For Our Women Golfers
 

I though you might find this interesting ladies:

Women come up short in golf’s ‘Fairness Test’: Immense implications for golf
By KAREN MORAGHAN

Editor’s Note: the following reports on an important and overlooked problem whose solution could just help the game and the business of golf.

According to the “fairness test” devised by Arthur D. Little and Jann E. Leeming, women golfers are being asked to play courses that are generally more than 1,000 yards too long for them to reach greens in regulation. In a recent posting on their blog, Golf With Women, Little asks the following questions:

How fair is a 5,600-yard course for the average woman?
What would you think if we told you that a 5,600-yard course would be equivalent to an 8,400-yard course for the average man?
How about an 11,200-yard course for Matt Kuchar?

If the average woman should play from 5,600 yards, the average LPGA player should be playing a 9,600-yard course and a good male amateur should play a 10,400-yard course, Little contends.

“That’s how the math works if ‘fair’ is defined as having to hit the same clubs to reach greens in regulation from their respective tees,” Little writes. “This concept is what we define as the ‘fairness test.’ Sorry, Dustin Johnson, you are at 12,320 yards based on your average drive of 308 yards.”

According to Little and Leeming, the “average women golfer” hits her tee shot 140 yards. Hence, based on the data they have collected in their research, the length of the course she should play in order to have the opportunity to reach greens in regulation is 4,200 yards. Note that this is 30 times her average drive, which, Little adds, turns out to be a very good rule of thumb for everyone.

He goes on to note that the average male golfer hits a drive of 210 yards, while Kuchar’s average drive of 280 yards is within a few of yards of the PGA Tour average in 2010.

If the woman is at 4,200 yards, the average male golfer should be playing tees at 6,300 and the average PGA pro should be at 8,400 yards,” he writes. “These yardages seem much more reasonable, even though 8,400 yards is approximately 900 yards longer than the longest courses played on the PGA Tour. No wonder those guys are good!”

A graph that accompanies the blog posting shows that the average woman is asked to play courses that are generally more than 1,000 yards too long for her to meet the “fairness test” of reaching greens in regulation. The yardage for the average male is just about right, observes Little, who adds that better players usually play courses that are close to 1,000 yards shorter than would be indicated by multiplying their average drive by 30.

“The problem is that there are very few 4,200-yard golf courses in the United States, never mind the world,” Little writes. “As a result, most women golfers do not have the choice of a set of tees that gives them a fair chance to hit greens in regulation and thus give them the opportunity to score well.”

Little and Leeming believe the idea of courses with sets of tees that fit players with a wide range of driver swing speeds (from 60 to 110-plus mph) is critical. He writes that courses built (or retrofitted) this way will be more fun for all and much faster to play, and points to Old MacDonald Course at Bandon Dunes as one such shining example.

“We neither realistically believe courses will be built that are long enough to ‘fit’ players with faster than average swing speed, nor do we support such an effort – 7,500 yards is plenty long enough,” he writes.

Little offers this advice for players when choosing their yardage: Play a course where the yardage is approximately 30 times your average drive. If a course is longer than this, it will be a lot less enjoyable. If you don’t really know how long you hit your average drive (most people significantly overestimate), use two times your average nine-iron yardage. If you are among the great majority (98 percent) of golfers, this will be accurate. If your 30 times calculation results in a number shorter than the most forward set of tees at the course you are going to play, Little encourages them to read the “Move On Up” post to see how to deal with this situation.

The complete “What’s Fair?” posting, and accompanying graph, as well as other postings, can be found by visiting http://www.golfwithwomen.com/?p=242
http://frontpagegolf.com/News/News20...ort021411.html

Good post Sean, I have played with women who do fall into that 140 yard drive category and most do struggle with the game as they can't reach most par 4's in less than 3. Most tend to overswing and that only creates problems in their game and they become fustrated.
As a senior golfer I know how fustrating it is to play a course that is too long for you, so I look to play no longer than about 6250 yards now, or I fall into the overswinging mode myself. Thanks for posting this for all us, men and women, both can use this info.

Thanks DD. As a senior I agree...especially about the over swinging part! You're right, men should probably take a gander at this as well.

I play with a lot of ladies who can only hit their driver about 140 yards and it is very tough for them. The better ones have a really good short game and that helps a lot. Our course is relatively short from the ladies tees (@ 4700) but I often back up to the gold tees because it better prepares me for the tougher courses I play. It is definitely tougher for me to reach GIRs from that distance. Most courses I play have at least two options for the ladies to play but I would say most are 4800 yards at the shortest. I played at a tough track the other day and saw a couple 20 handicappers struggle to get over water on their second shot at only 115 yards. On the other hand, I often play with women who are low handicappers and can easily hit their drives 230+ off the tee. When my back was really bad this winter, I struggled with distance badly and I stayed on the red tees for months. My back is better and I'm hitting the driver good again, thank goodness.

My coach told me he sometimes moves the tees up at the private course where he works to 4000 yards for the women's days so they can really enjoy their game more. He is a big proponent to playing tees that are suited to your ability.

Thanks for sharing the article!

I see it too at our club KB. I play with quite a few women at our club and wonder how much fun can it be for them knowing they can't get to most of the par fours and threes in regulation? I know I'd be frustrated. A few of the women I play with are single digits and usually play from the men's tees, but they are the exception rather than the rule.

Sean,
Can you please add the link to your story to give the author/site proper credit. Thank you.

Good article and I agree. I've been with groups that included some ladies and I've wondered how fair it was to watch them hitting driver > 3 wood all day.

I think most women should learn to hit the ball farther. I kid. Kind of.

The math seems screwy to me. I can hit a 9i 130 to 135 yards. I don't hit too many drivers 260 to 270, and certainly don't average that. I probably average 230 to 240 off the tee.

2 x 130 x 30 = 7,800 yards.
230 x 30 = 6,900 yards.

Where does the author of this come up with this formula? I'll admit to being pretty miserable beyond say 6,600 unless the fairways run like they stole something.

Kevin

I edited my first post to include the full links. The first link is where the author got her data. The second link is the story itself.

I don't know Kevin. She is quoting Arthur D. Little research. If you click on the first link in my original post you'll see a chart that gives the data. That's all that's provided.

Great post! When talking to my wife and also considering myself, I found the 30x average driver drive to be quite right for the courses that I enjoy playing!

I don't even know if it is worthwhile to look at it this way but for par 4's on one of the courses I play a good deal, the ladies tees are about 100 yards up from the men's tees. Is that about what you folks see on the courses that you play?

Some can be. Sometimes it's 10 or 20 yards. Some can be a lot more than 100 yards. I don't think 100 yards is anywhere near the average though, not just for par 4's but for all holes.