What are some examples.....

[TEPaul]

of great golf courses that have pretty much always been par 70 courses, and secondly how much yardage have those courses added over the years?

[Kyle Harris]

Tom,

Huntingdon Valley CC

I'd venture that no more than 200 yards has been added.

[Steven_Biehl]

Crystal Downs has always been a par 70 course.  And, ironically, it is shorter now than it was when it opened.

Steven

[mike_beene]

Bel-Air,Colonial,Merion.Other than Colonial adding the horseshoe years ago I dont think much length added to Colonial or Bel-Air,but not sure.

[Tim Gavrich]

Has not Yale always played to a par 70?

[Patrick_Mucci]

TEPaul,

Montclair and The Knoll are difficult par 70 golf courses in NJ.

George Bahto could fill you in on the yards added to The Knoll over the last 20-30 years.  I don't think it's muich.

The same for Montclair, I don't think very many yards have been added.

Some clubs are land or routing locked and adding meaningful yardage is difficult if not impossible.

[wsmorrison]

Pine Valley was 6446 yards in 1923 and 6765 in 2000.  I'm not sure when the course was lengthend, but I'm sure you do.  Its a bit longer from the tips today; about 200 yards longer.

Merion East was a par 73 when it first opened but was soon changed to a par 70 (prior to the 1924 Amateur).  Its yardage was little changed (at approx 6500 yards) until the 2005 Amateur when the yardage was extended to a bit less than 7000 yards.

Shinnecock Hills was also a par 73 at opening but quickly changed to a par 70 when 3 short par 5s:  3 (452 y), 6 (458 y) and 14 (442 y) were revised to par 4s.  The yardage in 1931 was 6755, 6697 in the 1950s and 6821 today. maybe a bit over 6900 from the very tips.

[Kevin Pallier]

I don't know their complete history but here are a few fine courses that I'm aware of that have been / are Par 70's...

UK:
Royal Dornoch
Turnberry (Ailsa)
Royal St. George's
Formby
St. George's Hill
Cruden Bay
Machrihanish

Australia:
Barwon Heads

[Mark Pearce]

I don't know their complete history but here are a few fine courses that I'm aware of that have been / are Par 70's...

UK:
Royal Dornoch
Turnberry (Ailsa)
Royal St. George's
Formby
St. George's Hill
Cruden Bay
Machrihanish

Australia:
Barwon Heads

Add Elie in the UK

[Phil McDade]

Alwoodley in the UK; Royal Montreal and Hamilton (this year's Canadian Open) in Canada.

Baltusrol Lower, Olympic Lake, Oakland Hills and Oak Hill East have played as par 70 in majors, although all/most of them I believe play at 71 or 72 normally. Firestone South I believe has always played at par 70. Southern Hills is 70 for majors; not sure if that's the regular par for members. Others at/have been par 70 -- Prairie Dunes (used to par 35?), Five Farms, Quaker Ridge, Chicago, Cascades. Most have added length; sorry, don't know specifics.

[James Bennett]

Alwoodley, Merion East, Pine Valley, Huntingdon Valley etc etc etc all par 70's?  Well that is amazing.  As a one time player, I would have guessed they were all 'normal courses'.


Which they are of course, just not the standard 'par 72'.

The interesting thing is that you don't really miss the second par 5 on each nine.  I certainly didn't note that they weren't there.  I suspect that is because of the variety of length of holes provided in the par 3's and par 4's - you don't need two more par 5's to add the variety.

Par 70's are less freqent here in Australia.  Given the smaller acreage generally used in Australia for a golf course (compared to the US, from my limited experience) the par 70 should be more popular.

James B

[Mark_F]

I'm guessing the par 70s have not had to add nearly as much length as their brethren because the absence, generally, of par fives, means that scoring is usually a little higher.

Interestingly on Kevin's list of UK courses, Dornoch has had probably 200 or so yards, but until the last Open, Royal St George's had been pretty much the same, and the hardest Open test scoring wise, for quite some time.