Your enjoyment of a round of golf can be greatly influenced by the tee box you choose from. Choose a tee that’s too short and you’ll be hitting the driver wedge all day; too long, and you’ll feel like you’re being beaten up. The key is finding tees in the Goldilocks zone: just right.
On your home course, or on a course you are familiar with, this is an easy task. But when you take on a new course, choosing the right tees can be more challenging. The last thing you want is to kick yourself in a few holes over an ill-advised tee box selection.
So, what’s the solution? I like to think back to the advice I received from GOLF Top 100 teacher Jon Tattersall a few years ago.
“The best players I coach complete about 50 percent of the hole with their driver on a par-5,” Tattersall said. “And they cover about 60 to 70 percent of the hole with a driver on the par-4.”
That means if you hit your average drive around 250 yards, for example, the par-5s you should play would be around 500 yards, and the par-4s would be around 380 yards. If your well-struck drives don’t cover about 60 percent of the hole’s distance on a par-4, it might be time to move up a tee.
“Most second shots come for good players from between 125 and 175 yards,” Tattersall said. “So, what do you need to work on? Not a lot of 4-irons. If you’re hitting a lot of them into the greens, you’re not playing far enough up.”
This is not a hard and fast rule, and the tee boxes you play may vary depending on the conditions. But if you’re playing a new course for the first time and aren’t sure where to play, this hack might come in handy.
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