Is shorter, better?

[George Pazin]

That's the Matt I know and love....

 

Actually, you do make a good opening statement.

I do stand by my thesis, though. All too often I see people posting on here saying they had wedge after wedge into greens, yet they never seem to mention how they managed to screw up the hole. Similarly, when you see low handicappers fretting for high handicappers, it usually means they didn't score as well as they "should", given the opportunities presented.

I personally don't ever think about how I can get longer. My problem is eliminating shots that would make a beginner blush. When I do connect, they go plenty far enough to make the game fun and interesting. I'd guess I'm not alone in feeling this way, at least among high handicappers.

[Jeff_Brauer]

For the record, there is some industry research on course length preferences among golfers, including the Growing the Game Study by Frank Thomas (former USGA Technology guru and currently an independent consultant) which you can find at http://www.growingthegame.org/.  

I have interpolated his data and some from other studies and expect the following division of play at most courses:

Course Length/Rounds (In %)            
                                                                                                             
7000   3.5%      
                              
6600+/-   16%      
                              
6100 +/-   57.5%      
                              
5600+/-   19.0%      
                              
4900 +/- 4%

Clearly, most of us already have gotten this message.  I was surprised by studies showing that senior men actually prefer courses under 6000K - I would have thought male ego would have kept that number above 6000.

I have clients asking me to do 7200 yard plus courses, but make the back tee a 15 X 15 square - which can be mowed in three quick passes, and is more than enough space for the projected 1000 rounds a year it will see - since it is so little used.

Of course, there is one simple solution to the whole playing the course too long problem - Good old fashioned scorecard lying!  I have measured courses, and in addition to the old measure from the back rather than middle trick, many simply inflate their scorecard yardage by 8-10%. I think some also put their 150 markers closer to 140-145 to encourage proper clubbing, but that is a different story.

[Bob Jenkins]

Tom,

You mentioned the children's courses at Gullane and Carnoustie earlier in this thread, in the context that perhaps some of the land saved by being shorter could be put to use as a children's course.

I vividly recall watching kids play over both of those courses and thought it great that the towns would keep that space for the kids to develop and just hang out. Additional maintenance costs would not be great. In North America I suspect the land is too valuable and would not provide a return but I understand there are some moves afoot to build some kids courses.

The concept of kids courses adjacent to a full course is something I think is worth pursuing, perhaps especially in smaller centers.

Bob Jenkins