Excuse my English
My question is.. why do you move up if you are going to be teeing from farther back?
Legends are where they should be and the equipment available is good enough in maybe more than 90% of the cases. Instead of using wedges, now you are using irons in most cases, that is your handicap. You are supposed to be good enough and be able to get good shots with your irons, instead of your wedges. There is no point in my opinion in giving someone with a better mastery of the clubs an advantage in distance with your clubs, because you are teeing off farther. You are teeing from the parking lot because you proved that you were good enough to advance to a higher tier. There will always be better players than others, that is a fact. Some people were forced(a couple of years ago, I heard) to become Legends and others worked their way up. If you proved you were too good to be a Tour Master, that's why you moved to Legend, why keep using wedges(I love to use wedges!!!).
Ok, you are a Legend, you have a disadvantage in distance against a TP, Master or any other player, even more if they are sandbagging and they could have tiered up... just don't play other tiers for money!!! If you do, you know what you are risking. If you are a Legend, you are supposed to play better than a Tour Pro, but if they are sandbagging, your only defense is get lucky, or not play them, or play as the Legend your tier says.
I do think distance of drivers should be tied to tier, but in another sense.
In real life(as a rule), some players drive longer than others, men drive longer than women, and some can hit the fairway more consistently than others. Why is it that a female player outdrives a male player, why is it that a Tour Pro can make the same shot like a Legend provided they ding? In real life, women don't run faster than men, and as a general rule are not stronger than men, so they don't drive from the same tees but do not get longer tee shots. Who says that every time a player(male or female) has to get the same distance when they tee off? Female avatars could easily be set to drive shorter, their wedges or irons could fly less, or have a lower percentage of accuracy in many shots, but they could tee from closer tees. Even if you are a male player and you want to use a female avatar, that's ok, then you get less distance in your shots and less accuracy in some(not all).
So if a professional player usually has better skills than an amateur, why is it that under the same conditions, the Tour Pro shot has to have the same result than that of a Master or a Legend? OK, in order to get the same shot, each club accuracy, should be tied to your tier too. The average distance of an R11 driver is 282? Ok, but you are a Tour Pro, your average distance with an R11 is only 270, for a Master, 274, Tour Master, 278... only when you reach Legend, it should be 282.
Even if I use an R11 driver in real life, I will probably never get the same distance a pro does. It takes practice and skills. This game is supposed to be realistic, but if I can get the same distance or more than Tiger Woods, then it isn't. The specs of a club can always be there, but only when you tier up should they fully be unlocked to the maximum potential. Anyone can buy an R11 provided they have the money, but not anyone can get the same shots. The better you get, the farther and more accurate your shots are. That would be an incentive to tiering up, and would be closer to real life. But I might be wrong. Maybe the game is ok as it is... just dreaming..
By the way, I think people who reach Legend tier or were forced to become Legends overnight should be given the chance to buy all equipment. It's not fair.