Courses without "par" designation

[Rich_M]

Are there any courses that do not use a par designation for each hole??  I realize that this would foreclose handicapping under USGA rules and probably prevent official tournament play (although it wouldn't have to as one can post a gross score).  While I'm sure this has been discussed many times before I am interested in others impressions as to whether par is a help or hindrance to course management and scoring.  I personally don't see how the concept of par can help someone's total score.

[TEPaul]

It has been discussed a number of times on here before and all those threads are in the back pages. I think Coore & Crenshaw's Notre Dame was without par. There's no question at all "no par" designation does alter the way a golfer looks at a hole, thinks about a hole and probably plays a hole---or perhaps an entire course.

A good example for me was when I first saw Coore and Crenshaw's #17 at East Hampton. I could see the hole was in the high 400s in yardage with a sharpish dogleg in the middle and a teeny little green pushed up in the air at the end. I assumed (for some reason) it was a long par 4 and that basically it made very little sense. I asked Coore about the hole and he said it was actually a short par 5 on purpose and designed to create a dilemma in the minds of good players who were within actual reach of that green but uncertain about trying to actually hit that narrow little green from afar. The hole then made perfect sense to me. But if I'd never known what the par of that hole was I probably would've continued to think it was odd.

Coore and Crenshaw's point with the hole (which in retrospect they made extremely well) is it really doesn't matter what the par of the hole was---that any golfer still has to play the hole in as few strokes as possible considering the risks!    

[ian]

I love the fact that Friar's Head has no yardage on the card. When you play there, you just pick a set of tees and go, you don't even give it a second's thought after the first shot.

One of our "unusual" but entertaining owners sent us out to play Osprey South before opening without any yardage anywhere (not even on the card). We played by guaging our yardage. He also only gave us flags, because he couldn't find an alternative that morning. He wanted to open the course this way too, but changes his mind at the end.

I played the Creek Club without a scorecard and was left to guess a number of tee shots, particularly the threes, and found that to be fun.

I personally, perfer the game without all the yardage so that deception is an element that I get to use (as an architect). I find, when playing, I rarely get a distance wrong, and often use a knockdown or alternative approach to take out trouble. If I know the yardage, I try fly the ball in all the time. Yardage draws away some of the fun of the game, it makes it too precise, and less adventurous.

[Steve_ Shaffer]

The Warren Course at Notre Dame now has a par designation on the scorecard. Check out the hole descriptions on a very good website:

www.nd.edu/~warrengc/Course/scorecard.htm

[Jeremy_Glenn.]

Rich,

It must also be said that a "no par" course would not affect handicapping, as par isn't used to calculate your handicap.  It's not even used to calculate the individual holes' handicaps.  In fact, it is used for ABSOLUTELY NOTHING.  It has NO PURPOSE.  NONE.

[Rich_M]

Jeremy,

The concept of par, of course, has psychological implications for the golfer.  If a score is measured against par on a particular hole it may factor in how the golfer plays the hole if he is focused on playing the hole in respect to par.

The enlightened golfer, of course, will not fall to the appeal to his ego and will play the hole in the manner which will best provide the lowest score.

There is no question that strategically the  best approach is to play what is front of you irrespective of par.

How will the commentators for the PGA Tour report a tournament without reference to par??

[Matthew MacKay]

Jeremy, I'm not sure about the US but here in Canada, in order to prevent sandbagging, we have equitable stroke control which puts a cap on the score a golfer may post on any given hole.  This is based on par.  For example, a scratch golfer cannot post scores greater than bogey.  In this regard, par does have an impact on handicapping.  

[ed_battye]

If par didn't or never had existed do you think courses we play today would be different?

Would more holes have been designed on the edge of "par", that grey area between a long par3/short par 4 or long par 4/short par 5.

Have architects been guilty of designing holes because of categorisation lead by PAR? and most importantly is golf better or worse off because of it?