I came across this great article by Rick Woelfel and wanted to share it with you. Too many golfers play from the wrong tees. Or they play on a golf course that is not designed to encourage golfers of all levels to play. To really enjoy the game you must match the tee you choose to play from to your ability level. And that goes for both men and women. On a lot of courses it is nearly impossible for the average recreational golfer to get to the green in regulation. How much fun is that? If you play from the wrong tees, not only do you never get to the green in regulation, but you slow play down for everyone else on the golf course.

A golf course may not be able to change the entire design of the golf course but they can encourage every golfer to match their handicap to the right teebox. That way every golfer has a chance of playing a game that is both challenging and fun at the same time. I’ve written about this a number of times, but Rick’s take on the issue is a great summary of what is right about the Tee It Forward program.

Tee It Forward Gaining Momentum

By Rick Woelfel

The golf industry has spent considerable time, energy, and dollars in recent years looking for ways to ‘grow the game.’

Golf is a challenging game to be sure but many amateurs compound its difficulties by playing from tees that are too long for them.

For years, golf professionals have encouraged their members and customers to utilize forward tees but in recent years the PGA of America and the United States Golf Association have stepped up their efforts in this area.

The Tee it Forward initiative was launched in 2011 as a joint effort between the PGA of America and the USGA. The program encourages golfers to play from tees that are appropriate to their ability level, specifically their length off the tee.

The idea is to enable high-handicappers to hit the same clubs into greens that low-handicappers do, albeit from a shorter distance.

PGA professional Leila Mackie heads up Growing the Game efforts for the Philadelphia Section PGA.

“It is more fun hitting a 9-iron into a green than it is hitting a hybrid into every green,” she says. “And shooting lower scores is always fun.”

Lower scores aside, Tee it Forward efforts have been shown to have a profound impact on the pace of play.

“It makes things move so much faster when people aren’t hitting it out of bounds left and right,” Mackie says, “or can’t make it over the carries. I think Tee it Forward is a fun way to play because you can kind of compare your round to the tour players. You don’t see a lot of tour players having to hit a 3-woood into every green. They’re out there hitting, 6, 7, or 8-irons in there.”

‘That’s how the game was designed. You don’t want to hit a hybrid into every green.”

Admittedly, some recreational golfers are hesitant to play from forward tees but many facilities are addressing this issue by rating their forward tees for both men and women and/or abandoning the traditional color-coding system for tee boxes of red, white blue, etc.

One club that has addressed this issue is Lookaway, a private club located just outside of Philadelphia. The golf course, a Rees Jones design, plays to 6,949 yards and a par of 72 from the deepest of four sets of tees.

All are rated for both men and women, with the forward markers positioned at 5,189 yards and additional markers set at 6,089 and 6.437 yards.

In addition, Lookaway offers a series of ‘combination courses’; that is, the opportunity to play from multiple tee boxes in varying combinations over the course of 18 holes and still turn in a score for handicap purposes.

In all, there are seven different combinations for the player to choose from, allowing any golfer, regardless of their ability level, to choose the yardage best suited to their game on a particular day.

Lookaway member Joanna Neely enjoys the variety her home course offers. A middle handicapper, she utilizes different tee boxes over the course of a season, particularly when preparing for team matches against other clubs.

“In the spring when it’s wet and the course is playing long we’ll play from the [forward] tees,” she says. “If it dries out and the ball starts to run we like to play from the mixed tees because it gives us the experience of playing a longer course.”

Jones’ design factors into all this as well.

For all his visibility for his work on major-championship layouts, most notably U.S. Open courses like Torey Pines and Bethpage Black, Rees Jones made a career of designing courses that are manageable for Everyman (and Everywoman) while still posing a solid test for professionals and expert amateurs.

The use tee of multiple tee boxes, positioned at varying angles to the fairway, is a key element in that philosophy.

At Lookaway, golfers are confronted with challenges unique to their particular set of tees.

The fourth hole is a par four that plays to 362 yards from the back tees. Most male members will play it from 344 yards while the forward tees measure just 271 yards.

The golfer hitting from the rear tees needs a carry of roughly 175 yards to clear a stream and a waste area and must also avoid bunkers on the right, some 220 yards out.

From the forward tee however, the carry is a modest one, the player can be less concerned about the bunkers and will have only a wedge into the green.

The par-4 14th plays to 447 yards for most male players with a 120-yard carry off the tee. The forward tee is set at just 351 yards however and the forced carry is all but gone.

Playing from forward tees not only contributes to lower scores but has a positive impact on the pace of play as well.

In today’s world that’s an important consideration.

“The PGA realizes golf is competing in the leisure and entertainment industry,” Mackie says. “We’re competing with bowling and movies and everything else…..If you’re not that good at bowling they can put up the bumpers.

“In golf there really isn’t any way to put up bumpers for new golfers other than moving the tee boxes up.”

Thanks to Rick Woelfel, guest author and editor of the Women’s Golf Report.

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What do you think? What tee box do you use? Does it match your handicap? What about the golfers you play with? Does “tradition” or ego make the decision for them? Add your comment in the space below.