Taj - have you tried to form your own circle of golfing friends to play with instead of just taking what the tee time system gives you? I know that many people in TV play with 'like' golfers. I'm just north of a 12 handicap (trending towards 20 it seems
) and sometimes I play in groups of friends who are beginners. What we do is a exec scramble and that seems to work fine. They get 3-4 foursomes and play scramble with one or two experienced players and two newer ones in each group. We have great fun and usually a nice lunch afterward. Can't wait to move perm so we can play every week.