Play It Forward

 

I know what you’re thinking. “But Matt, how will everyone know how awesome I am if I don’t play from the tips?” Trust me, I used to think this way too. I thought that if I played from any tees other than the very back ones (the tips) it wasn’t a “real” round of golf, whatever that means. My pride wouldn’t let me move to other tees, and it made for a lot of rough rounds if I’m honest. So if you’re stuck playing poor golf from the tips and your pride won’t let you move up, don’t worry, I’m here to help. Let me give you three reasons why you should “play it forward.” 

1. It takes the pressure off “piping your drive.”

Let’s be honest, we’re all guilty of trying to crush our drive way further than we know we can hit it. I think we come by it honestly; I mean, chicks dig the long ball. The problem is that when you step up to a tee and the hole is 50-100 yards longer because you’re playing the tips, you’re setting yourself up for failure by forcing yourself to try and crush your drive. It’s a mental thing. When the hole is longer, it takes a longer drive to be in a good position to play your second shot. That’s a lot of pressure on hitting not only a long drive but also a straight one. 

When you swallow your pride and play from a closer set of tees, the reality is that you won’t have the pressure of having to hit a monster drive on every hole. The reality is that most of the time you won’t even need to hit the driver, but if you do, your approach should (and I stress that it should) be much easier. That alone should help you to shoot better scores but think about the mental advantage it gives you. If you are free enough to just step up and make a good swing to hit a solid drive and you aren’t worried about swinging out of your shoes, chances are that you’ll make a better stroke and hit a better shot. So play it forward, you’ll take a lot of the pressure off your tee shots. 

2. It allows you to try different strategies for holes you may have played the same way for a long time.

If you’re like me and you end up playing the same rotation of courses on an endless loop, year after year, then you’ll appreciate this point. There are some courses that I’ve played probably 1,000 times and most of them are the exact same way. I can walk you through all 18 holes of my childhood country club and exactly how I would set up to play every hole. That’s where playing it forward can be fun. 

When you move forward and play a different set of tees, you see the hole differently. You hit different shots and different clubs. You will have to hit shots you haven’t seen before and you’ll have to have a different strategy to approach each hole, which will challenge you to become a better, more well-rounded golfer. If you’re hitting the same 80-90 shots all the time, you aren’t actually getting better. You’re just getting good at hitting those particular shots. The trouble will come when you go play a completely new course and you aren’t hitting the shots you’ve practiced over and over. But, if you’ve mixed up your rounds and played them from different tees (from time to time), you will be more prepared to take on the different shots those new courses could present you with. Play it forward, you’ll end up becoming a better golfer because you’ll learn to strategize and approach holes in a new way.

3. It could actually help you shoot better scores and have more fun.

This is the point that makes me excited about writing this blog. For me, golf is all about the challenge and having fun. I love those two things, and golf gives me both every round. So when I think about something like playing the front tees, it doesn’t make me tip my nose in the air or hurt my pride. To me, it represents a new challenge that allows me to go low and have fun while doing it, which is literally why I’m on the golf course. 

Here’s the reality of golf for most people. Shorter holes equals lower scores. 99% of golfers in the world benefit from hitting shorter clubs. Think about your own game. Which club are you more comfortable hitting, a 4-iron or a 9-iron? Chances are you’d rather have a short iron or a wedge in your hands when you’re approaching greens, and playing it forward allows you to do just that. And trust me, golf is more fun when you’re circling numbers on your scorecard.  

Now don’t misunderstand the big picture of what I’m trying to say here. I’m not suggesting you abandon the tips to play the front tees every time you play a round of golf. In a lot of ways, playing from the tips pushes you to become a better golfer, so it’s a good idea to play from them. But, from time to time, mix it up a bit and play from a different set of tees. It will take some of the pressure off your tee shots, it will help you practice some shots you may not hit that often, and it could actually just be more fun and help you shoot a better score. So next time you go out, think about “playing it forward.”