Tee yourself up for success

10/14/2020

Courtesy Callaway Golf

Here's the most surefire way to lower your scores and raise your enjoyment

When it comes to playing from the proper set of tees suited for your game, Wade Wilson is a staunch advocate. The PGA professional at El Niguel Country Club in south Orange County doesn’t hold back when discussing the benefits of putting your ego aside before stepping up to the first tee.

“What’s the goal in a round of golf? To have fun, yes. But what it is really about is shooting as low of a score as possible,” Wilson says. “To help with accomplishing both, we need to be realistic about where we start from — meaning where we put the peg into the ground to start this chaotic journey of ebbs and flows and ups and downs.”

As Wilson explains, somewhere along the way golfers developed an ego about which tees to play from, finding it more rewarding to play a longer golf course while sacrificing enjoyment and lower scores.

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“Today, golfers are more interested in where they tee it up rather than what the score is at the end,” Wilson said. “That is completely backward from what needs to be considered. The correct way of thinking is: Where do I need to start so that I am most successful for myself and my enjoyment?”

With that in mind, here is Wilson’s solution for determining which set of tees you should be playing from on the golf course…

Wade Wilson, PGA

Most sports are about scoring the most points. Whoever scores the most wins. Golf is about shooting the lowest score. And what do most people do? They put themselves in a position to shoot the highest score before their round has even started.

Golfers everywhere on a daily basis buy expensive equipment, take lessons and purchase gadgets at midnight to help them improve their game. They talk about how bad they played and how many greens they missed. They can’t believe how short they hit their driver. No matter what golfers do, they continue to come back, play the same distances and stay on this merry-go-round of insanity.

Let’s play a reality game using my system for three months and see if you improve your score, handicap and enjoyment. This can only work if you record scores from the set of tees that most closely resembles the illustration below based on the distance you hit your driver. If you are between ranges go with the shorter range — if you hit it 260, play from the 250 tees.

The game is played based on how far you hit your driver in relation to par-4 holes. The goal is to decrease your yardage to the center of the green and increase the number of greens you hit in regulation. Be realistic. I have many people tell me they hit their driver 230 yards and it is more like 210. At El Niguel Country Club, we use the number system to identify our tee locations. Many courses use colors to designate their tee locations. No matter your designation of tee locations, use your driver length in relation to the yardage you see listed.

Let’s play!

THE RULES

1) Determine how far you hit your driver. Please be realistic for your own benefit.
2) Locate that distance on the chart and match it to the set of tees that closely identifies with a tee location at your facility.
3) Commit to 20 rounds from that teeing designation.
4) Keep all scorecards.

DESIRED RESULTS

1) More greens hit in regulation.
2) Shorter clubs used on second shots.
3) Lower scores on Par 4s.
4) Lower scores for round.

I will be conducting a study based on my system. If you would like to participate, please contact me at [email protected] for details.

I will be asking you for specific information, including the following: course(s) you most commonly play, current index or handicap, and the date you plan on starting.

Upon completion of the 20 rounds, I will ask for your results in the following areas: greens hit in regulation per round (par 4s only), score on par 4s per round, and all 20 scores.

My goal is to get more than 500 players from all over the country to participate so that we can have a great sample size. In the end, I want everyone to have a great time playing this game. All of us involved in this game have a passion and a desire to succeed. We all want to improve, we all want to be successful, and we all want to share a great golf story. Being part of this study is a great story and hopefully will improve your game.