Long tees or short tees

[Technohic]

I think Im going to start playing from the shorts. Theres just a couple of exceptions like at Roscoe Ewing, hole 6 long is from the parking lot rather than the cement tee but it is such a fun shot to throw from on top of the hill into and alley off trees, making it kind of a tunnel shot just because of the elevation.

 

[chuckdisc]

I play both.. but most of the time short tees

 

[Brall]

Roscoe Ewing, hole 6 long is from the parking lot

agree. even if i played short most often, i'd still play that hole long

 

[optidiscic]

its funny I just played a course for the first time (blue Mountain-Valley) and I found some of the shorter options to be more interesting than the longs....If I were to go back I'd play a mixture of the 2 for a much more interesting round

 

[12StonesScott]

My home course has three sets of pads, red, blue, and black; I play the red (short) pads more often than the others. I haven't been able to get out on my own much lately, so most of my recent rounds have been in our weekly singles action on Monday nights, in the Rec division (I run both, but play Rec). For those, we alternate weeks between the reds and blues. The occasions when I've played Open, or when I've played in the Thursday night doubles action, are about the only times I've played from the black tees (Open plays blacks twice each month, red and blue once each the other two weeks of the month). Most of the better am and pro players prefer the long pads here since they're the only ones that are concrete (others are crushed stone).

Even though I've been playing a while, distance is still by far the weakest part of my game; when reaching the putting circle in 2 is still a challenge for me on some holes from the shorter pads, why would I want to belabor the point by adding another midrange/fairway driver shot on half the holes?

I suspect it's somewhat different for me than for others, since my home course is technical enough that just playing from the shorter pads doesn't guarantee a birdie or par on most holes -- there's not a lot of distance difference on the shortest holes, but on most holes there's a distinctly different look and set of challenges from each set of pads. There are certain holes where, given a choice, I'd rather play from the blue or black pads, because the lines available from the red pads are difficult to hit consistently, if at all. Take some of the distance out of the equation, and require a greater amount of skill in shot shaping and consistent execution on every hole, and you have a course anyone can enjoy whether they can throw 400'-500' or not (well, except the guys who can't do anything except throw 400'-500'.

There's another local course I play sometimes that's less technical (though still with enough technical shots to keep it interesting) that has two sets of pads and multiple pin locations on most holes -- when the pins are mostly in the shorter locations, several of the short tees are almost stupid-short (7 holes in the 145' to 160' range). Still mostly play the shorter tees there, and tend to play from the same tees for the whole round so that I can more effectively keep track of how I'm playing compared to previous rounds, but I've been tempted to back up to the longer pads on those holes at times.

 

[billnchristy]

It is nice for those stupid short holes Scott, but pretty much frustrating from the other ones. When encountering 7 stupid short holes in a round I make it a goal to get 4-5 birdies out of them.

 

[srm_520]

I think it depends a lot on the course, or if I'm going to play a lot that day. Also, sometimes I'll play the "main" tees no matter if they are the longs or shorts because that tends to vary course to course as well.

 

[jaymon1]

It varies so much. Started out on two courses where the longs don't get much use, so got in the habit of mostly playing the shorts. But local custom in Tampa Bay, where I get to play a few times a year, most people play the longs, and the shorts are kind of short, even for my weak arm. So now I'm inclined to play whichever tee is best (short concrete over long natural, for instance), or seems to get the most use (worn down short vs. overgrown long), or is consistently 300 ft. plus. Now I have a local course where the shorts and longs are equally used, so I alternate, and with a new course with all else equial, like Giles Run, with long and short tees AND long and short baskets, I played long to long the first time, so as to play the FULL course, but if that were my local course I'd mix it up every which way. But the last time I played Turkey Lake in Orlando, where the shorts are still a decent challenge for my weak arm and the longs really do seem more for "pros" or at least far more long-throwing, serious players than myself, I played the shorts, because that just suits me best.

 

[Smigles]

We only have one set of tees in switzerland most of the time. But i would play long. Dont know why realy, probably it is a "at least it can not get worse" attitude. And some manlihood issues.

There was one tournament with a water hole, where there was a shorter tee for grandmasters and women. Didnt tickle my fancy though.

 

[Mike C]

Depends on the course, what I feel like doing and how much time I have.

A lot of courses were designed around the short tees, so in addition to the extra distance long tees already present, it means a lot of backtracking to get to the tees. This can add 30 minutes to a round, 30 minutes I don't always have.

Also sometimes I just feel like playing a putter round from the shorts. I like going to some of the better 9 hole courses around here and doing a short tee putter round, then a long tee full bag round.

I play more longs than shorts, but at my home course I've gotten in the habit of doing shorts, since that's where most league games are thrown from and that's what most people like to play from at that course.

 

[JSurmann]

First few times = short
then after that whatever I feel like

 

[ArcheType]

I typically play short tees, but if I only have 1 time to play through, I play longs, because they usually are just longer versions of the same hole,

I played golds at lemon lake and skipped silver, because most holes were either the same, just longer, or an extra thrown one direction, then you were at the silver tee. I shot like +39, but I don't care tbh

 

[Sunday Mike]

I tend to prefer shorts because of my noodle arm, but I play both because it mixes things up.

 

[Jukeshoe]

Always long. Gotta get the full "beatdown" effect.

 

[Kwick]

I more often play longs, but it depends on the course you're playing.

Blue MT for example has AM and PRO tees and they are exactly that. I have no business playing some of those long tees, so i don't.

Most courses that have two sets are geared towards Rec and Advanced, or easy and tougher, in which case i'm trying to avoid a short easy layout and play the longer one

 

[OKC444]

Most courses here you don't have that option... it's the basket that moves not the tee box.

 

[mabraddock]

it seems that in MI the long tees are the only ones that have concrete pad so that's where i usually play from, i suppose that it would depend on which shot seems either more realistic or fun... like #16 at Fallasburg Park i almost always play the short because it is way too long for my arm with a blind landing zone that is bordered by scrub and forest that eats my disc... looking for a disc for twenty minutes vs throwing into the actual fairway kinda makes the getting teased worth it...

 

[Fore]

I normally play shorts because thats where I would be throwing in a tournament. I do like to mix it up sometimes and play longs or a combo of both depending on my mood. When traveling out of state to a course with multiple pads I try to play both if there is time.

 

[leftyone]

always played the short tees until recently, trying to improve me game

 

[Disc Dog]

Mostly short tees. However I have recently started to play the longer ones more often.