Course yardage distance between tee boxes?

[bazinky]

What do you think is the most appropriate distance gap between tee boxes? I know you can't always just go on yardage as the design and other factors can play a role, but I've always felt that anything more than 300-400 yards is too big of a gap.

 

I occasionally meet up with a group of guys who have a pretty wide range of handicaps. We play mostly for the camaraderie, so it's preferable to have everyone playing the same tees. Lately, we've been running into more and more situations where the gaps between tee boxes are between 600-700 yards, which usually means someone is not going to be terribly pleased at the tees we play.

 

I know adding more tee boxes at those places would probably be cost prohibitive, but all they would really need to do is rate a set of combo tees.

[Argonne69]

I agree. I think 300 yards is a decent gap. 600 is definitely too much. If the gap is too big, and there's no combo tee(s) on the scorecard, I'll create my own combo set.

 

I've talked to the managers at many courses regarding the large gaps, and encouraged them to create combo tees, as it's basically a scorecard (w/ rating) change.

[Z1ggy16]

Most good courses I play it's generally 300. The longest course I play is something like 7100 tips, 6800 next, then ~6400 for senior/ladies. I've played a few shorter courses where the tips are like 6800 and the next set is barely any shorter, with the biggest difference being the angle the tees give you onto the fairway, which I find to be strange.

[Roadking2003]

Most good courses I play it's generally 300. The longest course I play is something like 7100 tips, 6800 next, then ~6400 for senior/ladies. I've played a few shorter courses where the tips are like 6800 and the next set is barely any shorter, with the biggest difference being the angle the tees give you onto the fairway, which I find to be strange.

 

6400 is WAY too long for most seniors and all ladies.

[DavePelz4]

I agree. I think 300 yards is a decent gap. 600 is definitely too much. If the gap is too big, and there's no combo tee(s) on the scorecard, I'll create my own combo set.

 

I've talked to the managers at many courses regarding the large gaps, and encouraged them to create combo tees, as it's basically a scorecard (w/ rating) change.

 

Arg is the Godfather of the combo tees.

[Roadking2003]

What do you think is the most appropriate distance gap between tee boxes? I know you can't always just go on yardage as the design and other factors can play a role, but I've always felt that anything more than 300-400 yards is too big of a gap.

 

I agree except for ladies tees. Most new courses have at least five sets of tees, so they can accommodate all skill levels. I like to see something like this; 7200+, 6800, 6400, 6000, 5200 (Ladies). Lots of older courses were designed without ladies tees and they later just put some red markers 20 - 30 yards past the men's tees. So the ladies are playing at 6000 yards and can't reach most par fours in two or else hit driver / fairway wood to almost every hole. That's no fun.

[Argonne69]

I played Conestoga GC in Mesquite, NV in April. I consider this an excellent set of tees. You have 5 teeboxes ranging from 5017 to 7232. In addition they've created two combo tees to reduce the 872 yard and 489 yard gaps between the Jade/Copper and Copper/Silver. By comparison, Coyote Springs has five sets of tees, but the gaps are too large in my opinion. I played a Blue/White combo at ~6500 yards. I could easily see Gold/White and Blue/Black combo tees.

 

 

[Z1ggy16]

Most good courses I play it's generally 300. The longest course I play is something like 7100 tips, 6800 next, then ~6400 for senior/ladies. I've played a few shorter courses where the tips are like 6800 and the next set is barely any shorter, with the biggest difference being the angle the tees give you onto the fairway, which I find to be strange.

 

6400 is WAY too long for most seniors and all ladies.

 

Sry was a typo, meant 5400, not 6400. Just checked the actual card though and the tips aren't over 7k. It feels like it though as there's 4 holes that are severely uphill and 1 or 2 with slight uphills. Need very good long iron game to score well..

[umassgolfer]

For me the issue is where the large gaps are. If a course wants to tip out at 7,300 yards, and then have their next set at 6,700 or 6,800, then 6,400 or so...that's fine to me. But at a lot of the courses I play I have to choose between 6,800 for the tips or 6,100 for one box up.

 

I feel like a LOT of golfers should be playing in the 6,500 range, so to completely ignore that distance is a big oversight IMO

[bazinky]

For me the issue is where the large gaps are. If a course wants to tip out at 7,300 yards, and then have their next set at 6,700 or 6,800, then 6,400 or so...that's fine to me. But at a lot of the courses I play I have to choose between 6,800 for the tips or 6,100 for one box up.

 

I feel like a LOT of golfers should be playing in the 6,500 range, so to completely ignore that distance is a big oversight IMO

 

These are the the exact type of courses we have been running into the problem on. All the guys in the group are pretty athletic, so even the higher caps can manage a 6400 yard course without too much problem. It's only when we get into the 6700 + range they start to struggle. The combination of long irons into greens and questionable short games makes seems to have an additive effect for these guys which makes them have a LOT less fun.

 

Conversely, the better golfers in our group don't really like going much under 6,300 yards. Nothing like taking your brand new custom-fit driver with that fancy shaft you always wanted to the course, and never getting to hit it!

[teejaywhy]

I'm for less tee boxes and more combo ratings. Definitely becomes hard to offer a reasonable split when courses are stretching well beyond 7200 yards.

[mark m]

A good total distance gap between tee boxes is 400 - 450 yards which is about 22 - 25 yards difference per hole. Why?

 

This works well as it should make the course rating around 2.0 difference between the tees and therefore makes for more equitable competition if players are playing different tees. A 300 to 340 gap makes the difference 1.4 or 1.5 and then you have to round up or down. If you are unable to make a 425 yard gaps happen due to terrain or whatever, then I agree the best option for larger gaps is combo tees.

 

A gap of about 220 yards makes for 1.0 difference. This is just 12 yards per hole however. You will typically see tees moved around daily - sometimes 10 or more yards up or back from the permanent yardage plate - to maintain turf conditions. So small gaps can work against you and lead to poor turf conditions.

[Roadking2003]

For me the issue is where the large gaps are. If a course wants to tip out at 7,300 yards, and then have their next set at 6,700 or 6,800, then 6,400 or so...that's fine to me. But at a lot of the courses I play I have to choose between 6,800 for the tips or 6,100 for one box up.

 

I feel like a LOT of golfers should be playing in the 6,500 range, so to completely ignore that distance is a big oversight IMO

 

These are the the exact type of courses we have been running into the problem on. All the guys in the group are pretty athletic, so even the higher caps can manage a 6400 yard course without too much problem. It's only when we get into the 6700 + range they start to struggle. The combination of long irons into greens and questionable short games makes seems to have an additive effect for these guys which makes them have a LOT less fun.

 

Conversely, the better golfers in our group don't really like going much under 6,300 yards. Nothing like taking your brand new custom-fit driver with that fancy shaft you always wanted to the course, and never getting to hit it!

 

Augusta National is 6365 from the member's tees.

[OutBackHack]

For me the issue is where the large gaps are. If a course wants to tip out at 7,300 yards, and then have their next set at 6,700 or 6,800, then 6,400 or so...that's fine to me. But at a lot of the courses I play I have to choose between 6,800 for the tips or 6,100 for one box up.

 

I feel like a LOT of golfers should be playing in the 6,500 range, so to completely ignore that distance is a big oversight IMO

 

These are the the exact type of courses we have been running into the problem on. All the guys in the group are pretty athletic, so even the higher caps can manage a 6400 yard course without too much problem. It's only when we get into the 6700 + range they start to struggle. The combination of long irons into greens and questionable short games makes seems to have an additive effect for these guys which makes them have a LOT less fun.

 

Conversely, the better golfers in our group don't really like going much under 6,300 yards. Nothing like taking your brand new custom-fit driver with that fancy shaft you always wanted to the course, and never getting to hit it!

 

Augusta National is 6365 from the member's tees.

 

The average member is 63 to 65.

[larrybud]

Played a nice course yesterday called Northville Hills, but their gap between the tips and the next one up was 800 yards (7000 to 6200)!! Never saw anything that large. Would like to see a combo set of tees of about 6500 would be perfect. Easy to do on this course since every par 5 was under 500 yards, and a couple of par 4s <330ish. I wouldn't touch the par 3s since 3 of the 4 were forced carries.