Par-6 Holes

[jeffwarne]

How about a hole that almost absolutely has to be approached from over the green?
i.e. a green that runs away from the player.
That's about the only way you could have a par 6 without it being 900 yards

[Forrest Richardson]

I appreciate Matt for starting this. He and I are embedded in a project where a par-6 may come to life, although perhaps he wants to remain anonymous to it!

At Lake of the Pines (Calif.) we have what has been a par-5 of 600-yards that was rarely played from the tips. The course will lose one stroke to par when a par-4 becomes a par-3, leaving them with a par-70 that was not, shall I say, well received. One solution was turning No. 17 into a par-6, which is now the plan. We built a back tee last year and the length achieved is just shy of 700 yards.

The terrain is as follows: Blind tee shot over a ridge + cross ditch at 240-yards from the tee + gently uphill 2nd + another slightly uphill  3rd + an elevated green set into a saddle between two smaller hills. The hole is right + right + right. The cross ditch will be partially filled, but will still require local knowledge. Longer hitters will be tempted to hit driver, but I suspect many will lay-up. Only very long players who can carry 240 will have a tee advantage, and there are not many of these players who frequent this club.

I thought long and hard on this. There is ample interest, so I endorsed the concept...basically leaving it to the green committee to assign par — to me it works as either a very long par-5, or if they desire, a par-6. The tee array allows us yardage from 450 to 700±

P.S.  I recall designing two in my career, although none ever came to be. My recollection is that each of the holes had been part of alternative routings where we were looking at options to overcome very difficult terrain. The par-6s became a means to get from one point to another, but in both instances we opted for different routings where the par-6s became moot.

[Tom Allen]

This doesn't answer the question (has anyone ever played a good one), but I have played one (and only one).  No. 7, Black Diamond Course, Millersburg, Ohio.  I didn't care for it.


https://www.blackdiamondgolfcourse.com/course/hole-7

[Forrest Richardson]

Tom — We'll invite you to play No. 17 at Lake of the Pines in a few years and then you can come back and possibly answer this question.

The par-6 at Lake Chabot seems to spark interest, and I have never heard anyone say it was a terrible hole. The entire course is quirky, to say the least. The comment here is that their par-6 is "good".

Here is an excerpt from Routing the Golf Course in which I attempted (c 2001) to sum up par-6s...I think the main take-a-way is that golf before the "modern" game knew no "par" standard "length" or for that matter, "courses". Play from the beginning to the early 1800s was simply "where players wanted to roam and plan with little formality at all."

Par 6s are an oddity, but they are for real. In the day of long, long hitting, holes with enough length to be classified as par 6s might have been an interesting trend. However, it might be pointed out that adding par is by no means a defense against hitting length. In reality, it is the other way around; perhaps par might be lessened and length increased. Back to the par-6. The best reasons to create a par 6 are to take advantage of a tremendous landform and to appropriately link holes in a routing so that the course makes sense. It might be time to revisit the concept of primitive golf courses where, as you’ll recall, there were no pars, no yardage plaques, and no slope ratings. There was a starting point and an ending point, and even these were informal at best. On occasion play could take hours, it has been surmised, to negotiate a single hole. There, perhaps that makes the par 6 easier to digest.

[Kalen Braley]

Tom A,


Check Reply #1.  I would certainly consider it good, but not great.  Its a quirky hole with a fair amount of options for all levels of players...

[Tom Allen]

I would certainly like to try another to get more exposure to the concept.  I have only experienced the one (and only one time at that), but certainly keep an open viewpoint on the idea.  I don't dismiss the concept of a par six out of hand.  Perhaps a trip to California is in order! 

[Kalen Braley]

I would certainly like to try another to get more exposure to the concept.  I have only experienced the one (and only one time at that), but certainly keep an open viewpoint on the idea.  I don't dismiss the concept of a par six out of hand.  Perhaps a trip to California is in order! 

Well its not worth a Cali trip alone, unless you can mix in some of the other fine selections from the area.     But if you are in the East Bay, and its not winter time, i highly recommend Lake Chabot.  Its cheap, quirky, and has some terrific views !!

[Tim Leahy]

I appreciate Matt for starting this. He and I are embedded in a project where a par-6 may come to life, although perhaps he wants to remain anonymous to it!

At Lake of the Pines (Calif.) we have what has been a par-5 of 600-yards that was rarely played from the tips. The course will lose one stroke to par when a par-4 becomes a par-3, leaving them with a par-70 that was not, shall I say, well received. One solution was turning No. 17 into a par-6, which is now the plan. We built a back tee last year and the length achieved is just shy of 700 yards.

The terrain is as follows: Blind tee shot over a ridge + cross ditch at 240-yards from the tee + gently uphill 2nd + another slightly uphill  3rd + an elevated green set into a saddle between two smaller hills. The hole is right + right + right. The cross ditch will be partially filled, but will still require local knowledge. Longer hitters will be tempted to hit driver, but I suspect many will lay-up. Only very long players who can carry 240 will have a tee advantage, and there are not many of these players who frequent this club.

I thought long and hard on this. There is ample interest, so I endorsed the concept...basically leaving it to the green committee to assign par — to me it works as either a very long par-5, or if they desire, a par-6. The tee array allows us yardage from 450 to 700±

P.S.  I recall designing two in my career, although none ever came to be. My recollection is that each of the holes had been part of alternative routings where we were looking at options to overcome very difficult terrain. The par-6s became a means to get from one point to another, but in both instances we opted for different routings where the par-6s became moot.

Does LOP still have two 9th holes? One that goes back to the clubhouse and one to start the back 9.
I live in Sacto and have played LOP many times but not in the last 2 years due to injuries. Will be back for the par 6 opening.

[Forrest Richardson]

Yes. They mostly use 9 right.

[Daryl "Turboe" Boe]

Would a par 5.5 at Ohoopee count?  Because as an engineer technically that rounds up to 6?

[Forrest Richardson]

If George Thomas, Jr. had his way, putts would count .5 of s stroke, and yes, a par-5.5 would be fine. So would 2.5, 3.5, 4.5...

[James Reader]

There’s a 783 yard hole at the Challenge Tour event in Slovakia this week.  Sounds awful!