Par Three Elasticity

[Mike Hendren]

Absent significant wind, rare in these parts, I find myself hitting the same club 90% of the time on the one-shot holes at my home club.  The greens lack depth and there at multiple tees (i.e., the "regular" tee is always on the same box).  I could move up or back a tee but that would invalidate posting for handicap purposes.  

Should one-shot holes effectively play to a confined distance or is this a design flaw?

Mike

[ChasLawler]

Sounds like a course set-up problem to me.

[Chris_Clouser]

I personally see it as a design flaw on a local course that I frequent.  They have 5 par 3s that basically use the same club.  3 of the par 3s are in a row and they are all basically the same shot.  Some very unimaginative design work there.  

[david h. carroll]

Shivas--agreed.  The Silva renovation of Elkridge (Raynor) is bringing back such a green at the 245yd 13th BIARRITZ!  it's being brought back after years of RTJ and Ault and triplex mower shrinkage and neglect.  It's downhill, 180 to front and 260 to back.  It looks amazing and, needless to say, huge

[JLahrman]

Green depth is fine but then again would there be no place for a small green?  Tee elasticity would be more important on a hole with a small green obviously.

[JLahrman]

I see it a decent amount.  Just a five-ten yard difference can take you from a comfortable six iron to a hard 7 or easy 6 scenario.  There aren't too many holes that can vary thirty yards obviously and they probably shouldn't for handicapping purposes, but being able to make you go up or down a club makes life a little more interesting.

[Jim_Kennedy]

Mike,
Move around, it's not going to invalidate your score posting.
The elements alone are enough to change the relative difficulty of any hole on any course on any day. Moving back 10 yds. on a par 3 is little different than playing from the standard blocks into a steady 10 mph wind. Moving up 10 yds. when it's 40 degrees out is little different than playing the standard blocks when it's 70.
 

[ChipRoyce]

I'm a firm believer that situations like this can be resolved with the addition of a few extra, albeit small, tee boxes at new angles and different distances to the greens in question on these par 3's.

I see a lot of private club golfers struggle when a par 3 changes in dimension considerably. A big wind change, playing from a different tee box, etc.

Imagine playing a whole that's become pedestrian from 30 yards shorter or 20 yards longer. Assuming the design can accomodate this (30 yard shorter, on an angle that brings now forces a bunker carry.... 20 yards longer, having an area short to land a ball and allow for roll onto front pin placements), seems like you'll have a more enjoyable and challenging course - ratings be damned!

[A_Clay_Man]

Not as it relates to the context of the other par 3's on a course, but as an individual hole, the tenth at Pacific grove is as limited as it gets. There is very little distance or angles to be changed but for a hole that is only 104 yards and as pedestrian as it gets, the reality is there are pin positions which are very deceptive and once the golfer knows, he fears.

[Doug Siebert]

The problem is that a lot of newer courses save on maintenance by building a bunch of little teeboxes for each hole, so you can only vary based on green size.  Even on courses with larger tees the back tees, which most of us play but were often added after the initial design, are a smaller afterthought.

My home course does a pretty good job, one par 3 has two small tees 25 yards apart that serve as back tees depending on the greenskeeper's mood, our signature water hole has two tees and a double island green, and can vary from 135 to 210, with a 90 degree different angle of approach from the two tees for added variety!

[Evan Fleisher]

I guess theoretically, for integrity of the course and each hole's individual handicap rank a holw should play "relatively" close to it's inteded distance from a specified set of tees.

...that being said, I enjoy par-3's that do have some variance, even for a given set of markers.  Our club's 3rd hole for instance has two different teeing areas for the back tees...one at about 155 yards and another that plays to about 175.  The two areas are terraced and the hole plays downhill making club selection different and difficult at times...especially given the fact that the green is a large boomerang shape with plenty of pin placement options and distances.

[Mike A.]

Par 3's that require a club decision each time you play are quite a bit of fun as opposed to those that require the same club 90% of the time.  Number 10 at Friar's Head is great that way.  Depending on the tee position, pin position and an occasionally brisk wind, I have hit everything from 7 iron to 3 wood from the same set of tees.

[W.H. Cosgrove]

I too am a member of a course with similar par threes.  It has taken some time but by varying the course set up we can usually have a short shot, two of the usual length shots, and one longer shot.  Some of the Handicap people sqwacked until we convinced them that overall course length was the important consideration.  

[Lou_Duran]

Mike H.-

Are you that good that you need variety by hole on your home course?  If so, to hell with a handicap.  Play scratch and move around the tee boxes or any other flat area around them.  Or perhaps you can find a club with floating greens such as the par 3 at that resort course in Idaho.  An alternative might be to try working the ball more, or playing with less forgiving clubs and balls.  I know first hand how well you play the short holes, so I wouldn't want you to get bored.

BTW, thoughtful course set-up taking the wind, weather, and ground conditions is a very good solution to courses with repetitive 3s.  A couple of courses in the Houston area actually have alternative tees which can change the angle of approach by as much as 90* (the walk is typically not worth it).

[Forrest Richardson]

Be daring...try hitting a soft ___ iron or a hard ___ iron.

[Doug Siebert]

BTW, thoughtful course set-up taking the wind, weather, and ground conditions is a very good solution to courses with repetitive 3s.  A couple of courses in the Houston area actually have alternative tees which can change the angle of approach by as much as 90* (the walk is typically not worth it).

That assumes that the guy setting up the tees that day is a knowledgeable golfer, and not some college kid paid burger flipping wages to mow the teeboxes given instructions to "move the tee markers to somewhere with fewer divots".  My dad is always griping when he finds tee markers that don't point down the fairway (I say you aim where you want to aim, regardless of where the tees point you, but as a long time golfer, he has come up with many ways to blame outside causes for his bad shots  )

Good example is on my aforementioned home course, with the two back tees on one par 3 and two tees and two greens on the other.  At the beginning of the season, when everyone is very rusty (this is Iowa, the course is typically open Apr 1- Oct 31) and the prevailing wind is from the north, and thus strongly into your face on both par 3s, we always play the entire month of April with the far tees on both and the far green on the double island.

Bringing your rusty winter swing to a 210 yard shot from an elevated tee playing into a 2-3 club wind to an island green smaller than TPC's 17th is a bit of a challenge, to say the least!  Come summertime and it is split about half/half between playing the longer or shorter setup on both, and the holes are often getting some nice help from a summer southerly breeze.  Doesn't make much sense, but that's how it is.