Short courses, par 3 courses, putting courses...

[Michael Dugger]

I am probably going to get crucified here for this but I'm just not a fan.  If I want to hit 100 yd wedge shots I'll go to the range.  If I want to work on the short game I'll hit the putting green.  If I want to drink beer I'll hit the bar.


If I'm racing against daylight I'd gladly play 7 holes---full-fledged holes---then blast through 12 par 3s.


What say the rest of the Treehouse? 


Seems new iterations of this concept are popping up  every day and to be honest I dearly wish 3 or 4 more "real" holes occupied the land where the Bandon Preserve sits then what is there now.

[JESII]

Interesting...I’ve just been thinking this will be the greatest growth area for the game.


I’m really not very tuned in to the numbers (financial or participation), but do have 4 kids right in the ‘hook’em on golf now or maybe never’ age. They’re just not ready to go to a full length course. Makes me avoid taking them as often as I could.


9 holes from 75 - 200 yards would get them through the next couple years and we can see who’s still standing...

[Ira Fishman]

Two memories 45 years apart:


Playing a Par 3 at night near O’Hare Airport under lights with High School buddies and having a blast making crazy bets.


Playing Bandon Preserve with my wife on the day we arrived and having more laughs on a course than I can remember in 45 years.


Ira

[Mike Nuzzo]

Do you ask or expect to pay a twilight rate to play a handful of holes before sunset?
How many short courses do you have to drive by to get to the course that lets you race around before sunset?

[jeffwarne]

Crucify him!

[Ryan Farrow]

I've got the nails.

[Steve Lang]

   I have extremely fond memories of playing a par 3 course growing up, best bud & I would take 3-4 clubs and a pocketful of balls, and spend many hours-days playing it in summer... moving up to the local muni was easy, all enabled by cutting some lawns and moms...


best way to grow the game   

[Peter Pallotta]

Ira - very nice post

Jim - Johnny Miller had what I think was great advice on this, ie try to make the golf course a fun place to be. Maybe that means sometimes riding in a cart, or having kids just hit the putts, or letting them - after playing a few holes - roll around in the bunkers or go off to explore a pond for crayfish. In short, help create for them fun, pleasant memories of being at a *course*, and then hope that over time they start loving the *game*.

Michael - I’m with you. We can sing ‘Always Look on the Bright Side of Life’ together as these fascistic Romans march us off to our doom. (What have the Romans ever done for us anyway?) There’s a Par 3 course near my home; I played it once. My fondness for Tom D and admiration of his talents is very genuine, but the Preserve would have to be, like, a thousand times more fun than my local Par 3 for me to prefer it to ANY regulation course.

(Plus, I have a question: if these Par 3s that Tom and Ben and Gil are building have - and depend on - fun, great, wildly contoured and challenging greens, why not just skip a step and a fad and build wildly contoured and challenging greens all the time, including on mini regulation courses, ie 5 or 6 or 7 holes that include short and long Par 4s, one Par 3 and one Par 5?)

#Par 4s Are The Best Holes In Golf

[JMEvensky]

Ira - very nice post

Jim - Johnny Miller had what I think was great advice on this, ie try to make the golf course a fun place to be. Maybe that means sometimes riding in a cart, or having kids just hit the putts, or letting them - after playing a few holes - roll around in the bunkers or go off to explore a pond for crayfish. In short, help create for them fun, pleasant memories of being at a *course*, and then hope that over time they start loving the *game*.

Michael - I’m with you. We can sing ‘Always Look on the Bright Side of Life’ together as these fascistic Romans march us off to our doom. (What have the Romans ever done for us anyway?) There’s a Par 3 course near my home; I played it once. My fondness for Tom D and admiration of his talents is very genuine, but the Preserve would have to be, like, a thousand times more fun than my local Par 3 for me to prefer it to ANY regulation course.

(Plus, I have a question: if these Par 3s that Tom and Ben and Gil are building have - and depend on - fun, great, wildly contoured and challenging greens, why not just skip a step and a fad and build wildly contoured and challenging greens all the time, including on mini regulation courses, ie 5 or 6 or 7 holes that include short and long Par 4s, one Par 3 and one Par 5?)

#Par 4s Are The Best Holes In Golf

Welcome back - and props on the Monty Python reference.

[Erik J. Barzeski]

I played the Cradle (twice) and the putting course at Pinehurst a few weeks ago. It was an awesome way to spend about six hours.

Would I want to do this all the time? No. But the extreme putting courses like those at Pinehurst or the original Himalayas at St. Andrews are pretty fun. They're not at all like the putts you have on an actual golf course… it's almost a different type of game, and can be quite enjoyable.

[Michael Dugger]

Just try and put my head on a pike, I will not bend the knee gentlemen!


I feel a little bit like I am channeling the bastard child of a Mucci and Kavanaugh love affair but it’s just not golf if you aren’t keeping score.


There should always be the appropriate time to play from the forward tees with your kids, so I don’t buy into the length argument being the reason why kids don’t/aren’t learning the game.


Perhaps a lot of the dudes I play with take the game a little too seriously but it takes some competition to quench their thirst and grasp their focus.


If you aren’t balancing tee shots with approaches with the short game it’s not the full experience, it’s only practice, IMHO.  Let the flaying continue...

[Mark Smolens]

Two memories 45 years apart:


Playing a Par 3 at night near O’Hare Airport under lights with High School buddies and having a blast making crazy bets.


Playing Bandon Preserve with my wife on the day we arrived and having more laughs on a course than I can remember in 45 years.


Ira

Loved that little par 3. Had some fun drunken skins games there

[Sean_A]

I am probably going to get crucified here for this but I'm just not a fan.  If I want to hit 100 yd wedge shots I'll go to the range.  If I want to work on the short game I'll hit the putting green.  If I want to drink beer I'll hit the bar.


If I'm racing against daylight I'd gladly play 7 holes---full-fledged holes---then blast through 12 par 3s.


What say the rest of the Treehouse? 


Seems new iterations of this concept are popping up  every day and to be honest I dearly wish 3 or 4 more "real" holes occupied the land where the Bandon Preserve sits then what is there now.

What is wrong with variety in courses?  The more we can push away from 6800 par 72 the better.  I see this shift toward different size courses as something very positive.  I would also welcome more 9 holers and any number between 9 and 18.  There are thousands of "standard" courses...its good to change things up. 


Ciao   

[Ian Galbraith]

I think it is great that some "serious' adult golfers don't enjoy playing par3/short 9 hole courses because they are not meant for you and your presence would seriously undermine their function. That function is to be a playground for those of a child-ish disposition (whatever their age) to goof around and have fun. To hit putter off the tee and putt with a driver. To play left handed shots with a club upside down, to try and hole a putt with the shaft of a club like a pool cue. To perfect the Happy Gilmore, to spend time making silly wagers about implausible shots. For me growing up THAT was golf, not the game on the "big' course next door.


These facilities have a vital part to play in ensuring the future of our game and it is essential that they continue to be available and unfettered by the strictures of a 'normal' golf course.


Build them and the children (of all ages ) will come....

[Tom_Doak]

Michael:


The genesis of the Mulligan course at Ballyneal was, what could we do with seven more acres of turf?  That's how much water allotment they had left over from the big course.


We decided to expand their putting green and build twelve par-3 holes.  I guess we could have built two short par-4's instead, with the same amount of turf, but the land was more suited to par-3's.  And I'm pretty sure most people would disagree with your premise that the two short 4's would have been more fun.

[James Brown]

It’s not and either or.  We can have it all.  MOre variety is good for the game. 

[Jimmy Muratt]

Ran recently profiled the "short course" that we added at Farmington recently (5 par threes, 4 par fours, 1 par five).   The addition of the C&C East course to the club has been wonderful.  Those that look at it as merely a glorified practice facility are missing the point.   From Farmington's perspective, it accomplishes the following:

  -  primary goal of the course is "FUN".  It's enjoyable for all ages and skill levels.  It's a wonderful place to introduce children to the game without the pressure or intimidation of the main course.  I'm seeing many more children on the golf course.... and that's a very good thing these days.
  -  it can be played quickly, approximately 1 hour 10 minutes.  For those of us that have trouble getting out during the week to play or practice, it's a great way to spend an hour after work and still be "playing golf".
  -  it relieves stress from the main course.  Because of the quality of the golf on the new East, it's getting a lot of play and taking much stress away from the main course.
 

[Mike Wagner]

I guarantee you haven't seen the punchbowl yet.

[Tim Fitz]

Two memories 45 years apart:


Playing a Par 3 at night near O’Hare Airport under lights with High School buddies and having a blast making crazy bets.


Playing Bandon Preserve with my wife on the day we arrived and having more laughs on a course than I can remember in 45 years.


Ira

I played the Preserve after 36 holes (Pacific and Trails) with my brothers and the best man in my wedding.  It was the most fun I have ever had on a golf course.  It wasn't as challenging as the rest of Bandon, it wasn't a test of character or whether I could hit every club in the bag, but it was an absolute blast of a time and a great way to finish a day of golf at Bandon.  As someone else mentioned, we did all sorts of wacky things out there:  teed off with a putter, took multiple tee shots and had to finish the hole with our worst, embarrassed ourselves as we tried to hit the green off a blind tee shot on the shortest hole (#8), took mulligans galore and played until it was too dark to see the golf ball.  These sorts of courses are just plain fun, but certainly don't replace their big brothers.  Rather, in the appropriate context, they are a great warm up, a great cool down or a great way to sneak in some extra golf when time is short.  Don't take it too seriously and have fun.  Per usual, Bandon has it just right.  Between the Preserve and the Punch Bowl, there are two of the perfect ways to end a great day of golf.

Now, if I am being honest, I will also admit that our fun may have been influenced in part by the low stakes gambling on the course - bet refreshed every time we passed the "halfway house", whoever was down at the time had to buy the beer.

[MCirba]

Back in 1971 a week before my 13th birthday I went with a few friends to this place.  Our family was lower middle class so the annual membership cost of $35 for unlimited play was affordable for me and my brothers and eventually my dad caught the bug as well.


Back then it was known as Scott-View GC and two of the holes have sadly been rerouted but at around 2,000 yards, par 34 it was more fun than anything I'd experienced to that point.  There were ponds and hills and trees and the greens remain ultra-cool to this day with lots of little micro-contours I suspect the original farmer/designer didn't have the money/time to properly grade.


I've played another 1,066 courses since then but there aren't enough Scott-View's in the world from my perspective.  It probably saved my life.


https://www.scottgreensgolfclub.com/course-tour

[Will Lozier]

My fondness for Tom D and admiration of his talents is very genuine, but the Preserve would have to be, like, a thousand times more fun than my local Par 3 for me to prefer it to ANY regulation course.

Peter, if you are referring to Bandon Preserve specifically, it is a C&C creation. I believe Doak's short course project at Bandon is on hold for the time being.


I did most of my on course practice for my Open Qualifier on the short course at Foxhills in Surrey and found it to be not just enjoyable, but extremely testing for my iron play. I played about as well as I ever have that summer - a couple times around those 9 short holes during the week and at least one weekend round on one of many of the great heathland courses in the world to boot. An amazing summer really!


Cheers