I'm in the process of advocating a blended tee for our club. The men's tees are too long, yet the senior tees are too short, with roughly 700 yards difference. It won't require dirt to be moved, new tee boxes to be implemented. It'll simply require the blended tee box to be rated so the handicap adjustment will be accurate.

Some guys just really don't want to move up to the "senior" tees, especially if they're not technically seniors given the age criteria. I think there could be a happy medium there for those who want to feel challenged, yet don't want to endure either driver-wedge into every green or only physically capable of hitting 2-3 greens per round.

This doesn't need to be that complicated, and quite frankly I don't know why more courses don't embrace this concept, especially if it adds to the enjoyment of their regular customers/members.

    PA-PLAYA

    We had the same problem at our club. The Gold tees were ~ 6000 and the Reds were ~ 5200. So there was room for a true senior tee at ~5600. The owner got the Florida USGA to come in and re-rate the course and put in a Silver tee at ~ 5600.

    It basically was free. He said he gave them a free round of golf and a free lunch. Problem solved. Actually it was two women that did the job. We also had plenty of room with existing tee boxes. Made new score cards, put the new tee in the USGA system and that was that.

    Now we have six tees. Black at ~ 7100, Blue ~ 6800, White ~ 6400, Gold ~ 6000, Sliver ~5600 and Red at ~ 5200.

      Sneakylong We have some guys in our group who were struggling to hit greens in regulation. We have a minimum quota of 14. Meaning your quota can't fall below 14. They were always around the minimum maybe getting into the mid to upper teens quota here and there.

      We encouraged them to move up to the front tees. They're quotas got up into the 20's, one guy got up to a 28 quota. Needless to say they started having more fun.

      I must be missing something here. How can you have a quote of hitting over 18 GIR?

          Back to the original question. Two ways of looking at this and I work with many ladies and senior players in your same quandary. Have you looked at utility irons rather than hybrids? At times I suggest a UI with the same shaft as you play in your irons. It works for many.

          The other suggestion is to look at 7 and 9 woods and the like at a shorter playing length most major brands manufacture them with light shafts at too long of a playing length and this is why you find them so hard to hit.

          As for moving up a tee, what if that's not possible or practical? I mean, what if you're playing the shortest tees on the course now? The OP didn't indicate which tee he's playing. On the other hand, what if you're playing with your regular foursome that you've played with for 40 years and you just wanna pick up a few yards and stay competitive? I completely understand the "move up" argument, but what if that's not the answer here?

            puttnfool I completely understand the "move up" argument, but what if that's not the answer here?

            It is the best answer, by far. (moving up)
            How would anyone gain extra yardage, esp. a 'senior'? Go through a lot of ball testing, lessons, spend a lot of money on clubs--or be fitted? Timely, costly. The golf forums are loaded with members seeking the same answer, and not all are 'seniors', to be sure. They keep searching when the best thing to do is right under their noses. I don't care if you are 30ish....if you can't hit it far, and have tried a lot of the alternatives mentioned....MOVE UP.

            The other part about same group/40 yrs........well, if you aren't competitive with them now, you more than likely have never really been. Unless you really let yourself go to hell(and they all did not?) or health problems.

            btw, if you are not playing for a handicap, you do not have to move up on all holes.😉

                Another thing I'll add is try a lower lofted driver. I realize this is not the recommendation of most, but a lot of older players are going this route, along with a softer shaft, and it's working for them. Lots of roll and bounce!!

                  Par4QC Another thing I'll add is try a lower lofted driver. I realize this is not the recommendation of most, but a lot of older players are going this route, along with a softer shaft, and it's working for them. Lots of roll and bounce!!

                  I thought we'd decided that a higher lofted driver was the way to go. Isn't there still less resistance in the air than on the ground? As soon as the ball hits the ground, it starts losing speed, right?

                      Par4QC It is the best answer, by far. (moving up)

                      So, what about the other scenario where they're already playing the shortest tee on the course?

                      I mean, like I said, I understand where you're coming from, but from the "customer service" standpoint, if someone comes to me and wants something, I want to be able to provide it (or at least the reasonable chance of obtaining it).

                          puttnfool

                          Yup, you're missing something. It's Quota as in a quota game, not Quote. A quota game is a gambling game in golf. Whoever shoots the most over their 'quota' wins. Handicaps can be used to establish quotas (handicap subtracted from 36) or you could play a few rounds to establish a quota.

                          In my post the 14 meant you cannot go below a 14 quota. Players compete over 18 holes and whoever is the most over their quota wins. You can pay out different places depending on how many players etc..

                          Let's say you're 15 handicap. You'd be a 21 quota, meaning you need to get 21 points to make your quota. 4 points for a birdie, 2 for a par, 1 point for a bogey and zero points for doubles.

                          Let's say you get 25 points. You'd be plus 4 and depending how your competitors did you may win money. It's a fun game where different handicaps can compete against each other fairly.

                          In my post I was explaining how short hitters moved up and were able to score better (instead of hovering near the minimum 14 quota). Their quotas got higher because of that. I should say whatever tee you play your quota would be reflected by that tee. In this case they had more fun because they could score better.

                          BTW, it's a senior group (over 55) and these guys are in their upper 70's and 80's.

                          Hope this helps.

                              puttnfool I thought we'd decided that a higher lofted driver was the way to go.

                              😉..."We" have never agreed to that. Never will, in fact. And if you say it works for the 'majority', I will come back and say 'majority' is 51%.

                                puttnfool I mean, like I said, I understand where you're coming from, but from the "customer service" standpoint, if someone comes to me and wants something, I want to be able to provide it (or at least the reasonable chance of obtaining it).

                                I do not see your advice/answer to the OP, as far as how to get the GIRs.

                                From the "customer service" standpoint, what exactly would you ask customers who might come to you seeking more distance?

                                  Par4QC

                                  In our Senior Men's Quota Group we have guys who are in their late 50's to mid 80's. We have one guy who plays the White tees (~6400) and 3 or 4 (including myself) who play the Gold tees (~6000) with the majority playing the Silver tees (~5600). And I think we have 4 guys who play the Reds (~5200).

                                  Again, in a Quota game the tee you play will be reflected in your Quota. You play a shorter tee, then in theory and in practice you should score better, therefore you'll have a higher Quota.

                                  In a perfect world ideally if you have players playing off different tees you should see players hitting similar clubs into greens.

                                  So if I'm playing the Golds and someone is playing the Reds we each should be hitting a similar club into the green (ideally).

                                  But as we know golf is far from perfect. On a couple of holes on our course the Gold player may have a hybrid into the green where the Red player has a wedge.

                                  But again, whatever tee you play from will be reflected in you Quota. So, the guy who is now playing the shorter Red tees instead of the Silvers can score better and now has a higher Quota.

                                  So, to answer your question, no there is no problem playing different tees in terms of the Quota game. We do have a couple guys who play the shorter Silvers who definitely are long enough and should be playing the Golds.

                                  But again, all that means is they have shorter clubs into the greens, but they now have a higher Quota to make.

                                  We try to limit the Silvers for guys who are 70 and older, but we make exceptions depending on the individual.

                                  For me personally I don't want to play day in day out having wedges into most of the par 4's. Ideally I want to play from a tee where I can possibly hit every club in my bag in 18 holes of golf.

                                  For example my average Quota is ~ 25 and I'm an 11 capper. So I'm playing a tee that suits my game.

                                      I'm playing a 12 driver, get good height and some run-out. When I hit a 10.5 driver, it flights much lower, more dispersion and no more distance. I'm going to try a longer driver shaft, no hopes for this, and go see my club pro about hitting a 7 or 9 wood properly. This may have a chance. All the gomers in my group are in their 70's and we play green tees, (5600 Yds).

                                        puttnfool

                                        Yes the scoring is based off the Stableford scoring system with variations. Some do 4 points for a birdie and some to 3 etc.. On Wednesdays the Head Pro runs the Pro Shop Quota game and he does different scoring. 3.5 points for a birdie and .5 points for a double. He does 4 for an eagle and we do 6 points for an eagle etc..

                                        In a Quota game you can do it one of two ways. Start from zero and see how many points you can accumulate or start from your handicap and accumulate from there. They're basically the same.

                                        We adjust after every round to prevent sandbagging. Adjustments again are varied from game to game. The Pro Shop adjusts differently than we do for example. I won't get into it, but hopefully you get the idea.

                                            Sneakylong

                                            I actually like the concept. Played it with my weekend group for several months years ago, before we dwindled down to only a foursome (who played from the same tees). The way we managed it (within the group) was if you failed to meet your quota, your quota adjusted 1 point lower for every 3 points you were short. On the other end, if you met or exceeded your quota, the same condition applied with increasing your quota 1 point per every 3 points you were over.

                                            It was, for all intents and purposes, a good way to manage more of a true round-to-round handicap versus waiting two weeks for the official handicaps to update (at least for those who played 2 or more times per week).

                                            Stableford (as it has been explained to me anyway) was originally designed for (net) 0 points awarded for double bogey or worse, 1 point for bogey, 2 points for par, 3 points for birdie, 4 points for eagle. But my club traditionally plays adjusted Stableford (like the guys on tour play). Scoring (net) is minus 1 point for double or worse, 0 points for bogey, 2 points for par, 4 points for birdie, 6 points for eagle.

                                            I actually prefer the standard Stableford, which is what was predominately played in most non-medal competitions over the in the UK. And although there were a few exceptions now and then, the original Stableford scoring most always equaled out to the actual according handicaps.

                                            It's a good system, especially if you have several guys whose distance varies from player to player, meaning that it really doesn't matter which tee box one plays (as long as the quota has been established from the usual tee box a golfer opts for).

                                            You can also do individual, team, etc. So it's a very versatile concept.

                                                I would look like a FAR better player in the quota or Stableford game. I love the idea. I get to play my style, which is to say reckless and stupid... and those holes that I really blow up on, which are about 2-4 per round get evened out with the eagle I usually drop on a par 5. Sign me up! My problem with a to par system is the 3 on a par 5 doesn't counter the 9 on a par 4 very well hahaha. Screw this total strokes idea, I like to play for fun, which to me is going for it on every shot. I just bought hybrids to hit off the tee because I realize if I'm ever going to "score" by our traditional standards, I can have those 3 holes where I lose one (or 3) balls off the tee. I tried petitioning for 100 ft high solid walls down the left sides of all fairways, but even Trump seems to be having issues getting these walls built, what choice do I have?

                                                PA-PLAYA
                                                Minus 3 and worse you go down 1. In the Pro Shop game they move you up 1 for every 2 over your quota.

                                                My brother in law's game they use handicap and it's for 9 holes (working men's group). If you use handicap, everyone starts with the amount of points equal to your handicap and whoever gets the most points wins etc..
                                                For 9 holes you'd just cut your handicap in half.

                                                Sometimes we do a team game in conjunction with the individual quota game. Only with the caveat that no individual can do worse than minus 3. This way in someone has a terrible day they can't drag down the team.

                                                For example. In a 4 man team quota game. Player one is plus 2, player two is plus 4, player three is minus 1 and
                                                We adjust minus 2 to plus 2 your quota stays the same, plus 4 and 5 you go up 2, plus 3 or more you go up 3. player four is minus 6. Since you can't do worse than minus 3, player four's score is adjusted to minus 3.

                                                So the team combined is a plus 2 (2 + 4 = 6 - 1 = 5 - 3 = 2).

                                                A Quota Game is a great game when you have large disparities in handicaps and you have players playing different tees, as you say as long as they stay on that tee. If someone wants to move to another tee they need to re-establish their quota from that new tee.

                                                We used to do 4 greenies (closet to the pin) and 18 skins (birdies or better). However, what happened there was because of the large disparity in handicaps we gave strokes in the skins game. This ended up causing problems. Fairness was unachievable.

                                                Long story short we now have 2 greenies and two skins (one of each on each 9 holes). The compromise we came up with is we break ties on the skins with the lowest Quota player winning the skin.

                                                The thinking was the better players have a better chance of winning the greenies and the high quota players have a better chance winning a skin.

                                                But again, Quota in and of itself is a very fair game to play when you have a large group of golfers with a large disparity in handicaps.

                                                Here in Florida in the winter we could have 20 plus players and in the summer we could have anywhere from 6 to 15 guys.

                                                We play 3 times a week (Monday, Wednesday and Friday). We're one of the first groups off and most of us walk. We're usually done by 10:30 - 11:30 am.

                                                It's a $5.00 game and depending on the number of players we pay off between 2 and 5 places. Greenies and skins are always $3.00 each.

                                                It's a great game where you can show up and play when you want and basically as a single golfer play with familiar faces.