Options

[Grant Saunders]

Do short holes (primarily par 4's) have inherently more playing options because you can use less club off the tee and still reach the green?

I am thinking in particular of a hole at my old home course where I have hit every club in the bag between driver and wedge off the tee.

 I will hopefully be able to post some images of the hole tomorrow.

[Tom_Doak]

Grant:

I think short par-4's offer more options because of WIDTH, not length.  Because you can get closer to the green, you can give yourself a lot more options as to angle of approach than on a 450-yard hole, and that is a feature of many of the best short 4's.

[Grant Saunders]

Tom

I agree with what you are saying regarding width.

I find for me personally I likes holes where I can stand on a tee and driver is not my default choice. It is generally because the hole is shorter and I work back from the green in terms of deciding the maximum length I would be comfortable approaching from. That can end up being a range of up to 150 metres (I probably wouldn't not choose to leave a shot longer than that on purpose). Within that 150 metre range, I would then assess the land and choose a path to the hole. That just isn't a process I utilise on a long hole as driver is the most practical choice because of the length.

As an example, the 13th hole at Paraparaumu Beach is a fantastic long par 4 of 408 metres.. Because of that length I would probably not entertain the thought of not hitting driver of the tee. The 10th hole on the other hand is only approx 290 metres and offers the choice of a number of clubs from the tee dependent on where you want to position the ball rather than strive or maximum distance.