“Playing it forward,” a concept popularized by golf legend Jack Nicklaus, encourages golfers to play from tees that suit their skill level rather than sticking to traditional tees based on age or gender. This approach is designed to make the game more enjoyable, improve pace of play, and allow players to experience the game as it was intended by course designers.

Let me explain what that means for the non-golfers who are reading this.

Each golf hole has a tee box, the place where you start the golf hole, the place where you bring out your driver for a hole that is a par 4 or par 5, or the place where you bring out an iron for a shorter par 3.

Each tee box has different tees arranged at different locations to take into account the fact that there is such a variety of skills and capabilities among the people that play golf.  You would not want a pro golfer who drives the ball  300+ yards to be hitting from the same spot on the tee box as a beginning junior golfer who is lucky to hit the ball 100 yards.

As a result, most courses have at each tee box several different tees.  These are usually marked by different colors.  For example, the course I played today has five tees on each tee box – a black one, a yellow one, a white one, a green one and a red one.   The pros play from the far back tees, which are the black ones.  Historically, the red tees were usually played by women.  The difference in distance between the two can be as much as 120 yards.

The course for golfers playing from the black tees can be 7,000 yards long, while the course for golfers playing the yellow tees is 6,500 yards long, for those playing the white tees 6,000 yards, for those playing the green tees 5,500 yards, and for those playing the red tees 5,000 yards long.

Golf’s official position on “Playing it forward” is that it is a smart, strategic choice that aligns with modern golf philosophy. They go further by saying that it has nothing to do with one’s masculinity but everything to do with making the game more enjoyable and accessible.

Hold on!  For macho men the goal is to play from the farthest back tees as you possibly can.  A way to show your masculinity.  By doing so, that means that at a minimum you are a long hitter, or at least you think you are.

What Jack Nicklaus’ phrase encourages is that there is a time in life when it is OK to tee off from a tee box that is closer to the green than the one you have been using for some time.  And he is suggesting that you can do this without losing your masculinity, your machismo, your macho.

Yours truly has played from the white tees most of the time over the last couple of decades.  I don’t believe that I have ever played from the green or red tees.

Until today!  Yes, I chose to play from the green tees today.  Yes, I did.

This is a momentous decision.  It means that I am willing to admit that I can no longer play with the longer hitters in the game.  It means that I have admitted to myself and the rest of the world that I do not have the length in my shots that I had in the past.

This may not sound like a big deal to some, but it really is a big deal – at least to me.  It is acknowledging the realities of life, that as you get older you lose some of your previous strength, flexibility and whatever else it takes to drive the ball more than 200+++ yards.

Bottom line, my macho has just suffered a setback. I am losing a little bit of my macho.  Egad, I am saying to myself.  If this is true today, what will happen tomorrow?   Am I crumbling in front of my own eyes?   Will I be playing golf from a wheelchair next week?   You get the idea.

To me what happened today is comparable to my decision two years ago to get an electric bike.  Same exact feelings.

To me what happened today is comparable to the feelings I have when I am on a subway or a bus and someone offers me their seat.  Holy cow!   So, I look that infirm, I am saying to myself.

Self-image is important.  Mine just took another hit today.

What made it a little easier to take today was that I was playing golf by myself.  I had no one else playing with me.  I did not have to hear the derision, the slings and arrows that I would surely have been subjected to if others had been playing with me, particularly my friends (so called).

I must admit that I loved playing from the green tees.  It was so wonderful to be able to have a short iron to play into the green with my second shot.  Similarly, I absolutely love my electric bike.

There were some other things about today’s round of golf that are interesting.  First of all, I played it in 115-degree heat.  it was OK.  I had a golf cart, a wide brimmed hat, and plenty of water.  Because of the heat, hardly anyone else was on the course.  I was able to play 18 holes in less than 3 hours.  By playing by myself with no one else on the course I was able to play two or three balls on each hole.  Also I was able to take my time with no pressure to keep pace with any group ahead of me.  In addition, the price was right.  The price was 20% of what the price is in peak season.  Finally, the other reason that I loved playing from the green tees is that I have not played so well and scored so well in years as I did today.

Bottom line.  One more blow to my increasingly feeble macho self-image.  But, I have a feeling that I am going to love playing from the green tees.

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