3-iron to 8-iron is not enough variety in the par-3 holes??
They're all irons. He wanted to hit an iron, a metal wood, a wedge, and a putter to emulate ?Grant?. Or maybe a bunt driver.
Remember what I wrote about the variety at Pacific Dunes in the summer? That is about as good as it gets, 2i-GW. Pebble is like 3i-SW, maybe even LW, from the 'blue' tees. As far as Old Macdonald, I thought the Short hole was too long, the Biarritz too short, The Road has a hole placement that completely takes away from the intent of the hole (the front tier), and The Cape not "Capy" enough. That being said, its still possibly one of the 5 best courses I have played. I was just making a point that sometimes it seems like there is not exceptional variety in the par 3's, Pacific has it, the rest not as much.
Jamie,
First question.
What do you call the par on the hole where you hit driver, driver? The example of the fine driver, driver combination that Bubba hit at Kapalua #18 comes to mind. Would you not agree that such a hole is known as a par 5? Why would then a hole where you hit one driver be called a par 3? Truly it would be a par 4.
What do you call the par on holes where you hit driver, fairway wood? It seems to me that the tour pros also call that a par 5. So if you only hit one fairway wood, why does that reduce it to a par 3? Because the ball sits on a tee, instead of the ground? I think not. I think a hole where you hit a single fairway wood is a par 4.
That leaves us with the irons in your bag. What is the longest iron in your bag? I suspect it is a 3 iron. (But perhaps from what your wrote above, it is a 2 iron) Therefore, the longest club you should be hitting to a par 3 should be a 3 iron (or maybe a 2). So we have that end of the spectrum covered.
On the other end of the spectrum. What is the percentage of great par 3s in the world where you would be hitting wedge? Am I correct in assuming it is extremely low? In that case, why would you be calling for great courses to have par 3s where you hit wedge?
That leaves us with a reasonable range of clubs to hit to par 3s. That would be 9 iron to 3 iron. A. W. Tillinghast wrote a strong argument in
Gleanings form the Wayside that par 3s should be reachable with an iron. Perhaps you should familiarize yourself with it. So it seems that a range from 8 iron to 3 iron is nearly ideal, and it is a false criticism to put down a course for asking you to use that range of clubs on the par 3s. Indeed, I would think the great minds of golf would say you should be praising a course for that set of club selections. Certainly you would agree that you are not one of the great minds of golf.
As to what advice I can give Tom Doak here. That would be to ignore the likes of Jamie. But then, I suspect he already knew that.