Senior tees.

[Marcos]

I have a question for Gerry or Lyle,
Our course(Buckingham) has put up a notice about senior tees when playing tournements that you must be 70 years old to play from there.
Do yo think this is a local rulling or is this normal for all tournements in the valley.
Thanks guys

[BC MIST]

I have a question for Gerry or Lyle,
Our course(Buckingham) has put up a notice about senior tees when playing tournements that you must be 70 years old to play from there.
Do yo think this is a local rulling or is this normal for all tournements in the valley.
Thanks guys

As we no longer have "Ladies" tees, we should also no longer have "Senior" tees. Golfers should play from a set of tees that is appropriate for their ability. Since most 70 year olds cannot hit the ball very far, it makes sense to play the course from a shorter length. If there is a competition for seniors, then all seniors should play from the same tee.

At Greensmere, we just completed our Senior Intersectional Qualifying and Senior Club Championship, playing from the white tees (about 6000 yards) whereas in the past we played from the black tees (about 6300) yards. Personally, I found the course played short, but the idea was to encourage more participation by shortening the overall length and to bring the field a little closer together in scores, to better the competition.

Having played in 30+ OVGA seniors events over the years, the senior yardages probably averaged 6100 - 6200 yards, while the occasions I played in the RCGA Senior Championship, the yardage was 6500 - 6600 yards, but these fields had low single digit handicap players. For senior invitationals, yardages remain around 6000 yards.

Obviously, the name of the game is enjoyment and thus playing from tees that are too long lessens that, while playing a course that is to short, lowers the scores, but diminishes the challenge.

From your "senior" tees, how long will the course play?

[Marcos]

Not too long Lyle, its 5433 yrds. I had herd that some of the over 70 group were complaining when playing in best ball tournements that the white tees(6013yrds) where too tough for them. Thats why I asked the question is it just in Buckingham that does this? I agree with you that we should play from the proper tees.

[gbower]

I play with a guy when I'm in Florida that is over 80 and can hit it straight and just over 200 yards but in some tournaments he's laughing when they force him to play the very forward tees. He only does it when he has to but takes all their prizes and money and then they get ** at him but he's still got some good game and about a 10 handicap. I don't feel that age should be the deciding factor on which tees are played. One of the locals was playing in the Quebec Mid-Am this year and he's 70 and was tied for the lead after the first day playing from the back tees.