Yellow tees vs Medal tess!?!?!

I joined a private golf course back in december & had to submit 3 cards to obtain a handicap to allow me to enter comps etc.

I had to play off the yellow tees & after 3 rounds submitted my cards & got a handicap of 14.

My 'gripe' is that so far I have played in 3 medals & each time not been able to play to my handciap (so I've gone up 0.3) as off the medal tees it is a completely different course & all of the holes are longer (some are 60-70yrds longer).

Am I to assume that when I eventually get to a handicap & can play to every now again off the medal tees that this is my real handicap or is my 14.3 which I can regularly play to off the yellows the correct one???

As I've got 2 more medals back to back the next few weekends I could be up to 14.5!!!

Thanks,

John.

Your handicap will settle down, John.

Chris,

I know I'm not expected to play to my handicap but somewhere near it would be good .

The problem is that where I would normally hit a nice smooth 7 iron in the green I am having to take a 5 iron, sometimes a 5 wood if it's windy & then I end up scrambling etc.

John - I just hope that when it does settle I don't get called the B word when playing in the Saturday roll-up & have come in with 40+ points!!!

Cheers.

I'll play the white tees whenever possible.  I get more for my money that way.

John F, shooting 40 points off your handicap is expected on occasion, as sometimes, a few more putts than normal decide to drop.

Our Seniors roll-ups are always off the whites and with my lack of length it is always a struggle.

There is hardly any noticeable difference at my club between the whites and the yellow tees.The Wellington is 6412 off the whites and 6127 off the yellows, a difference of 285 yds or 16yds per hole.

Jsmes,

Playing off the whites is only allowed during competitions or your handicap is 5 or under. This rule was applied as the teeing area for the whites was becoming worn & tired when used for general play. I think as well that weekend play was becoming slow when high handicappers decided to play off the whites!

John P - on some holes the difference is only 10-20 yds but on others the difference is quite a lot more, for example our 11th is a par 3 which off the yellows is 165yds (nice 6 iron) but off the whites is 200+yds!.

John.

Having played John's course with him, I can confirm everything he says.  The key thing on many of the holes is not the extra distance the whites give you, but the position of them.  The first is a classic example.  Off the yellows it's a smooth sweeping dogleg right, a driver and a 6 or 7 iron for me.  The white is only about 20 yards longer, but around 30 yards to the right.  This makes it not only a sharp dogleg right where accuracy is key (due to the two large fairway bunkers on the left of the corner), but the first 50 yards are now over water!  Every tme I've played there, I'm glad I'm not going off the whites on the first. 

Think this proves something.  Good tee position and course layout can make a course difficult and interesting without the need to add 70 yards to the hole.  Matbe the corporate boys should think about that when laying out the next Marriott course.