Course Survey

Howdy y'all. Please help me settle a friendly dispute.

What is the par of your local courses? Are they all par 54? Do you make a 700 foot hole a par 3 because the score are "relative" to the others? I support the argument that creating par 4s and 5s on a course make it more interesting, but my fellow Santa Feans don't agree. 

Thank you in Advance.

[Jim Coonradt]

On the course that I usually play (Cottonwood) everything is par 3 even though there are a couple of positions that could be considered par 4. At Sakuna Pines (which is closed at the moment) there are legitimate par 4s and par 5s.

[mike p. kurtz]

64

[David Sauls]

Of the two courses I play most, one has two layouts, par 58 and 61.  The other is par 68.

The second one is silly, and we consider all holes there to be par-3s.

But the first has legitimate par-4 and par-5 holes.

[Eric Day]

The course I play the most are par 3 all around, but they are not worthy of anything above par 3.

[Steve West]

Wirth Par 3 is all par3 (duh!)

Fort Snelling is par 64 for red tees, 60 for blue, and 59 for gold (three sets of tees).

[David Sauls]

"My mates argue that everything should be a par 3 "because were not like ball golf and don't need par 4's and 5s"--Which I think is a bogus excuse. Playing a 800 foot hole as a par 3 defies logic."

I'd agree that that's a bogus excuse.

The question is, do they really "play" it as a par-3, or just give their score as if it's a par-3?

If the latter, I'll offer the logic behind it---

I play a hole that's truly a par-4.  I don't "play" it as a par-3.  I'm placing my shots to get a 4, with which I'll be satisfied; if I get a 3, I'm elated as it truly feels like a birdie.

But, keeping score in my head or adding scores on a scorecard, I'll "score" it as a par-3.  If I get a 4, that's 1-over.  The benefits are (1) I can easily keep score in my head, without a scorecard, (2) I don't have to remember what par was on a hole, (3) I don't have to faithfully follow the strange pars that have been set for some courses, (4) or if I'm using a scorecard, I can quickly add the scores by counting the holes above "3" and the holes below "3". 

[Bruce Brakel]

I certainly like to play courses where for some of the holes a four is a good score, and trying to get a three might get me a five or six.  So in that sense, I want courses that include well designed par 4s and par 5s.  Whether you call it a par 4 on the scorecard or tee sign, I don't care.  At Worlds they put par values on the scorecards.  Sometimes I can get a psychological advantage on the competition just by realizing Chuck thinks it is a par 4 so a 4 isn't such a bad score.  Sometimes it helps me think about how to play a hole when I see that the course designer thought it was a par 4 or par 5.  It depends on whether that is a recreational par value or a pro/adv par value.  I don't see any value to putting recreational par values on tee signs.  Recreational par does violence to the definition of par. 

 

And yes, this dead horse is thoroughly tenderized.

[Steve Belliveau]

does that mean an easy hole could be a par 2?

[Jim Coonradt]

Why not? If people generally get a 2 on a hole then I would consider it a par 2.

[David Sauls]

We certainly "play" some holes as Par-2, whether we call them or score them that or not.

 

[MIDiscGolfer]

I think mediocre disk golfers like to shoot under par and there fore complain if a hole is too hard for them to birdie on occasion.  Instead of going hole by hole I would use the SSA, or an estimate of SSA, to determine the overall par for the course.  If an 18 hole course comes in with an SSA of under 54 you got some par twos whether you care to admit it or not.  In golf only the top players come in at under par, and even they don't do it all that often.  There is a new 18 hole course in my area that is listed as a par 61 but SSA is closer to 57.  So I would say that three holes would be considered par 4's.  If there are any others you'd consider a par 4 you'd have to consider an equal number par 2's

[Colin]

I usually use the par 3 rule as I travel quite a bit and am constantly on courses I have never played on before. Almost every course I have ever been to does not have a par listed on the hole or an easily found course map. How can you not play the rule of 3 since who the hell ever knows what the par was intended to be except during a tournament or possibly if they are a long term local.