Do what my regular foursome did - move to the geezer tees. The 4 of us have been playing together for years and are similar in ball striking with similar clubhead speeds and all within 5 years of age of each other - 70 to 75. By moving up we enjoy the game more and still play for bragging rights and talk smack when we hit one really good.
Sobering launch monitor session....
I caution against using those formulas as they tend to put folks at a tee that is past their skill level. It would have me at ~6800+.....can I, sure, but I have no business playing 6800, especially a course with a higher slope.
As long as the golfer is telling the truth (how many are full of sh1t with there yardages) and it ought to be an average, not, I "can" hit my drive 280, which I can, but a more realistic avg is 260. Things like slope,layout, etc. Should be factored in. I like to play hybrid tees quite often, which would be Mens/White and then the next tee back which will get me 6300+ up to 6500,much more than that is asking for trouble. I have also played courses where playing shorter tees is no fun as the EOF is in range or hazard or junk....that's no fun either.
Overall yardage is really not the factor. The course closest to my house is 5850 from the whites but it has one short par five, three medium par threes and the rest mostly beastly par fours. One par four is 455 uphill. The very next hole is 410 with the first 280 uphill. 18 is 400 dogleg right with 260 to get to the corner.
Oh and the senior tees are on the same box just about 8 or 10 yards shorter.
Precision over distance is what makes golf difficult though, right? Shorter is definitely easier. 4 degrees of miss on a 170yd approach is a lot more punishing than that same miss from 110.
In the end I can't imagine giving a crap where anyone plays from. I think the 5i measure is pretty good and will give a player the appropriate shots into the greens assuming an adequate drive. Otherwise you end up with driver/wedge all day if you're playing decent golf.
I hit it far. If I play whites or a short blue I'll almost never hit driver. I don't think driver/chip is the intent on a 390yd par 4. I'll go hybrid/full-wedge or 4i/9i most of the time. I'm a risk-averse insurance underwriter.
Play reds and have fun, or play blues and know you'll be hitting longer shots and not score as well - can still be fun!
Last Sun. I played a course at 5500+. Shot 75, no birdies. Week before, same course, but played the 6100+ tees. Shot 76, again no birdies. Had a couple drives that were the longest, on a couple of particular holes, I've ever hit on those holes(10+ yrs. at this course). My swingspeed? Who the hell knows. Better yet, just who the hell cares? Certainly not me.
Swingspeed is much too much talked about. For any age. Going to a launch monitor?......the figures to come home with are the ones that show distances for every club. Not how fast or high you hit. Few are going to walk away from those monitors and improve speed/distance.
Gee, maybe I could shoot 65
.
Simulators are fun. If I'm killing time and go to one of the local stores, I know if it is "off". Anyone who is trying to seriously find out if they should buy a club based off of them needs to bring their current clubs in for comparision. Hit them both on the sim and then decide.
We have sims here where I work. We don't sell clubs but the sims are accurate, as are our GC2's. With the Sims you can boost or cut back distances... just do it under a different name on the screen, put in your own settings.
I went into Golfsmith and set up the sim under my name and boosted a bunch of settings for laughs. When I go in there and hit they think I'm a Superbeast.
So I played today at a course that is longer than the ones I usually play, so I decided on an impromptu "members tees" idea. I played the gold tees on the three hardest holes on each side, and played the whites on all the others.
So I played gold on the holes handicapped 1 through 6. I liked it. It worked out well for me.
Oh, and I did hit one drive 230, and couple of others about 215-220, so I think the simulator I used was pretty accurate. My shortest drive was about 188, which, again, is what the simulator showed for my weakest effort.
There are times at my club when I would really enjoy playing a blended tee box that puts the overall distance a couple hundred yards shorter than the usual tees I play. Especially in the spring, when the ground is still soft and the temps are still somewhat cool despite the course finally being open.
We go from 5800 yards (which is too short for me currently) to 6500 yards at the next tee section (which is a beast when there is no notable rollout). Throw in some wind and some back hole locations on those longer holes - it's incredibly difficult to manage some days.
I proposed the idea a few years ago, but the head pro at the time refused to consider it. We have a new head pro and a new GM now (just hired this season) who both seem to be more in-tune with making the membership experience more enjoyable, so I might float the idea to them and see what happens.
It would require them to get the course re-rated, but quite frankly I would almost be willing to front that expense if they'd consider it.
I think it would give a lot of our members a bit more of an enjoyable-yet-fairer challenge.
PA-PLAYA - The Lexington (KY) Country Club has created a 'blended' course using the blue tees and white tees and it is wildly popular. The score card is unique by using shading on the individual holes to indicate which tee to use on the hole. And, they paid for the USGA to determine this blended course's slope and rating and I do not know if it required an on-site survey.
I've saved a scorecard and I could scan and email it to you if it would give you a 'visual' to take to your management.
Thanks for the offer. If needed, I will definitely be in touch with you to provide a sample for them to consider.
I remain hopeful that they'll take my suggestion into consideration. Given the 700 yard disparity between the senior tees (5800) and the regular mens tees (6500) - it just stands to reason that a blended tee box option would be something that many of our members would prefer.
Our par5's aren't easy from the regular member's tees, because of the design. Two of our four par3's average between 185-195 yards. Throw in a handful of par4's that measure 400+ yards - there are a lot of players, like myself, who would enjoy the layout a bit more if a few of those holes were shortened with moving to the next tee box forward.
There just seems to be too much disparity between 5800 and 6500 yards imo.
Hopefully I can convince the new head pro and GM to at least consider the idea. I've run the numbers, 6300 yards is achievable. And the kicker is that it reduces the approach shots considerably on a couple of the longer holes, but at the same time keeping the fairway bunkers (or other hazards) in play, even from the forward tees. So although the distance on those holes overall might be shorter - there's still a premium on an accurate tee shot for those specific holes.
We'll see how it goes.
- Edited
The NY Times had an article about how long a golf course one should play. They say 36 time your 5 iron distance:
150 yard 5 iron, 5400 yard course.
160 yard 5 iron, 5760 yard course.
170 yard 5 iron, 6120 yard course.
Opinions?
I like it. Using my made up on the spot "members' tees" got me to almost exactly the correct distance.
And yes, I do realize that I couldn't post a score for handicap purposes using a mixed tee format unless the course has been rated that way. I was just playing for fun.
- Edited
accufitgolf
I like it as well and it fits what's comfortable for me now. I'm around the 5760 yd point on the list. The tees I have to play (based on age) in our league come in around 6800 yds... not much fun.
I'm in a similar situation to several previous posters, in that my driver swing speed is low-90s at best (with 230 being a good drive and playing 7-iron from 130-135), but I don't mind playing a course (or set of tees) that's a bit longer than may be recommended purely based on the distance I hit the ball, as I'm comfortable hitting approach shots with longer clubs, or playing for pitch-and-putt pars on holes that I can't reach in regulation. It seems to me that, when choosing the right tee to play from, distance should be the main driver, but you also need to take into account the skill level that you play at - the aim should be to end up playing a course that gives you the right level of challenge for the day.
(For what it's worth, most UK courses don't offer players a choice of tee (in my experience) - the usual set-up is to have 'everyday', ladies and competition-only sets of tees.)
Regarding making up a 'combo' set of tees to play, some guys in my group have done that and still post scores. I'll have to verify the math they used, but they adjust the slope before posting scores. I believe they worked with the club to do this, so perhaps they used information in addition to what is available on the scorecard. I'll follow up.
- Edited
Ah, found it. Section 5g of the Handicap Manual has a chart. You calculate the difference in yardage based upon the tees/holes you move up or back on and it gives you a rating and slope adjustment...
http://www.usga.org/content/usga/home-page/Handicapping/handicap-manual.html#!rule-14379
And don't forget, if playing with others you need to adjust strokes as well - difference in ratings.
- Edited
We played at 6700 which is fine in terms of distance even at 25 years your senior 
distance isn't a problem yet as I still average 260 when in play , even though I'm usually 40 yards plus behind you....but of course that day playing my 2nd shot from the trees alot didnt help. putting my second to 12 feet on the par 5 18th was my some redemption
at hey we both were under 90