In this week’s blog post, Innsbrook’s PGA Head Golf Professional Kevin Corn addresses a common issue he hears from golfers in the Pro Shop – where they should really be teeing off from and why.

Kevin Corn

“Over the winter we had several avid golfers stop by the Innsbrook Pro Shop to discuss a variety of topics. One of the common questions that was asked multiple times concerned tee boxes and more specifically, playing from the correct tee box.

Many people mistakenly think that the blue tees are for men, white tees for seniors and red tees for ladies. Actually, this is incorrect. Determining which tee box a golfer should play from is dependent upon how far that player hits their tee shot – not gender or age.

Some of you may remember the joint initiative from 2011 between the PGA of America and the U.S. Golf Association called ‘Tee It Forward.’ The purpose of this initiative was to encourage players to play from a set of tees best suited to their driving distance.

For example, a golfer who averages 225 yards off the tee should play a par 72 golf course with a total distance of 5,800-6,000 yards. According to past PGA President Allen Wronowski, golfers who followed this advice ‘told us that they found golf more enjoyable by playing courses at shorter lengths than usual. At the end of the day, that’s what we want . . . golfers to have more fun, which, in turn, hopefully means they will play more and stay in the game.’

After all, unless you are in the less than 1 percent of players who play for a living, you are playing the game to have fun!

A beautiful spring day at the course.

If you are one of those people stuck on age and/or gender being the deciding factor on which tees to play, keep these two thoughts in mind: Fred Couples is 57-years-old, which would entitle him, by most people’s thinking, to play from the ‘senior’ tees. So far this year, he is averaging 292.7 yards per tee shot. By that same flawed thinking, Lexi Thompson would be able to play from the ‘ladies’ tees. She is averaging 287.06 yards per tee shot. Do you want to play them from the tees you think they should play from, or the tees their driving distance says they should play?

Feel free to stop into the Pro Shop to ask questions and get more information on how to select the most appropriate tee box for your game.

The remodeled Innsbrook Pro Shop.

The next time you get out on the course, give this idea a try! Play the appropriate tees according to your driving distance and see how much more you enjoy the game.”

Our Opening Day tournament is coming up on Saturday, April 9! Learn more and find out about other upcoming golf events on our website.