Which Tees Should You Play? A Simple Tee It Forward Guide

By PingAces Team · October 27, 2026

AI-generated illustration of several sets of colored tee markers on a sunny golf course tee box, with a fairway stretching toward a distant green

Standing on the first tee, most of us pick a set of tees out of habit: the ones our friends play, the ones we played last time, or the ones that feel like "real golf." There is a better way to decide, and it only takes one number you probably already know, which is how far your average drive goes.

This guide walks through the Tee It Forward guidelines from the PGA of America and the USGA, how to use them at any course, and what changes (and what doesn't) for your handicap when you move up.

What Tee It Forward is

Tee It Forward started in 2011 as a joint initiative of the PGA of America and the United States Golf Association. In its original announcement, the USGA said the program "encourages all golfers to play the course at a length that is aligned with their average driving distance." The same release credits Adams Golf founder Barney Adams with the concept.

The idea is simple: a tour pro and an everyday golfer should face roughly the same kind of shots into greens. According to that USGA release, the 6,700-yard course many amateurs play is proportionally equivalent to a PGA Tour player competing on a course of about 8,100 yards, which the USGA described as 700 yards or more longer than a typical PGA Tour layout.

The program was promoted nationally from July 5 to 17, 2011, but the PGA of America's guideline sheet makes the point plainly: "you can do this anytime."

The chart: match your drive to a course length

Here are the recommended 18-hole yardages from the PGA of America Tee It Forward guidelines:

Average driver distance	Recommended 18-hole yardage
275 yards	6,700 to 6,900
250 yards	6,200 to 6,400
225 yards	5,800 to 6,000
200 yards	5,200 to 5,400
175 yards	4,400 to 4,600
150 yards	3,500 to 3,700
125 yards	2,800 to 3,000
100 yards	2,100 to 2,300

The sheet itself describes the chart as a guideline, not a rule. Nobody is going to stop you from playing the back tees. It's a starting point for picking the set that fits your game today.

How to use it in three steps

1. Be honest about your average drive

The chart is built on your average drive, not the one you flushed downwind on a firm fairway last summer. If you track your rounds, your typical tee shot distance is the number to use. If you don't, a few range sessions with a launch monitor or a couple of rounds with a GPS app will give you a fair estimate.

For context, the PGA of Canada's Tee It Forward announcement said that, based on equipment manufacturer data, the average male golfer's drive goes 225 yards and the average female golfer's goes 140 yards. Your number may be higher or lower; use yours.

2. Read the scorecard, not the tee color

Tee colors mean different things at different courses. Blue at one club might be 6,800 yards and 6,200 at the next. Look at the total yardage printed for each set on the scorecard and pick the one that falls inside (or closest to) your range on the chart.

3. Try it for a few rounds before judging

The first time you move up, it can feel strange to hit a shorter club into a green you're used to reaching with a hybrid. Give it a few rounds. The USGA's announcement made the case that with many more golfers hitting approach shots with 6- and 7-irons instead of hybrids and long irons, their chances for enjoyment increase, and that forward tees should mean fewer overall shots, less distance traveled on each hole, and potentially fewer lost balls.

Does moving up hurt my handicap?

No, because the handicap system already accounts for the tees you play. Under the World Handicap System, your Course Handicap changes with the tees you choose. The USGA's Course Handicap page gives the 18-hole formula:

Course Handicap = Handicap Index x (Slope Rating / 113) + (Course Rating - par)

Every rated set of tees has its own Course Rating and Slope Rating, so a shorter, easier set usually gives you fewer strokes, and a longer, harder set gives you more. Your Handicap Index stays the same; what changes is how many strokes you get on that particular day. If those two ratings are new to you, our explainer on Course Rating vs. Slope Rating breaks them down in plain English.

Here's a quick example with made-up numbers, just to show the math. A golfer with a 15.0 Handicap Index on a par-72 set rated 71.0 with a Slope of 130 would get 15.0 x (130 / 113) + (71.0 - 72), which is about 16.3, or 16 strokes once rounded. On a shorter set rated 68.5 with a Slope of 120, the same golfer would get 15.0 x (120 / 113) + (68.5 - 72), about 12.4, or 12 strokes. Fewer strokes, but also a shorter course, so it evens out.

The pace-of-play bonus

Both the USGA and the PGA of Canada pitched Tee It Forward partly as a way to speed things up. The PGA of Canada release said choosing a course length in line with your ability "can speed up play, improve course playability and increase overall player enjoyment." Fewer shots and fewer searches for lost balls add up across a foursome. For more ways to keep things moving, see our pace-of-play tips.

Our take

This part is opinion. The best tees are the ones that leave you hitting a mix of clubs into greens and walking off most holes feeling like you had a real chance at par. If you're reaching for a fairway wood on most approach shots, try moving up one set next round. If you're hitting wedges into every par 4, move back. It's not about ego; it's about playing the course the way it was meant to be played for someone who hits it as far as you do.

Track the difference

The easiest way to know whether moving up helped is to compare rounds. Log your scores from each set of tees in PingAces and look at the trend over a few weeks. Our guide to logging a round on PingAces shows how, and the features page covers what else you can track. New here? You can create a free account in a minute.

Sources

Featured image: AI-generated illustration created for PingAces.