Play the right tees

 By Steve Gordon

I see it every time I go to play golf; players playing from the wrong set of tees. I am 74 and even as I hit the ball further than most in the group of seniors I play with, I play the forward gold/senior tees. Depending on the course they can range anywhere from 5200 to 5700 yards generally.

Here is a chart I copied that was published in a national golf magazine:

5-iron Distance	Ideal Course Yardage
100	3600
110	3960
120	4320
130	4680
140	5040
150	5400
160	5760
170	6120
180	6480
190	6840
200	7200

It's not about being macho or playing the whole course. On a good day my 5 iron goes 160-170. My general rule is to play tees set at 6000 yards or less. Think about it. Why do you think there are different sets of tees on golf courses?

Let's say you are playing a 370 yard hole (not considered a long hole by today's standards). What can you do to make the hole playable and fun? In my case with a 5 iron that goes 170, I'd have to hit a 200 plus yard drive (which I do) to have a reasonable chance to reach the green and hope to par the hole. I have friends who only hit their drives maybe 180 yards. How much fun is it hitting a hybrid or a fairway wood into the green and know you have no chance to get on it?

Here is a story I will relate to you. I was probably 5 or 6 years ago when a friend and I were at a local course and playing the 6100 yard tees. We were paired with a single player who stepped up to the back 7000 yard tees. From the first hole it was evident he didn't hit the ball as well as we did yet he was playing a course almost 1000 yards longer than we were.

The bottom line is that when he hit good shots there were par 4's he couldn't reach and a couple par 3's he had to hit a fairway wood or driver because he couldn't reach the green. Several times during the opening holes we "invited" him to play up with us but he said no. We pretty much played the course as a twosome and only saw him on the green. I estimate he lost a minimum of a dozen balls and who knows what he actual score was over 100.

My point is how in the world can that be fun, enjoyable, relaxing, or whatever a casual round of golf should be?

I'd like to interject that I wish there was some way courses could get players to tee off from tees suited for their games but I don't know how they could do that generally at public courses.

When I play courses with my buddies from the gold tees, if I feel a hole is too short I will step back to the next tee. Conversely, my buddy and I will move up a tee if we feel a hole might be too long. Many courses are developing what you might call hybrid or combo tees mixing up the tee boxes to make the course playable for all players. It is a trend I would like to see expanded to all courses.

I recently almost shot my age for the first time from the 5748 yard tees. I'm not breaking par or any scoring records and it is so much fun to play well and post a nice score. Why would I, or anyone, want to make a game that is already hard more difficult? 

Shooting your age

 By Steve Gordon

How many golfers set a goal to shoot their age? I am going to guess not many. But as I get older (I'll be 74 on Thanksgiving Day) it has become a target although seemingly unattainable for a few years for this 12-13 handicapper.

The closest I had gotten was a 76 in a club championship round in 2017 at Makefield Highlands in Yardley. To be honest it was the first time it really crossed my mind as it was a career best 18 holes at that time. I admit to not giving it much thought after it happened even as it beat a previous best of  77 with a first ever level par front nine at the Running Deer Golf Club in Elmer, NJ golf club a year earlier.

Rounds in the 70's are very rare for me but as I have moved up to the gold/senior tees it has become more attainable, but still rare. I'd like to make a note here that more players, regardless of age, should take into account playing a proper set of tees for a variety of reasons. Foremost among them is potentially more enjoyment of playing the game.

Aside from moving to a forward tee box what changed? 

In March of this year while out in Mesquite, NV (just before the pandemic slammed into our lives) a playing partner handed me his driver near the end of a round. "Try this" he said as this pretty blue club exchanged hands. I hit it solid maybe 40 years past my name brand driver that I had just hit a so-so shot with. I didn't even swing hard. I hit it once more and to conclude this story, when I got home I traded in that well known name brand driver. 

As I started hitting more accurate and longer tee shots my scores got better. I wasn't breaking par or even breaking 80 but the tee shots were easier the game become more fun and the scores started to get very consistent. There is a lot to be said about playing from the fairway and hitting shorter clubs into the greens.

Still shooting my age wasn't a conscious thought but the group I played weekly rounds with as we traveled to different courses every Tuesday was seeing results. One good friend was impressed such that he occasionally asks to use my driver.

About a month ago I had a very series of rounds where the game just seemed so easy overall for me. Playing with those guys I carded a 75. A career best and at this point two shots off my age. I followed that up with a 76 the next day at the Berkleigh Golf Club in Kutztown, PA, home course of former LPGA standout Betsy King.

Since that week there have been a couple good rounds but nothing spectacular until a record points day at a local course with a different group of guys playing the Stableford format. 

My longtime golf partner and I got together again on November 7th to play Vineyards National in Egg Harbor City, NJ. We hadn't played there in a few years and lately we haven't played a lot together as he lives 3 hours and a couple states away. Traveling to meet with the COVID-19 stuff going on was limited.

Can I guess that you are thinking this story ends like when they show a highlight on a golf telecast of a golf shot in a tournament where you know the result of an incredible shot that goes in the hole? Well...not exactly.

I bogeyed the first hole then a par on the second followed by a birdie. Except for two bogeys on both front nine par 5's (a sloppy pitch on one and a ball into a penalty area on the other) the opening set of holes added up to a 2 over par 38. We set out on the back nine that started with a par. I was playing well but shooting my age wasn't a conscious thought. My partner was keeping the score card and I wasn't paying attention to score.

One bogey, two birdies and four pars later I was on the front of the 18th green in regulation with a long putt. I stroked the slightly uphill and breaking putt and it came up five feet short. I missed the par putt not making a firm stroke to take the break out and my partner screamed "You idiot." 

That three putt was closed out a 74, one shot off shooting my 73 calendar years. He was aware but it was like a no hitter in baseball, you don't talk about it. A close friend said it should count as it happened in the same month I would have turned 74. I'm not sure it works like that.

The scorecard goes into my keep sake pile as my lowest score on a full size golf course to date. The combination of that driver that fitted my swing and the proper tees for my game sure has been a benefit.

With winter weather upon us the likelihood to beat that 74 and shoot my age before my birthday or match it for the rest of this calendar year is doubtful. But as we Philadelphia sports fans are used to saying about our sports teams..."Maybe next year."

Write down the right score

Written by Bob Oliver

This is a Public Service Announcement for golfers who maintain a "real" USGA handicap. Write down the correct score on each hole you play.

Write down too high a score, and it will catch up with you. You'll be branded a sandbagger or worse. 

But this column is about the "other guy", the guy who in an effort to maintain a handicap he thinks he should have records score less than he actually had.  Many times it's inadvertent. Doesn't effect outcome of a game. Is purely for ego.

Don't know what I mean?

There's a guy at my club who maintains the same handicap as I do.  How then, when we play head to head, do I beat him nearly every time? Not logical, right?

The symptoms start as early as the first tee.  He's take a mighty swipe at the ball, hit it sideways, then re-tee a "Breakfast Ball"  Okay, but won't take a penalty. 

Likewise, somewhere along the round, he'd say he's taking a "Mulligan", again, with no penalty.

Let's say his drive ends up in a dastardly divot. Play it as it lies? Nope, he'll move the ball out because the shot was too good to be in such a precarious position. No penalty. 

Around greens he is a good chipper and putter. But nobody is that good. By that I mean, he;ll roll the ball toward the cup and immediately ask, "That's good, right". Now he'd probably make 9-of-10 four footers but that one he'd miss would be another stroke.

Similarly, he'll take a gimme when he misses by six feet if his opponent give him a free pass because he's out of the hole.  That's okay for match but not for handicap.

In some leagues gimmes are allowed at the discretion of partners, and surely are allowed in match play situations, but if from a distance one has to record the number that most likely would have been made. So if you have a 15-foot downhill sidehill putt, and it's given for the match, that's fine. But more likely for the scorecard it would be a two-putt. Add a stroke. 

Bottom like is that this player is mostly likely cheating himself out of a couple handicap strokes.  Don't tell him, because I like beating him the way things are. 

Oh, and it doesn't effect handicap, but the guy who hits two balls out of bounds before duffing a chip and says, I had a 7, that's the most I can take.  Well, okay. But you are kidding yourself.  

Rakes or no rakes

By Steve Gordon

Every golfer has an opinion on something to do with the game.

Water hazards are now penalty areas. I think that's dumb but that's me.

Some like the stroke and distance rule. I like the new rule that can be used as a local rule on dropping and hitting from a spot near a lost ball and a two stroke penalty. It's basically the same thing only you don't have to hit the shot you just mishit again. Certainly speeds up play and for the recreational golfer...well he is probably going to do that anyway under the relaxed rules local groups play by.

The list can go on about getting in a divot when you hit a good tee shot, hitting a ball off a root, loose impediments, etc.

How about the current situation where rakes have been taken away from bunkers? Do you like it or do you think rakes should come back? Should it be a course by course thing or universal for all courses?

Here is my take. I am sure I am probably in a minority but I like bunkers without rakes. A bunker is a hazard being strategically placed around the course to catch errant shots. Not every shot should find itself sitting up nicely on grass.

Imagine a course without any bunkers. Sure, there are holes (the 14th at Augusta National for instance) that have no bunkers but those are few. But an entire course with no bunkers? Even pitch and putt courses have some bunkers.

Back to my position. Without rakes you would potentially get a bad lie in a bunker. Yeah, so what. If you hit into the rough you aren't guaranteed to get a smooth lie and if you hit into the woods you aren't guaranteed to get a lie that isn't on a root or on pine straw or in leaves or a bush or underlying growth.

If you make a divot you are requested to fix it but not all golfers do. Same with ball marks, but we are allowed to fix those. My point is a player can smooth over sand after playing out of it with a club or a foot. I think I saw DJ do it in the skins game at Seminole actually.

I have heard comments about putting rakes in carts and that isn't a bad idea but what about people who still like to walk? Not everyone takes a cart. I have also heard some say no rakes but let people take preferred lies in bunkers. It's a hazard people. Do the rules let you improve your lie in the rough or move a ball out of a divot in the fairway?

Just my two cents.

Golf is back, but on a different level

By Steve Gordon

I think all 50 states have golf courses open now. As crazy as it seems politicians labeled golf a dangerous social activity even as doctors have said being outside is healthy and safe and golf by it's very nature is a social distancing game.

Even if four golfers hit on the fairway on the same hole they likely would all be way beyond the accepted six foot distance from one another. Players would be a little closer on the green but still outside the danger range. Even on the tee there is no crowding forcing players to break the invisible safe barrier.

It's all water under the bridge now as golf has reopened, but it is a far different game. For instance, in New Jersey, a neighboring state to where I live, there is a limit of two players on tee times instead of the normal four. As each state makes it's own rules there are some common things they all have.

1. No pre or post game gathering. One course near me won't let you into the parking lot if you get there 20 minutes before your tee time.

2. Stretched out tee times to keep groups from bunching up on each other. It's great in that it limits the number of players on the course for potentially a faster pace of play but overall groups will catch up and part of the strategy fails. One course I played in a foursome with 15 minute tee times and we finished in 3 1/2 hours. At another course with 12 minute tee times our foursome was on the course for almost 4 1/2 hours. Go figure? Of course owners are making less money so is it only a matter of time before the fees inflate?

3. One cart per player, but in some states if two people live in the same household it's OK for them to share a cart. Here's a question on that one. Suppose one player drops by to pick up another player and they ride to the course in the same care, or maybe the entire foursome rides to the course in the same car?

4. Clubhouses are off limits and some courses even have closed practice areas. No grill or restaurant service except for take out. Some offer sandwiches, some might have precooked burger or hot dogs while others only offer packaged snacks and bottled drinks. Some have traditional beverage carts and others just have a station set up at the turn.

5. Bathrooms are available, one person at a time, but on course portable facilities have been removed or locked. No on course facilities are always an issue and golfers do what they have to do but what do you do when a golf course is surrounded by houses as many newer ones today are? It's easier for men but what about the women?

6. Just about every place I have been in the two weeks since golf opened up around my area is cashless but not all. I can see that becoming permanent but we'll wait and see.

7. Masks are required when in close proximity to other players or staff just as out at the grocery store, etc. No real issue with that.

8. Tee times have to be made in advance and pre paid. The days of calling or walking up as a single to wait for a spot to open up are gone.

Those are the basics and I am sure I might have missed some.

My observations are that golf isn't the same. I played in New Jersey with the two player group rule and it was nice but just felt strange but it takes the social nature of a group of friends out for a nice day on the links away.

The one cart to a player might get more people to walk, but there are courses that are just basically unwalkable or too tough to walk for say...seniors. Then there is the vision of four carts for each group and you adjust your thinking that it isn't two groups backed up behind you or two groups hold things up in front of you. It might be good for the golf cart business however as I know of two courses near me that have brought in extra carts to accommodate this new normal. Other courses offering carts put out a disclaimer that depending on play carts might not be available.

Generally tee times are not that hard to get in my neck of the woods but with the limitations, stretching out tee times and more people not going to work if you don't plan ahead you aren't going to get out.

I am part of a group of eight retired guys and we travel around in various configurations to local courses to play. Before this virus stuff hit we all bought a local golf card good for greens fees at 12 local courses. The plan was for all of us to get together, have friendly competitions within the group and for 12 weeks we could travel to different courses, some we might not normally go to. Well good luck trying to get advance consecutive tee times because at least half of those places won't book more than two weeks in advance and those times go fast. Ever try getting eight people to confirm to a specific date on short notice?

All this reminds me of times past when tee times were limited until a couple new courses were built and the participation in golf declined. You could get one someplace on a day or two notice. Now you basically can't and calling some courses isn't even an option. It's all online.

Technology is wonderful but are we extremely too reliant on it now or is this the new normal like in the business world where people can work from home? I wonder what is going to happen to all that unused office space as things open up more and employers discover they may not need so much of it in a new world or doing things?

Anyway, I have been active and getting out after figuring how this all works but it just doesn't feel the same. It feels so impersonal. You wave to your playing partners leaving the 18th hole instead of a handshake, fist bump, etc. and exchanging nice game pleasantries. No gathering for a drink of a sandwich or dinner depending on the time of day.

Best case scenario is a vaccine will come out and things can return closely to what we knew as normal for golf. Until then...enjoy the game itself and keep it in the short grass.

Pennsylvania Golf courses opening

Written by Bob Oliver

Today Pennsylvania pro shops reacted to something they hadn't in more than a month --- their telephones were ringing at a brisk rate.

Governor Tom Wolf removed the restrictions on play, reducing the rules which had been in place for the last five weeks because of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

To be clear, social distancing remains critical, and courses will be implementing policies that allow their courses to be open while enforcing various procedures.

Some of the restrictions could mean a longer distance between tee times, limits on players using golf carts, keeping flagsticks in the hole at all times and keeping gathering areas closed. 

Representatives of Bensalem, Northampton Valley and Neshaminy Valley said tee times are available for the weekend, but that all procedures are being reviewed for the reopening. To a person they said safe rather than sorry is the message.

THe Governor cited residents physical and mental health as being atop the reasons for reopening, along with the drop in COVID-19 cases in general. He had been giving through to reopening portions of the state but in the end went with the blanket removal of restrictions on certain industries.

"As we start to take measured, limited steps to reopen the Commonwealth, reopening some industries will help rebuild our economy and strengthen our mental health," explained the Governor.

The Center for DIsease Control reminds all that one should NOT play golf if your sick or recently were diagnosed with COVID-19.  It also recommended not to take part in organized events (e.g., leagues where multiple people would be on hand).   Social distancing remains critical.  But it did not recommend playing with a mask, although one could.

Still, with practicing in the basement may be nice for a while, playing the game is much better.

Swing away!

Covered bridge photos

By Steve Gordon

Covered bridge photos from a day defying the stay at home rules to just go out, be away from people and do some photography. Golf will come back around in some form eventually.

Pine Valley

Moods

Sheard's Mill

Perkasie