Tees...

[Jonny]

I'd be more than happy to switch to wooden tees if I was sure it was more environmentally friendly. I'm just not 100% convinced at the moment.

OK. Well then consider this. The wooden tees that you are not convinced by come from trees. These provide the planet with oxygen and help to reduce the harmful gases in our atmosphere during their growth lifecycle. In addition to this although they require power to make this will be no greater than that required to make a plastic tee. Next the factory producing the tees I listed above is located very close to the material source reducing the transport footprint of the raw material. In the case of plastic tees there is the extraction footprint, the transport of the crude oil and the associated risks, the byproducts of the refinement process, the transportation of the refined product to the factory and then the manufacturing process itself. Yes both products will have a transport footprint associated but the fact that the wooden tees may need to be transported in higher quantities doesn't mitigate the massively expensive carbon footprint of the end to end process for a plastic tee.

On top of that every country has the ability to grow and harvest wood... not true for oil. So there is no reason why a wooden tee cannot be made in your country of origin should you choose to research it to that degree.

 

[USER1999]

One day, when the oil runs out, guys in the future will look back at our generation and think that we squandered it. Oil is used for everything from pharmaceuticals, plastics, packaging (my pet hate), and probably the biggest waste of all, putting it into cars and burning it. Imagine a life without plastic. Difficult, but it is coming.

Plastic golf tees? Why not. Every thing else is plastic, including the bag they come in.

Once it is gone, it's gone.

 

[Jonny]

Couldn't agree more Murph... but while people are buying plastic stuff people will carry on making it.

 

[Oddsocks]

packaging has to be the biggest waste ever, that and plastic bags.

 

[Lawrence22]

On ther subject of tees. I hate the fact that the castle type tees seem to be colour coded by size. When teeing off with an iron or hybrid I use the red ones as they are the perfect height for me. Problem is I suffer from red/green colour blindness and can never find them on the grass after hitting, I have to rely on my playing partner to spot them. I wish they made them that size in any other colour.

 

[Airlie_Andy]

Again all good points. I just can't get away from the fact I've had the same bag of plastic tees for nearly 5 years and I've still got plenty left and since buying the castle tees at the start of the year I've lost precisely 2. I'm not likely to need to buy anymore for several more years.

 

[elliottlale]

i buy mine from asda! 100 for £3ish. come in red, white and blue and wooden. i use the blue or red ones when using the driver BECAUSE when driving the ball, the colour of the tee is marked on the sole of the club as it is swiped over the tee when hitting the ball! this gives me a good indication on how im hitting the ball and where im hitting the ball!! easy to wipe off after, bit of spit/dew and wipe with a towel!
good strike obviously happens the the tee mark is splitting the club, bad one (and i now know why) and the tee leaves diagonal line where ive come in-out or visa-versa
try it!!

 

[Oddsocks]

i always check the sole of the driver for strike indication,.

 

[bigslice]

this thread will make it in the top three threads of the year!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!. i use white castles normally and yellow into the wind. everything else wooden tees

 

[Oddsocks]

surely the question is:

What is better for the environment, a packed of 50 wooden tee's that last around 2-3 months, or a packet of plastics tees that may last up to 3/4 years?

 

[USER1999]

I don't remember buying any tees?

I pick them up as I go round the course, and when my tee bag is full, I take handfuls out and put them in a bag in the cupboard. I don't seem to ever need to take any out of this bag.

Why do people keep breaking them?

 

[Jonny]

That justification is a little dodgy in that it assumes that everyone will retain a packet of plastic tees for 3 or 4 years.

And it also keeps it at the bottom level of the scale. Just because people retain the pack for a period of time they don't stop mkaing them. With all the pollution that entails.

 

[Airlie_Andy]

That justification is a little dodgy in that it assumes that everyone will retain a packet of plastic tees for 3 or 4 years.

And it also keeps it at the bottom level of the scale. Just because people retain the pack for a period of time they don't stop mkaing them. With all the pollution that entails.

I'm not sure I understand that last point? Surely it's a case of supply and demand? If your point is that they will continue to be made regardless then we might as well buy them anyway? Just done a quick search and apparently over 2 billion wooden tees are used each year in the US alone. Now how many wooden tees would be broken for every plastic tee that is broken/lost? If it's even only 1 in 20 thats 95% less production required for plastic tees so 1.9 billion less tees to be manufactured and transported to their destination each year in the US alone. Even IF all the trees cut down to make wooden tees are replaced they still need time to grow and the process of cutting the trees down and replacing them has an ecological cost. I just don't think it's as simple an issue as it appears.

If people are lazy about it then plastic tees won't last all that long either but the only reason I've had to replace a tee is because it was last in long grass around the tee box. I think I've only ever snapped one once so they tend to last me a long time.

I didn't think this subject would cause such a debate :biggrin:

 

[Oddsocks]

i suppose one thing in favour of wooden is it could be recycled or left over materials used to re-manufacture wooden tee's, with plastic its a case of new materials,

not a clean cut arguement this one.

 

[HomerJSimpson]

How can one small object cause so much furore and debate. I use wooden ones out of preference, not to be some sort of eco golfer. They cause less damage to the green keeping machinery, and don't mark my clubs as much as the plastic ones seem to. I've no issue with what people use. Plastic tees are here to stay but I just prefer wood. Simple - like me

Of course getting freebies from the Grove, FoA, St Pierre etc make it very easy and cheap to. Like Murph I never buy tees. I bought 1000 on flea-bay about three years ago and reckon there must still be the best part of 900 or so left and yet Ive a tote bag full of wooden ones in my locker despite getting through a few each round.

 

[Yer Maw]

This idea that we should be more ecologically astute when using tees is a nonsense. The plastic tees can be recycled as they are polyporopylene but no-one ever does. However the environmental impact of creating the 100 wooden teas to the one plastic pretty even when you consider the manufacturing process, transporation of raw materials etc.
Secondly, most golf courses are about as environmentally frienndly as farming with all the fertilisers, pesticides etc. So the case is proven as the status quo

 

[SharkAttack]

The reason I started using wooden tees (Many moons ago) was damage to the head on my persimmon driver. Plastic tees used to chip the varnish. The other reason was and still is, that wooden tees leave a mark on the bottom of the club letting you see what part of the face you are hitting the ball out of (Although not as much for some reason).

Shark

 

[Oddsocks]

. The other reason was and still is, that wooden tees leave a mark on the bottom of the club letting you see what part of the face you are hitting the ball out of (Although not as much for some reason).

Shark

quite simple, there will be one reason they used to leave marks but dont - cutting manufacturing costs in the current climate no doubt means a different paint used to colour the tee's, or a thinner layer.

 

[Jonny]

Two points.

the first in relation to using them anyway... If we stopped using them they would soon stop making them.

The second in relation to the ecological impact of golf. Yes they pump a whole load of junk into the land golf courses are situated on... but that's changing now as the environment agencies take note of exactly what is going on at golf courses.

So why shouldn't golfers themselves be more aware of what we're up to?

After all we do all like the wildlife on the courses at times. Usually whilst hacking it around the place to take our minds off things.

 

[TheMetalMan0]

I like using wooden tees because it makes me feel like a powerhouse when I snap one