Should a golf course have the right to dictate which tees you play from? The question sparked a recent debate on Reddit (and was kicked around on the Fore Play Podcast), where a user posted a picture of a sign at an unidentified course.
“If your handicap is over 15,” the sign read, “you may not use back tee.”
Interesting rule. Is it reasonable?
An old retail maxim holds that the customer is always right. But that couldn’t be more wrong. Customers make poor decisions all the time. They buy in at the bottom of pyramid schemes. They finance cars they can’t afford. They order mayonnaise on their corned beef.
If the Etiquetteist knows one thing for certain about human beings, it’s that we excel at doing the wrong thing, including taking on more golf course than we can handle. What to do about it is another matter.
Should 15-handicaps be playing from the tips? Probably not. But nor should they be banned from doing so, provided they don’t hold up play.
In this case, the right answer to a customer’s wrong decision isn’t prohibition. It’s education. Remember those adds with Jack Nicklaus and other Tour stars encouraging everyone to “tee it forward”? Messaging of that kind — that the game is more fun and varied when played from a distance suited to your game — is a more sensible approach than laying down restrictions.
How far do you hit your 7-iron? The answer will tell you which tees to play
In more recent years, the industry has adopted other ways to get the word out on tee boxes. The “7-Iron Solution,” for instance, is a data-driven system from the USGA that works exactly as its name suggests: If you know how far you hit your 7-iron, the system can tell you how far back you should be playing.
Erin Hills, a multiple major-championship host site in Wisconsin, is among the many courses that have put the system into play. The guidelines are posted in the property’s caddie barn and on the starter’s shack. Other courses offer tee-box recommendations on their scorecards based on player handicaps.
With the Ryder Cup approaching at Bethpage Black, it’s worth pointing out yet another form of persuasion: the famous sign by the 1st tee of the Black, advising golfers that the course is intended for the “highly skilled.”
That’s the kind of placard the Etiquetteist can support: buyer beware. Is it fool-proof? Absolutely not. But it’s better than a mandate. You’re a high-handicapper and you want to play the back tees? That’s a bad decision. But it’s also your business as long as you don’t bog down play. Just because the customer is often wrong doesn’t mean that retailers should regulate their behavior.
Every golfer is entitled to masochism, just as every deli patron is free to slather mayo where it doesn’t belong.
