Okay I want to preface this by saying I've no doubt this has been discussed here on several occasions and that it might be an old topic. But I am very curious to hear GCAers opinions.
Last week on 'Feherty', Peter Alliss said he would do away with Par. I've been thinking the same for years and always wonder why there is still so much emphasis put on it. The 6th at Lytham became a long Par 4 for the Open rather than a short Par 5. But guess what; the players who made a birdie (three) on the hole still came away a shot ahead of those making a Par (four), and those scoring a par (four) were a shot better than those making bogey (five).
I am aware of the history of Par, sort of...From Scottishgolfhistory.net
'Par is derived from the stock exchange term that a stock may be above or below its normal or 'par' figure. In 1870, Mr AH Doleman, a golf writer, asked the golf professionals David Strath and James Anderson, what score would win 'The Belt', then the winning trophy for 'The Open', at Prestwick, where it was first held annually from 1861 to 1870. Strath and Anderson said that perfect play should produce a score of 49 for Prestwick's twelve holes. Mr Doleman called this Par for Prestwick and subsequently Young Tom Morris won with a score of two strokes 'over Par' for the three rounds of 36 holes.
Tom Morris Jnr Youngest Open Winner
Although the first noted use of the word "Par" in golf was in Britain and predates that of Bogey, today's rating system does not and the Par standard was not further developed until later. It was the American Women's golf association, who, from 1893, began to develop a national handicapping system for women. It was largely in place by the end of the Century. The Men's association, founded in 1894, followed suit a few year's later.
In 1911, the United States Golf Association (Men) of the day laid down the following very modern distances for determining Par:
Up to 225 yards Par 3
225 to 425 yards Par 4
426 to 600 yards Par 5
Over 601 yards Par 6
As golf developed, scores were coming down, but many old British courses did not adjust their courses or their Bogey scores, which meant good golfers and all the professionals were achieving lower than a Bogey score. This meant the US had an up-to-date national standard of distances for holes, while the British Bogey ratings were determined by each club and were no longer appropriate for professionals. The Americans began referring to one over Par as a Bogey, much to the British chagrin.
By 1914, British golf magazines were agitating for a ratings system similar to the US. However the Great War 1914-18 intervened and it was not until 1925 that a Golf Unions' Joint Advisory Committee of the British Isles was formed to assign Standard Scratch Scores (SSS), to golf courses in Great Britain and Ireland. Today, this committee is known as the Council of National Golf Unions (CONGU). It is the Golf Unions of each country (and not the Royal and Ancient) who determine Pars and Handicapping.'
In professional competitions where there is no handicapping or 'strokes', why is Par even an issue? Just to facilitate and easy-to-understand leaderboard - EV, +5, -10, etc? At the Open, US Open etc, I'd like to see the tee markers say 'Hole 14, 439 yards' for instance.