My favorite subject lately. At my newest projects, I make sure we have 4000 yard forward tees, and 5600 max white tees. Here are two of my Golf Industry Magazine articles from last year:
Last month, I advocated moving from Par 72 to Par 70 to shorten courses. This month, I will go further and propose that when golf course development resumes, most new golf courses should be vastly shorter.
Gut feel tells me that longer courses cost more to build and maintain and require more turf and water usage. Research presented by golf course architect Phil Ryan at the World Forum of Golf Architects in St Andrews, Scotland, confirms my gut feel. For 26 golf courses in the Melbourne, Australia area the cost of maintaining the course increases by 1.7-2 per cent for each 100 meters of additional length, which is about the distance of two “extra” par 5 holes.
But, if we started building even shorter courses, the savings would multiply further. When money and water didn’t seem like a deterrent, developers touted 7,600-8,000 yard courses. The problem is, even most PGA Tour players have no chance to win and average golfers have no fun at all (the original goal of recreational golf, no?) on such long courses. nearly 67,000 drives have exceeded 300 yards this year,.
But, everyone focuses so much on the PGA Tour and actually over estimate the length of these players. Based on current Shot Link Data, only four Tour players average over 300 yards for all tee shots and 300 yard plus tee shots account for less than 18% of the PGA Tour’s drives. However, golf fans think they are the norm. The mystery even Sherlock Holmes can’t unravel is why so much time is devoted to designing around today’s long hitters when they represent about 0.07% of all players, rounds and shots.
In honor of Sherlock, I propose “The 0.07 Per-Cent Solution” whereby new designs simply ignore those long hitters and concentrate on building “companionship” courses (since this is why most golfers play) rather than “championship courses for players and Tour Pros who probably never show up, leaving actual future users to not enjoy golf as much as they should.
If we admit that we have all the “championship” courses we need for the 40 something pro tournaments annually, we would nicely accommodate over 97% of players on courses with maximum yardage of approximately 6800 yards. Yes, some longer hitters might migrate to other longer courses more suited to them. And, many golfers would need some convincing that their course is just as good, even without those “way back” tees that they use about as often as I date supermodels. (i.e., never) If these courses need hazards 300 yards down the fairway, narrow the fairway or rumple it up. But don’t spend money on hazards in those areas.
Those golf course developers who can’t be convinced to build a 6800 yard course should consider a reasonable maximum length of about 7250 yards, which wouldn’t cause too big an ego blow since that is are just 5% shorter than a US Open course. That length should only be considered IF the first 200 yards off each back tee can be low maintenance areas and the back tees are only well hidden 15’ x 15’ areas. (Trust me, these tees won’t get divot scarred) to save cost.
I once wrote, “For better or worse, the opinion of your course is determined by better players.” I think it’s for the worse. It may be time for golf courses to re-think the “one size fits all” mentality moving forward. It rarely works for fashion or golf and future courses may have to be more specialized to target markets, instead of designing every new course for everyone, especially when the tendency is to design for Tour Pros who aren’t likely to actually play.
To paraphrase Winston Churchill, “Never has so much (design thought, acreage, and length) been devoted to so few.” In this age of belt tightening, wasting resources on so few in so many places just doesn’t make sense.
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Most of us are simply staggered by current driving distance stats from the PGA Tour:
• 21 PGA Tour players average 300 yard tee shots
• 42 Nationwide Tour players average 300 yard tee shots
• The average PGA Tour Drive is 288 yards
• 15% of PGA Tour Drives now exceed 345 Yards
• 0.25% of PGA Tour Drives exceeds 400 Yards (about 16 per tournament)
What’s most staggering is the exaggerated influence those drives have on course design. Those 63 long driving players represent 19% of tour players, and about 0.00025% of the US golfing population. If there are 100 times that many other golfers matching that length, their combined tee shots comprised tees shots would amount to only 0.1% of annual US tee shots, which doesn’t seem like as big a problem as the press would make it.
The ball manufacturers sell hope to the other 25 Million golfers, but most don’t get actual additional distance. And yet, golf courses keep getting longer to accommodate this miniscule portion of golfers, when achieving proper total playing distance for the masses is critical to two key elements in golf enjoyment - scoring and speed of play. If average players can’t reach greens in regulation, with even their best shots, they must play additional shots, raising the time of play by 10-20 minutes.
The extra time and strokes diminish a course’s popularity and profitability, and real even estate sales, according to John Wait of Sirius Golf Advisors, a leading consultant on golf operations. He consulted on a senior oriented residential golf course in Florida with forward tees measuring over 5700 yards. He told them they wouldn’t sell many lots or memberships if women were responsible for the home buying decision (and they typically are!) with a course playing, by his figures, like a 7152 yard course for men, and recommended adjusting tees to a better yardage.
Many of today’s courses could benefit from tee adjustments. Any course built to the modern standard of approximately 7000/6700/6400/5600 yards now often play at unsuitable yardages for almost everyone, with the back tees too short, and the middle and forward tees too long.
Golfers want a course that’s not too hard, but not too easy. Men gravitate to tees they enjoy, and the 6000-6400 yards tees are typically the busiest among males. “Male ego” plays a part in tee selection, as most men won’t play courses marked below 6000 yards, while seniors prefer course yardage well below that figure. At many courses, those choices are often either not present, or combined together, which subtly forces players into playing too long a yardage for their games.
Shot distances for common skill levels are fairly well known, based on research by many, including ASGCA member Bill Amick, who published his research on in 1996. His data is summarized (with updates) in the following table: