For most of 2023, I harangued any golfer in my presence about which tee boxes to play for maximum competitiveness – and fun. My point was that course ratings and slope ratings are meaningless as signposts for what tees many aging golfer whose days of 200+ yards are behind them. The overriding consideration about what tee boxes to play should be how far a golfer hits his (or her) best tee shots on par 4 holes. My best drives on 350-yard holes leave me typically with a 7-wood approach shot – a 5-wood if the wind is blowing in. If I strike it perfectly, I have a long-odds chance of making it to the green. Meanwhile, the younger, stronger and more flexible “kids” in my group are playing from tees 50 yards behind me and hitting their drives at least a few yards beyond mine. Even if we have the same distance to the green, I will be hitting, say, a 6 iron; they will be hitting an 8- or 9-iron. Advice: Don’t ever get snookered into a match in which the difference between your distance and theirs off the tee is the only handicap accommodation. Argue for some strokes as well.
My cause celebre about tee boxes was put to the test on a recent Saturday in Vero Beach, FL when my son Tim, who lives there, invited me to participate in the Saturday “Blitz” at the 36-hole Sandridge Golf Club, the county course 20 minutes from his home. For the Blitz, you throw $35 into the pot – that includes green fees and cart, a great bargain – and the winners are those who put up the best scores against their handicaps, using a Stableford-like point system. For extra measure, there is also a skins game. If few (or no) birdies or eagles are made and skins are carried over, the payoff for the one or two players who win them can be considerable.
There is just enough sand and water on the Dunes course at Sandridge Golf Club in Vero Beach to make things difficult if you play the wrong tees. This is the par 4 5th hole, which played to just 230 yards.The organizers of the event permit double-digit handicap players who are older than 70 – I am a 75-year-old carrying a 12 handicap – to play the “Green” tees at a total distance of 5,064 yards. My younger foursome partners played the Blue tees at 6,200 yards. Only one par 4 on the Dunes Course extended beyond 350 yards from my tees, at 362. (That hole played 39 yards longer for the rest of the foursome.)
My other par 4 holes ranged between 230 yards and 310 yards. On only one hole, that 230-yard hole for me, were the Blue tees more than 100 yards behind mine. On that hole, as I recall, my son’s drive and mine were pretty much side by side, with wedge approaches for both of us. I had a good day driving the golf ball between 180 and 195 yards thanks to some firm fairways and straight drives. Off the tee, I was in range in the fairways of the other members of the foursome. Even though they were hitting two or three clubs less on most of their approach shots, I felt competitive.
And I was. Tee to green I played one of my best rounds of the year, shot a 79 and beat my nearest competitor in the field of 14 by two strokes. I even picked up a skin (with a birdie on a par 3) and was the big winner of the day. Having reasonable distances from fairway to green gave me confidence that I could play with my younger and stronger competitors. So, my strong advice is this: Try moving up a tee box or two if your playing partners are busting their tee balls well past yours. I can almost guarantee you will enjoy the 19th hole better than usual.