When playing golf in Thailand make sure you play from the correct set of tees for your ability to help with speed of play and your own enjoyment of the game. Also, be sure to take advantage of the tee box area as it is perfectly legal to use the entire width.
I believe many golfers would be better off playing from a shorter set of tees as I see a lot of golfers play from the tees one forward from the back tees, usually marked blue, and struggle all the way around because they can’t hit the ball far enough.
It’s not uncommon for me to see in Thailand to see a group of guys teeing off from these tees, only to hit weak slices into the woods. Don’t be one of these people – there’s no shame in playing from a forward set of tees if that is appropriate for your game. And golfers who play from tees that are too long for their games are only slowing down the pace of play and unnecessarily frustrating themselves.
A good guide is: Black (Back) Tees are from Pro’s and low handicap amateurs (say 0-5 handicap). The next set of tees, likely gold or blue color in Thailand is suitable for 6 to 18 handicaps. The white tees are generally suited better towards players with handicaps over 18. Unless you can hit the ball over 220 yards, seriously consider playing the white tees (or a set of tees one back from the ladies), unless you have a seriously sharp short game.
Teeing it up anywhere within the tee markers is also fine, even with the tee marker between you and the ball. This allows you to use the full width of the tee box–important when you want to broaden your aiming area. When you need to aim to the right side of the fairway, tee it up as far left as you can, and vice versa. If there is trouble such as trees or out-of-bounds on one side of the fairway, this tactic allows you to aim away from it and makes your landing area and the angle of the shot look wider.
Now tee it up and enjoy it your Thailand golf!
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2 Responses
That is very interesting Mark. I believe that everything should be done on how far you hit the six iron based on the average length of the par fours. 150yard 6 iron is about 220 yard drive isn’t it? A par four consists of a drive, a lay up, chip and one putt or second ‘on’ and two putts. strokes over par are the mistakes, strokes under are skill if you can repeat it or luck if you can’t. Oh that it were that easy! A weak slice into the woods is not good off any tee but likely if the player is “trying for too much”? I still err on the side of trying for too little I hope, and when I still make mistakes have a beer and tell myself that I am not trying to feed the family. Less than 18 I think should be off the middle tees.
Only a day after reading this post, I had this experience about tee boxes: It was last Saturday morning on the Phuket Country Club course, and I was beginning my pre-shot routine, visualising my upcoming shot when a cry came from the starter – “Khun krap. Would the gentleman on the Ladies tee back up to the Men’s tee, please!” I was still deep in my routine, seemingly impervious to the interruption. Again the voice shouted – “Would the MAN on the WOMEN’S tee kindly back up to the Men’s tee!” I had had enough. I shouted, “Would the starter kindly shut up and let me play my second shot!”