I recently read an article in the National club Golfer magazine in respect of the continual debate of which tees should be used by golfers and in particular should the ‘back tees’ only be used for competitions.
Here in Spain for example it is not uncommon to have white, yellow, blue and red tees which tend to be used as follows:
White Tees – Major Competitions only
Yellow Tees – General Play
Blue Tees – Older and Adolescent golfers
Red Tees – Ladies and Junior golfers
This all seems very fair because in many ways the tee used reflects the ability, capabilities and the distance the players generally hit the golf ball and none of us want to go on the golf course and struggle to reach the fairways with a good shot.
The majority of the arguments were around the use of the back tees or ‘tips’ as they used to be called and there were three main points raised, namely:
You have paid your money so you should be able to play off whichever tees suit your abilities on non-competition days.
Golf can become boring playing the same tees on the same course every time you play.
Golfers need to be careful not to push their golfing abilities to the limit by playing the ‘longest track’ possible.
I am sure this is a debate held on a regular basis with golf club memberships and societies and I am sure that we all have our own opinions on the subject.
My own personal opinion is that when you have paid an annual subscription or green fee, none of which are cheap these days, then you should have the right to play off whatever tee you feel best suits your golfing abilities, without your ego getting in the way.
|