GolfClubAtlas.com > Golf Course Architecture Discussion Group
How important is the scorecard yardage?
Mark_Fine:
Take a design like Sebonack on Long Island, NY or Hoiana Shores in Vietnam. Both have no formal tees (the markers could be set literally anywhere). As such the holes can play an infinite number of different yardages. Angles of play can also change significantly as well on many of the holes. You might think a par four is great from 430 yards but truly exceptional from 325 yards. The informal teeing grounds allow for this variety.
So how do you evaluate courses like these? Does the arbitrary scorecard yardage take precedent and if so why? How could anyone ever say the par threes are all similar yardages or there were no risk/reward par fives or driveable par fours, …? Frankly they can’t because the starting locations vary each day and are left to the whims of the grounds crew or golf committee or Head Pro,…
Note: I have mentioned in previous threads the technology exists to calculate handicaps from any starting location. This will be become more common over the next few years.
Charlie Ray:
I used to evaluate individual holes by comparing them to similar holes, thus categorizing them: Long Par 4, Short Par3, 3-shot Par 5, etc. I avoid categorizing holes anymore because its length isn't what differentiates great from good, or fair to poor. I came to this conclusion after I played 100 rounds at my home course. It is a Par 71 (5 par 3's, 4 Par 5's) that has a set of tees at 6500 yards and another set at 5800. I complained to the Pro that we should have a combo set (the course rating is 3.8 strokes between the two) or should be a set of tees that play about 6100 yards. I no longer think we should have a combo set of tees because the good holes are still the good holes and the poor holes are still the poor ones, the length doesn't determine the quality of the hole. There are exceptions, shallow par3 greens (#12 ANGC shouldn't be played from 220+ yards). Ultimately, what is wrong with the starting locations varying each day based on the whims of the grounds crew? It would seem to me that an architect could prevent this if he would build 'old-fashion' tee boxes instead of the modern 'teeing areas' that stretch for 100 yards.
Matt Schoolfield:
For people playing against the course, I think it's probably pretty important as they likely are comparing their scores to previous and future rounds.
For people playing against other people, I don't think the scorecard distances matter much, because they game is only against the opponent.
Jay Mickle:
I guess it doesn’t really matter much to me since I only write down smiley faces! I used to add sad faces too, but honestly, why would I want to torture myself like that?
MCirba:
--- Quote from: Jay Mickle on Yesterday at 06:45:56 PM ---
I guess it doesn’t really matter much to me since I only write down smiley faces! I used to add sad faces too, but honestly, why would I want to torture myself like that?
--- End quote ---
That's become an aspirational goal of mine, Jay.
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