Senior Golfers

[deleted]

At what age are you considered a senior player?
Do you play at courses that give seniors a break?

mulegolf

The first break a senior gets at my local course is at age 65. At 65 you can move up to the white tees during league play and the club tournament. At 75 you can move up to the gold tees. It's not a lot but every little bit helps.

mikeintopeka

One break seniors get in this region (except for one resort course) is green fee discounts. And they generally start at age 65 and apply Monday - Thursday (Friday here is considered a weekend day).

Our club allows age 65+ seniors to move up to gold tees for league and events. The local country club where my Dad resides out-of-state doesn't allow a 'seniors' break on tee boxes until age 70. I play in their open events and member-guest and it's brutal for me although the 'blue tees' are only 6400 yards and the rollout is reduced because it's lush and heavily watered (reclaimed water so it's cheap and always accessible). I moan and groan because I'm not long but in the last event, I was paired with a couple of 70 year olds and they still killed it off the tees (low single handicaps).

A friend visited from Colorado a few weeks ago and I kept referring to us as 'old farts' or 'seniors' and this 64 year old took offense. He too wanted to know at what age we are declared 'senior golfers'.

garyt1957

55 here will get you the senior discount at most courses. Some are 60. Some of the discounts are pretty substantial. I played a course last week for $35 that was $60 regular rate. Fantastic course,too. Others are only $10 or so.
I play in some tournaments where you can play the white tees if you're 57 and up. I think it should be at least 60 since most of us are 40+ anyway.

Par4QC

Senior rates here are laughable. At most, $2 less than regular rates. And no discounts on weekends. Our local Am Tour has Sr. division staring at age 50, like the PGA does, Super Sr. is at 65. Not sure why everyone thinks that 65 is now 'senior' as probably 1/2 of the population is over that age. It's almost coming around to being middle age.

When I say 'old farts' I mean old.....over 80. When my classmates on FB talk about being old, I ask them how they got on my class, and why were they held back so many years.

'Senior tees' is a misnomer to me. The forward tees are for those lacking the skills to hit far. They should be played at all ages.

Rickochet

Par4QC 'Senior tees' is a misnomer to me. The forward tees are for those lacking the skills to hit far. They should be played at all ages.

I think 65 is the proper age for most to move to senior tees. Almost to a person my golfing friends have experienced significant distance loss after age 65. It seems to happen over one winter layoff. I got mine two years ago at age 68.

ode

Par4QC Senior tees' is a misnomer to me. The forward tees are for those lacking the skills to hit far. They should be played at all ages.

+1....too many antiquated traditions and quirky formulas dictating what tee box/yardage to play. Should be based on ability!

Eguller

ode what tee box/yardage to play. Should be based on ability!

I've always thought that tees should be based on handicap. Not age. Not gender. Over time, your handicap would
move up or down and push you forward or back. All this assumes you post scores for handicap purposes and that
your home course (or any really) has adequate number of tees.

Weirfan

Varies here 55/60/65

johnnydoom

One local muny gives me a discount for being over 55. That is the only one I'm aware of though. The rest seem to be 65.

accufitgolf

At my club we originally had 4 sets of tee markers. Blue was Championship, White was Mens, Gold was Senior Men (over 60) and Red was Ladies. Several years ago a new set of Black tees were added so we now have 5 sets of tees. The Blacks were designated Super Senior for men over 75. They were made from a combination of Gold and Red Tees so on one Tee you may have set of tees with a Black and Gold markers or a set of tees with a Black and Red markers. Thus we now have 5 sets of tees. The new score card list colors, not names so pick your poison based on length.

In my Senior Men's Groups (must be 55 or older) we adjust handicaps (two strokes) according to the color tees you play. While we still play tees based on age, we are considering dropping that and letting one play any sets of tees they wish to play as the adjustment should suffice.

Thus say a 16 on the Whites, you will be a 14 on the Golds and a 12 on the Blacks. Close enough to rating/slope to make it fair. In the group we adjust handicaps every two weeks based on your last 4 scores.

sdandrea1

Eguller I've always thought that tees should be based on handicap.

Handicap and distance off the tee. I play with a 69 year old who hits it 250+. No way he's moving up!

garyt1957

Eguller I've always thought that tees should be based on handicap. Not age. Not gender. Over time, your handicap would
move up or down and push you forward or back. All this assumes you post scores for handicap purposes and that
your home course (or any really) has adequate number of tees.

I don't like that idea. Handicap has no place in the equation imo. A big portion of hdcp is short game and putting which has nothing to do with the tees you're playing. I know quite a few guys who can spank it but still can't score. Making them move up wouldn't make a difference.
Take Steve for example who has posted he's in driver Hell, but he's still able to score because he's playing the right tees. His hdcp would likely make him move back where he'd have no chance and no fun for however many rounds it took for his hdcp to go up enough to let him move up again. Too much moving around.

Typhoon

Eguller I've always thought that tees should be based on handicap. Not age. Not gender. Over time, your handicap would
move up or down and push you forward or back. All this assumes you post scores for handicap purposes and that
your home course (or any really) has adequate number of tees

Absolutely, At work yesterday 2 carts of millennial hacks are sitting at the first tee. One of them says, “Playing the blue tees right?” One of the others says, ” I can’t see a reason not to!” I then said, “ I said I have a reason, “ how about I can’t break 75??” They just stood there with the same stupid look I see all day.... I just stood there. They played the whites.

scotts33

sdandrea1 Handicap and distance off the tee. I play with a 69 year old who hits it 250+. No way he's moving up!

I play with a Sr. 70 NCAA Div III rushing leader in late 60's. Needless to say he is an athlete. Hits it 260 on average plays from the Golds with the rest of us curmudgeons. We pimp him out the whole round. 😄

IMO 65 is when you reach senior age.

Par4QC

sdandrea1 I play with a 69 year old who hits it 250+. No way he's moving up!

Why not? What does he do with his second shot?

Last 2 rounds I'm behind older, & vain, players. How do I know they are vain.....they hit driver off the white tees, then proceed to hit the ball 2-3 more times to get on the green,(Par3s excepted) every hole. MTF up, and give yourself the chance to hit every green in reg. & shoot lower scores/have more fun . After all, you are considered a 'senior' and have the right to play those tees.

garyt1957

sdandrea1 Handicap and distance off the tee.

Simply distance off the tee for me. If you can't get to the green in regulation on quite a few shots, or you have to hit 3 wood as your second shot into greens designed to accept a short iron, you should move up. Even if your short game can rescue you and keep your handicap down.
But people should play any tees that make the game fun for them. If you hit it 300 and can shoot in the 70's from 6500 yards but like moving up to shoot in the 60's I say go for it if it makes you happy.

garyt1957

scotts33 Seems like that would be a boring game for him.

sdandrea1

Par4QC Why not? What does he do with his second shot?

He's not moving up because there's only one set of tees left......Red, and they're under 5000 yards. He can reach all the par 4s in reg and one of the 5s in two. He doesn't because his game isn't that good off the ground or around the greens, but from the reds, he'll be driving some of the par 4s.

Typhoon

Rex, they cut your leg off and count the rings?

sdandrea1

garyt1957 Take Steve for example who has posted he's in driver Hell, but he's still able to score because he's playing the right tees.

Yep,
I score because my short drives are in the fairway and I can chip and putt. I hit VERY few greens in REG. I play sub-6K tees. More like 5700 y.

garyt1957

Typhoon Absolutely, At work yesterday 2 carts of millennial hacks are sitting at the first tee. One of them says, “Playing the blue tees right?” One of the others says, ” I can’t see a reason not to!” I then said, “ I said I have a reason, “ how about I can’t break 75??” They just stood there with the same stupid look I see all day.... I just stood there. They played the whites.

Chances are they can't shoot 75 from the reds. What do they do, go home?

Eguller

Typhoon

At least my comments generated some discussion. What are the reasons tees are set where they are ?
Obviously, distance plays a role. So does the purpose of having fun. I have a playing buddy who is 81 y.o.
and plays the short up (junior, etc.) tees. He routinely shoot in the low to mid 70's. When we move him
back to the 'senior' tees, he shoots mid to upper 80's. He play to a 2 hdcp from the up tees and prefers it.
He was a very good golfer. Our 'senior' gang allows anyone to play the tees they wish, with appropriate handicap.
He doesn't enjoy trying to play the 'senior' tees with a 10 hdcp. Works for us. Depending upon health and injuries,
I play one of the back tees for the extra strokes and can still move it out far enough to enjoy the challenge. YMMV

Typhoon

garyt1957

Itd be fine with me, we get enough calls to fill the place 2 times over everyday!

Youd come a lot closer to 75 from the reds, not spend so much time out there holding everyone up. Probably enjoy it more. Even shooting 100 from the reds instead of 130 from the blues, who’d you rather be playing behind? Oh and multiply it times 4 for the foursome. I see it all day, we know the times when people take the turn and who is holding up the pace of play.

ive played plenty of courses where there is a sign on the first tee next to the blues or blacks saying if your handicap is not 5 or less you cannot play these tees.