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Part of the reason golfers love the game is its variety.
The morning maintenance crew sets up a new course every day, making each round a new challenge. New pin locations, varying green speeds and thickness of the rough are all alterable factors that change the way the game needs to be approached.
These physical changes add excitement to each round, but beyond that, there is one key decision every golfer makes when he or she tees it up: picking which tee box to play. This has led to what I believe to be one of the most negative stereotypes in golf - the notion of "ladies tees." It's a term I'd love to see disappear. So would a lot of other women.
Stop calling these the ‘Ladies Tees’!
— The Jazzy Golfer (@thejazzygolfer) February 17, 2023
I was recently at a South London course playing from the yellow tees. About to tee up, a male member rudely stopped me to tell me I couldn’t play off the yellows because those weren’t the ‘ladies tees’.
My response: ‘There’s no such thing!’ pic.twitter.com/vzg4F8gWI4
Let's start calling them the "forward tees." Calling these tees - which are traditionally red in color - the “ladies tee” insinuates that men shouldn’t play from there under any circumstances. While it’s flattering a tee has been reserved for us, it's disrespectful to assume women are less skilled, and it takes away from the game when, in fact, the forward tees can be fun to play for anyone.
The evolution of the tee box
Through the years, tee boxes have evolved to fit age and skill level. With many courses now offering various junior tees, young children can learn the game from an appropriate distance. From these boxes to the championship level tees we see PGA Tour professionals playing, there’s space for every age and skill level. This variety keeps the game accessible and welcoming to all those who want to give it a go.
I understand that, in general, men hit it farther off the tee than women, but with any generality, there are exceptions. I know plenty of men I can out-drive and plenty of men who out-drive me. But, as a college golfer, my ability level is such that playing the forward tees isn’t what I regularly do.
Growing up at a golf course, I understood the norms very well and accepted my place on the red tees without thinking twice. As I began playing and improving, I found myself wanting to move back and try different tees, but I waited for permission to do so.
It’s ingrained for women to stay out of the way and play fast, but it’s time to step up and challenge that narrative to make the sport more inclusive.
The tee box gender stigma stretches beyond everyday play into competitive events. Some of my favorite memories on the golf course have come from charity and pro-am events. I’ve been lucky enough to play in dozens of these events throughout my golf career, but never once have I played any tee other than the forward tees.
These events' rules sheets typically break out men by age range and professional status while the women are grouped to the forward tees with no attention to age or skill level. While these events are just for fun, and playing a shorter distance certainly gives me an advantage, it highlights the assumptions bred into the game that women are less skilled and therefore always belong on shorter tees.
Whether courses mean to label their forward tees the “ladies tees” or not, it has been the norm for so long that it is a tough habit for many facilities to erase. Thankfully, clubs like my home course, Audubon Country Club in Louisville, Ky., are making a concerted effort to eliminate “ladies tees.”
Eliminating the 'ladies tee' in modern golf
Audubon Country Club, where my father is the director of golf, has displayed a set of classic tees categorized by color since its opening. Blue was the championship tee, followed by green, white and red. As the red tees continued to be called the “ladies tees”, they noticed a need for change and created a tee box system of their own to erase the gender stigma.
Their new tees, named after various birds, have a specific meaning to the club. The championship tee has been coined the “Cardinal” tee, named after their logo, and will appear in red. The color red on the tips? Now that sends a new message loud and clear. This tee will be followed by the “Hawk” tee in black, the “Oriole” tee in orange and the “Blue Jay” tee in blue. The new and improved forward box will be named the "Dove" tee and will appear in white.
Audubon is setting a standard that eliminates the stigma behind “ladies tees” and instead gets the members excited about a new look on their tee boxes that has nothing to do with gender.
This approach works at Audubon, but it isn’t the only way to solve the issue. Other clubs are offering recommendations of what tees to play based on score or handicap. By putting these guidelines on a sign at the first tee or on the scorecard, they offers player guidance on what tee fits their skill set without adding a gender bias. Isla Del Sol Golf Yacht and Country Club in Florida has gone to roman numerals to keep color out of the tee bias. In this Twitter thread, 78 percent of staff members at other clubs indicated they would be open to changing their current tee structure to help the game move forward:
In 2019 Isla changed from colored tees to Roman numerals to encourage a better golfer experience by reducing stigma around tee selection. HUGE success with our members as golfers readily moved to yardages more suitable for their game. Improved pace and scoring = enjoyment pic.twitter.com/ZpZyQmMrrO
— Kevin Sunderman, CGCS (@kevinsunderman) March 18, 2023
As the game continues to grow, certain norms must continue to change. For members and other golfers who tend to play the same course over and over, playing various tees can add excitement to the game. Why not give it a try? Playing from a different yardage creates different looks on par 3s and approach distances, allowing you to see different parts of the course. If an advanced player - man or woman - is looking to lock in his or her short irons, playing from the forward tees is a simple way to practice that. Less overall distance will get you closer to the green than normal, forcing your short irons do the work to score.
Repurposing tee boxes is a small step to rewriting the script for women in golf. I have been lucky to see the growth of women’s golf in my life, especially post-pandemic, where more women and girls are playing than ever before. But we still have a long way to go.
Changing the stereotypes on tee boxes is an easy step. It isn’t embarrassing for men to play from the forward tees, and it isn’t required of women to stay there.
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Comments (16)
Hitting from the forward tees has made the game so much fun. Never had alot of power, so even after a good drive my second shot was a 5wood, on long par 4s. By moving up I can use my irons and get up or close. No problem keeping pace either. Forward tees are great for seniors and makes it fun , More guys would move up where they belong if called forward tees.
over 80 years old should play from forward tees.
At first blush, one might think this young lady has another stereotypical "naming problem" with tee designations. But the careful reader will acknowledge the history behind "ladies' tees" as not only a misnomer, but (to my surprise) an undeserved impediment to women in many tournament or other golf venues. I'm in my early 70's and if anyone tried to squeeze me into "senior tees" I would refer them to Dilbert and the "Prince of Heck". LOL.
As actual seniors, my regular golf partner and best friend are often paired up with "super seniors" for lack of a better description. Most understanding is around the privilege of those 80+ proceeding from the forward tees. It's actually a badge of honor at that age and gratitude to still be playing this maddening game. We had one such fellow who related, "I used to watch how far I drove the ball, now I can just listen to it land". What a sense of humor. So, you go, Libby. Tees should not be gender or age described in any way, and course handicaps reflect yardage just fine. I used to play softball and the satisfaction of a well hit pitch was wonderful.. Compare that to golf, when you have 18 chances to smash the ball with maybe a .750 to .900 average! Sweet!
Ugh. Well, you can easily see in the comments who the dinosaurs, misogynists, and mentally atrophied are. Years ago (early 2000's) I played a course in Cadillac MI., Called Eldorado GC. In an homage to Detroit's auto industry the tees were labeled Power, Luxury, Ride (I forget the others) but it was neither gender or color based . I've also been to numerous courses where the tips were yellow, the whites were forward, and the tees in between were silver, green, and black. Please, people, get past your insipid prejudices and just play the tees that fit your skill level. Color and gender be darned, get over yourself. Some of my most joyful moments on the course have been watching a talented woman absolutely out-drive and out-play some blockhead who thinks his "Manliness" makes him a better golfer. Also played a wonderful round once at a now-closed course in Canton, OH. with a young lady preparing for her freshman year of college golf. She demolished her drives, hit greens in regulation, and putted lights out. All from the same tees I was playing (1 up from the tips ~ 6,700 yds). Her 2 over score was darned impressive and easily beat my 81. I, too, could go on, but dinosaurs are famous for their tiny brains, so I know I won't change there thinking. Fortunately, dinosaurs die off.
I totally agree. At the course where I work as a starter/marshal, I hear several times per shift guys referring to the forward tee as the "ladies' tee". When I try to correct them, I always ask them to show me on the score card where it designates the forward tee as "ladies only". On the scorecard, the tees are described as black, blue, white and red. I have played at a few courses that have a yellow or gold tee that they have designated as "senior", and it's more forward than the red tee.
A close friend of mine joined me for a round on the Championship course (we have 3 courses of different lengths and challenges). We were paired with 2 twenty-somethings who were strutting around the first tee like they owned the place. After they both hit their opening drives from the white tee and I followed suit, they got into their cart and started to drive off. I stopped them quickly and turned to Heather and asked where she was going to play from that day. She announced that she'd be playing blues. She went back there and hit her drive (first hole is a par 5) and it ended up 20 yards farther than either of us. I looked at these two yahoos and asked "any questions?" They sheepishly got into their cart and drove off. I just gave Heather a high 5 because I knew that she was a fairly big hitter. When I caught up with them, I just said to them "don't assume". I think the lesson was learned well that day.
Thank you for bringing this up. I play at a country club in California and typically play from white/blue tees and with men. I can get through 18 holes in under 2 hours on my own playing at a steady pace. However, at any tournaments I am told that I have to play from the red tees. It does not make sense why men can play from five different tees, but women are told that they can only play from one. It cannot be assumed that women play slower and are unable to hit the ball less distance than a man. I have seen plenty of men struggling to hit from the " men's" tees and causing players behind them to stack up waiting on them. There are plenty of times that I consistently drive the same, if not farther than other men of all age groups and am the one waiting patiently at the end for them to finish. Stop calling the tees ladies tees or senior tees for that matter; people should play from whichever tee box they are most skilled and keep good speed of play.
I've always been of the opinion that there should just be just two sets of tees. Novice and Advanced. The handicap system already is in place to create competitive equality between players of different skill levels.
Awesome story about the tee boxes I’ve learned yet something else that contributes to this wonderful game and Kudos to the Audubon club for taking it forward
As a senior golfer I have no problem hitting from the forward tees. I’m done with trying to compete with guys that are younger and more skilled. At this point I just want to enjoy the sport… That being said I’m sure that there are many women that can out drive and out play me. They deserve to tee it up in keeping with their skill level. More power to them.👍👍
Not to discount the author's feelings, which seem to be of paramount importance to most youngsters these days ("youngsters" being defined by me as anyone under about 35), but I've been playing golf for more than 45 years and, from all the men and women I've played with during that time, I've never heard anyone discuss this "solution", for which the author appears to be in search of a problem. Rather, it feels like yet another attack on a very longstanding tradition. I'm no rocket Scientist, nor do I play one on TV, but a better solution might be to choose another color tee, which could be placed next to the white tees from which similarly aggrieved ladies could play. Or better yet, eliminate all colored tees and just line up a bunch of rocks, which each player would choose to play from based on how they're feeling on any given day. A sliding scale, if you will. Or if we're establishing a feelings based measurement, just stretch a rainbow from the back of the teeing area to the front and call it good. Or bad. Each player being thereby able to play according to their feelings. I could go on ...
We can see who the "Triggered" folks are, eh.