If you hit your driver under 200 yards, start from the closest tee. [1] It’s a starting point rather than a hard rule, but it’s the simplest way to choose tees by driver distance and play yardages that fit your game. You may also find this useful: What Does It Mean to Play From the Tips in Golf?
Why bother? When the course matches how far you hit it, you reach greens with shorter clubs, lose fewer balls, and keep the round fun instead of a grind. Tees picked by distance, not pride, are usually the quickest fix for a slow, frustrating round.
Below you’ll find a simple method: find your real average drive, match it to a tee, then compare against the scorecard yardages. Treat the result as a starting point, since you can move up or back after a round or two.
What do you need to know before you start?
Before you pick a tee, get one number straight: your average drive, not your best one. Everyone has a drive that caught a downslope and rolled forever, but that shot isn’t what you’ll hit on the next tee. Planning around your typical drive keeps the course playable. Planning around your longest one puts you too far back.
Driver isn’t the only way to do it
Driver distance is a handy starting point, but it isn’t the only method out there. The USGA’s “Best Tees” system is based on a golfer’s 7-iron distance and can be customized to every golf course. [2]
Other approaches use different clubs. One course blog suggests measuring the distance of your average 5-iron shot and working from there. [3]
The driver rule of thumb is the simplest of the bunch. It says that if you hit your driver under 200 yards, you should play from the closest tee. [1] You may also find this useful: What Tees Should I Play From?
If you know your iron distances better than your driver distance, one of the iron-based methods may suit you. You can also use two methods as a cross-check, which we’ll do later.
Go by yardage, not tee color
Courses label their tees differently. One course’s white tees can play longer than another’s, and some courses use names, numbers or symbols instead of colors. A color that suits you at one course may be the wrong pick at the next.
So read the yardage for each tee on the scorecard and compare those numbers to your drive. Treat the color as a label, not a recommendation.
A quick example: say you average 210 yards off the tee. Same color, very different round. Your average drive tells you which yardage fits, and the scorecard tells you which marker that is today.
How do you find your average driving distance?
Your average driving distance is easiest to find by hitting a batch of drives and keeping the typical ones, or by letting a GPS app track your shots. Either way, you end up with one number rounded to the nearest 10 yards.
Warm up first. Hit some easy shots so you are not swinging cold, then pick a flat or gently rolling hole or a range with yardage markers.
Hit a series of drives. Ten swings is a good batch. Use your normal swing, the one you would trust on the first tee, not a full-power attempt.
Note where each ball ends up. Count carry plus roll, since that is the distance you get on the course.
Throw out the extremes. Drop the one that caught the turf and the one you flushed downwind. If your results are 175, 190, 185, 160, 188, 192, 183, 230, 186 and 184, cut the 160 and 230.
Average what is left. Add up the remaining drives and divide by the number of shots. In that example the eight middle drives average about 184 yards.
Or track it with a GPS app. If you already use a golf GPS app with shot tracking, such as 18Birdies, let it log your drives over a few rounds. Then drop the obvious mishits and average the rest. This reflects real conditions, including slopes and wind, better than a single range session. [4]
Round to the nearest 10 yards. That 184 becomes 180. A rounded number is all you need, because the tee decision does not hinge on a few yards either way.
Keep that rounded number handy. It is the only input you need for matching a tee box in the next step.
How do you match your drive to a tee box?
Matching your drive to a tee box takes three quick steps, and you only need your average drive and a scorecard.
Check the 200-yard line. If you hit your driver under 200 yards, play from the closest tee. [1] A 180-yard driver, for example, starts at the front tee and only moves back if that feels too easy.
Use the 164% idea for a good par 4. A medium-distance par 4 is a drive and a six iron, which makes the length of a good par 4 for you about 164% of your drive. [5] Multiply your average drive by 1.64. A 200-yard drive gives you 328 yards, a 220-yard drive gives you about 361 yards. That is the par 4 length where you can reach the green with a drive and a mid-iron approach.
Turn that into a round length and compare. Take the par 4 number from step 2 and picture a typical 18-hole layout. Multiplying your drive by 1.64 and then by the number of par 4s on the card gives you a rough target for those holes, and multiplying the 1.64 figure by the number of holes you want to cover gives a ballpark round length. Then read the yardage for each tee on the scorecard and pick the one closest to your target.
Here is how that looks with a 200-yard drive: the target par 4 is 328 yards. If the middle tee plays a typical par 4 at 380 and the forward tee plays it at 330, the forward tee is the better match.
If two tees land close to your number, start with the shorter one. You can always move back later once the approach shots feel comfortable.
What does this look like for real golfers?
Three quick examples show how the method plays out. The numbers are made up for illustration, so swap in your own average drive.
A 180-yard driver and the forward tee
If your average drive is 180 yards, you fall under the 200-yard line, and the rule of thumb is to play from the closest tee. [1] That’s true even if the forward tees feel like they belong to someone else. Starting there gives you a realistic shot at reaching greens with a drive and a mid-iron instead of two or three full swings.
A mid-distance driver comparing two scorecard yardages
Say you average 220 yards. A good par 4 for you is about 164% of your drive, based on a drive plus a mid-iron approach. [5] That works out to roughly 361 yards (220 × 1.64).
Now look at a scorecard. If one tee lists a typical par 4 near 340 yards and the next one back lists about 400, the first is closer to your number, and the second asks for a lot more than a drive and a mid-iron. Compare a few holes, not just one, so a single odd hole doesn’t skew your pick.
Cross-check with the 7-iron approach
You can double-check your pick with a second method. The USGA’s “Best Tees” system is based on your 7-iron distance rather than your driver. [2]
Here’s how to use it as a sanity check. If your driver says the forward tee but your 7-iron number points to a tee farther back, that gap is a sign to look again at how you measured your average drive. If both methods land on the same tee, you can feel good about the choice.
What mistakes should you avoid when picking tees?
The biggest mistakes come down to choosing tees by something other than how far you actually hit the ball. Here are the four that cost golfers the most fun.
Using your best drive instead of your average
That one 260-yard drive downwind is not your driver distance. If you size your tees to your career-best bomb, you will be too far back on most holes. Base the choice on what you hit most of the time.
Choosing by ego, age or tee color
Tee color is a label, not a rating of your ability. Courses name and color their tees differently, so “white” at one course can play very different yardage than “white” at another. Skip the idea that moving up is a step down, and skip picking by age or gender alone. The USGA itself says it does not recommend any particular set of tees. [4]
Ignoring course setup and hazards
Two courses with the same yardage can play very differently. A forced carry over water, a narrow landing area or a green guarded by bunkers can make a tee feel longer or tougher than the number suggests. Take a quick look at where trouble sits from the tee you are considering, not just the total length.
A course with many tee options can also create confusion. One former PGA professional described players switching tees mid-season, arguing over what counted as “their” tee and second-guessing a decision that should be simple. [6] Pick a tee using a clear method, then stop agonizing over it.
Never revisiting your tee as your game changes
Your driver distance is not fixed. A new driver, lessons, a fitness routine or a year off can all move your average up or down. Rerun your numbers every so often, and move forward or back when they change, rather than staying on the tee you picked as a beginner.
Ready to pick your tees?
Remember the order: find your average drive, let it point you to a tee, then adjust. The simplest anchor is the rule of thumb that if you hit your driver under 200 yards, you play from the closest tee. [1]
Your next step is easy: pick the tee your number suggests and play a full round from it. If you’re hitting short approaches and having fun, stay put. If it feels cramped or you’re reaching greens with plenty to spare, move back one set. If you’re struggling to reach greens in regulation, move up one.