[Mike Hendren]

Has the USGA usurped the architect's role to defend par?

Have superintendents (at the heavy hand of the USGA) usurpted mother nature's role to defend (or not defend) par?

Discuss.

Mike  

[Rob_Waldron]

What is par? Why does it exist? Except as a form of measurement. In a stroke play tournament does par really matter??? As I understand it, only the final SCORE matters. Why is so much attention given to PAR?

Since the the par 5 holes at Shinnecock were reachable by most of the field, should they have been called par 4's? Since #10 played to a stroke average in excess of 5 should it have been called a par 4?

Who really cares???

[Brian_Gracely]

Of course we all know that Par might be the most useless measure in all of sports....(is there a worse one?)

Why not just make every hole a "Par 4", regardless of length.  That would give you the following benefits for tournaments:

a) Nobody can complain that 500+ is a Par4 or Par5
b) Nobody can complain that 260-295 is a Par3 or Par4
c) It's easy for the leaderboard to be viewed or updated
d) Fans will see plenty of birdies and bogies
e) architects can go back to building holes like Ross....Short holes or Long holes

Now if we could just find a way to get TV to somehow convey scores (mid-round) that fans could easily understand, maybe Par would go the way of the Stolen Base and Hit & Run in baseball (oh wait, I love those...bring them back )

[Mike Hendren]

Who really cares???

The US by god GA, that's who.

Mike

[A_Clay_Man]

Mike- Hasn't many an architect usurped nature to defend par?  

I don't see how the margin of difference, between thursday's perfect conditions and sunday's arguably ridiculous, detracted from the architect's genius. I just don't see that. What I do see, is an agenda driven campaign, that lifts the art of whine, to a new level.

[Patrick_Mucci]

Rob Waldron,

What's your handicap and what's par on your home course ?

After finding out the answer to those guestions, let's bet on your ability to shoot your handicap.

If you're a 6 and par is 72, 78 will be a push, 77 and lower and you win, 79 or higher and I win.

Then, as you begin to play, let me know if you think making par is irrelevant.

[ForkaB]

Pat

Now I know where you got all that money to play so much golf--sucker bets!

Everybody knows that one's handicap is what one shoots in the upper 75th percentile of his or her rounds.  To make it a fair bet, you should allow a 6 handicap 8-9 strokes to play with.

And, in that case, his or her "par" would be 80-81.  Just as players at the US Open probably think of a "par" of 280, and most low hanidicap players at 36-hole qualifying tornaments think of "par" as 145-155, and Johnny Miller in the desert in 1976 saw par as 260-265.

Par is in one's mind, and I'll bet that it is "higher" for you now when you are not playing as well as you were in your prime.

[Rob_Waldron]

Pat

Apparently you totally misunderstood my comments. My point centers around the USGA using PAR as a basis for course set up. In fact the USGA typically adjusts PAR for one or two holes just for the Championship.

I am a rules official and actually worked a local qualifier for the US Open. Our concern at the qualifier was not determining how the players scored versus par but rather how they scored versus each other.

True or False: The winner of the US Open is the player who scores the lowest...regardless of PAR

 

[Patrick_Mucci]

Rob,

I've heard that claim for years, but I wonder if it's true, or if the evolution of course set-up was to test the game's of the best players in the world.

I don't think that anyone wants to see a scoring frenzy of 20-30 under par for the National Championship.
I think most people want to see the best players tested, and to me, that means making par on any given hole a goal to strive for, a challenge presented by the set-up of each individual hole.

As I've stated, I don't care if -8 or + 8 wins, I want to see the best players in the world challenged and tested, and if that relates to par, so be it.

What's wrong with + 8 winning the tournament.

When the US Am was contested at Medal play did anybody complain about the winning score ?

[Jeremy_Glenn.]

Patrick,

My handicap is four.

The COURSE RATING on my home course is 73.1

If I shoot 77, I win. (Heck, if I break 80, I'm pretty happy.)

Who cares what par is.

[A_Clay_Man]

Fascinating multi-definable word, par.

In Texas, I hear the sun has alotta par.

Rob and Pat, Your both right. In the context of sundays round, par on each hole wasn't the norm. Just as in a 36 underfest, par isn't the norm either. Being flexible to the concept of par, is where everyone could learn alittle objectivity.

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