To play “Forward”, or not to play “Forward”, that is the question: Whether ’tis Nobler in the mind to suffer. The Slings and Arrows of outrageous Fortune of lost balls, OB, and more strokes for the Back Tees, Or to take Arms against a Sea of troubles, while playing Forward for fewer strokes, more fun, and shorter rounds.
Forward Tees or Back Tees really is The Question that Metro Senior Golfers must resolve. We have now opened up tee selection for all Flights A- D.
We are seniors and don’t get the distance (or accuracy) that we remember? So playing Forward is a real strategy to play better golf, focusing more time and energy on what we still can do well.
Why Play Forward?
More Fun
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Do you really LIKE looking for balls?
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Shorter Approach Shots
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More action where the putts and short money shots reside
Better Scoring
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Reducing the Yardage by 500 to 600 Yards can easily reduce 2 to 4 strokes from your game.
Faster Play
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Fewer strokes, less time and delays
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Fewer lost and OB balls, and less searching
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Yes, we do enjoy our time on the course, but not waiting for you or anyone else?
Want to find out what tees you should be using?
- How does your AVERAGE driver yardage guide tee selection?
- How does handicap guide Tee Selection?
- How does your average 5 Iron yardage help you pick tees?
- Tee selection based on how you play Par 3 and 4 holes?
Want to find how many played from forward tees by flight?
- Or why your buddies are beating you (could it be that they are playing forward?)?
- How many strokes are lost by playing Back?
- Maybe you could break 100 by playing Forward?
Read the following for this and perhaps more.
USGA says move up if you can’t break 90. Anyone with a 25 or higher hdcp should be playing from the Reds. Slow play for Metro Seniors is more about how we act between shots than where we play from; but moving up will help.
I agree to play forward
–If you are 70 years old and / or 20 and over handicap you should play the front tees between 5000 and 5500 yards
–if you are under 70 and / or under a 20 handicap you should play the tees that are 5500 to 6000 yards but not more
Nice work, Dave, in laying out the various “reasons” for different tees. I know some people just play the tees that they always played, but there are very good reasons for adjusting as our game and abilities change. I am glad our organization allows us to make choices. We are not all the same. Thanks, again, Dave, for this website article.
The data came from the Pace of Play analysis for 2016. The acceptance of Playing Forward was probably higher than expected. In Flight D there are only a very few members who are holding out for longer tees. The result – they are hurting themselves with higher scores. They could easily drop 3, 4, 5, or possibly 6 strokes. By simply playing forward. Yes, the handicap is adjusted, but the savings in strokes look higher than the adjustment.
More strokes will add some time, but I suspect some of those strokes are lost balls and penalties with attendant ball searches which are REAL TIMEKILLERS.