Par 3s All The Same Distance

[Niall C]

Steve

The thing about links courses is that you rarely get a day when the wind doesn't blow at least a little. That being the case, and the holes being in different directions, if only slightly, you are going to get a lot more shot variety for similiar yardages.

On courses where wind isn't normally a factor, I think the greenkeeper using  a bit of common sense can help. For instance, the difference from the front of the tee to the back of the tee on a lot of par 3's that I play can be as much as 4 clubs. Likewise there will be accessible hole locations and harder hole locations. Therefore is you are presented with 4 similiar shots then I would suggest that the greenkeeper has been half asleep when setting out the pins/tee positions.

Niall

[Scott Henderson]

IMO either the design or the setup (or both) has to be faulted for this situation.  As others have said "Variety is the spice of life."  If every hole is the same then why have more than one hole?

[Tiger_Bernhardt]

I am amazed Butler has 4 so alike distance wise. Were the tees set up poorly that day. Were they set in the same direction wind wise?

[Matthew Rose]

I dislike it even more when the distance is long, like when they are all 210 yards. I fear as courses continue to get longer, we'll see more of this, where every par-3 is 210-220. Seems like all it does is inflate the overall yardage of the course.

[JWinick]

http://www.customscorecards.com/scorecard.php?course=6753
It looks like from the tips, the par 3s are 227, 197, 193, and 197.   So it is likely that you will use the same club in 3 of the 4 Par 3s.   I haven't had the pleasure of playing Butler yet, but it is certainly more fun when you have more variety.  On the other hand, the mission of Butler is to provide as stern a test as possible.   It's pretty hard to have a short or medium Par 3 that is especially difficult. 

[Steve Kline]

http://www.customscorecards.com/scorecard.php?course=6753
It's pretty hard to have a short or medium Par 3 that is especially difficult. 

Poppycock. Perhaps you haven't played TPC Sawgrass, PV or Troon or a whole host of others. While those holes may or may not average hugely over par you can rack up a large number on the short par 3's on those courses in a hurry. I think the problem is those holes are harder to build and shorten the distance on the scorecard of a championship course dramatically so architects don't do it often.

[Tim Gerrish]

The question is what really is a short par 3 when you have good players hitting short irons 150 yards+.  While building 145 yard holes is fun for most of us, if it truly is a championship course, then the par 3's need to be ...  quite long.  One daily fee course I've been working with just asked me to come back so that they can add "back tees" for scorecard length.  One hole they suggested to add length to is a short 136 yard par 3.  It would require a massive retaining wall and yards of fill for 25 yards? 

Hard to build a short par 3?  You mean the designer has to think a little..!  Look at all the good examples you pointed out to conceptually emulate.