Firstly, our competitions should always be focused on fairness. According to the PGA of America, if you can't hit a drive 225-250 then you shouldn't be playing the white tees on the South Course (6100 yards?). If you can hit your drive that far, then you should be playing the white tees regardless of your age.
The USGA surveyed 20,000 of their members who say that their preferred Par 3 distance is where they need to hit a 6 iron and that a it's too short of a distance when they can hit a gap wedge (a gap wedge sits between your pitching wedge and sand wedge). They also say that the average golfer hits his 7-iron 138 yards and should be playing a course yardage of 6100 yards. They also believe that a reasonable par 3 distance is 152 yards for the average golfer.
NO WHERE in any of the discussions I've read is age talked about; it's all about skill level (how far can you hit it) and enjoying the game.
I started this comment about fairness, but we also have to balance that with enjoyment; if our members don't enjoy playing with us, then they'll stop coming. We have members playing the white tees that can't hit their drives 200 yards. We also have members playing the gold tees who can hit their drives well over 200 yards. To make things fair, we'd have to conduct some sort of ability test to measure either driver or 7-iron distances, or both, and assign tees appropriately. I don't know if that's manageable.
My thoughts are that if you're hitting driver and pitching wedge (or less) to most of the par 4s, then you're playing the wrong tee box. Conversely, if you're hitting driver and hybrid or 3 wood to most of the par 4s, then you're playing the wrong tee box. (Notice that I haven't mentioned age at all?)
We should do away with the age requirement for moving to the gold tees and let members play from whichever tee they most enjoy playing from. I would also ask that our members assess themselves and play from the tee distances recommended by the USGA.
Firstly, our competitions should always be focused on fairness. According to the PGA of America, if you can't hit a drive 225-250 then you shouldn't be playing the white tees on the South Course (6100 yards?). If you can hit your drive that far, then you should be playing the white tees regardless of your age.
https://help.18birdies.com/article/550-what-tees-should-i-play
The USGA surveyed 20,000 of their members who say that their preferred Par 3 distance is where they need to hit a 6 iron and that a it's too short of a distance when they can hit a gap wedge (a gap wedge sits between your pitching wedge and sand wedge). They also say that the average golfer hits his 7-iron 138 yards and should be playing a course yardage of 6100 yards. They also believe that a reasonable par 3 distance is 152 yards for the average golfer.
https://www.usga.org/content/usga/home-page/course-care/green-section-record/61/issue-11/helping-golfers-choose-their--best-tees--.html
NO WHERE in any of the discussions I've read is age talked about; it's all about skill level (how far can you hit it) and enjoying the game.
I started this comment about fairness, but we also have to balance that with enjoyment; if our members don't enjoy playing with us, then they'll stop coming. We have members playing the white tees that can't hit their drives 200 yards. We also have members playing the gold tees who can hit their drives well over 200 yards. To make things fair, we'd have to conduct some sort of ability test to measure either driver or 7-iron distances, or both, and assign tees appropriately. I don't know if that's manageable.
My thoughts are that if you're hitting driver and pitching wedge (or less) to most of the par 4s, then you're playing the wrong tee box. Conversely, if you're hitting driver and hybrid or 3 wood to most of the par 4s, then you're playing the wrong tee box. (Notice that I haven't mentioned age at all?)
We should do away with the age requirement for moving to the gold tees and let members play from whichever tee they most enjoy playing from. I would also ask that our members assess themselves and play from the tee distances recommended by the USGA.