, but Golf Digest didn't think that was a good idea. ;o)
I seem to remember some years ago Callaway launching a ball that was sold in sleeves of 5 because that was the average number of golf balls the average American golfer lost per round.
ReplyDeleteIf that's the case I think you certainly have a valid point Patricia.
DO IT, Heather. Just pick a track you like and play late on a day when you'll have the place to yourself.
ReplyDeleteThe Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail in Alabama has several par 5's that play well over 600 yards. When I play those courses, I play the "correct" set of tees for me, but go all the way back on those extra long par 5's. The first time I did it, I almost birdied the hole (almost 700 yards), but on a couple of others, I tightened up and tried to swing out of my shoes off the tee and made a mess of things.
Try it - you probably won't want to do it very often, but it WILL make you want to improve your game and your length so you can play some of the tees further back.
I played up front when mixed in with an established group of guys missing their fourth. I hate playing mixed tees. My game was just the same up front as from the backm and I had legitimate shots at reaching some par 5's in two. Golf is golf. It was a very enjoyable round.
ReplyDeleteYou also realize that ego is what makes us men, and that is why Tiger is going to drive off the tees this week at The Players despite Johnny Miller's wise admonition. Who wants to be known as a short stick?
@Charles in response to your comment about how many of the ego golfers keep an honest score:
ReplyDeleteNot that I am the perfect model golfer who follows the rules of golf to the tee (no pun intended), but I don't take mulligans, and I take my penalties when I am supposed to. But I do see a lot of players who claim a game that I doubt they have.
I stopped frequenting one of the more popular golf forums on the internet last year partly because of this. I swear it seemed like everyone in the forum was a 5 handicap or less the way they talked. And they'd come across with this holier-than-thou attitude to anyone who wasn't sporting a single-digit handicap themselves. Egos abound, with attitudes to boot.
I just found it odd that at least 50% or more of the guys in this forum claimed to be awesome golfers, yet the stats I am told are that something like 80% of all golfers cannot even break 100. I think it's called a "vanity handicap" when someone props up their handicap to a better number than it really is. Maybe they should change it to "ego handicap".
I'm so bad, I'd like to move forward an extra 50 yards from the front tee. Does that mean I'm comfortable with my masculinity?
ReplyDeleteAnother good post, Patricia.
Fact: Men are sloppier than women. So if men played off the ladies' tees, they'd be more prone to not replace their divots. Things would get messy. Arguments would ensue.
ReplyDeleteThe situation would not be unlike the ongoing toilet seat battle, and thus would soon be fodder for lame sitcoms, and none of us want that, except maybe channels 9 or 11.
Man, I can get pretty damn deep sometimes.
Playing forward actually make a lot of courses even tougher.
ReplyDeleteMost of them are designed to be played back of the black markers and some of the designer takes into account the ladies strengths for all hazards and even water carries.
Hyatt Regency Coolum on the Sunshine Coast is actually a hard course of the whites then it is of the blacks for guys as the crap is even closer to reach.
So all of a sudden you have tight fairways and the crap closer to get to if you don't club right.
Nightmare to some.
you're right, lil bro - it's annoying to have the same club into a green after hitting an iron or fairway wood off the tee as you would hitting a driver from the back. kind of takes you out of your mental game.
ReplyDeleteA few guy lies:
ReplyDelete1. Honey, I'll take the trash out next commercial
2. I drive better when I drink
3. I play better from the tips
4. The check is in the mail
Will anyone who thinks any hole can play easier from farther back please give me an example...
ReplyDeleteI am speechless. I am without speech. I have no speech.
learned my lesson a few years ago playing the Belfy when my group blagged the Starter to let us play from the back tees. We gave up after 3 holes, we had trouble reaching the fairways on some of the holes.
ReplyDeleteFrom Chuck the Chauvinist:
ReplyDeleteIt's academic. Chicks who look better from the back should play the front tees. Chicks who look better from the front should play the back tees.
And chicks who look good from both sides should apparently blog.
I totally play from front tees some days! 29yo male, quite a big guy too... no shame in it! [or maybe it's my very below average golf game!]
ReplyDeleteOEG - sometimes it's mental - you're used to seeing the landing area for a hole from way back - and all of a sudden you're either hitting an iron off the tee then have a longer iron into the green.
ReplyDeleteI've seen holes with sharp doglegs that have the forward tees horribly placed close to the corner, making turning the corner extremely difficult - much more difficult than playing further back and having room to shape the shot.
@roody: My handicap is a 14 at the moment, mainly because it crept up to near-lunar levels over the winter while I tackled a swing change, and not only that hardly practiced short-game or putting. I would expect that after 7/1 it will be back towards its natural level of 9-12 or so.
ReplyDeleteI too have caught some junk for being honest about my handicap and being honest about my scores. For example, I didn't enjoy writing down a six on a par 3 last night, but I hit the ball out of bounds on the first shot and had a very indifferent second shot from the teeing ground. But it is what it is and if I let vanity get the better of me, my handicap is a lie and it will show every time I tee up in a tournament.
I am by no means the best golfer on the planet and not the guy who knows the Decisions backwards and forwards, but I do try to play to the rules and I do keep an honest score.
And some of these comments towards Patricia sound rather impolite to me. Have the common social graces died in our world?
ReplyDeleteYes, social graces are becoming a thing of the past.
ReplyDeleteAnd, I agree that far too many men play from the tips when they could improve both handicap and confidence by stepping forward one tee box.
But is that really the idea or is it to keep the handicap higher for when the men play in a foursome for $$$? Hmmm...
Part of the problem is that if men hit from the "Red" or forward tees, there's no way to play the time honored game where if the male fails to get it past the "ladies" tees, he's required to play the remainder of the hole with a certain part of his anatomy exposed..
ReplyDeleteI think I love you. I'm a reasonably long hitting senior (280 off the driver) and I play from the FORWARD tees. Why make the course longer? I can't shoot in the 60's (Best round a 70) so I play at the shortest length to give me the most enjoyable round. The first time I did this I brought a pair of pink panties so my buds could laugh it up. Butttt, every once in awhile one of my friends joins me up in the front for physical handicap reasons. (Hahahaha)
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ReplyDelete