Real Quick, Pros vs. Ams.

Do Pros play everything as par 3 in tourney play, regardless of whether or not the post says its a par 4. Some posts say Pro 3, and Am 4. I know the Ams at AmNationals play the signs. Thanks.

[mark ellis]

Real quick, I'll take the Pros. They are better. However the Ams are more charming.

Par is whatever the TD declares it to be on each hole. The only time "par" matters is if someone shows up too late to play the hole in a tournament. Then the penalty for missing the Hole, par plus 4, matters in the scoring. Otherwise everyone plays the same holes and the lowest score wins.

Historically Disc Golf has labeled all holes as par 3. It is easier math to add the scores. Par for 18 holes is 54. Par for 24 holes is 72. Then the USDGC started making much more difficult holes (artificial OB everywhere) and par 3 no longer made sense. If the best players in the world couldn't shoot "par", then what does par mean?

So now we are moving closer to the ball golf definition of par. But two putts once you reach the green (ball golf principles) also has logical limitations since putting is much easier in disc golf than ball golf. So now some tournaments call every hole a par 3 while others call some holes par 4 or par 5. Whatever. The best score stills wins.

[josh wieschowski]

Right on, thanks Mark.

[The FORCE]

Thats what I try to tell everyone but it doesn't get through. Thanks Mark.

[Ryan Rios]

All threes is just an easy way to keep score. Some feel increasing par will help the view of non players but I think it serves as a good milestone- good players shoot under/bad players shoot over.
If you live in Michigan, there are very few holes that can not be reached in three by a good player.

[4U2NV]

Go to Oshtemo park play from longs, Play Kimball pines, Play leviathon, flip, beast, and beauty. Heck play Hundson Mills from the longs.

The point I think is more Disc golf is a game of accuracy and not so much of distance.

Recently there was a course put in here in NC that was all about multiple well placed shots to get to the hole. Par is about 62. And by Par I am talking the average of the pros who have played the course. There are multiple par 4 and one par 5 which I have never seen made in less then 4.

[Tim]

Play #24 at Stoney Creek 100 times and let me know how many threes you get. Guess is one max, probably zero.

[4U2NV]

I have made hole 24 at stoney in 3 from the back tee once and from the front multiple times. The once was after 2 450+ shots and a very very long upshot that happened to go in.

3 witnesses besides myself.

[Donny Olow]

Each Tournament has course pars and rules for each round. Always check with the TD at each tournament.

[AK Discer]

We just play them all threes as it is easier to count...the only reason we do it that way.

[Jim Coonradt]

I don't see much of a point to making a separate par for Ams and Pros. If you're an Am you probably shoot over par. And a Pro will generally shoot under par. It also depends on the course. I would like to see more courses adopt par 4s and par 5s. I think that only having par 3s limits the sport. We do have one hole that can go super long and should probably be a par 4 in that location. But there really isn't much need to make an exception for one hole position.

[josh wieschowski]

I agree with the idea that we need a few more 4s and 5s. It adds so much to the game to have longer shots or more difficult shots. We play all threes at our home course and hole 11 is just impossible. Im game for expanding! :)

[josh wieschowski]

Thanks guys for all the info. We shoot threes for the challenge and it makes me better, I was just wondering because we have one hole that is truly impossible or 1 in a million for a chance to birdie. Its insanely difficult, long and crowded. When I play other courses I play them as threes as well, sometimes frustrating but I enjoy the challenge. I was more interested for bigger tournaments but I guess they are different all over.