For one of the most notorious afterthoughts in golf, what of your average ladies’ tee? The situation may not be as bad as it used to be, but how often is the placement of these forward tees a bitter disappointment? Why, for example, would a woman want to hit from the foot of a hill at a hole where a man can go for broke from an elevated stage?
Clive Clark, the English-born but California-based course architect who finished in a share of third place in the 1967 Open, insists on elevated tees for everyone. “It’s what people prefer,” he says. “High tees give the golfer a feeling of power; they lift the spirits.”
What is more, at the Hideaway, his course at La Quinta, California, the women rejoice in playing an eighth hole where their starting point is still higher than the men’s. One or two of the women have noted how lucky Clark was to have such a towering dune in that area of the desert when, as you may have guessed, the dune in question was the result of a fair bit of earth moving.
Clark’s insistence on getting the ladies’ tees right dates to early days in the design business when he and Peter Alliss, for so long co-commentators for the BBC, started their own company. As often as not, Clark’s eyes, when he studied the work of others, would always be drawn to a women’s tee which screamed “afterthought.”
Clive Clark said most men struggle to understand that the leading women have been no different from their male equivalents in unreeling yards of extra length in the past few years.
“Typically,” said Clark, “it would be set to the side and didn’t fit the camber of the hole. If, for instance, the gradient was to the right, the hole would fall to the left. You want to give all golfers the chance to enjoy their day and that’s less likely to happen if the tees aren’t right.”
Clark’s wife, Linda, a 12-handicap golfer who was once an 8, feels no less strongly on the issue: “My friends and I visit lots of the desert courses and our hearts sink every time we arrive at a hole where the men have an inviting-looking tee and we don’t. … I’ve even known holes when the men are hitting from the top of a hill while we’re down at the bottom and having to work our way up a slope.”
All of the above contributed to Clark’s novel approach, one which involved not just his wife but five or six of her friends, all of them different ages and different handicaps. First, he asked Linda to make notes on how far each of them could hit and whether they were hitting high or low, etc. Then, when he reached a certain point in the design process, he would invite the group to a board meeting where he would unfurl a large plan of the course and discuss what would make the various holes work for them. It happened for the Hideaway and, most recently, it happened for Dumbarnie Links in Scotland, home of the recent Trust Golf Women’s Scottish Open. (Since the women were unable to visit Dumbarnie during the pandemic, Clark and his team were able to work with the stats which he had collected earlier.)
When the Clarks came over to the UK to watch the Trust Golf Scottish Open in August, their course received nothing but compliments from the players. “I have to say,” said Clark, a member of the Great Britain & Ireland side at the 1973 Ryder Cup, “that the Ladies’ European Tour did a great job with the set up. … For the most part, they had competitors playing from the men’s back or black tees but, when it came to the par-5s, they mostly brought the front tees into play to give competitors the chance of catching the green in two.”
On the Sunday, they did the equivalent on a couple of the “risk and reward” par-4s, with Lydia Ko, who ended up in second place behind Ryann O’Toole, walking from the 293-yard 17th with a 2. The hole plays a little uphill but, with firm fairways and a tailwind on the day, most of the field were up and around the green with their drivers, or even their 3-woods. (If, as is anticipated, there is a men’s professional event on the links before too long, “tournament” tees, which can turn the course from the 6,600 yards it played for the women to 7,600, will come into play.)
Clark said most men struggle to understand that the leading women have been no different from their male equivalents in unreeling yards of extra length in the past few years. In which connection, he told the tale of Kelly Tan, a Malaysian professional with whom he was playing at the Hideaway not so long ago when an 8-handicap friend asked if he could join them.
As they approached the next hole, the friend slipped a quiet question to Clark as to whether the 5-foot, 5-inch Tan would hit far enough to play from their tees.
“I think she’ll manage,” returned Clark.
Hitting first, the 8-handicapper gritted his teeth and belted a drive which left him well satisfied.
Tan followed and, with her lovely easy swing, knocked her ball 45 yards past his.
Top: Course architect Clive Clark, shown with the Women's Scottish Open trophy, believes all tees should be elevated – including those for women.
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