Fun Golf…in your late 60’s or 70’s.
Ok, my golf buddies look at me funny, but they seem to tolerate my tweeking the Great Game of Golf. They probabally are a bit jealous that I am significantly out driving even the younger guys. As you read this, remember it’s a whole lot cheaper that paying thousands of dollars on lessons and equipment to learn to hit 270 yard drives. And why not just enjoy it for free!
BTW: I don’t recommend the lessons or equipment, if you never had it you won’t learn it that way. Been there done that!
I’ve been tinkering around with the Tee it Forward game for a while now. Most of 2018. I decided to write it up properly. I’ve never read about this game at least developed to the extent I’ve done.
If you remember my Tee-It-Forward table a few months ago…the spec on the Boundary White tees is:
| Boundary White | 6372 | 250 yard drives needed |
For those of us driving 200 yards or less….
| Average Drive to Tee Distance Matrix | |||
| Drive | Min | Max Tee Distance | Mid Point |
| 200 | 5200 | 5400 | 5300 |
| 187.5 | 4800 | 5000 | 4900 |
| 175 | 4400 | 4600 | 4500 |
There is actually nothing quite short enough for us 175 yard drivers…..
Just to mention, the reason the ideal Tee-It-Forward course would be so short is because not only do our Drives go shorter, so do all of our clubs, mine average between 1/3 and almost 1/2 the distance of pro-golfers. So the short course length is need since it compensates for all your through the green shots. One can go through the math, but the normal “real” pro who drives 275 yds, would play 6,900 yard courses, where as I’m playing between a 5,700-5,900 yard course, to compensate for all those shorter 2nd and 3rd shots. Seems fair to me.
Recently I have been experimenting on playing back at the White or even Blue tees(too long for me), and playing a game where I extend my drive but hitting a 2nd short from the fairway, but counting that shot as just an extension to my drive.
This allows for sort of a fantasy play where the short driver is able to emulate the longer drive player. And there are a few unexpected benefits.
It actually speeds up play, since by hitting shorter drives off the back tees one can tee off early since the players ahead clear faster. And even on the 2nd extension drive play is faster since you are only hitting a short positioning shot, rather than trying to hit it as far as you can. You don’t have to wait for the foursome ahead to clear.
I also found one does not hit as many wild shots doing this.
Initially, I tried it using a wedge to extend my drive.
Lately, I’ve been trying to play positional golf on the par 4’s and 5’s. Using any short iron.
How does this work. There are two ways:
The simple method is just hit your drive (par 4’s and 5’s) and take out whatever short iron you want to extend your drive with. I’ve used, 8’s, 9’s, or any of my wedges. Generally, for the course I play hitting a club that gives me a 70-100 yard extension of my drive seems to be optimal. There are times will hit even my driver or a longer iron, if my drive is wide and I need to hit a low shot under trees. But don’t try to hit is with those clubs more than 100 yards.
The second method is a bit more detail., and helps you calibrate to the course you are playing.
- Look at the score card hole yardage.
- Determine you course objective for the round on what average green in regulation distance you are positioning hit your approach from.
- For my game I use 100 yards. I’d like to be shooting to the green from on average 100 yard.
- So for Boundary Oaks 1st hole – 396yds, I subtract 100 yard, it’s a par 4 so I want to be hitting my 2nd shot from 296yds from the tee.
- So then I estimate what drive and extension do I need to reach the 296yds target. For me that is 180 yard drive and 115 yard 7 iron.
- You can adjust this as needed for uphill or into the wind conditions.
- So you hit those two first shots. Obviously, shots will not be perfect, so I may endup anywhere short or past the 100 yard marker. (Btw: with all this practice your short-iron performace actually begins to improve.)
- I then play into the green, chip, putt as normal.
This is particularly fun on holes number 8 and number 10 where the down hill slope will often leave the drive near the 100 yard marker. On these holes I have the possibility of Fantasy Driving the Par 4 Green. Think big league Pro level Eagle 2’s!
Par or Better
The goal is to get as close to par as you can for the round……of course you still have really hit those 14 other shots, but I don’t count them, I just pretend I am a 250-270 yard driver. Under these rules I don’t play using my handicap, just my “Gross” score.
One last point, you can still add back the 14 extra strokes you have taken if you are not playing mulligen golf and post your score…you might surprise yourself and find that playing a conservative 2nd shot, actually keeps you out of a lot of trouble and your handicap begins to shrink!
Update: October 2018…I’ve been successful at playing Boundary Oaks: Front Adjusted Whites (I play White Tees on par 4’s and 5’s and Gold on the par 3’s) 3,018 yds; Back Gold Tee’s 2,903 yds or course of 5,921 yds….if I subtract my 14 extra 100 yd short irons, the course plays like 4,521 yds, which is right in my Tee-It-Forward 175 yard drive goal. If I play the Gold Tee’s, it would be a short 4,300 yards, and a bit easier on the Front.
I’ve managed rounds of 2 under this way, and playing it a bit easier using all the Gold tees, I ‘ve had one round of 65, 7 under par, with two Eagles.
Call it macho golf, positional golf or fantasy golf whatever you want.
I encourage you to try it.
Or just play your normal game with your normal handicap.
But I found this more fun.
Just Walking Together 