[Anthony Gray]

  Do you like them? Can you name some? 12 at Bandon Trails comes to mind for me and is my favorite. There is one at Cap Cana Punta Espada in THe DR that is over water.

  Anthony

[Melvyn Morrow]

Anthony

What are you saying that you need a Driver for your cart on a Par 3?

Come on there is lazy and there is lazy but need a cart chauffeur that takes the cake.

Melvyn

[JESII]

For who Anthony?

Any hole over 200 yards could be a driver for most players.

[Chris Roselle]

10th at Rolling Green Golf Club is one that stands out to me...I hit driver there from the ladies tees as a junior golfer and still hit driver today from the back tees.

[Kevin Pallier]

CPC 16th is an obvious choice.

Depending on the wind direction and strength I could name quite a few.

[John Kavanaugh]

The course that still surprises me to this day is the Ross course at French Lick.  Three of the four par 3's are driver holes.

[Andy Stamm]

The course that still surprises me to this day is the Ross course at French Lick.  Three of the four par 3's are driver holes.

I definitely agree. If there's one little thing to nit pick there for me it's that 3 of the par threes play so similarly.

That being said, I generally like driver par 3s, and I really do like the ones at French Lick, especially 6 and also 13.

University Ridge at UW Madison number 17 is also a driver hole, but I despise that one with water short and nowhere to really bail out. It's probably only a driver from the tips, but it's still too long and hard from the other tees.

[C. Squier]

The course that still surprises me to this day is the Ross course at French Lick.  Three of the four par 3's are driver holes.

Agreed...shame to waste those 3 great greens with a club that nearly every golfer can't control to that degree.  Would be spectacular holes w/ mid or even long irons. 

[Mark Saltzman]

Hole 6 at Kawartha G&CC in Peterborough, Ontario (Stanley Thompson, renovation by Ian Andrew).  Hole plays 223 yards straight uphill with a semi false-front.  I didn't hit driver but a solid 3-wood came up just short.

[Michael George]

Here are a couple more (from the tips):

#8 at Oakmont is a great long par 3
#16 at Forest Dunes (if the wind is blowing)
#15 at Bandon Dunes (if the wind is blowing) - at least a 3 wood

[Lloyd_Cole]

I love a driver par three once in a while as they expose a strange vanity. Many golfers will not hit driver. Even when driver would still leave them short. They will hit three wood. I don't understand it.
I hit driver at a long three at Hidden Creek and I was the only man pin high. Obviously we hit a lot of drivers into the wind on links courses. I recall nailing one and still being about 20 yards short at a 170 yard hole at Cruden Bay (sorry I do not recall hole numbers well).

[J Sadowsky]

I think the merits of a "Par 3 that need a driver" is more nuanced than first glance.

A hole that requires a player - any player -  to hit driver, but does not provide the player the option to lay up and approach the green in two, is either going to be

1) a very weak hole
2) in rare circumstances, a clever but still quirky hole, or
3) a sign that the player is playing from the wrong tees

On the other hand, and assuming that the player is playing from the right tees, if the player has the option of hitting driver at the green or laying up, then maybe it is more of a short par 4 than a par 3.  Even if the scorecard "says" par 3, if the hole plays like a par 3.5, then players should just treat it as one.  Analyzing the hole as a par 3 is just inviting error.

Oakmont #8 is actually a good example of this.   Is this really a par 3 or a par 4?



Looks a lot more like a par 4 to me than a par 3.  So sure, you need driver - if you're going for it.  But maybe a layup is the better option.

Forcing a player to hit driver on a "true" par 3 - leaving them no other options - seems like a weakness, not a strength.   But there are no absolutes, and so maybe there are exceptions.  Individual holes may vary.

[David Cronheim]

Justin,

I think you hit the nail on the head:


1) a very weak hole
2) in rare circumstances, a clever but still quirky hole, or
3) a sign that the player is playing from the wrong tees

For one, I'm not a fan of driver par 3's. I don't think anything more than a 3-wood should be required. That said, however, one man's three wood is another's driver (or 4-iron). But, as a general rule, from the tips, I think 265 is about as far as a par 3 should play. Also, another pet peeve of mine is long par 3's that aren't open in front. If you have to hit drive or 3-wood, you should be able to bounce the ball in to a wide area.

[BCrosby]

The 3rd at Myopia.

[Pete Blaisdell]

The 3rd at Myopia Hunt

[Bill_McBride]

I'm a big fan of par 3s that call for a driver.   My only hole in one ever came on the 216 yard 16th at Stevinson Ranch in the 2005 Kings Putter.   into a brisk wind over a pond.

A couple of months later at Mid Pines, I hit driver to 3" directly behind the hole on the 230 yard hole on the back nine, slightly uphill and semi-blind.  

Did I say I LOVE driver par 3s?  

[Bruce Leland]

Number 8 at Northland CC in Duluth can be driver under the right conditions. 235 yards and often into the wind.

[michael damico]

well hell Bill, just imagine a pin out in the middle of the fairways from now on...

I am a short hitter, always have been; the long par 3s have never been my favorite, but it is a necessity on a good course.

I don't see how hitting a driver is a bad thing on a par 3? As long as there is ample room for a run up or a bail out, everything's gravy imo.

[Jeff_Brauer]

I have designed 3 - the 4th at the Quarry and 12th at Indian Creek, both at 263 yards, and the 17th at Champions at Weeks Park, measuring (from memory 295 from the tips).

The latter gets the most complaints, often from the 320 hitters, who complain that 295 is "between clubs."

[michael damico]

heaven forbid you have to think and alter the highly mechanized swing that you've been paying lessons for...

[Duncan Cheslett]

The 6th at Reddish Vale (MacKenzie) is an epic 250yd par 3



Only the longest hitters can reach with an iron - for the rest it's a 3 wood at best or a driver if the pin's at the back or if the wind's in your face.

[J Sadowsky]

I want to add another thought, involving competition.

Most of the holes mentioned that are extremely long par 3s have a) little trouble and b) receptive greens.  Thus, when you think about them as short par 4s, most longer players aren't hitting driver, but instead a club that has a far less variable distance.  Even if the longer hitter needs to hit driver, the risks that might keep longer players from bombing it and "going for the green" are not there.  Meanwhile, a shorter player is either forced to hit driver or has no realistic chance to hit the green (even with the driver on some of these holes).  

The result is that most long par 3s give the longer hitter an even more pronounced edge than most other holes, even your typical short par 4 or reachable par 5.  I think it's entirely subjective whether that is a strength or a weakness - as a shorter player and higher handicap, I don't personally like them, but I have an obvious bias - but there it is.

[Anthony Gray]

  One time I hit a driver on 4 at Cruden Bay into the wind. ......and that was nice.

  Anthony

 

[Andy Stamm]

I want to add another thought, involving competition.

Most of the holes mentioned that are extremely long par 3s have a) little trouble and b) receptive greens.  Thus, when you think about them as short par 4s, most longer players aren't hitting driver, but instead a club that has a far less variable distance.  Even if the longer hitter needs to hit driver, the risks that might keep longer players from bombing it and "going for the green" are not there.  Meanwhile, a shorter player is either forced to hit driver or has no realistic chance to hit the green (even with the driver on some of these holes).  

The result is that most long par 3s give the longer hitter an even more pronounced edge than most other holes, even your typical short par 4 or reachable par 5.  I think it's entirely subjective whether that is a strength or a weakness - as a shorter player and higher handicap, I don't personally like them, but I have an obvious bias - but there it is.

That's interesting as I'd say I'm a control player (read short and sometimes straight). I generally like long par 3s (always, but also) in competitions, as I think I have an advantage. Generally a long hitter of equal total skill will not have as much control on this long shot, and I can usually hit my driver accurately to a green that should be set up to receive it. This is especially true now as I have a lot of room to mishit a (460cc) driver, while he doesn't with a 3 wood/hybrid/long iron. And, I figure we both have a good chance of missing the green, and as a short hitter my short game should be better. Finally, there's no vanity for me, if driver is the shot, I hit driver, while often other players (especially good players) have a real aversion to hitting driver (or even three wood) to a par three, which also helps me. Now, if the player is long, straight, and with a good short game (compared to me), the hole favors him, but I don't think any more so that any other hole, and certainly not more than a par 5 favors him. He's just better than I am, period.

[J Sadowsky]

I want to add another thought, involving competition.

Most of the holes mentioned that are extremely long par 3s have a) little trouble and b) receptive greens.  Thus, when you think about them as short par 4s, most longer players aren't hitting driver, but instead a club that has a far less variable distance.  Even if the longer hitter needs to hit driver, the risks that might keep longer players from bombing it and "going for the green" are not there.  Meanwhile, a shorter player is either forced to hit driver or has no realistic chance to hit the green (even with the driver on some of these holes).  

The result is that most long par 3s give the longer hitter an even more pronounced edge than most other holes, even your typical short par 4 or reachable par 5.  I think it's entirely subjective whether that is a strength or a weakness - as a shorter player and higher handicap, I don't personally like them, but I have an obvious bias - but there it is.

That's interesting as I'd say I'm a control player (read short and sometimes straight). I generally like long par 3s (always, but also) in competitions, as I think I have an advantage. Generally a long hitter of equal total skill will not have as much control on this long shot, and I can usually hit my driver accurately to a green that should be set up to receive it. This is especially true now as I have a lot of room to mishit a (460cc) driver, while he doesn't with a 3 wood/hybrid/long iron. And, I figure we both have a good chance of missing the green, and as a short hitter my short game should be better. Finally, there's no vanity for me, if driver is the shot, I hit driver, while often other players (especially good players) have a real aversion to hitting driver (or even three wood) to a par three, which also helps me. Now, if the player is long, straight, and with a good short game (compared to me), the hole favors him, but I don't think any more so that any other hole, and certainly not more than a par 5 favors him. He's just better than I am, period.

If you have that kind of distance control with your driver, then hats off to you.  My point was limited to the (what I think is a) fact that for most golfers, given a certain level (I guess truly elite players might be exempt), distance on drivers is way more of a variable than distance on any other club.  So while Player A (longer but somewhat more erratic or with a worse short game) may have a slightly higher chance of missing left or right with a 3 wood than Player B, player B has a substantially higher chance of missing long or short, and can still miss left or right.  This is a large advantage to Player A, whose good hits with his 3 wood probably are within 10-20 yards (length) of each other, over Player B, whose good hits with his driver could be 50 yards.

Further, there are some par 3s that I imagine are set up so that if the longer or average-length hitters must use driver, then the shorter hitters aren't even reaching.  I learned recently that there's a long par 4 at one particular architecturally-noteworthy course that could not put the back tees on one hole in play at any point of an amateur competition because some players - even during match play - could not reach the fairway.  Couldn't that be the same problem with a Par 3?  If there is a bailout area for the shorter player, that lessens the competitive disadvantage, but if there is no danger for the longer hitter to go for it, the longer player has a certain relative advantage on the "long Par 3" in that instance relative to a traditional "short Par 4" where there is big trouble when you miss the green.

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