I've always been a huge fan of the red tees, in fact, I celebrate them.
You see, I'm not particularly competitive by nature, and my goal in golf has always
been to have fun and enjoy an awesome, entertaining sport. Oh, I work on my game...probably more than most; taking regular lessons, trying all kinds of tips and techniques and spending much of my free time practicing. And, I love it when I play well. But at this stage, I just don't feel compelled to try to prove myself by hitting with the guys, and I've got to admit I find it a bit ludicrous when see a woman who plays at my level, insisting on the white, or even the blue tees, because she doesn't want an unfair advantage. The result is slow play and lots of lost golf balls. Why not use the red tees? Red tees Rule. And I've got to confess think it's kind of ...cool... when the guys I'm playing with succumb to a water hazard, or a long tangled stretch shrubbery, while I sail on by to the friendly red tees.
However a recent study from researchers from the University of New Mexico suggests that when it comes to business golf, red tees may actually be a barrier to women's advancement and an integral part of the so-called, "grass ceiling".
This is an interesting article and I think there are elements of truth in it. For the time being though, I'm sticking with the reds.
Interesting concept on the "grass ceiling." I think women who golf for business have such an advantage over those who don't. I wish I'd played when I was a lobbyist. Even if I had to ride to the red tees with another woman, it still would have been so much better (for my career) than not playing at all.
ReplyDeleteAs for those tees that are further back. I do hope to play from them someday, but until I shoot par, I'm sticking with red! I tried the next set of tees one day. I only shot a couple strokes more than my average from the red. I found that the farther tees took many of the bunkers and other obstacles out of my way. It makes you look at a track differently. Definitely worth a try on a slow day.
nothing but silliness. the more I read, the more I think that this is less of a "scientific" study and more of an attempt to force yet another political correctness issue onto golf.
ReplyDeleteNobody forces women to play the forward tees. They are put there to help the shorter hitting players have similar clubs into the greens as the longer hitters. (it's not always women - a lot of seniors play the forward tees)
They left out a number of variables. What if the group is 2x2 male/female and the women just want to sit together for some "girl talk" on a social outting ? That's not a gender bias issue - it's just gender. What if the course is backed up - or worse - THAT group is backing up the course ? Having the women move up while the men hit is a time issue - not a gender issue.
How about a gender issue that caused more problems ? Susie Whaley "earned" a spot in the BC Open because of a glitch in the rules. She didn't play the same course as the men - so she wasn't playing on a level playing field (so to speak).
The real question is this - why are the men who SHOULD be playing the white tees standing at the tips when the women who have a more realistic opinion of their games have no problem playing just as much course as they are comfortable playing ?
The courses I have seen have very few of those "huge distances" between tees. I used to play in a singles golf group that paired men and women in teams - and on the same carts. Only when the ladies wanted to sit together for a little while, or the course got backed up did we switch carts.
This study dealt mostly with tee shots - and didn't really seem to understand the point of different sets of tees.
Personally - I think GG and Heather have the best attitudes - for everybody !! Have fun - and only take on as much of the course as you can play - but don't ALWAYS settle on the same set of tees. Push yourself - play a set back - see what you can do - figure out what you need to do to improve.
Heather - you are completely correct. Courses are designed from the back forward - not from the middle. Holes play different from the forward tees than from all the way back - and a lot of the visual layout and challenge is lost from the front tees.
Forget these politically correct study guys. Only a handful of minutes are actually spent with a club in your hand - most of it is spent sitting in the same general area together. There are only 18 tee shots on a course - trying to make political hay out of this is a lot of blather.
On the other hand - you could run into a course like the one in David Feherty's novel "A Nasty Bit of Rough" where the men only club was forced to add tees for the women - so they put the red tees 50 yards behind the men's tees...but made it clear that the women were always welcome to come up and play the same tees as the men. :-)
If only men could feel comfortable playing from the ladies tees...but they generally can't. It's just not respected. The should attribute a handicap range to each tee instead of calling them ladies, seniors, etc.
ReplyDeleteThen maybe people would play from where they should play from.
The ladies are always welcome to play on my tee. ;)
ReplyDeleteI play from "men's tees" when there's no one behind us. I just feel like I get an extra shot at each hole that way.
ReplyDeleteWomen here in the Dallas suburbs seem to have no problem playing from the red tees. The problem at my course is getting older men to accept the white tees after they lose distance.
ReplyDeleteAt 57, I can still play from the blues with my slightly younger buddies. But I know it will soon be time to accept my limitations - that those 240-250 yard drives I used to hit are not coming back. That's going to be tough - equivalent to accepting my mortality. I'm fighting it, of course, working out at the gym three or four times a week. Some day I'll just be the fit but weathered old Texan with locks of silver, contentedly sharing a teebox with the attractive younger ladies now taking up my sport. That's not a gloomy future, is it?
I get the feeling that the JD of the future will have a flask ready to share and will buy the beer when the ladies show up. Sounds like a pretty good future to me ! :-)
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