Quote:
Originally Posted by retiredguy123
Many years ago, I attended an LPGA event on a relatively long golf course that I played regularly. I was surprised to see that the tee boxes they were using were not the pro tees, not the men's tees, and not even the women's tees. They had moved the tee boxes about 20 yards in front of the normal women's tee boxes. I think they select and design the LPGA courses to keep the scoring in line with the men's scoring to promote the game. They don't want to see women shooting in the 80's and 90's.
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They don't put the LPGA tees ahead of the ladies tees for every hole. They sometimes pick a short enough par 4, and move the tees up, so the ladies can drive the green. The longest average driver on the LPGA is 285 yds (Maria Fassi), so they probably set up a hole at 275 yds. that day.
The ANA Inspiration at Mission Hills was set at 6,763 yds (and the winner was -15). On my home course the regular men's tees are 6,300 and the furthest back tees were 6,700. And yes, they set up the course depending upon what score range they like. The men do this as well, for example the US Open (Men's) likes to see the final score only a couple under par, so they move the tees back and grow the rough. Same with the women. Due to equipment improvements they have had to lengthen many men's courses in our lifetime. Some courses that were okay for the men 30 yrs ago can no longer host a men's event. John Daly was the first pro to average over 300 yds per drive in the 1990's. Now 71 players average over 300.
I like watching the LPGA just because their length is "reasonable". They have issues getting out of the rough. They sometimes have to chip out sideways, not able to hit a 6 iron 200 yds and still clear the trees. Their swings are much closer to my swing, they are not having to leap out of their shoes on every drive.