What Tees Should I Play?
What’s great about golf is how you can adjust your playing experience based on your skill level.
Choosing different tee boxes offers the easiest way to customize your playing experience, forcing you to play different shots than you’d typically hit from different areas of the golf course.
However, playing the wrong tees can limit your ability to improve and keep your handicap inflated.
In this article, we’ll provide an easy-to-follow guide for matching your driver and 7-iron distance to the tee box you should be playing on your next trip to the club.
Importance of Choosing the Right Tee Box
With five different tees on the golf course, many golfers struggle to find the appropriate tees for their golf game.
Each tee box delivers a different course yardage, producing various unique approach shots that test every golfer’s skill level.
Here’s a quick overview of each golf tee you’ll find on the golf course and who should play these tees to best enjoy golf.
Red Tees (Women’s)
The most forward tees on the golf course are for the average female golfer. Typically, these red tees provide the closest tee box to the hole.
Also used by junior golfers, these red tees offer a more fun alternative to other golfers looking to spice up their day on the links.
Gold Tees (Senior’s)
These senior tees are for golfers over the age of 55 to 60, according to the golf club’s rules. They are for older weekend warriors who need to shorten the golf course due to slower swing speeds.
White Tees (Men’s)
The first of three tee boxes for the average male golfer offers a moderate course rating. Golfers enjoy the ability to tee it forward from the white golf tees because it lessens the length of their approach shots.
Blue Tees (Advanced Men’s)
Great for lower mid handicappers, the blue tees offer a midpoint between the shorter (white) and longer set of tees (black).
A scratch golfer will find that blue tees don’t provide the challenge of black tees but have a higher course rating than the white option.
Black Tees (Professional Men’s)
These back tees provide the longest option for advanced golfers.
Played by PGA and LPGA professionals, these tees should only be played by low handicappers and golfers with high swing speeds that generate long distance with their driver.
Tee Selection by Hole Type
If you are worried about your handicap, you should play the same tees because it will give you an accurate course rating and proper distance data sets.
If you want to have a good time on the golf course, playing different tees based on the par is a great way to mix up the game by randomly playing the forward tees to the longer tees.
Par 3
For example, playing the shorter tees on a par 3 can create a shot that requires a gap wedge. By playing longer tees here, you will find yourself using mid-irons you rarely play on a par 3.
Par 4
When playing closer tees on par 4s, a fairway wood may come into play, while the further back you go, the more critical your driver distance and accuracy become for your game.
Par 5
Regardless of what tees you play on a par 5, you should expect long approach shots into the green. For most golfers, they have to play driver and fairway wood anyway, so the tees they play don’t particularly matter.
Considerations for Moving Tees
One of the biggest reasons you should consider moving the tees you play is the improvement you’ve made in your game.
Your enjoyment level can plateau when you hit the ball further and become more efficient around the greens.
To combat that boredom, you move your tees back because it forces you to think and play the game differently than ever before.
Also, your margin of error is even smaller. This puts a huge emphasis on accuracy and smart strategy.
Driving Distance and Tee Selection
One of the easiest ways to pick your tee box is by playing the tee that matches your driving distance.
225 Yards
If you average 225 yards off the tee, you should play the white tees at your golf course. These golf tees are the closest to the green, so they help create an enjoyable round for golfers with moderate swing speeds.
250 Yards
For a driving distance that averages roughly 250 yards, the blue tees are a nice midpoint option
275 Yards
The black tees are the proper tees for driving distance that averages 275 yards and over. The golf course plays much tougher at this distance as the golfer needs distance and accuracy to post a low score.
Hybrid Tee Sets
One of our favorite ways to customize our trip to the golf course is by playing a hybrid set of tees during our round. By mixing up what tees we play, we create a unique experience that’s tailored only to that trip.
We love playing the white tees on par 3s, blue tees on par 4s, and black tees on par 5s.
You might think that the opposite makes the most sense, but by putting the par 5s on the back tees, you essentially turn those holes into a challenge.
Teeing It Forward
One of the more enjoyable golf trends, fueled largely by social media, is playing tees much closer to the green than you typically play.
Doing so will shorten the course, providing a different approach to playing each hole.
The average male golfer will find they are hitting more hybrids and irons on the tee box rather than pulling out their driver.
For beginner golfers, playing closer tees delivers an enjoyable round as they score lower and aren’t worried about course length.
What Tees Should I Play?
Frequently Asked Questions
How to determine which tees to play?
The easiest way to determine which golf tees you should play at your local golf course is by looking at your average driving distance and handicap.
Playing the white tees offers the most enjoyable experience for most men who call themselves casual golfers. Blue and black tees are reserved for players with high swing speeds and a more advanced golf game.
What tees should you play off of?
A simple way to establish tee box choice via driving distance is white tees for driver distance of 250 yards or lower, blue tees for 275 yards and under, and black tees for driving distance that exceeds 275 on average.
Long-hitting senior men might play white or blue tees instead of the gold tee box on the golf course.
How do I choose tees?
One of the biggest mistakes that amateur golfers make is playing golf course tees that don’t match their swing speed and average driver distance.
You should choose your tee box based on how far you hit your driver and the average distance of your approach shots using the USGA’s 7-iron scale to help you play the most enjoyable round possible.
What tees should I play based on 7 iron?
USGA has invented a tee box selection process based on your 7-iron distance. For golfers that generate over 170 yards with the iron, playing a course length of 6700 yards or more using the black tees works best.
A 7-iron distance of 155 can play courses at 6,400 yards using the blue tees, while 7-iron average distances of around 140 should play the white or middle tees.