Club championship tees

[longballjs]

For as long as I have played at my course we have done our club championship-championship flight from the black tees ~6900 yds. Our association plays the blues during regular tournaments ~6250 yds.

 

This year, a vocal minority has voiced opposition and complained that 6900 is to long and since we don't play it all year, why should we play during the championship.

 

I and others have been of the belief that to be the champ, you play the best opponent on the hardest course available. We have been outvoted this year and will be playing the blues.

 

What does your course do?

[bigchucksr]

Sometimes our club uses alternate tees, back, medium, back, medium but the problem is that some of us never play the back tees, which at my club are substantially more difficult, especially for carry over water hazards. As we have gotten older, we "graduated" from the back tees to the mid-tees.

I won't play in the club championship, haven't for years since I believe it simply penalizes the older, less adept golfer too much. How ever, since the men's association makes the rules and since I have access to those making the decision and can discuss my concerns, I feel like their decision on the alternate tees is probably "fair" in their and most other players minds so I simply option out of the tournament without a lot of resentment.

I'm sure that is pretty consistent across the landscape of club golf.

I do agree with you that to be the club champion one should compete at the highest level--the rear tees, the longest and most difficult of the conditions that exist.

[longballjs]

I suppose part of my gripe is they can set the blacks up easier, it doesn't have to be 1 foot in the rough all day. But they can't really set the blues up much harder or the a,b,c flight guys will lose their marbles.

[andrue]

We only have red (ladies), yellow (general play) and whites (competition). There's quite a difference between yellow and white (400 yards on a 6000 yard course).

[deadsolid...shank]

Because we make our own groups on Saturday, which has people from different flights, we all play the blues. Then on Sunday the championship flight guys move back to the blacks.

[Doc420]

Will it still crown the best golfer of the week? yes it will, any good player should be able to adjust. It shouldn't hurt to adjust every now and then. I would suggest that there has to be a way to play the course around 6500, that should make more people happy.

[mark m]

Some clubs play the Championship flight on forward tees and some play it back. It depends on the size of the club, the number of good players who can compete in the Champ flight, and also on the history and traditions of the club. Unless a significant change occurred regarding the membership and number of good players, I think you have a valid complaint. But regardless, this is why we elect leaders. Sometimes they make poor decisions and then all you can do is not play if it totally goes against your principles.

 

I have a couple of questions:

 

Who did the vocal minority convince? Was this a decision made by a Board or Committee? Or by a general vote of the membership?

 

Were the Championship flight participants polled separately to see how that came out?

 

Has your CC been dominated by one (or a few) longer players and that is the real problem?

 

We had this situation at my club. one player had won 10 stroke play CC in about 14 years, including 5 in a row. The Board changed the format from 36 holes to 45, including 27 on Sunday. He was older (48 years old) and they admitted it was to tire him out. It didn't work, he won again. LOL. They changed it back the next year...

[evgolfer]

I've noticed quite a few courses have "combo" tees nowadays where you play a combination of two sets of tees (say the blacks and the blues) and it splits the difference between the two sets of tees.

 

In your situation I wonder if it would be possible to come up with a thoughtful combination of tees, adding up to between 6400-6700 yards, that gives both power hitters and shorter more accurate players a shot at the cup.

[Moonlightgrm]

We have five sets of tees: RED 5,100 yards, GOLD 5,800 yards, WHITE 6,400 yards, BLUE 6,700 yards, and BLACK 7,000 yards. We always play our Men's Championship flight using the blue tees and all other flights using the white tees.

[4Par]

Black for Championship Flight.....6750 yards on the card. But the course isn't "tipped out" by placing the tee markers all the way back.

 

We have a similar group of members that grumble because they aren't competitive at that length.... that's why there's a first flight.... move up and play the blues.

 

But we are seeing the membership age increase and participation in these Championships dwindle....

 

 

[FargoRC]

It is a 27 hole stroke play tournament from the tips(black tees) at my course. Flights for those who only want to play 18 from the blues or if you are 40+ you can go mid-am from the blue tees.

[mneumann]

We play a white/blue combo set of tourney tees all year and then for the club championship the champ flight plays all blue. You have the option to choose the championship/gross flight or net, so if you don't want to play all the way back you don't have to.

[longballjs]

Who did the vocal minority convince? Was this a decision made by a Board or Committee? Or by a general vote of the membership?

 

Were the Championship flight participants polled separately to see how that came out?

 

Has your CC been dominated by one (or a few) longer players and that is the real problem?

 

This was originally going to be left to the determination of the players in the championship flight after 1 or 2 complaints from last year that it was too long. I was told we would do an email poll from those signed up. That didn't happen. Instead a 4-5 got ahold of our president last weekend and convinced him to make the change. We have had 4 different guys win over the last 6 years.

[mizuno player]

Back tees for Championship flight.

Other flights move up.

[Mcgeeno]

Ours is match play so it's up to the two competitors each match.

 

Final 36 hole match is from the tips though.

 

Our big stroke play event is from middle tees though. A lot of our older members didn't want to play the back tees so it was moved to the middle grounds. No biggie. The best players are usually still the best regardless of the tee at my course.

[cardoustie]

Other flights up

 

Champs flight a mix of the 6800 and 7000 blocks

 

Our opinion is that making all guys play 6400 eliminates power as an advantage and gives extra help to short knockers

 

They don't play up tees at Augusta to help out Tom Watson etc

[AC168]

All the way back. It's the Club Championship ... not the A flight Championship.

[mark m]

Who did the vocal minority convince? Was this a decision made by a Board or Committee? Or by a general vote of the membership?

 

Were the Championship flight participants polled separately to see how that came out?

 

Has your CC been dominated by one (or a few) longer players and that is the real problem?

 

This was originally going to be left to the determination of the players in the championship flight after 1 or 2 complaints from last year that it was too long. I was told we would do an email poll from those signed up. That didn't happen. Instead a 4-5 got ahold of our president last weekend and convinced him to make the change. We have had 4 different guys win over the last 6 years.

 

Not good. (You must mean a 4-5 handicap player? Has he ever won it?)

 

When is it? Is there time to get it changed?

 

Perhaps put together a petition signed by the guys in the flight and you can get it changed?

 

Good luck with it.

MM

[longballjs]

Sorry, 4-5 guys the "a" was a mistake.

1st qualifier is tomorrow. Was supposed to be an email last weekend I find out today why it never went out.

[mark m]

Sorry, 4-5 guys the "a" was a mistake.

1st qualifier is tomorrow. Was supposed to be an email last weekend I find out today why it never went out.

 

OK. That is soon. Might be too late.

If you play - no matter the tees - play well!

 

(Maybe get it changed back next year.)

[longballjs]

Thanks. I get 1 seed as defending champ so qualifying I'll probably play a pretend match against a guy in my group.

 

I will be making a point to bring this up at the meeting before next season. I wouldn't care as much if it went through some type of process that wasn't purely arbitrary. Do a poll, take a vote, something. Much more equitable than buy the president beers till you get what you want.

[hbear]

Champ flight from the very back. Other flights get moved up appropriately. We have a deep champ flight and it's always been that way.

Distance is part of the game, and if one wants to be the best in the club this season they will need to step up from the very back. Is it tougher for the short knocker to compete at distance, sure. But that should not impact the decision to play the full course.

[HoffTTM]

If its the Club Championship proper (ie scratch) it should be off the back.

 

The net can be from wherever

[2putttom]

Thanks. I get 1 seed as defending champ so qualifying I'll probably play a pretend match against a guy in my group.

 

I will be making a point to bring this up at the meeting before next season. I wouldn't care as much if it went through some type of process that wasn't purely arbitrary. Do a poll, take a vote, something. Much more equitable than buy the president beers till you get what you want.

wait a minute the president is a lush?

[Hawkeye77]

Thanks. I get 1 seed as defending champ so qualifying I'll probably play a pretend match against a guy in my group.

 

I will be making a point to bring this up at the meeting before next season. I wouldn't care as much if it went through some type of process that wasn't purely arbitrary. Do a poll, take a vote, something. Much more equitable than buy the president beers till you get what you want.

 

LOL, had to spill the beans at some point.

 

If you are the champ you should be able to take them from any tees. Suck it up and beat them again!

[fawley]

It seems ridiculous that the championship flight would be from anywhere but the back tees.

[longballjs]

Aren't they all?

[longballjs]

Oh I don't care for personal benefit that it's not at the tips, I've won at a course that was 6200 from the tips too. I'd just rather have the hardest course available.

[golfgirlrobin]

I don't see the point of playing 6250 all year and then throwing an extra 650 yards on it for the club championship. Presumably it's the same group of guys playing all year, and financially supporting the organization, and then you get to the championship and 95% of them have zero reason to even sign up. This is how you kill participation. To my mind, you should contest the championship on the same course you play all year.

 

Distance is still an advantage at 6250 but now you have to beat everyone and not just 4-5 other big hitters.

[MtlJeff]

Our course the A's are encouraged to play the tips all the time, and in most events where there is a combination of handicaps the A's play the tips. Our club championship and interclub qualifying are from there. For reference it's about 6350 vs 6800