That does pay a part in it. The closer tees are actually meant for female golfers. Male golfers use the tees set back from the front tees.
I think that's a bit "old-school". Many courses today have multiple sets of tees: women's, youth/senior, men's, and championship. Not wanting to be sexist, some course just call them by the color they use for the markers: red, yellow, white, and blue and you can attach your own label to them.