2 October 2026 · 8 min read
Which tees should I play? Yellow, red, blue, white and Tee It Forward
Yellow, red, blue, white: the colours say nothing about age or gender. The Tee It Forward chart assigns a course length to your drive, in yards and metres.
The handicap rules of Swiss Golf have no rule that prescribes a colour by age or gender, and they advise clubs against it. A useful yardstick is your driving distance. According to the Tee It Forward chart from the USGA and the PGA of America, a drive of 200 yards (183 metres) goes with a course length of 5,200 to 5,400 yards, around 4,750 to 4,940 metres. Here you find what the colours mean, when you may play from which tee, the whole chart and how to measure your number in the simulator. I read the sources on 2 October 2026.
What the colours mean
The colour says first of all where a tee stands in the row of lengths. The DGV describes the order according to the European standard from back to front. Black is the longest possible course, green the shortest possible:
| Colour | Name according to the DGV | Must a course have it? |
|---|---|---|
| Black | championship tee, at least 6,300 metres | no |
| White | rear tee | no |
| Yellow | rear standard tee | yes, with men's rating |
| Blue | middle tee | no |
| Red | front standard tee | yes, with women's rating |
| Orange | front tee | no |
| Green | junior tee | no |
According to the DGV, all colours except black and white can be rated for women and for men. That is its description for Germany, and a Swiss club may use colours differently. Swiss Golf (handicap rules) provides that a course's markers should be uniform in name, colour or type and clearly identifiable, and requires that Course Rating, Slope Rating and par of every tee are publicly available. So look at your club's scorecard or notice. Swiss Golf strongly advises clubs not to link tees to age or gender. The R&A (Pace of Play Manual) writes that men often hesitate to play the red tees because red is linked with ladies' golf in many places, and that more men choose the forward tees when they are simply called forward, middle and back.
When may you play from blue?
The handicap rules of Swiss Golf know no colour per age or gender. In an ordinary round your club's house rules apply. In a competition the Committee sets the markers, and Rule 6.1b (R&A) requires you to start from inside the teeing area, including from the right markers. In stroke play, starting from the wrong markers costs two penalty strokes and you must replay the stroke from inside, otherwise disqualification threatens. In match play there is no penalty, but the opponent may cancel the stroke.
The colour also changes your handicap for the round. Every tee has its own Course Rating and Slope Rating, so your Course Handicap changes from tee to tee. Swiss Golf (WHS in 6 steps) works it out for one person on three tees, par 72:
| Tee | Course Rating | Slope Rating | Course Handicap | Target (par plus Course Handicap) | Score Differential at 90 strokes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Blue | 69.6 | 132 | 15 | 87 | 17.5 |
| Yellow | 71.9 | 135 | 18 | 90 | 15.2 |
| White | 73.9 | 137 | 20 | 92 | 13.3 |
The harder the tee, the lower the Score Differential: 90 strokes from white are worth more than from blue. How the handicap comes out of this is explained in The golf handicap explained.
Tee It Forward: the length by your drive
Tee It Forward is an initiative of the PGA of America and the USGA. Its chart (PGA of America guideline) assigns the length of the 18-hole course to the average driving distance. It calls itself a guideline with which you can align your average driving distance with a course length that suits your abilities. The yards are from the original, the metres are my conversion, rounded to 10 metres:
| Drive in yards | Drive in metres | Course length in yards | Course length in metres |
|---|---|---|---|
| 275 | 251 | 6,700 to 6,900 | 6,130 to 6,310 |
| 250 | 229 | 6,200 to 6,400 | 5,670 to 5,850 |
| 225 | 206 | 5,800 to 6,000 | 5,300 to 5,490 |
| 200 | 183 | 5,200 to 5,400 | 4,750 to 4,940 |
| 175 | 160 | 4,400 to 4,600 | 4,020 to 4,210 |
| 150 | 137 | 3,500 to 3,700 | 3,200 to 3,380 |
| 125 | 114 | 2,800 to 3,000 | 2,560 to 2,740 |
| 100 | 91 | 2,100 to 2,300 | 1,920 to 2,100 |
Two notes. The chart does not say whether driving distance means carry or total distance, so take it as a rule of thumb, not a limit. And it knows neither age nor gender: anyone who averages 225 yards at 70 stands in the same row as every other person with 225 yards. An example of the conversion: 190 metres is about 208 yards, which lies between the rows for 200 and 225 yards and closer to 200. The course length then lies between 5,200 and 6,000 yards, so between 4,750 and 5,490 metres.
Why we stand too far back
Dave Pierce, director of research at the USGA Green Section, is quoted in an article of the Colorado Golf Association (of 7 August 2022) after a survey of 20,000 players as saying that about half of the men and three quarters of the women start from tees that are too long for their game. The R&A describes one reason: the gap between two tees is often so big that it almost forces players to take the longer one. Its example is a group with handicaps from 6 to 15 that can choose between 6,100 and 6,800 yards. The player with handicap 6 finds 6,100 yards too short. According to the R&A there is strong evidence that suitable tees raise pace and enjoyment. What that means for the length of a round is in How long does a round of golf take?.
Beginner, senior, advanced player: where you start
Beginners: you have no handicap yet, but you do have a driving distance. Measure it in the bay, read off the row and ask the club for the tee that comes closest to that length. How the first round goes is in Your first round on the golf course.
Seniors: age is not in the chart. If your distance falls over the years, you move down a row. Which adjustments to shaft, loft and tee belong with it is shown in Golf at 60 plus. Women read the same chart, and figures and places to start are in Golf for women in Switzerland.
Advanced players: even with handicap 6 only your row counts. If you want to know how far each club flies, the table is in Club distances in golf.
How to measure your number in the simulator
Warm up and hit ten drives. Put the distances in order, take the middle between the fifth and the sixth value and read off the row in the chart. This middle, the median, hardly changes if two balls go wrong or one goes right. What the launch monitor values mean is explained in Understanding launch monitor numbers. In TrackMan Virtual Golf you set at the round setup which tee each person plays from (guide by a venue in the USA). If you want an honest round, take the same tees as outside, as Simulator score and course score explains.
Try it in the bay
For the first visit golf simulator for beginners is the start, and the map shows all venues by canton. If you want to read the number with a pro, you find the venues with coaching under indoor golf training: 81 of the 110 indoor venues offer coaching (as of 2 October 2026, own entries).
Frequently asked questions
Which tee colour is for beginners?
There is no fixed colour for beginners, and Swiss Golf even advises clubs not to link colours to age or gender. Tee It Forward goes by your driving distance: at 150 yards (137 metres) it is 3,500 to 3,700 yards, around 3,200 to 3,380 metres. Ask the club for the tee that comes closest to that.
What do the tee colours in golf mean?
According to the DGV, yellow is the rear standard tee (mandatory with men's rating) and red the front one (mandatory with women's rating). Blue lies between them, white behind yellow, black is the championship tee of at least 6,300 metres. Orange is a front tee, green the junior tee. A Swiss club may differ.
When may you tee off from blue in golf?
The handicap rules of Swiss Golf know no rule by age or gender. In a competition the Committee sets the tees: anyone who starts from the wrong markers gets two penalty strokes in stroke play and must replay the stroke from inside (Rule 6.1b). Otherwise the club's house rules apply.
How long should the course be according to Tee It Forward?
According to the PGA of America and USGA chart, 200 yards (183 metres) of drive goes with 5,200 to 5,400 yards, around 4,750 to 4,940 metres. At 250 yards (229 metres) it is 6,200 to 6,400 yards. The chart is a guideline, not a rule.
Does my handicap change if I play from other tees?
Your Handicap Index stays, but your Course Handicap changes with the tee. In the Swiss Golf example it is 15 from blue, 18 from yellow and 20 from white, and the target rises from 87 to 90 and 92 strokes. The harder the tee, the more strokes you get.
Sources
- PGA of America und USGA: Tee It Forward Guidelines (Tabelle Drive-Länge und empfohlene 18-Loch-Länge in Yards)
- DGV-Serviceportal: Die Vielfalt der Abschläge (Farben, Standardabschläge, Reihenfolge von Schwarz bis Grün)
- Swiss Golf: Handicap-Regeln (Fassung 2024), Anhang G (Abschlagmarkierungen einheitlich, Ratings öffentlich, keine Kopplung an Alter oder Geschlecht)
- Swiss Golf: WHS in 6 Schritten (Beispiel Course Handicap und Score Differential auf drei Abschlägen)
- R&A: Regel 6, Spielen einer Bahn (6.1b Abschlagbereich) (Start von falschen Markierungen, Strafe im Zählspiel und Lochspiel)
- R&A: Pace of Play Manual (Abstufung der Abschläge, rote Abschläge und Damengolf, Hinweise auf Tempo und Freude)
- Colorado Golf Association: Which tees are best? (USGA-Umfrage unter 20'000 Spielenden, Zitat von Dave Pierce)
- SwingScape Indoor Golf: TrackMan, Playing A Round (Abschlag je Spieler beim Einrichten der Runde)
- Swiss Golf Simulators: eigene Einträge (Anlagen mit Coaching, Stand 2. Oktober 2026)