Last year Barney Adams pushed the idea golfers play from tees that are too long for their ability and should move up a set, at least. According toAdams, founder of Adams Golf and golf industry iconoclast, that would mean they could, “…be hitting eight-irons and wedges into par fours like the pros…not fairway woods.”
In other words the 99.99 percent of golfers who do not make their living on the links are playing for recreation and recreation is supposed to be fun. It’s undeniably more fun to play holes of a length you have a chance of reaching with a couple of good shots rather than par-4s that require a driver, then a 3-wood, then a 9-iron and maybe another iron since the 9-iron missed the green.
A lot more fun.
Playing the set of tees commensurate with their ability golfers will score better which is a huge inducement to play more and spend more money on golf and get friends/family playing and…well you get the idea. All are good things for the health of the game, fiscal and otherwise.
The PGAof America and United States Golf Association embraced the idea of playing shorter tees and created the TEEIT FORWARD program which was successfully tested last July. The results were encouraging so now the two associations are asking golfers to tee it forward all year long.
Almost one-quarter million golfers participated in the one month trial and 70 percent found their round more enjoyable and over 90 percent said they would recommend TEEIT FORWARD to a friend. The survey also found nearly 50 percent of respondents saying the program helped them play faster.
“I’ve been around the game for more than 30 years and continue to be amazed as golfers make it much harder than it should be by playing golf courses at distances that don’t come close to matching their abilities,” said Adams. “By playing from forward tees, amateur golfers have the chance to play the course at the same relative distance as a touring professional would over 18 holes. We need golfers to be hitting eight-irons and wedges into par fours like the pros…not fairway woods.”
Obviously courses can cooperate in this program by setting tee markers at appropriate distances so for example if you always play the “Blue Tees” at 6,700-yards and the course resets those tees to 6,400-yards you would be “teeing it forward.”
Many, if not most, men are over matched by the course they play. They don’t have the length or ability reach most greens in regulation and post reasonable scores. At the heart of this condition is that they believe they hit the ball, especially tee shots, farther that is really the case. Studies have shown the average weekend warrior hits drives in the range of 200-yard but when asked they answer is usually 225…or better. This makes playing much less scoring well on a 7,000-yard layout almost impossible and definitely not fun.
The good news is the “let’s play it from the tips” mentality is almost entirely a male phenomenon since women are presumably too smart to put up with that kind of foolishness.
If thePGATour set up their courses proportionate to the length most amateurs are trying to play, the guys on “the big show” would face 8,000-yard monsters each week. Pars would be tough to make and thought of as birdies are now.
The whole idea of playing up a set of tees makes sense from so many aspects and thePGAand USGA have the right idea pushingTEEIT FORWARD next season.
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