Course not constrained by par & allows full use of all clubs

[dday39]

[quote name='eagle1997' timestamp='1406145590' post='9769515']
perhaps this discussion is worthy of its own thread, as it is off-topic from the OP's initial post, but i will say this:

for the accomplished golfer, it absolutely matters what is the posted course par when it comes to achieving goals, both seasonal and historical. certainly, you could say that you shot a 78 and achieved your lifetime goal of breaking 80... but what if it was on a par 54? the letter of the 'law' would say yes, you did it! you can celebrate and cross that one off your list!

i wouldn't, but that's just me.
[/quote]

courses still have ratings. if you shot a 78 on a course with a rating of 70.2/124, that would be a great score. not as great on a 65.1/110

I understand your point though

[markheardjr]

I disagree with sub-320 par 4's being bad. For the perfect model, please see Riviera CC. One of the most famous short par 4's in the world, one of the most famous par 3's in the world. 1 & 2 are essentially par 4 1/2's. 3 is a longer par4 downhill, 4 is a mean long par 3, 5 is a par4 that requires you to hit FWY/HY/Iron off the tee. 6 is a mid to short par3 with a pot bunker middle of the green, 7 is short par4 with trouble all around, 8 is mid-short par 4 with split fwy, 9 is mid-long par 4 uphill, 10 is famous short par 4, 11 is mid length par 5, 12 is shorter par4, 13 is shorter par4, 14 is mid-to-long par 3, 15 is long par4, 16 is mid par 3, 17 is long uphill par 5, 18 is longer par 4. That course has a lot of great well thought out holes, built in a flat drainage basin. Shorter holes are narrower, longer holes are wider, driveable 4's/reachable 5's are well bunkered, short/mid par 3's are bunkered and lone long par3 is meant to be a test.

Also look at Pebble, you have 100y par 3's, 200y par 3's, reachable par 5's and 3 shotters. Short & long par 4's. All a good mix. I do hate courses that have all par 4's in the 440-480 range and par 5's in the 500-520 range or over 600. I like par 4's to be anywhere from 290 to 500 but let's spread it out and even out the hard with the easy and the rest be middle. Mitigate the short holes with some trouble, give outs on the longer ones with some bail out an easy run up greens. If you have a terribly difficult hole, give an out, on the same side for an easy hole.

I am however tired of hearing these stories about having nothing but wedge in your hand on every par 4. Either move back a tee or find a longer golf course. You should not have wedge in your hand, if you don't have at least par 4 where you hit a decent drive and have 5/6 iron in your hand you are not playing a course that will help you round out your game. Driver wedge, repeat is basically like a long drive session followed by a round on an executive course. Par 4's should be driver to 150y on avg. IMO. Or in my case Driver 8i.

[teejaywhy]

[quote name='natedd' timestamp='1406146167' post='9769609']
There is a course by me that plays 6000 from the white and 6500 from the blue. I typically play 6500, but on this course most of that 500 yards is stuck on 4 of 5 par 3s. 3 of the par 3s are jacked back between 60 and 80 yards each and play at 215, 205, 205 and 195.
[/quote]

Awful

[hollabachgt]

"Don't worry about par. The practice of printing par figures is literally a mental hazard"
-Bobby Jones

On a course with just yardages and no par the first time player would most likely look at the yardage to "dictate" par and play accordingly. The course regulars wouldn't. They would use the yardages to aid with club selection but focus more on how the hole is presented to them and play accordingly. For instance, a short hole of 240 yards may often be played by the regulars iron-iron where as the first time player would nearly always try to go for the green.

While par is irrelevant, so is distance for the most part. A course with interest will be engaging for any player from any distance. Courses that are seen a boring lack the interest to keep the players attention. If the course permits one to play driver-wedge into every hole, the course is not providing an adequate challenge and often length will not solve the problem.