I love a good tee marker.
Let’s get rid of the simple red, white, blue and black system. The colors come with expectations. Quite frankly, too many golfers don’t even look at the yardage, slope and course rating. Instead, they stroll over to the color they are accustomed to playing from.
When tee markers are unique, golfers stop to think where they should be playing from. It becomes about skill level matching the appropriate challenge—or at least there is a better chance that will happen.
But even beyond this, a fun set of tee markers is a part of golf’s charm.
From the traditional to the gimmicky to the genuinely funny, here are the 10 best tee markers in golf.
10. Buffalo Ridge’s buffalo heads (Branson, Mo.)
A part of the Big Cedar Lodge portfolio, Buffalo Ridge takes its name very seriously.
Using real buffalo skulls that are hand-carved and painted in different ways to match the tee marker color, Buffalo Ridge’s markers get right in your grill.
Hard to avoid eye contact with these guys, so choose your club carefully.
And, yes, the back tees are called the Buffalo tees.
Hard to argue with this one.
9. The Links At Gettysburg’s cannons (Gettysburg, Pa.)
Hey, this might be a little on the nose—but you have to appreciate a good cannon.
The Links at Gettysburg goes by a typical color scheme for sets of tees but uses replica miniature Civil War cannons with colored bases for each set.
Golfers get to blast off with their drives right alongside the cannons, which I find hilarious.
And, let’s be honest—the Civil War cannons are the best kind of cannons out there.
8. John Deere Classic tractors (Silvis, Ill.)
While there are a handful of events that have memorable tee markers, perhaps no event on the PGA Tour has better branding (and tee markers) than the John Deere Classic.
In fact, part of the reason I wanted to do this article was because the JDC just took place this past weekend.
Fittingly, their tee markers are mini tractors with the iconic green and yellow color ways that can’t be missed.
No, this isn’t an ad for John Deere (but if you’re a John Deere rep, please reach out to us for a partnership).
7. The Captains Golf Course’s boat cleats (Brewster, Mass.)
I have a history with being a little harsh toward Massachusetts public golf so let me offer an olive branch here by saying that these tee markers at The Captains Golf Course, a Cape Cod muni, are some of the best I’ve ever seen.
For those who are unfamiliar, the markers in question are boat cleats. That is what you see on a dock so you can tie a rope around it and park your boat.
I love a course with a solid theme but some of these tee markers can go a little overboard (nautical pun intended). These boat cleats are subtle and clean while still being perfectly in line with the vibe of Cape Cod.
To me, that is the definition of an ideal tee marker.
6. McArthur Golf Club’s milk jugs and milk trucks (Hobe Sound, Fla.)
Got milk?
McArthur Golf Club resides on what used to be McArthur Dairy Farms. That has translated to some incredible branding by the ultra-private South Florida club.
The logo is a milk jug and that same concept is used for the tee markers on their original course. On their new course (the Back Yard), old-school milk trucks are used as the markers.
I don’t even like milk but I will vouch for these in a heartbeat.
5. Prison View Golf Course’s welded-shut handcuffs (Angola, La.)
OK, this one requires a bit of an explanation.
There is a golf course at Louisiana State Penitentiary—and, yes, you can play it. The course is run and maintained by the inmates.
Perfectly, the tee markers are handcuffs that have been welded shut. Honestly, you could convince me these are the best tee markers in all of golf. How brilliant is that?
4. Kissing Camels Golf Course camels (Colorado Springs, Colo.)
Everyone loves a good animal theme for a golf course but I particularly appreciate the camel tee markers at Kissing Camels.
This course, right by the spectacular Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs, leans into the theme by using porcelain camels painted in various colors.
I’ll go out on a limb and say this course’s merch shop does very well.
3. Caledonia Golf & Fish Club’s ducks (Pawleys Island, S.C.)
This isn’t the last Mike Strantz-designed course included on this list which shows how his layouts tend to have excellent themes.
At Caledonia, the tee markers are duck decoys that pay homage to the property’s previous use: a hunting and fishing preserve.
The sets of tees are named after various duck species (Pintail, Mallard, Wood Duck and Redhead).
2. Augusta National’s hickory logs (Augusta, Ga.)
Am I a simp for Augusta National? Maybe.
But these tee markers are so classic I have to include them on the list.
The understated hickory-log markers are cut from trees on the ANGC grounds. That is in contrast to some elements of the club that have to be imported such as the bunker sand (it’s from North Carolina).
These tee markers are thin, simple and not painted in a tacky way. Any picture of them and you know exactly which course it is.
It’s kind of like Penn State’s football uniforms. The log markers are a timeless, no-frills offering that makes perfect sense for the course you are playing.
1. Tobacco Road’s farming tools (Sanford, N.C.)
I’ve written about this before but I went to college at N.C. State and fell in love with Tobacco Road.
There are little elements of this place that I relish. The fresh apples on the 16th tee. The cabin clubhouse. The view off the first tee with gargantuan sand dunes on either side of the fairway.
And then we have the tee markers. Each set of tees is named after a farming tool and the marker is a miniature version of that tool.
We’ve got the Ripper, Disc, Plow or Cultivator tees. I don’t know what any of those things are but I love the concept.
OK, that is my list. It’s impossible to list all of the best ones out there so let’s crowd-source this to create an awesome list of the best tee markers in the golf world.
Comment below with your top choice!
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