Tee it forward

Help improve the game by moving up a set of tees

A new approach to golf has had people taking a fresh look at how they see the game. This approach is called Tee it Forward, a concept that leading golf professionals like Jack Nicklaus are really getting behind. What Tee it Forward suggests is that rather than playing on the longest set of tees, golfers should move up to the shorter tees to allow for a new and more exciting approach to the game.

The right fit

We’ve all been out on the course and seen a bunch of young and inexperienced golfers thinking that they should be teeing off from the championship tees, only to fail miserably and fall short. The important lesson to learn from these people is that playing the wrong tees will drastically slow down not just your own, but everyone else’s game, and potentially create a traffic jam in the middle of the course.

So how do you find which tees are the right ones for you? One way to start is to make sure that you know your golf handicap. If you don’t know what your handicap is, check out this WikiHow page for five easy steps to help you with the calculation.

Once you have a number, most golf courses will have a recommendation on their scorecard for which tee boxes to use based on your handicap. However, this sometimes does not work. Maybe you’re having an off day on the course, maybe the specific course you’re playing has longer tee boxes than others that you’ve played, or maybe they just aren’t the right fit.

Gendered tees no more

Too often, golfers will be playing on tees that don’t match up to their skill level, for a variety of reasons. Perhaps it is that they think they are a better player than they actually are, or maybe it’s that a man feels inadequate for playing on the tees that have been specifically designated for women. In fact, there are no such things as “women’s” or “men’s” tees—the colours and distances from each tee box are designated as such based on each individual player’s handicap. 

The tee boxes have historically been designated by gender because generally women have a lower amount of muscle than men due to differences in hormones such as testosterone. Thus, in application, men should typically be naturally able to have more force in their swing and have longer drives than women. Hence the distinction.

However, this does not mean that a man who has less muscle mass or just a shorter drive should not be resigned to only using the designated men’s tees, nor does it mean that a woman who is stronger or has a longer drive should not feel comfortable driving from the championship tees. This concept is one of the bases for the practice of Teeing it Forward.

Benefits to moving up

Teeing if forward has been proven to help golfers score lower, make more difficult shots, and just have an overall better enjoyment of the game. The most noticeable benefit, though? Speed of play.

Golf is a very long game, and some rounds can have a duration of up to five hours for four people. We all love the game, but five straight hours can be a lot to endure. The idea of Teeing it Forward helps to not only shorten the holes, but to potentially allow for a drastic cut in the number of strokes per hole.

Teeing it Forward isn’t the only practice that courses have been suggesting to help deal with the length of the game. Many golf clubs and resorts are working to install smaller, shorter courses so that patrons have the option to still play nine unique holes, only with shorter distance. Shorter distance, shorter run-time.

Overall, what golfers really must remember is that if you’re golfing for fun, there is no reason to get caught in an ego trap. Move up to the tees that fit your game, and help to improve the game for everyone by Teeing it Forward.