Yes, sometimes you get a lot of mileage out of a simple headline.
I got a message this week from a guy in our league. He's recently turned 60 which started a whole lot of talk about age, senior tees and other stuff to look forward to as we age. Believe me, the list is pretty damn short. I go back to some sage advice from my Dad - "Don't get old!" (Yeah, right, like I have a choice....)
Anyway, one of the arguments he'd been having was with some other league members who thought senior (gold) tee eligibility was automatic after age 60. Not so my friends. I would direct you to the REGL league rules that stipulate that you must combine your age and your handicap, and ONLY if that number is 75 or greater would you be eligible to play from the gold tees.
Please keep in mind that if your number is 75 or greater it is NOT mandatory that you play from the gold tees - it is an OPTION you can consider. There are a number of reasons why and why you wouldn't want to play from the gold tees. Before I get into those, there are also some stipulations in the REGL rules that apply.
First, you can't willy-nilly select your tee box from one week to another. If you decide to play from the gold tees (and if you are eligible (that 75 number again)), you must tell the league PRIOR TO THE START OF THE SEASON that you wish to do so. Secondly, once the league starts for the year, you're locked into those tees for the REST OF THE YEAR. I would expect that after a year of playing the gold tees that the league will assume that you'll play those same tees the following year unless you tell them otherwise.
Then there are the implications of playing from the gold tees. Once you tell the league that you wish to play from the gold tees for the season, your handicap will be recalculated based on the gold tees. Odds are, the handicap will go down by around a stroke. However, that handicap is only valid when you play against a player playing from the same gold tees. To play against a white-tee player, you'll subtract 1 from your gold-tee handicap on both the front and the back nines, and if you're up against a red-tee player, you'll subtract 1 from your handicap, but only on the front nine. I wrote a blog entry on this once, but damned if I can find it today. The reasons for the 1-stroke handicap deduction have to do with the course rating difference of the tees and the math isn't too tough to understand. I'd refer you to that brilliant blog entry that I wrote, but....
As of this year, we have a gold-tee player on our team. He's 65 and can still hit the ball well off of the tee. We went round and round about his decision, and after playing about 4 rounds in league play, he says the tee locations and the reduction in handicap against the white player kind of equal out (which is the big idea). For players who can't reach a par 4 in two consistently from the white tees? I'd think the gold tees would be a lot less frustrating and might be a way to still stay competitive in a pretty cool golf league. I also know quite a few eligible gold-tee players who elect to play from the white tees. They still have plenty of pop off the tee and it doesn't take a heroic 3-wood to make it on the green of #6. The gold tees give you options - but they are NOT a guaranteed option once you turn 60. 75 is the number, and it's a combination of age AND handicap.
Finally, a story. I was walking a course a few years ago up in central Pennsylvania. I was making good time hoofing around the course (also an Ed Ault design) when I made the turn up to the 10th tee box. There were a couple of guys there playing from the senior tees who asked if I wanted to join them to finish the round. I accepted and they said (emphatically) - "We play from these tees 'CAUSE WE'RE OLD!!!!!" We had a delightful back nine and they enjoyed a shorter version of the same course. Turns out that one of those guys was the owner of the course and he got out as often as he could - those senior tees enabled him to keep the game fun for him.
I'm cool with that idea - but I also see the flip side - people who feel entitled to move to the senior tees just because they've reached a certain age. I'll give you an example of what I don't like. The third hole at Pleasant Valley is a beast from the white tees. You have to cross water on your tee shot and hit up over a hill and down into the valley before the green. With an excellent tee shot, you typically have a mid to long iron in your hands for your approach into the uphill green with a false front. Not true from the yellow (senior) tees up there. No water to cross, no hill to crest. Buddies of mine will play that hole from the yellows by first nearly driving the green. A chip, a putt, a birdie. That's not the way the hole was designed. It was designed as a true test of golf - one that's ruined by people that shouldn't play those tees. Just my 2 cents.