Take a Tip from Crenshaw: Avoid the Tips

One of the pet peeves of many golfers is slow play. And one of the contributing factors to slow play is groups of golfers who play from an inappropriate set of tees. You know the ones: those men (because it's always men) decked out in the finest apparel, swinging $1,000 clubs, who step up to the back set of tees ... and then shank it into the woods or slice it into the water.

C'mon, guys, if you can't break 100, you have no business being on the championship tee box. Do us all a favor and move up to a more appropriate tee box.

What does this have to do with Ben Crenshaw, who quite surprisingly starts the third round of The Masters in contention at 1-under par? I was reading some of the many articles about Crenshaw written over the past several days, and one of them mentioned a trip to play Augusta that Ben took a few months back.

The new, deeper tournament tee boxes were in place. Crenshaw, one of the greats, could have played the tips and gotten a feel for the new Augusta. But he didn't. Because at age 54, with a short driver, Crenshaw was more concerned with enjoying himself than with posing on the tournament tee box.

He moved up to the the members tees.

The moral of the story: If Ben Crenshaw can move up to a more appropriate tee box, then so can any of you out there who shouldn't be playing the back tees but are.

(Beginners can check out some general guidelines for choosing the appropriate tees from which to play.)