how many t boxes on a golf course

by Devan Abshire 10 min read

Most golf courses have at least three sets of tees—the forward tees, middle tees and back (or championship) tees. Other courses might have as many as five, six or seven sets of tees.Nov 4, 2019

Full Answer

How many tee boxes are there in golf?

What does it mean when you have different tee boxes?

How many yards are tees less than the pro tour?

What is a championship tee?

How to know if you need to move to a shorter set of tees?

How many yards does a 5 iron hit?

How long is a golf course?

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What is a tee box on a golf course?

In common usage, "tee box" is just another term for the teeing area (called the teeing ground prior to the 2019 rules revisions), which is the starting point on each hole of a golf course and the area covered by the space in-between two tee markers and two-club-lengths back from the tee markers.

Which tee boxes should I play?

A general rule of thumb to determine which tee box is right for you is if you hit your driver under 200 yards, play from the closest tee. If you hit from 200-225 the next farthest tee, and so on. When you are hitting 275+ accurately you should be playing the farthest tees back.

How many golf tees should I carry?

Tees. Golfers will need a handful of tees with them for 18 holes. Tees can and should be reused. Most golfers will carry two different sizes of tees, one for the driver and one for the shorter holes where an iron is hit off the tee.

How far apart are tee markers?

While there are no restrictions on the positioning of the tee-markers and the width they are placed apart, it is good practice to place the two tee-markers approximately six paces from each other.

How far should you hit a 5 iron?

The average distance a male golfer can hit a 5 Iron golf club is 160 yards. A female can hit a 5 Iron 140 yards. Professional golfers are known to hit 195 to 205 yards with a 5 iron.

Are wood or plastic tees better?

Plastic golf tees are more durable than wood tees. They last longer during an average day on the golf course. They can come in the same colors as wooden tees so they can also be easily spotted on the grass. Another benefit to plastic tees is that they come with zero friction versions.

Should I play from white or blue tees?

White Tees: Men's tees, middle to high handicap, typically the middle option of all the tee boxes, and used by most men. Blue Tees: Men's tees, mostly used for championship or tournament play, and for low handicap male golfers.

How many golf balls should I bring for 18 holes?

Most amateur golfers will be fine bringing nine golf balls with them for a rough of 18 holes. Some will like to keep a dozen balls in the bag, and that is fine, although it is rarely necessary.

What tee box should I play from handicap?

The middle tees are for middle to high handicap men, low-handicap or long-hitting women, and low-handicap or long-hitting senior men. The forward tees are for middle or high handicap women and seniors, and beginners of all stripes.

How far behind tee box can you hit?

two club-lengthsWhere can I tee it from? Your ball must be between the two markers, but you can stand outside. You may tee your ball up to two club-lengths behind the markers, but not an inch in front.

Can you stand in front of tee markers?

You can stand outside the teeing area as long as your ball is within the teeing area. Before you play, you are not allowed to move the tee-markers.

How far back can you go on a tee box?

How far can you tee the ball up behind the markers? Yes, you cannot tee up in front of the tee markers or you will be penalized two strokes. You can go back from the markers a maximum of 2 club lengths.

What color tees should I play from?

Any golfer, regardless of gender or age, whose playing ability best matches the length of the golf course from the white tees should play those tees, whether they are in their traditional middle location or not.

What tee box should I play from handicap?

The middle tees are for middle to high handicap men, low-handicap or long-hitting women, and low-handicap or long-hitting senior men. The forward tees are for middle or high handicap women and seniors, and beginners of all stripes.

What do the different color tee boxes mean?

Green tees are rare and are used on courses to teach novice golfers. Black tees are used almost exclusively for special events such as club championships or professional tournaments. Gold tees can have two purposes. If placed near the tee they are meant for senior players.

At what age do you play the senior tees?

A senior can be defined in a lot of different ways. For the PGA Tour, a Senior is over fifty years old. In golf, there is no set age for when a person must move up to the senior tees. Most of the time, this switch happens around the age of seventy.

Which Tees Should You Play? - Miles of Golf

By Chris Mile I have wanted to tackle this question for sometime because it is a real big deal, and I have seen some half baked answers to this question. In my book, every golfer should have the opportunity to hit par threes in one shot, par fours in two, and par fives in three. …

Why do golf courses use tee boxes?

One notable fact about the tee box is that golf courses often use their own tee markers to give golfers details about the course: most often courses use markers to denote the yardage of each hole, but sometimes courses will use fun tee markers to simply make golfers smile instead.

What is the tee box?

The tee box is the starting point of every hole on the golf course, the place from which golfers play the first stroke of each hole. The tee box is the space between two tee markers (set up by the golf course) and two club-lengths behind those markers. Golfers began referring to the teeing area as a "tee box" because — in ...

Why is the tee box called a tee box?

Golfers began referring to the teeing area as a "tee box" because — in the days before wooden golf tees — the most common method of teeing a bal l was on top of a small mound of wet sand. The sand was made available to golfers inside boxes placed on each teeing ground.

What is the marker on a golf course?

Typically, championship matches use a standard black or gold tee marker at each tee box, but outside of championship play, courses also use white markers to denote the "men's tees," which are most often used by middle or high handicap players.

What is the name of the first stroke in golf?

Tee Box Is the Site of the First Stroke on Each Hole in Golf. In the early history of golf, golfers reached into a box to retrieve sand and used that to form a tee. Hence the term, 'tee box'. Brooke/Topical Press Agency/Getty Images.

What does the green marker mean on a golf course?

Green markers usually denote both the starting point for beginners and junior players and a shorter yardage than even the red markers. Alternatively, green markers can be used to denote senior tees, but so can gold or yellow (when gold is not being used for championship play). This position offers the same yardage as the green markers.

What is the teeing area?

The teeing area is a rectangle that is two club-lengths deep where:

How many tee boxes are there on a golf course?

Normally a golf course has three sets of tee boxes which are segmented according to player handicaps which includes:

Which tee box has the shortest distance?

The forward tees have the shortest distance to the hole, while the back tees provide the longest distance. Scorecards usually include yardages according to color-coding to help players select their starting point. Through practice, deciding the tee box becomes easier as if you feel like you are unable to reach three or four-par holes with a given number of shots, it would be better to move to the shorter set of tees.

How many yards should a low handicap tee be?

Low handicap women and seniors should choose the set of tees with the yardage between 250 and 500 yards less than the averages of the LPGA for women and Champions Tours for seniors.

What is the white tee box?

White tee boxes correspond with men or women with a middle to high handicap who are typically average golfers that can drive the ball between 200 and 250 yards. Often these are referred to as the middle tees, can can also be used by long hitting senior men.

What does the color of a golf tee mean?

Golf tees are color-coded to indicate the distance to the hole on a course. The tee colors are also unofficially associated with a specific age or gender that might limit some players. Golf tee colors are usually common between different courses, especially white, blue and red tees. Other courses choose to include different colors, and the color-coded system depends on player handicaps in golf. At some you must have wondered what the different color tee boxes mean; the common meanings behind some of the colors are:

What are the blue tees in golf?

If the golf course has gold tees, the blue tees are usually closer to the hole, but they are still extremely difficult to play, making them ideal for competitions and tournaments.

Why do professional golfers play back tees?

If you’re a professional player, you’re more likely to have consistent and accurate shots, so you can opt for back tees to provide enough of a challenge for you to enjoy the game. It also makes more sense for a professional player to opt to play from the tips, which is the farthest tee on a golf course, and it usually covers the entire distance of the course.

How many club lengths can you tee up to?

You can tee it up up to two club-lengths behind the front of the tee markers, but never in front.

What is the tee box?

The tee box is the closely mown area that encompasses tee markers, and its boundaries are set by the cut of the grass. The teeing area is the portion you are allowed to tee your ball, and its boundaries are set by the tee markers.

What is power in tee box?

Knowledge is power, and knowing every granular detail about what you can and cannot do on the tee box just may come in handy someday.

Can you stand outside the teeing area?

You can stand outside the teeing area as long as your ball is inside the teeing area. If you really want to push the boundaries, it’s worth noting that as long as any part of your ball, even the tiniest sliver of the edge, is inside the teeing area, your ball is considered to be inside.

Is there a rule on which tee box to play?

There are no rules on which tee box to play , and despite what you’re likely to hear in the grille room or 19th hole, tees are indiscriminate of age and gender. Golfers are free to play from whichever set they want to, unless they’re in a competition, in which case the Committee will dictate the tees.

Can you tee up after a stroke?

Hopefully, you won’t need to use this one, but it’s still good to know that you can tee up any ball in play in the teeing area after a stroke. This could be the result of a swing and a miss, a dribbler that doesn’t exit the teeing area, or after taking relief.

Can you borrow a tee?

You are allowed to use a borrowed tee. Abandoned tees are fair game as well.

Why are tee boxes important?

Once called “tee boxes” where they were literally a square box containing sand, which was used to form a platform for the ball, we now think of them as a golf feature. As such, certainly it is important that they present a positive image. Although not as dramatic as the green complexes, the tees can have a dramatic impact on a round of golf.

What are the complaints about golf tees?

One of the biggest complaints heard at country clubs and public courses alike is the alignment of the tees. How many golfers have blamed an errant shot on the tee “aiming me toward the woods?” Architects hear it all of the time. Certainly it can be a distraction, even if you are capable enough of lining up a shot without the aid of the tee alignment. A comprehensive tee renovation gives you a chance to correct this problem. If it were the only problem, it might not be worth the effort, but quite often, it is just one of a myriad of problems.

Why are tees so small?

In addition to the shade problems, most older tees are just too small. They offer practically no flexibility in moving the tees’ markers around and are susceptible to excessive wear. It is not uncommon that the tee is also poorly built, with the top being “turtlebacked,” or rounded off, so as to shed water quickly.

Where should ladies tees be located?

As a general rule, the ladies’ tees should be located on the outside of the dogleg, so as to not over exaggerate the dogleg, and to allow them to get their balls to the corner.

Can you laser level a tee?

Now days, laser leveling the tee tops is a becoming standard construction practice. A laser-leveling box installed on a small farm tractor will put a flawless grade on a tee top. Generally, a slope of 1/2% to 1 1/2% is built into the platform. The naked eye cannot detect such a small grade, yet the top sheds water quite nicely. Once in a while architects will visit a course that has adequate tees that only need laser leveling.

Do golf clubs cut trees?

For some reason, which is easy to understand, golf club members do not like to cut trees. If you look at some of the photographs of many of the famous courses in their early years, you see very few or immature trees.

Can you press a tee into the turf?

Another fairly common complaint from golfers about tees is that they can hardly press their tee into the turf. This is more prevalent on courses build in locales with clay soils. As a standard practice, many architects specify using the sand from the old greenside bunkers to plate the top four inches of the teeing surface. Of course, that assumes that you are also renovating the green complexes. It’s a toss up as to whether you should till the sand into the topsoil or not. It really depends on the composition of the topsoil and should be considered on a course-by-course basis.

What is the new golf tee box system?

The new system allows the golfer to choose from which tee box he wishes to play, on any given day. This means the golfer has options, which is unlike before. On many coastal courses, the wind can play havoc with your score and your swing.

What happens if you move to the forward tee box?

Moving to the forward tee box you will forfeit a stroke or 2 for the round. Unfortunately, we do not determine this.

Why are the tee boxes renamed?

It has now become common practice for the tee boxes to be renamed, back, middle and front. The main purpose is to encourage golfers to move forward to the tee that matches their ability without any stigmatism. ( This is my version of the word ego .) This move will also speed up play. In any round of golf, the same rules apply to all golfers, ...

How old do you have to be to use forward tees?

Many golf clubs today still apply an age rule for the use of the forward tees, especially on competition days. 70 years of age was the benchmark for most.

What influences the slope of a golf course?

Without going into too much complex detail, and in simple terms, the slope is influenced by the difficulty and length of the course.

How many meters can a golf course be reduced?

This simple decision can reduce the length of the course by as much as 600 meters.

Do golfers forget etiquette?

No golfer should ever forget the importance of etiquette on the course. Golf is a time-consuming game and unfortunately, the speed of play on the course, is the number one area of concern throughout the world. Always consider your fellow golfers behind you and try to keep up with the covey in front of you.

What is the gold tee in golf?

Gold Tees: Senior’s tees, not quite the shortest distance to the hole but second in line, meant to help the elderly who still play have a better chance at shooting their old hay day scores .

What is the difference between blue and black tees?

Black Tees: Men’s touring professional level tee distance, furthest from the hole, and the most challenging option . Sometimes referred to as the “tips”.

What is a red tee?

Red Tees: Man or woman who is a high handicapper or new to the game… start here. Man or woman who doesn’t hit a long ball, play here. Juniors who seem to have golf skill and hungry to advance their game, play here.

Is each tee box color related to gender?

The sad truth is each tee box color has been associated to an age and/or gender when in fact with a little education, and ability to set your pre-conceived notions and egos aside, golfers could see the true beauty behind these options. Here’s what the majority think:

How big are championship tees?

Black tees: 15 feet by 15 to 20 feet. Championship tees generally generate light play and can be as small as you can mow, especially on a course that’s 7,100 yards or longer. Blue tees: 30 feet by 30 feet, with occasional use of the front for white tee markers. White tees: 30 feet by 85 feet, 35 feet by 75 feet, ...

What is a nine hole par 3 golf course?

If space allows, a nine-hole par-3 golf course opens the door for older men and women and handicapped people to enjoy golf.

How long is a green tee?

Green tees: 30 feet by 30 to 40 feet, with occasional use of the back for white tee markers to reduce white tee size. Red tees: 20 feet by 20 feet.

What is the difference between a rectangular tee and a free form tee?

Rectangular tees are useable side to side. The front and back areas of round tees are too narrow for tee markers, and round tees add 5 percent to the space needed. Free-form tees are attractive, but add even more space. The old runway tees reduce starts and stops and mowing time, but are less attractive to golfers.

Why are golf courses remodeling tees?

Many courses are remodeling tees to improve them to the best condition possible, but they need to be practical and functional. In the early days of golf, golfers simply teed up on greens. Golfers soon realized a separate tee, distant from the previous green, improved safety, speed of play and provided a level starting point.

What conditions affect tees?

As well, the weather conditions (i.e. wet/dry, windy/calm) might affect my choice of tees.

Should you go by the slope or yardage of a golf course?

You should really go by the slope and yardages of the course as not all courses are created equal. back tee's at a muni course could be the white's at a newer course, hence using the slope

Do you need to have a handicap to play tips?

Obviously there are a few course that require proof of handicap before you can play the tips. However, as we have all experienced, there are many higher cappers and/or weekend golfers that insist on playing from the tips.

Does each set of tees have a rating?

Each set of tees on a course has a rating and slope. Theoretically a golfer would affect/change his handicap by the same amount playing from any set of tees.

What is the best way to maintain a golf course?

Predictable slope, speed, and putting surfaces are crucial to good golf games. Golf superintendents should assign a staff member to inspect each green with a “ball mark repair tool” to remove all visible marks. This is one of the simplest golf course maintenance activities guaranteed to keep members happy.

What is golf course maintenance?

Golf course maintenance refers to maintenance activities done to keep course resources in good working condition. It includes repairing and replacing club assets, mowing and chemically treating turf, eliminating ball marks, improving playing conditions, and more. Behind the scenes of every clubhouse are workers inspecting irrigation systems, checking the water quality, and maintaining golf carts.

What causes turf loss in golf courses?

As reported by Golf Course Industry Magazine, a critical issue faced by golf facilities in 2018 was “turf loss due to pests.” The most common culprits of unsightly turf loss include weeds, insects, and funguses. Albrecht Koppenhofer, a specialist in turfgrass insect pest management in Rutgers’ Department of Entomology, advises golf superintendents to follow a preventative approach to pest management.

Why do golf courses need periodic chemical treatments?

Performing periodic chemical treatments reduces the likelihood of costly turf scarring caused by pests. Unfortunately, it’s not uncommon for budgetary constraints to prevent golf course superintendents from implementing ideal turf maintenance. The experts at the Ohio Turfgrass Foundation recommend maximizing maintenance budgets by:

Why do people visit golf courses?

Most players visit golf courses to improve their game and have fun. However, they can also contribute to the golf course’s maintenance for the good of all.

Is golf course maintenance complicated?

Golf course maintenance is more complicated than mowing a lawn and turning on the sprinklers at night. In this guide, we’ll review important aspects of golf course maintenance, the chemicals greenskeepers use to treat turf, and the risks of falling behind on preventive maintenance (PM) tasks. We’ll begin by defining golf course maintenance.

How many tee boxes are there in golf?

Most golf courses have at least three sets of tees—the forward tees, middle tees and back (or championship) tees. Other courses might have as many as five, six or seven sets of tees. How do you know which set of tees to use?

What does it mean when you have different tee boxes?

The different tee boxes correspond to different yardages, which also means different playing abilities. The tees at the back of the tee box are the longest set, the ones at the front the shortest set (you can find the yardages by checking the corresponding lines on the scorecard—blue tees are designated on the scorecard by the "Blue" line, and so on).

How many yards are tees less than the pro tour?

Mid-handicappers might choose the set of tees whose yardage is around 500-1,000 yards less than the pro tour that represents their gender or age. High-handicappers should consider the set of tees whose yardage is 1,000 to 1,500 yards less than the pros play.

What is a championship tee?

The championship tees ( back tees) are for low-handicap men. The middle tees are for middle to high handicap men, low-handicap or long-hitting women, and low-handicap or long-hitting senior men. The forward tees are for middle or high handicap women and seniors, and beginners of all stripes.

How to know if you need to move to a shorter set of tees?

And always remember that first rule of thumb we mentioned: If you are unable to reach the par-3 holes in one shot (we're talking distance, not actually getting your ball on the green), or unable to reach the par-4 holes in two shots from the set of tees you are playing, it's a good sign that you need to move up to a shorter set of tees.

How many yards does a 5 iron hit?

Example: You hit your 5-iron 150 yards. So 150 times 36 equals 5,400. Choose the tees closest to 5,400 yards in length. If you hit your 5-iron 180 yards, then look for tees around 6,500 yards (180 times 36 equals 6,480).

How long is a golf course?

On the PGA Tour, the average golf course length these days is around 7,200-7,300 yards. On the LPGA Tour, average golf course length is around 6,200 to 6,600 yards. On the Champions Tour for over-50 pros, average golf course length is around 6,500 to 6,800 yards.

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