Why Can't We Get Mixed Golf Right? It Starts At The Tee Box

I read with interest an email from a GM reader who had a good point to make after reading my article about mixed golf. He posed the question: ‘Should all mixed competitions use the same tee?’

At his club, like many others around the country, there are several measured tees. The yellow tee is over 600 yards longer than the forward reds but this is reflected in the handicap awarded to competitors, who on average get six extra shots if playing from the yellow tees.

As a result, in mixed competitions, women currently gain a substantial number of shots, as the stroke indexes (their shot holes) are taken off the men’s scorecard. This is to compensate for the holes that the men play as a par-4 and the women as a par-5. However, by allowing the women to play from the forward red tees, plus also being given more shots they are, in his opinion, at a substantial scoring advantage.

There’s two schools of thoughts on this and I have to be honest, when he originally posed the question, my initial reaction was to say, ‘No’, purely because the majority of women I play golf with are short hitters.

Playing off a tee any further back, they would be over-faced. It would ruin their enjoyment of the game. They would struggle to make difficult carries, be hitting all (or majority) woods for their second shots rather than irons, thus taking the skill of the game away and turning it into a battle of the biggest hitters. More than anything else, it would no longer be fun and golf is a sport we are choosing to play for recreational pleasure.

My article on mixed golf highlighted many reasons why I think that joint competitions are good for the game, but I certainly don’t think that these could or should all be played from the same tee.

When I choose to play off the yellows in mixed competitions, it’s to challenge myself. I’m an ambitious player who wants to compete on the English senior circuit in a few years time. I want to stretch my golfing skills and put my game under greater pressure. I also enjoy mixed competitions because they are more sociable. The same experience is so often lacking in my working life, playing and writing about a male-dominated sport.

In a typical golf writers’ tournament, I am often the only woman in a fourball and I’m teeing off 50 yards ahead of the men. I hardly get to speak a word to my playing partners until we all get to the green. I enjoy the forward tee competition because it’s sociable and I have the length to cope with the test, but I’m in the minority of women who can carry the ball 200 yards or more. I sometimes struggle with some of the carries on certain tee shots.

On the other side of the coin, is the consideration of the extra shots given to women playing in mixed competitions to allow for the difference between the standard scratch of the different tees. This, I believe, is where the true problem lies.

I agree that this gives women an unfair advantage. Entering a mixed competition but playing from the front tees with a handful of extra shots is ludicrous, but it’s already happening at many clubs and I think they’re getting it wrong.

The term level playing field is often used when describing fair competition and giving women a lot of extra shots to allow for differences in the standard scratch, but teeing off a forward tee is, in my opinion, biased and unfair.

On the flip side of the coin, an equally ridiculous situation occurs in mixed competitions at one club, as highlighted by GM reader David Brookens. This is due to the way the course is measured and appointed slope ratings for the WHS handicap system. The red (forward) tees are actually deemed more difficult (with a 98 rating) than the yellow tees, which have a 97 rating. What this means is that if a woman plays off the yellow tees she actually loses a shot off her handicap!

I’d be hypocritical to say that these points raised have led me to re-think my opinion about mixed golf competitions being good for the game. I’m still a massive advocate of playing sociable mixed games of golf at clubs, however I do think that the scoring needs careful consideration to ensure that it is fair for all, and this will clearly vary course to course and club to club.