Which Tees are Best For You?

Figuring out which tees to play from is an ever-present concern for many golfers. And annoyingly, that’s at least in part because there are no truly helpful guidelines telling golfers where they should play from.

Some courses suggest tees based off a player’s handicap, which is pretty much the standard, but it’s still not perfect. No two players are the same, after all. That wily retired golfer at your local club who doesn’t hit the ball very far but whose wicked short game helps keep him at an 8 handicap is going to have a distinct disadvantage against the 8 handicap who hits the ball a mile, if they were to play off the same tees. And as for female golfers, the range might be even more tricky to pinpoint with a formula.

But for now, try this chart (right) provided by the good people over at Athletic Motion Golf. Like anything, it’s not perfect, especially for beginning golfers, but I found it provides a helpful guidepost. Essentially, you just take the distance you hit your 5 iron and multiply it by 36. That number is your ideal course yardage.

Remember, play the set of tees that give you the best chance to enjoy yourself and play to the best of your ability.  Par 4’s are not built with the idea of hitting fairway woods or hybrids into them.  If this is you, try moving forward, you’ll have more fun making more pars and birdies.

New set of tees allowing players to play better and enjoy themselves even more at Black Bear Golf Club

We have recently added a new set of forward tees and the players are loving it!  Our tee boxes now range from the Championship tees at 7041 yards rated at 74.1 with a slope of 140 to our new forward tees at 3723 yards rated at 62.3 and a slope of 110.  In between we have yardages of 6453, 6025, 5344 and 4942.

Don’t think of it as moving up, think of it like, I can now try to break 90 or 80 or score even lower!

“Recently I was listening to a podcast with Claude Harmon and he said the average “guys” playing yardages like 6200-6500 is like the PGA Tour guys playing at 8000-9000 yards.  Play a yardage that gives you the best chance to make pars.” – Roger Adams, PGA