Which Tee Should My Child Play From? A Guide to Junior Tee Yardages

Choosing the right tee turns an impossible course into a playable one. Here is how to match tee length to how far your child actually hits it.

One of the simplest ways to make golf enjoyable and fair for a junior golfer is choosing an appropriate tee to play from. Most courses offer several sets of tees, and there is nothing lesser about a young golfer playing the shortest set available - it is exactly what junior golf pathways are designed to encourage.

Getting this wrong is one of the most common reasons children lose interest in playing on-course, and it is entirely fixable in a single conversation with the pro shop.

Why tee length matters so much

Par assumes a golfer can reach the green in a set number of shots - two on a par four, for instance - and that assumption is built around adult hitting distances. A young golfer playing from full-length tees is often forced into hitting four or five shots to reach a green that par expects in two.

The consequences compound. Scores balloon, the round takes an hour longer, the child spends the day hitting long clubs from the fairway rather than the approach shots, chips and putts that actually make up the game, and the scorecard tells them they are bad at golf when it is really telling them the tees were wrong.

Match the tee to hitting distance, not to age

Age is a starting guide; distance is the real measure. The table below pairs our indicative distance ranges by age with the length of par four a junior could realistically reach in two shots - a drive plus a full mid-iron.

If you do not know your child's numbers, the distance benchmark tool compares a measured distance against the range for their age.

A rule of thumb per hole type

• Par 3: should sit within a comfortable full mid-iron or wedge - not their absolute maximum club
• Par 4: should be reachable with a drive plus one full iron shot
• Par 5: should be reachable in three, with the third shot a normal approach rather than a heroic one

If a set of tees fails all three tests, it is the wrong set of tees. If it fails only on the par fives, that is normal - par fives are the last thing juniors grow into.

How to find the right tee at a specific course

Australian clubs are not consistent about this. Some have clearly marked junior tees, some use a colour system, some simply have a shorter set that everyone calls the forward tees. A few have adopted multi-tee systems with several extra forward options.

• Look at the scorecard: it lists the total length of each set of tees, so you can compare before you book
• Ask the pro shop directly - 'my child hits a drive about 90 metres, which tees would you suggest?' is a question they get often and can answer in seconds
• On a course with no junior tee, playing from a spot forward of the front tee markers is a normal accommodation in social play. Just be clear that the score is a social one

Course length and tee options are listed for the venues in our course directory, which is a reasonable place to start when planning a first round.

It is not a step backwards

Some families worry that playing forward tees will hold a child back, or feel like an admission that they are not a real golfer yet. The opposite is usually true. Playing a tee where par is realistic builds confidence, keeps rounds a manageable length, and lets a young golfer experience the whole game rather than spending the round just trying to reach greens.

It is also worth saying to the child explicitly, because they will hear things on the course. The tee you play is a function of how far you hit it, and adults move forward as they age for exactly the same reason.

Moving back a tee

Tee choice is not fixed forever. The signals that a junior is ready to move back are straightforward:

• They are consistently reaching greens in regulation from the current tees rather than occasionally
• They are hitting wedge into most par fours, which means the course has stopped asking them questions
• They are asking to - a child who wants the extra challenge usually copes with it

Move back one set at a time, and be prepared to go forward again for a while after a growth spurt or a long break. Nothing is lost by doing so.

The eventual move to the same tees as the adults in the family has its own considerations - see from junior to adult tees.

What happens in competitions

In a formal competition the tee is not a choice. Junior events specify which tees each age group plays, and club competitions are played from the marked competition tees for that day. A round played from different tees than the competition specifies is not a valid competition round, and in most cases will not count for handicap purposes either.

This matters for a first event: a child used to playing the forward tees socially may be facing a noticeably longer course on the day. It is worth playing a practice round from the competition tees so the length is not a surprise.

Our guide to a first junior golf competition covers what else changes on the day.

Reading the tee information on a scorecard

The scorecard is the source of truth for how long each set of tees plays, hole by hole and in total. It also carries the stroke index, which decides where handicap strokes fall, and the par for each hole from each tee - which occasionally differs, because a hole that is a par five from the back can be a par four from the front.

If the card is unfamiliar territory, start with how to read a golf scorecard.

When the course has no suitable tee at all

Some courses simply do not have a forward tee short enough for a young beginner. A full-length par four of 350 metres is not made playable by moving up thirty metres, and pretending otherwise produces a miserable afternoon.

The better answers are structural rather than tactical:

• Play nine holes rather than eighteen, from wherever is shortest
• Find a par-3 or executive course nearby - the whole layout is built at junior-appropriate lengths
• Play a shortened version: start each hole from a sensible point up the fairway and treat it as a par three or four
• Use the round for the short game - drop a ball near each green and play in from there

None of these is a compromise on the child's development. A junior who plays fifty holes of realistic golf will improve faster than one who plays eighteen holes of a course that does not fit them.

Which course types are naturally junior-friendly is set out in types of golf course explained.

A note on pace of play

Tee choice is also the most effective pace-of-play intervention available. A junior playing an appropriate length hits fewer shots per hole, spends less time looking for balls in trouble they could not carry, and keeps up with the group ahead. Clubs that are wary of juniors on the course are usually worried about pace, and this is what actually fixes it.

The rest of the pace picture, including what to do when a group is pressing behind, is in understanding slow play for junior golfers.

And for the vocabulary of the course itself - apron, rough, fringe, tee box - see parts of a golf course explained.