I just had a great conversation with a young man that grew up here and played here up through college. He was asking which tees he should be playing? I told him that it depends upon what challenge he wanted. You see, slope and rating tell the player which tees that he or she might want to play. If they are wanting to play a similar course to what they are used to (ie, shoot the same score) then select a slope rating similar to what the slope rating is on the course they call home. See, slope is the comparison for a bogey golfer so that they can compare courses. The course rating is for the scratch golfer, what a 0 handicapper would shoot the course in if he was on his game (not many of them).
Anyway, I told him the selection of the tee was his choosing. If you are a scorecard golfer then play a similar slope or rating to what you normally play. If you know the course a little bit and want a bigger challenge then play a slope or rating that will test your skill.
The conversation really hinged around professional tees, tournament tees, “regular” tees and women’s tees. Today you will find very few cards that use these terms for the tee locations. When we built the Walnut Creek course and then again when we built the Club Run Course the first question from the public golfer was “how long is it”, this was the judge of how good the course would be. Well, things have changed, (for the better I might add) and distance is no longer the judge of a course’s desirability. Sure some young fellas want to play a long course, but here, we don’t even put out the black tees anymore because only 1% of the players want the challenge it gives. Most people want to walk away with a feeling that they played well and if the course was too tough then they did not have a good day. ( Did anyone say that everyone should get a trophy?)
Just to make the point, play from the tees that enable you to enjoy the game! It is all about picking the amount of challenge. One caviot, course ratings are generated primarily from distance, so understand that is what the scratch golfer is best at. Few scratch golfers worry about distance, they have it but their challenge is for accuracy.