tee placement Cancel The title field is required!

1. Ryden Cody J

   
   5/16/2013 7:05 AM

   Hey guys,
   I have an Owner that is telling me that the TEES must be placed with the pins to keep a more uniform distance to the score card. He even goes to the extreme of saying its a USGA rule. I have seen other courses do this but i have never done this,nor do i want to do this because I don't have enough time to do this every time we set pins. we are a low round course with very few employes. Just looking to get some advice on the matter.

   
   
   
   
2. Peter Bowman

   

   11 posts
   
   5/16/2013 7:05 AM

   He's the owner.

   
   
   
   
3. Marsh Greg

   
   5/16/2013 8:05 AM

   Yes, he's the owner......but who wants to play the same hole at the same yardage every single time? Tweaking the yardage is a great way to give your golfers a different look on the same hole or compensate for adverse weather conditions. It's done every week......Thursday through Sunday! If I were in your shoes I would point this out to my owner, but not mention anything about staffing........just my 2 cents.

   
   
   
   
4. Timothy Walker

   

   0 posts
   
   5/16/2013 6:05 PM

   It is a guideline by the USGA - same as having an equal mix of front middle back and left right center pin placements would be. on a daily basis sometimes this doesnt always work out due to varying conditions of the environment, turf, architectural design, or weather. With that said, if you're a low rounds facility chances are you're not changing pins and tee markers on the same day...so I would ask him if he would like to hire additional staff to perform daily full course set up of moving the tees and pins.
   
   However, the bottom line is if he signs your paycheck, it would make sense to do what he asks if he insists this be done.

   
   
   
   
5. Ryden Cody J

   
   5/17/2013 7:05 AM

   thanks guys. I do understand he is the owner so I didn't tell him no on the matter. I just wanted to see what other people were doing. From what I have seen playing other golf courses, not many of them do move the tees blocks in conjunction with the pins.

   
   
   
   
6. Sean Hoolehan

   

   0 posts
   
   5/17/2013 9:05 AM

   Cody,
   
   It really does make a difference in handicap equity. The course should play at the rated length. If you want to give your players more variety you can mix up tees focusing on relative course length. If I put blue markers on a tee rated for the white tees I also make sure to put blue markers on a tee rated for our gold tees (Gold is the color of our back tees). I am still going to end up with the blue tees playing 6620ish yards but the players who normally play the Blue tees are going to play 2 holes differently. Course length is the biggest factor in determining course rating. So if your players are posting a score from a course rated from 6620 yards but it only played 6400, theoretically they are not posting correctly and if this is done very often it could undermine the regulars handicap. To the golf purest (and there are a few of them) this is a big deal. The other 90% of our players don't care where the markers are on the tee, but they do like having a chance to make a par. The most important thing is getting them to play from the proper distance.
   
   Good Luck

   
   
   
   
7. Sandy Clark

   

   0 posts
   
   5/17/2013 9:05 AM

   Your owner is wrong as to thinking it is a USGA rule. Like Sean says, if the total yardage at the end of 18 holes is close to the scorecard, you are still within the letter of the GUIDELINE. It is however pretty tough to argue with an owner. You might see if your local USGA Greens Section Agronomist can provide you information to clarify the guideline but certainly don't make this an arguing point with your owner. Maybe you can manage to carefully educate him on the matter.

   
   
   
   
8. Andrew Cross

   

   5 posts
   
   5/18/2013 7:05 PM

   When I was at Oakland Hills we were instructed to try and keep the markers within 25 yards of the official marker stone per nine. So worst case scenario we were only 50yds off the score card and we balanced our pins with six each, front back middle. Worked well and made the set up guy pay attention throughout the whole process.
   
   So I might put number 1 tee 15 yds longer but number 2 tee 20 yds shorter i'm net 5 yds shorter so far. Allows you to easily adjust for tee wear.

   
   
   
   
9. Keith Pegg

   

   0 posts
   
   5/19/2013 6:05 PM

   He is the owner, so he gets what he wants, THE USGA has no rule like that but you do not need to tell him. He is the owner!
   
   Keith

   
   
   
   
10. Jason Knuutila

    

    0 posts
    
    5/24/2013 7:05 PM

    Guess you'd better compensate for the wind, temperature and humidity.

    
    
    
    
11. Peter Bowman

    

    11 posts
    
    5/24/2013 8:05 PM

    Jason Knuutila said: Guess you'd better compensate for the wind, temperature and humidity.

    
    
    So do you move them up or back on a 550 yd par 5 with the wind at your back?