Key Elements of a Short Par 3

[Paul Gray]

Pat Mucci said:

At 120 yards, there aren't a lot of club choices, are there ?
You won't be pulling out your 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3 or 2-iron or hybrids.

You've got to be kidding. You need to get yourself back to this little golfing island.  

As a simple example, bar the putter, I've hit every club in the bag to the 150 yard 11th at Hayling.

[Marc Haring]

Tell me about it Paul. I've done the same at the third at Thurlestone. Flat out drive into 50mph wind with the Atlantic just over the green was fun.

[Thomas Dai]

Tiny par-3, wind, especially a really cold wind, gusting or blowing big time. Wonderful, perfect even, especially if you're playing someone who only hits full swing high shots!
Atb

[Ian Andrew]

I always thought they should balance off the great opportunity for birdie with the potential for disaster. The "second" shot should be harder than the first!

[Patrick_Mucci]

Pat Mucci said:

At 120 yards, there aren't a lot of club choices, are there ?
You won't be pulling out your 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3 or 2-iron or hybrids.

You've got to be kidding. You need to get yourself back to this little golfing island.  

As a simple example, bar the putter, I've hit every club in the bag to the 150 yard 11th at Hayling.

Paul, please have someone explain to you that there's a 30 yard difference between 150 yards and 120 yards  

[Paul Gray]

Pat Mucci said:

At 120 yards, there aren't a lot of club choices, are there ?
You won't be pulling out your 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3 or 2-iron or hybrids.

You've got to be kidding. You need to get yourself back to this little golfing island.  

As a simple example, bar the putter, I've hit every club in the bag to the 150 yard 11th at Hayling.

Paul, please have someone explain to you that there's a 30 yard difference between 150 yards and 120 yards  

You've confused me. I'm sure you're right but I don't know how. No calculator to hand, you see.  

[J Sadowsky]

Good hole locatons and a key opportunity for a hole in one....



No?

[Patrick_Mucci]

I always thought they should balance off the great opportunity for birdie with the potential for disaster.

Agree.

The "second" shot should be harder than the first!

Now that's a challenging concept !

"Harder" than the first ? ? ?

I can see "difficult" but, I'm having a hard time visualizing a hole, absent a cliff or water, where the recovery is harder than the approach.

Help me out.

[Sean_A]

I always thought they should balance off the great opportunity for birdie with the potential for disaster.

Agree.

The "second" shot should be harder than the first!

Now that's a challenging concept !

"Harder" than the first ? ? ?

I can see "difficult" but, I'm having a hard time visualizing a hole, absent a cliff or water, where the recovery is harder than the approach.

Help me out.

Pat

I have heard this said before.  In reality, I think what Ian is saying is that short 3s should have very difficult recoveries.  There are times when recovery is more difficult than the tee shot, but I don't see why that should be a goal of architecture other than rub of the green results.  The Postage Stamp though is very much hard cheese if one misses the green, however, horrible rough is used to accomplish this...not really a great design idea imo even though the hole is great.     

Ciao

[James Boon]

I always thought they should balance off the great opportunity for birdie with the potential for disaster.

Agree.

The "second" shot should be harder than the first!

Now that's a challenging concept !

"Harder" than the first ? ? ?

I can see "difficult" but, I'm having a hard time visualizing a hole, absent a cliff or water, where the recovery is harder than the approach.

Help me out.

Pat,

Though its a little longer than a short par 3, you must have heard people saying that the hardest second shot at Royal Dornoch is to the second hole, a par 3 of 167 yds from the yellows with runoffs long, left and right that leave a very hard recovery?

Cheers,

James

[Jim Tang]

I think a key element of a short par 3 is making club selection difficult.

At 120 yards, how is that possible ?

Black Sheep has three nines.  Their 25th hole is a great short par 3, playing roughly 120 yards.  The green is small and slightly elevated from the tee.  The true challenge there is pulling the right club, because the hole sits in a depression on the course. 


At 120 yards, there aren't a lot of club choices, are there ?
You won't be pulling out your 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3 or 2-iron or hybrids.


It's really almost in a bowl.  There is a line of trees directly behind the tee box. 
These factors serve to mask wind conditions, making club selection very difficult.

Wouldn't those trees behind the tee only mask a following wind ?

And, wouldn't that wind be detected from:

A.     Previous play
B.     The flag

If you do miss the putting surface, the elevated nature of the green and bunkers make recovery a challenge.

Thomas,

Great photos

Pat -

At 120 yards, depending on the wind, you might have 3 different club choices.  While that's not every club in the bag, you're still talking about needing to pull the right club to hit a smallish green.  Missing that green means you're more likely to make bogey than par because of the surrounds.

The trees behind the box, of course, would mask a following wind.  However, they can also mask a quartering wind.  This factor, in combination with the bowl like nature of the hole, which sits in a depression on the course, makes judging wind difficult.  The flag can often be very still on the green but that doesn't mean there isn't wind swirling up above the treeline and bowl.

Of course you can discern the wind conditions from the previous hole, a par 5.  However, you cannot see hole 24 from the 25th tee box, and the two holes play diagonally from one another.  You're third shot at 24 is typically a low skipping shot into a very narrow green in order to take advantage of green contours.  You likely are not thinking about wind conditions on that shot.

So, the point is, a careless golfer may not pay close enough attention to his play on 24 to help him out by the time he arrives at the 25th tee.  The land is disorientating.  You may not be able to figure out your position standing on 25 tee in relation to the 3rd shot at 24, or, you may not have paid any attention to the wind on 24 because your shot was likely a low, running 50 yard pitch.  I realize those factors only come into play if you are a careless golfer, but, in my experience, the average golfer, as he plays a round, is more careless than studious.

[Ian Andrew]

Now that's a challenging concept ! "Harder" than the first ? ? ? I can see "difficult" but, I'm having a hard time visualizing a hole, absent a cliff or water, where the recovery is harder than the approach. Help me out.

One answer is a narrow green that is raised above the surrounds and short around the sides.
The Bad Baby at Jaspar park is a great example where the "next" shot is super tough because its all feel and the margin for error is so small.
Think Pinehurst's 2nd green placed on a very short par three for some perspective if you've not been there.
The full swing from 125 is far more comfortable for most players.

[jim_lewis]

I prefer a wide and shallow green with wind. Not just wind, but confusing, tricky wind. ANGC #12 is a perfect example.

[Niall C]

Patrick

Sean and James give two great examples of where the recovery is almost as tricky or even more so than the tee shot. Although in the case of the Postage Stamp I've never really thought the rough that bad (and I've missed that green quite a few times !) but the difficulty being more the recovery shot you're asked to play in terms of landing area etc. FWIW, the narrow bunker left of the green and at the bottom of the dune is a much more severe hazard than the rough.

Another great example of a treacherous wee shortie is the 5th/6th (?) at Carlisle which comprises a small triangular shaped raised green with a burn at the back of the green. The line of play is at an angle to the green with the pointy bit of the triangle being the far end of the green and the usually where the sunday best hole location is put. A wonderful little hole.

Niall

[Richard Hetzel]

There are even LESS club choices at 100-110 yards. Every fall I meet my buddy halfway between Cincinnati and Danbury, CT and we play a course called Scottish Heights while hanging out and drinking a few beers. Personally, I think the really GOOD, short par 3 hole is under utilized by the GCA. That being said, I also think the majority of these shorter holes come out being poorly designed, under designed, or squeezed in as an afterthought due to space contraints. Anyway, here is hole number 4 at Scottish Hieights GC. It is, at most, 110 yards from the very rear of the tee box. It's a fairly narrow shot that demands you hit the green. Left of the grren is a hard pan cart path and some scrub trees that deter any recovery shots. If you go long, the ball could run far and the shot back to the green will be challenging. Anything too far right is either in the woods, or more than likely in the meanering trout brook that curves through your approach shot and winds itself along the right side of the green complex. The mounding around the green does not hinder a golfer with a decent short game, but offers no guarantee of  an easy par either. There is a drop area back near the brook along the right side of the hole. Excellently designed short holes should demand a near perfect tee shot, with the reward being a nice look at a solid birdie. I think it is fair for the architect to demand no less than a excellent tee shot and offer no quarter to the golfer that cannot hit a 100-110 yard, straight SW, W or 9 iron shot. Here is the hole.

[Paul Gray]

I prefer a wide and shallow green with wind. Not just wind, but confusing, tricky wind. ANGC #12 is a perfect example.

I'll disagree with that. A raised narrow green with short grass around the target is an excellent way to produce a first class short hole. I can think of  a few examples but I've had my quota for this thread.

[Greg Murphy]

A key element of a short par three, or at least a potentially interesting aspect of a good short par three is that it may create headaches for the good player who spins the ball and has to hit something less than a full club, while offering a birdie opportunity for the higher handicap player who has little hope of getting a birdie on any longer hole.

The 5th at Katepwa is one of those holes and might even qualify as the kind of hole Ian mentions where the second shot may be tougher than the first. Uphill. 100-125 yards. Green twice as deep as it is wide. Open, no trouble in front. Significant back to front slope with fall off front. Significant left to right slope. Bunker middle right side of green. Bunker back half left of green.

For the player who spins the ball, a shot a bit short or with too much spin to a front half pin backs off the front. It's also more often than not a shot betwen clubs ("Is this a full or 3/4 SW, GW, PW?") and the change in elevation and wind at the green all conspire to get the brain going more than if it was a hole 30 yards longer and a full swing could be employed. Play "safe" and a little long and you might wish you had spun it off the front with your tee shot becasue that's where your first putt might end up. Tug it a bit long and left as right-handers are wont to do with a short club and you're really up against it with a bunker shot above a green that falls steeply away. It really hurts to walk away on a hole like this with anything worse than par but sure happens a lot.

For the player with less clubhead speed it's typically a full swing. Lack of spin is an advantage rather than disadvantage. It's the best, maybe only, birdie chance of the day. And because there is no trouble right in front, even a half flub can get the ball to the front of the green (where the stronger player may also often find himself on the first or even second shot).

So what I like about the hole is that it challenges better players with something other than length, while at the same time gives less accomplished players a really good chance for a little woo hoo!

[Don Jordan]

I like it when a short par three is a straight skills test, pass and get a look at birdie, fail and its a tough par. I prefer downhill for a full view of the challenge and to make wind more a factor, a cross breeze is interesting too! Unfortunately there are far too few of them.

[Sean_A]

So what we can take away from this thread is the "key" elements of a short 3 are too long to list  ....as it should be if variety is the goal.  While some short holes are better than others do we really want to have templates for all courses?

Ciao

[Paul Gray]

As usual Sean, you are annoyingly correct. 

I'm trying to think of a truly bad short hole and can't. I guess it's quite difficult to mess up a hole too much with only 120 yards to cover. Although it was only a bit of fun, the thread I ran a little while ago asking people for entries in 'world's most holes' was overwhelming dominated by par 5's. Again, give someone enough rope......