Whites v Yellows

[Crazyface]

I've played off whites for my last three rounds. Good god, the difference is huge. I get ONE extra shot off whites, ONE. I can assure you I need one on the sixth, a monster 240 yard par three, so that's driver off the tee to anywhere. I need, one on the 10th, huge dog leg left where my drive, off white does get anywhere near the corner and the second shot is 220+. I need one on the 17th where today it was a well struck drive and a three wood to get within 30 meters of the green. One shot my eye! I will be playing most of my Monday knocks off whites for now on to get my H/C up to where it should be for the white tees.

 

[Steve Wilkes]

I've played off whites for my last three rounds. Good god, the difference is huge. I get ONE extra shot off whites, ONE. I can assure you I need one on the sixth, a monster 240 yard par three, so that's driver off the tee to anywhere. I need, one on the 10th, huge dog leg left where my drive, off white does get anywhere near the corner and the second shot is 220+. I need one on the 17th where today it was a well struck drive and a three wood to get within 30 meters of the green. One shot my eye! I will be playing most of my Monday knocks off whites for now on to get my H/C up to where it should be for the white tees.

What's the difference in S/Ratings & C/Ratings

 

[Deleted member 15344]

I've played off whites for my last three rounds. Good god, the difference is huge. I get ONE extra shot off whites, ONE. I can assure you I need one on the sixth, a monster 240 yard par three, so that's driver off the tee to anywhere. I need, one on the 10th, huge dog leg left where my drive, off white does get anywhere near the corner and the second shot is 220+. I need one on the 17th where today it was a well struck drive and a three wood to get within 30 meters of the green. One shot my eye! I will be playing most of my Monday knocks off whites for now on to get my H/C up to where it should be for the white tees.

I would guess that your handicap was gained playing the whites in comps so your handicap will already be where it should be for your whites

 

[wjemather]

I've played off whites for my last three rounds. Good god, the difference is huge. I get ONE extra shot off whites, ONE. I can assure you I need one on the sixth, a monster 240 yard par three, so that's driver off the tee to anywhere. I need, one on the 10th, huge dog leg left where my drive, off white does get anywhere near the corner and the second shot is 220+. I need one on the 17th where today it was a well struck drive and a three wood to get within 30 meters of the green. One shot my eye! I will be playing most of my Monday knocks off whites for now on to get my H/C up to where it should be for the white tees.

In GB&I, your Course Handicap does not account for the difference in difficulty (i.e. Course Ratings) between tee sets. However, when calculating your Handicap Index this difference is taken into account, so you should not see any significant difference in your index by submitting scores solely from either set of tees - unless the ratings are woefully inaccurate, or your game (especially with respect to distance) is wildly different from the average for your handicap.

 

[Mel Smooth]

I pretty much always played off the Whites in the summer - nearly every round was a comp. Come the winter, we'd be back off the yellows so the wet ground and lack of rollout compensated for the shorter holes - never really felt like it was anymore difficult off the whites for this reason.

Knockout events were sometimes played off the yellows, but when it's matchplay, it's a slightly different game anyway.

 

[Yorkhacker]

I've started playing off the whites for all rounds as I find it better prep for competitions. I actually find the trouble at our course is less reachable for me than from the yellows so I tend to score as well from them despite the extra length.

 

[jim8flog]

The difference between the course ratings between our whites and yellows is just 1.4. The difference in Course handicap for me is just 1

On a personal level I find it to be about 3

 

[Voyager EMH]

Par 70 off both sets of tees.
White 70.8/132
Yellow 69.1/127

Shoot 75 off whites - score 3.6 differential
Shoot 73 off yellows - score 3.5 differential

I find playing off the yellows much harder.

If all my scores were off yellows, I think I would end up with a HI a fair bit higher.

 

[HeftyHacker]

I've played off whites for my last three rounds. Good god, the difference is huge. I get ONE extra shot off whites, ONE. I can assure you I need one on the sixth, a monster 240 yard par three, so that's driver off the tee to anywhere. I need, one on the 10th, huge dog leg left where my drive, off white does get anywhere near the corner and the second shot is 220+. I need one on the 17th where today it was a well struck drive and a three wood to get within 30 meters of the green. One shot my eye! I will be playing most of my Monday knocks off whites for now on to get my H/C up to where it should be for the white tees.

From memory youre a member at Styal aren't you?

The CR off the yellows is 68.5 and 71.2 off the whites.

So for handicap purposes you get an extra 2.7 shots off the whites anyway.

 

[Albo]

Both the courses I regularly play have a long par 4 off the yellows and a mid par 5 off the whites for the same hole. I usually play the whites as the 60ish yards seems a good trade off for an extra shot to par

 

[rulefan]

From memory youre a member at Styal aren't you?

The CR off the yellows is 68.5 and 71.2 off the whites.

So for handicap purposes you get an extra 2.7 shots off the whites anyway.

That may not be so obvious when you play as the CR does not affect CH. But it is more obvious when you calculate the Score Differential.

 

[HeftyHacker]

Course Handicap differences are as a result of the Slope variation not CR

CH = HI x (Slope / 113)

Yes I know, I was meaning that in terms of his handicap differential when playing off the different tees.

ie. If he shot an 80 off the yellows his handicap differential would be 11.5 but off the whites the same 80 would generate a handicap differential of 8.8.

 

[rulefan]

Yes I know, I was meaning that in terms of his handicap differential when playing off the different tees.

ie. If he shot an 80 off the yellows his handicap differential would be 11.5 but off the whites the same 80 would generate a handicap differential of 8.8.

What about the Slope?

 

[Swango1980]

I've played off whites for my last three rounds. Good god, the difference is huge. I get ONE extra shot off whites, ONE. I can assure you I need one on the sixth, a monster 240 yard par three, so that's driver off the tee to anywhere. I need, one on the 10th, huge dog leg left where my drive, off white does get anywhere near the corner and the second shot is 220+. I need one on the 17th where today it was a well struck drive and a three wood to get within 30 meters of the green. One shot my eye! I will be playing most of my Monday knocks off whites for now on to get my H/C up to where it should be for the white tees.

It is because Course handicap in the UK does not take into account the ABSOLUTE difficulty of a course (in the US and the rest of the world, it does as it also factors in CR-Par). A scratch golfer, for example, plays of scratch at every course on all sets of tees. Whether it be the easiest course in your county or Wentworth.

In fact, at my course the white tees are harder than the yellow tees as you'd expect (thus white tees have a higher course rating), yet the Slope for the whites is 140, and it is 141 for the yellows. So, a few golfers actually get a higher course handicap off yellows than they do off whites.

 

[Bdill93]

We get a 1 shot difference between our Yellows and Whites when using the PH table.

Ill be honest - I see little point in playing from the yellows when playing by myself or regular PP's, we always go off the whites. Id just end up taking a club shorter approach on most holes and then when it comes to comps, id feel out of sorts.

My only exception to this is when I play with "non golfer" friends who join me for their annual 3/6 month hack around the course - of course then I go from yellow.

 

[rulefan]

We get a 1 shot difference between our Yellows and Whites when using the PH table.

What is the PH difference for various handicappers? Say 3, 13, 23 and 33.

 

[Bdill93]

What is the PH difference for various handicappers? Say 3, 13, 23 and 33.

It seems it depends where you fall CR is 65.8 Yellow, 67.1 White - categories change slightly - but before 18 you tend to gain a shot, around 18ish you gain 2 shots, around 27 you gain 3.

https://ravenmeadow.members-section.co.uk/admin/downloads/19/RGC Slope Table For WHS Handicap Index.pdf

 

[SwingsitlikeHogan]

I avoid rounds played off our forward/yellow tees when I will be putting in the card or WHS. Off the yellows our CR is 70.0 - off the Whites it s 71.6, and quite simply I struggle to play two shots better off the yellows for the same differential. Slope is the same for both sets of tees.

In fact I am of a mind that players with HIs from rounds all or mostly from rounds off the yellow tees will have a higher HI than a player of the same standard whose HI is from rounds all or mostly from rounds of the Whites. As a result the former will have a CH higher than the latter and so will be at a (albeit small) advantage when playing a comp off the Whites. I have to say that I have no evidence whatsoever to substantiate this gut feeling...maybe its just me

 

[wjemather]

It seems it depends where you fall CR is 65.8 Yellow, 67.1 White - categories change slightly - but before 18 you tend to gain a shot, around 18ish you gain 2 shots, around 27 you gain 3.

https://ravenmeadow.members-section.co.uk/admin/downloads/19/RGC Slope Table For WHS Handicap Index.pdf

In GB&I, Course (and Playing) Handicaps are solely dependent on the Slope; Course Ratings are irrelevant to this calculation, so you should not be getting these extra strokes unless mixed tee adjustments are being applied.

 

[Voyager EMH]

I avoid rounds played off our forward/yellow tees when I will be putting in the card or WHS. Off the yellows our CR is 70.0 - off the Whites it s 71.6, and quite simply I struggle to play two shots better off the yellows for the same differential. Slope is the same for both sets of tees.

In fact I am of a mind that players with HIs from rounds all or mostly from rounds off the yellow tees will have a higher HI than a player of the same standard whose HI is from rounds all or mostly from rounds of the Whites. As a result the former will have a CH higher than the latter and so will be at a (albeit small) advantage when playing a comp off the Whites. I have to say that I have no evidence whatsoever to substantiate this gut feeling...maybe its just me

This is my feeling as well. I described it in post #8.