EDITORIAL – Time to Stop Shortchanging the Ladies

Go to about any golf course and there are usually three to four sets of tees. Of those, there is only one for the average woman. Often, it is about 10 yards or less from the most forward men’s tee.

I teach quite a few average female golfers. On their best day, they will drive it about a maximum of 150 yards. At many of the courses in town, there is not one par-4or par-5 that they can reach in regulation. I cannot tell you how many times I have heard, “My goal is to get on a par-4 in three shots or a par-5 in four or five shots.” We should at least give them a chance to reach holes in regulation. Scorecards list par for every hole, and while that is the score an expert golfer is expected to make, there is satisfaction in making this score for anyone. Women who have to one-putt from 20 or more feet to make a par seldom do, as would anyone. So, allowing them a chance to reach the hole in regulation would result in more pars.

Is there any reason we can’t have two sets of tees for the gals to make the game more enjoyable? It would not be that hard to set up a shorter course for them. A new “tee box” could be mowed in the fairway, if necessary. Some courses do this with “family tees,” where markers and a new tee box are cut in the fairway anywhere from 150 to 200 yards out. The same can be done for the ladies. Based on my observation and work with such golfers, the maximum length of holes should be 375 yards for a par-5; 275 yards for a par-4, and 125 yards for a par-3. This would give them a good chance at breaking 100 regularly and making the game much more fun.

By Mike Stevens, USGTF Contributing Writer