"If your long par 4 was driver 5 iron before (260 +180)= 440
and today's long par 4 is driver 6 iron (300 +190)=490
Everything is the same size as before the fairway width, the green size, the hole, but the game is played from a greater distance+"
Jeff -
Your yardages sound about right. But they only hint at the extent to which golf courses need to be lengthened to match the distances modern players hit the ball. Taking your example, if you want players today to approach with 5i's (as they did in your example from, say, 1980) then your par 4 needs to be lengthened from 440 to 500 yards. That's a 60 yard increase of almost 15%.
If that sounds about right and you want a course today to play as a 7000 yard course did in 1980, then you would need to lengthen it by about 15%. By my math that is a course of 8000 + yards. Apples to apples, that is how long a modern course needs to be to play to the same length that a 7000 yard course would have in 1980.
That is freaking mind-boggling.
To return to the thread topic, a 7200 yard course today is short for modern players. It plays like a 6500 yard course would have in 1980. Which suggests that - since the short game is always more important on short courses - the short game is more important today than it used to be.
Back in 1980 they actually played on lots of courses that played quite long. That doesn't happen today. Virtually all courses today play like short courses.
Bob
Bob,
I'm with you on the math.
But remember today's 6 iron is AT Least yesterday's 5 iron in shaft length and loft.(doesn't make the club any easier to hit, just sells more sets to chumps)
Also, and this is the fallacy when setting up courses for women who demand the same club into a green.
A player hitting 7 iron from 100 yards out should be able to hit it closer than a player of equal skil (but not length) hitting a 7 iron from 170.
So just because a player is hitting a 7 iron into a green today(from say 180), doesn't mean the hole is the same challenge as a player hitting 7 iron from significantly closer(say 150) 40 years ago(unless the green and cup were proportionately larger)
that said, that's why I agree with the changes at ANGC (except for #7)
It used to be a long course, and now it is again
Sadly, it didn't have to come to this