Golf!!!2!

[Weitz]

Played 36 at priddis today. It’s actually pretty great value as a guest if you do 36 in a day. Played pretty awful (92 on raven and 93 on hawk) but was a great day. Only a bit of rain on hole 25.

[Northendzone]

i managed to get out twice on the weekend - blue devil on satruday and sun catcher at serentiy on sunday. Lost a total of 4 balls.

105 on saturday from the blues and i belevie i had 100 on sunday from the whites. my gamin watch glitched as i am not sure that the garmin golf app has all 18 holes of sun catcher on it; however, i am trying to update my watch via garmin and their servers are supposedly down.

this weekend i am heading to kimberly bc with some guys from work to play shadow mtn, bootleg gap and trickle creek. i have played bootleg before. but not the otehr two.

i will be interested to see how i play in the second game on friday as i have never played twice in a day.

[mrkajz44]

Curious on people's thoughts about selecting tee boxes. What is your go to when making that decision? I've usually just picked whatever is closest to 6000 yards, but recently I've been looking at course ranking and slope and seeing how different 6000 vs 6250 can be. Is the course really that much tougher? Seems like most of the extra yardage would be on par 5s which I rarely go for it in 2 anyway.

This usually results in me picking the second furthest from the back (blues) or doing a blue/white mix. My handicap has bounced around in the mid to high teens for that past few years for refence.

[Winsor_Pilates]

I usually play off what my group does, so we don't have to use multiple tee boxes and slow things.

Buy as I get better, I'm going to move to playing off blues consistently as my distances are pretty solid and I really should be there.

[prarieboy]

Originally Posted by mrkajz44

Curious on people's thoughts about selecting tee boxes. What is your go to when making that decision? I've usually just picked whatever is closest to 6000 yards, but recently I've been looking at course ranking and slope and seeing how different 6000 vs 6250 can be. Is the course really that much tougher? Seems like most of the extra yardage would be on par 5s which I rarely go for it in 2 anyway.

This usually results in me picking the second furthest from the back (blues) or doing a blue/white mix. My handicap has bounced around in the mid to high teens for that past few years for refence.

It's might be hard to gauge on new courses but I try to avoid Tee Boxes that make me hit really long into the green on my second shot. 160 and less fine. 185-200 hundred in I think I' should be moving up a set of tees.

[Northendzone]

similar to the above, i would tend to defer to the the majority of the group - unless they were playing something like black or silver.

to me i feel that backing up to blue likely costs me 5 or so strokes and maybe an extra ball or two.

[sec304]

Going to play Greywolf this weekend! So excited, haven't played it for about a decade

[GomerPile]

I have a 4.2 index. If I am playing to score, I will play the tips. If I am playing with my buddies we usually try to keep it around 62-300 yards. That to me is the sweet spot, Par 5's can be reachable, longer par 3's and rarely a par 4 over 400 yds.

[Enoch Root]

Originally Posted by sec304

Going to play Greywolf this weekend! So excited, haven't played it for about a decade

Nice! Please report back on its shape and your experience.

[Enoch Root]

Originally Posted by GomerPile

I have a 4.2 index. If I am playing to score, I will play the tips. If I am playing with my buddies we usually try to keep it around 62-300 yards. That to me is the sweet spot, Par 5's can be reachable, longer par 3's and rarely a par 4 over 400 yds.

I always find the course ratings from the various tees interesting. The tips might be 7,000 yards, then the next box 6,500 and then the next box 6,000 (or whatever), and the rating will differ for each by maybe a couple points. But I find the difference to be massive. If I play 6,800 - 7,000 yards, I will struggle to break 90. If I play 65ish, I will be low to mid-80s. At 6k, I should break 80.

I have never felt that the ratings properly reflect the difference in difficulty. Moving from a 9i-W to 7-8i to 5-6i for the approach on a par 4 (for the 3 tee boxes), is massive, IMO, with respect to how hard the hole is.

[Enoch Root]

Originally Posted by mrkajz44

Curious on people's thoughts about selecting tee boxes. What is your go to when making that decision? I've usually just picked whatever is closest to 6000 yards, but recently I've been looking at course ranking and slope and seeing how different 6000 vs 6250 can be. Is the course really that much tougher? Seems like most of the extra yardage would be on par 5s which I rarely go for it in 2 anyway.

This usually results in me picking the second furthest from the back (blues) or doing a blue/white mix. My handicap has bounced around in the mid to high teens for that past few years for refence.

I think the trend today is for people to play too far back. "Be a man - play from the tips!". I think this is one of the biggest causes of slow play. Golf is supposed to be fun, not an endurance test.

I remember once reading something that said you should play from the front tee until you can shoot par, then move back one and work on that tee. I think there is a lot of validity to that.

For me, the big difference is the par 3 and 4s. Once you are over 6,500 and especially at 7,000, most of the par 3s are 200+. The simple fact of the matter is that, for anyone over a single digit handicap, that is too difficult. playing par 3s with hybrids and woods means that you are rarely going to shoot par. Which means the course is playing too hard for you.

The game would be more fun - and the pace of play would be much better - if people moved up to a tee where they have a legit shot at par every hole. That doesn't mean shooting 72, but you should have a chance at breaking 80. If you're consistently shooting 90-95, then you should move up.

Just my opinion.

/rant

[Slava]

Originally Posted by Enoch Root

I think the trend today is for people to play too far back. "Be a man - play from the tips!". I think this is one of the biggest causes of slow play. Golf is supposed to be fun, not an endurance test.

I remember once reading something that said you should play from the front tee until you can shoot par, then move back one and work on that tee. I think there is a lot of validity to that.

For me, the big difference is the par 3 and 4s. Once you are over 6,500 and especially at 7,000, most of the par 3s are 200+. The simple fact of the matter is that, for anyone over a single digit handicap, that is too difficult. playing par 3s with hybrids and woods means that you are rarely going to shoot par. Which means the course is playing too hard for you.

The game would be more fun - and the pace of play would be much better - if people moved up to a tee where they have a legit shot at par every hole. That doesn't mean shooting 72, but you should have a chance at breaking 80. If you're consistently shooting 90-95, then you should move up.

Just my opinion.

/rant

It's interesting though, because when I've play a tee further up I don't see much of a score difference, and same if I move back a tee. It still comes down to short-game for scoring. I know that the argument is that you should be able to get closer to the pin with a shorter approach, and as a result make more putts. I just haven't noticed a huge swing for me.

That said, I might try the more forward tees next time around to see if I can make a significant difference.

[mrkajz44]

Interesting thoughts on the tees. I looked a bit online and found this to be a rule of thumb I never heard of:

Distance of your 5 iron x 36 = Ideal yardage

I'd say I hit my 5 iron around 180 or so, which would mean 6,480 is the right distance for me. Seems a bit long, but maybe I'm just playing too short? I do feel like if I have a good drive I rarely hit an approach shot with more than an 8 iron, so maybe I am playing a bit short. This is probably why my "cross over" point seems to be from my 7 to 6 iron, where I have much more confidence with the 7 iron down vs 6 iron up. I just never really hit my 3 to 6 irons much at all each round.

[Enoch Root]

Originally Posted by Slava

It's interesting though, because when I've play a tee further up I don't see much of a score difference, and same if I move back a tee. It still comes down to short-game for scoring. I know that the argument is that you should be able to get closer to the pin with a shorter approach, and as a result make more putts. I just haven't noticed a huge swing for me.

That said, I might try the more forward tees next time around to see if I can make a significant difference.

Interesting.

This probably comes down to: what parts of your game are strongest/weakest, and what do you rely on for scoring.

I play with a guy who can't hit it worth ####, but he gets up and down from anywhere. For him, the tees aren't a huge factor (unless we move back to a point where he simply can't get near the green).

The strength of my game is my iron play. If I can get an 8 iron or less in my hand, I have a good chance at par. If I am hitting a wood and relying on my short game, I'm making bogey. So for me, yardage is huge.

[Enoch Root]

Originally Posted by mrkajz44

Interesting thoughts on the tees. I looked a bit online and found this to be a rule of thumb I never heard of:

Distance of your 5 iron x 36 = Ideal yardage

I'd say I hit my 5 iron around 180 or so, which would mean 6,480 is the right distance for me. Seems a bit long, but maybe I'm just playing too short? I do feel like if I have a good drive I rarely hit an approach shot with more than an 8 iron, so maybe I am playing a bit short. This is probably why my "cross over" point seems to be from my 7 to 6 iron, where I have much more confidence with the 7 iron down vs 6 iron up. I just never really hit my 3 to 6 irons much at all each round.

If I use that, I get 6,840. If I play 6,840 vs 6,340, my score will jump by 5 to 10 strokes (usually more like 10).

As someone else mentioned, it will also mean that I will probably lose a ball or two.

[Mayo]

Originally Posted by sec304

Going to play Greywolf this weekend! So excited, haven't played it for about a decade

I played Greywolf twice last weekend. You're in for a treat, conditions are great right now, greens were soft yet quick.

Every hole on that course could be on a postcard.

[Northendzone]

do they still not allow carts ont eh fairways at greywolf? i found it frustrating in that many times i would take several clubs with me to figure out my next shot.

[flamingreen]

Originally Posted by Slava

It's interesting though, because when I've play a tee further up I don't see much of a score difference, and same if I move back a tee. It still comes down to short-game for scoring. I know that the argument is that you should be able to get closer to the pin with a shorter approach, and as a result make more putts. I just haven't noticed a huge swing for me.

That said, I might try the more forward tees next time around to see if I can make a significant difference.

I think it is something that you have to stick with for a couple rounds to notice the difference. If you are hitting shorter irons into the greens on multiple rounds - the net difference compared to if you were hitting longer irons will be pretty significant to your overall score.

[Weitz]

Originally Posted by Northendzone

do they still not allow carts ont eh fairways at greywolf? i found it frustrating in that many times i would take several clubs with me to figure out my next shot.

I played there in June and we could drive on some of the fairways and some we could not I think?

[JackJack]

Just played Greywolf on Sunday this past week. We were allowed to drive on all the fairways with the exception of 2 holes (#11 and #14? if I recall)