A recent article from GottaGoGolf's Blog features FSGA past champion and one of golf's great advocates and amateurs, Alice Dye, sharing her perspective on the need for multiple women's tees at courses. Written by Susan Fornoff, "Shorter tees for women: Wimpy, or wise?", highlights Dye's push for the "Tee it Forward" program but realizes there is a greater problem, finding a tee box short enough to meet those needs. Below are some excerpts from the featured article, but please click here to view the complete story at GottaGoGolf's blog.
- 'Now that the USGA has ruled on the long putter, golf course architect Alice Dye is hoping that the rulers of the game might next declare war on long courses for women.
- “I’m trying to work with the USGA on this – play it forward, but, where are you going to put us?” she asks, referring to the average woman player, with an average forward tee of morethan 5,500 yards. “Until the USGA gets interested in women’s golf and starts saying that women should have two tees, we’re never going to get them. I don’t think it’s dawned on them. They’re big on Tee It Forward, but we’re already as forward as we can get.”
- “The type of women who played when we started were what I call sportswomen,” Alice Dye said. “They played hockey in high school, they fished or hunted and did sports of that kind. They were physically stronger than a lot of the women that play today. Today it’s a much broader range. More women are playing. We have lots of people my age, in their 80s, but we don’t hit it as far. Then we have all the girls that have gone through Title IX, that go to the gym and work out, they’re super strong. Even though they’re not terribly athletic, they can hit a ball a long way.”'
'She likes the 5,000-yard course today, citing La Quinta’s PGA West Stadium (5,092), and where possible would like to see even shorter tees. The “Two Tee System for Women” she has formulated recommends yardage ranges for par 3s, 4s and 5s that are significantly lower than the USGA’s rigid prescriptions. USGA standards could apply to the tees suitable for the women who drive the ball 200 yards or so.
- This is not a new cause for Alice Dye, but the USGA is a new target because, she feels, women themselves have opposed the shortening of golf courses and the USGA needs to step up and play advocate for them. Jan Bel Jan, who became the second woman member of the ASGCA after Dye, notes that, “It’s often difficult to let women know that it’s OK to be on a green in regulation. This is important: Too often, they feel shortchanged if they are on a par-4 in two shots.'
- 'Dye says it wouldn’t hurt for the golf magazines to include front-tee playability as a factor in their ratings and travel stories. But, mainly she’s hoping for the USGA to adjust the attitudes of women unjustly worried that their handicaps will fall without cause (slope adjustments take this into account in the handicap system) or that they won’t be able to have a fair match against an opponent who prefers a longer tee (see GottaGoGolf Magazine’s report on the 6 steps to a fair match with anyone).
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