Imagine the starter at St. Andrews addressing groups of nervous yet eager golfer-tourists at the famed Old Course’s very broad, very exposed and very public first tee (spectators of all stripes linger near the first tee to watch golfers, most on shakey pins, strike their first blows at the historic town links).
“Are ye teeing it forward today?”
I have a hard time imagining that scenario even at the likes of the Old Course, where golf handicaps are given more scrutiny than background checks for Brinks.
Still, take note of “Tee it Forward,” as golfers are more and more likely to hear it, especially since the USGA is backing this horse, and the likenesses of Jack Nicklaus, Paula Creamer and Dustin Johnson are featured in marketing materials, and state and regional golf associations around the country are being enlisted to help get the word out.
In a nutshell, TIF is an initiative to encourage golfers to play from the tees best suited to their abilities. TIF is the brainstorm of Barney Adams, the founder of Adams Golf and a self-proclaimed 71-year-old 9 handicap. In brief, Adams argues that if tour players were hitting the same length approach shots that the average bogey golfer faces (because the bogey golfer is playing from the wrong set of tees), the former would be staring at 8,100-yard layouts.
The flip side, according to Adams’s premis, is that bogey golfers have no business teeing it up at 6,700 yards or more. Rather the bogey man belongs in the 6,000-6,400 yard range, and the bogey woman, 4,000-4,600 yards.
Distance is the number one obstacle challenging the bogey golfer, and mediating this challenge will doubtlessly make the game easier, move faster and be a more fun experience for the majority of golfers who have a tough time breaking 100.
For all of the golf equipment strides made in the last two decades (it’s never been easier to get the golf ball airborne), is the remedy to the game’s slide in participation and rounds as simple as teeing it forward?
Part of me thinks the idea is genius. But another part, the traditionalist, believes that distance is not what’s troubling the game. It’s the business of golf that’s giving the game a bum rap.