Why on earth would an average golfer beginning to get on a little in years even consider doing this given that, in theory, the longer the golf course, the harder it will play? Well, the trigger for this seemingly radical approach came at Formby Golf Club in April, where I was meeting up for a friendly game with my Golf Monthly colleague, Michael Weston, who is a member there.
Over a pre-round coffee, we both said we fancied putting in a card (it would be my first of the year) so had a look at the MyEG app to see what the course handicaps off the various teeing options were. My Handicap Index was 6.3 and the fact that I got 11 shots off the white tees (6,815 yards; Course Rating 74.7; Slope Rating 143) immediately caught my eye. I think it might even have been 13 off the blues at 7,128 yards, but you’ve got to be vaguely sensible and I don’t think the blue markers were out anyway!
It had been a long time since I’d got 11 shots anywhere, and instantly, I got a bit of a psychological boost, purely from there being far more holes than usual where bogey would still get me two points. Despite the additional yardage and greater apparent difficulty, this seemed hugely enticing, especially if you’re generally struggling to play to your handicap (as I had been) and feeling a little under pressure from the off getting relatively few shots.
Incredibly, I started with three pars and two birdies then another par to have 18 points after 6 holes and 23 at the turn after a double on the difficult 9th, where I was almost certainly never going to get home in two anyway into the wind. And yes, I did have to hit hybrid or 3-iron into par 4s a few more times than I would have had to off the yellows, but mostly with reasonable success that saw me either on or close to the greens.
I was still level par gross standing in the 12th fairway thanks to a couple of unlikely 35-footers in a row on 10 and 11 but ended up shooting 7-over after a tame four-bogey finish thanks to a couple of very long-range three-putts and twice going miles through the back of greens (which is unheard of for me).
Even so, when we completed the scorecard, I was surprised – and delighted – to see the Score Differential come through at 3.4, making it my lowest current counting score by nearly a shot and bringing me down to 5.8. This was completely against the run of play having even pondered stepping away from golf for a while after a spell of rounds where I had been hitting two or three destructive shots sideways right off the toe (something I have since realised was almost certainly a lower back issue restricting movement and rotation).
Of course, it seems completely counter-intuitive for a 60-year-old man whose powers are on the wane to venture as far back as possible. But my logic is this. I’m usually in play off the tee although not as long as I used to be, especially in the off-season, but I’ve never hit a huge number of greens in regulation. My belief is that the difference between my odds of getting up and down from 40 or 20 yards is not as great as you might think, especially as I have a reasonably tidy game around the greens.
The theory then is that if I’m a little further short of the harder-to-reach greens than I might have been off the forward tees, that’s not going to have the same negative effect on my scores as the mental positive that comes from the freedom of knowing that I have extra shots to play with.
Of course, some of this is probably also to do with the new Course Handicap calculation under WHS this year in which Course Rating minus Par is now added to the equation (Handicap Index x (Slope/113) + (Course Rating – Par). At Formby, this gave me an extra 2.7 shots (74.7 minus 72) on my Course Handicap compared to what it would have been off those tees last year.
Does this perhaps mean that the calculation isn’t quite right? Quite possibly, but for anyone who has only ever wanted to be as low as possible, I think this is now more achievable than ever before if you, somewhat counter-intuitively, play from further back than you might be inclined.
If your goal is to have you handicap as high as possible, then this isn’t for you – but then, golfers with that goal aren’t for me either, as I’m not into maintaining as high a handicap as possible to help in pot-hunting expeditions.
Self-flattery? Maybe. Playing the system? Maybe, but there’s nothing untoward or illegal about it as long as clubs are happy for you to venture back. And I’d obviously have to be realistic if there were carries off the tips that I’d struggle with or we’re getting into the realms of 7,200 yards plus. Either way, this is what I’m going to do this year, when allowed, and we’ll see where the Handicap Index is at the end of the season.
