[Ken Moum]

I find my club's course to be just about ideally comfortable given my current distance. It's 6,200 yards and that implies a driver distance of around 221 yards. I do hit one or two drives longer than that most rounds but much more common is a drive around 210-212 yards (but that may be because on many Par 4 and some Par 5's I land on a ridge or upslope). Then again, the 64% thing would imply my 6-iron goes about 142-145 yards and it consistently goes half a club farther than that.

Still, it's in the ballpark. Easy to believe that my "ideal length" is 6,000 but that a familiar 6,200-yard course is easy enough. I sure don't mind playing under-6,000 courses though, I'll tell you that! If I had a true "ideal" it would be something around 5,600-5,700 yards, Par 68-69. I don't reach the Par 5's in two anyway so a course with, say, five or six one-shotters, a dozen two-shotters and at most a single three-shot hole is great fun and an easy walk. That's my ideal.

Brent,

I'm betting you and I could have a hell of a game.  I hit it almost exactly the same distance as you, and have recently played the gold tees at my course a couple of times. They are listed at 5940 on the card, but currently measure just under 5,700 yards due to some of them being moved up.

I was shooting 85-89 from 6350, and struggling due to soft, narrow fairways and thick rough, which caused my handicap to rise from 9 to 14, but moving up a tee caused my scores to drop to 77 and 80.

i expected to play better, but the change was remarkable.  It proves to me once again how flawed the course rating and GHIN system is, as the course rating for those tees should only be about 4-5 shots lower than the ones @ 6350.

Of course, my last three nines have each been 4 over par, thanks to slightly drier rough that the mowers have been able to catch up to, and the fact that I had 12, 12 and 13 putts on them.

K
K

[Ken Moum]

I play with a fairly broad spectrum of adult males, ranging from scratch to 25 handicappers, and ages from 14 to 80, and there are no more than 10% of them who can play 6,500 yards and enjoy the course.

I am a 62-year-old 12 index which puts me above average for scoring ability. I hit it about 210 off the tee, and can manage no more than 165 with the club that would be my five iron (a 30* eleven wood), so any hole over about 375 ends up being two fairway woods.

Ken,

What is your most comfortable course length, then?

I have to battle like hell at anything over 6,300 yards unless the course is really fast and firm--which is NEVER here in Kansas.  At 5,700 and soft fairways, I feel like a real golfer, hitting short irons into par fours, up around the green on some par fives in two.

On vacation, I try to find some tees that are close to 6,000.  What ticks me off is that there are so many courses with tees at ~6,400 and ~5,700 but nothing in between.  Given those choices I pick the shorter tees if the course is really difficult, soft, tight, lots of water, etc.  On winter vacation in Arizona at a course with some width in the fairways i will go with the longer ones.

I'm guessing you'll say somewhere around 6,100-6,250 yards (Par 72) because that's where I'm happiest and I hit it about the same as you (couple yards less with the irons, couple yards more with the driver, five strokes higher handicap). Our course is just a hair under 6,200 and distance is not a problem when it's playing firm in the summer but with winter temps and wet fairways it's a bit too much for comfort.

The formula would put us around 5,900-6,000 but I'm comfortable slightly longer than that as long as the ball isn't plugging in the fairways.

That's almost exactly how I feel. FWIW, the difference in our handicaps is probably due to my chipping and pitching, which is about 10 strokes better than my ball striking.  (I averaged about 2 GIRs and 28.5 putts per round last summer)

[Brent Hutto]

I probably hit at least two greens most rounds and there have been a few times lately where I've hit five or six. But my chipping and bunker game is terrible. The wedges come and go depending on whether I've been playing/practicing lately or not.

A couple years ago my short game and long game were sort of equally mediocre and I got the index down into the 16's. Then I went through a spell of hitting the ball into adjacent zip codes while learning to pull-hook instead of push-slice. Index went way up. Now I have finally got the long game back under control and hitting it much further than I used to so the index is back to 17 but the chipping that used to seem "not too bad" is now clearly the huge impediment to my game. Well, that plus the big numbers from the few remaining pull-hooked approach shots!

I hate to sound like a conditioning snob (although I have been suspected of harboring closet perfect-fairway-and-green-lover tendencies) but as long as it's firm I find that courses with perfectly groomed turf and well-managed rough can make surprisingly long distance playable. I was recently fortunate enough to play at Sage Valley and the tees that day were upwards of 6,500 yards. I shot a fairly honest 95 and certainly did not have anything I'd consider my "A game". It wasn't super firm but because the fairways are cut tight and perfect even with a little moisture in them I could get a little bounce and roll with the driver and run hybrid shots up onto some of the greens. Then once on the greens it was just a matter of figuring out a line and making a good stroke, no grain or bounces or inconsistent speeds to cause surprises.

If I had played my 6,200 yard home course that same day, hitting the same quality of shots, it would have been at most a couple strokes better score. And I play at a very nicely maintained private-club course. I know that 6,500 at home means needing a phenominal putting day to break 100 but 6,500 an hour down the road was actually a bit disappointing. Makes you wonder....

[Garland Bayley]

Jonathan...

You were driving the ball over 300 yards when we played Holston Hills and the rest of us were 240ish off the tee.  

Not so fast Macarthur.  I hung with JB's long ball and blew past him here on 9 and again on 12....with a 2-wood. 

It looks as though Anthony's golfing apparel choices are improving.

[Tim Bert]

Jonathan...

You were driving the ball over 300 yards when we played Holston Hills and the rest of us were 240ish off the tee.  

Not so fast Macarthur.  I hung with JB's long ball and blew past him here on 9 and again on 12....with a 2-wood. 


I sure hope you made the approach shot, you big hitter!

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