Article: Does Par Matter?
What does par really mean? Anything? When the difference in length between a par 4 and 5 can be as little as a yard, is it logical to decide that you ‘should’ take one less shot on the par 4?
Article from Andy Griffiths ...........
http://www.golfshake.com/improve/view/6496/Does_Par_Matter.html
Reply : Fri 22nd Nov 2013 08:33
To me, par is a marker to aim for.
If I par every hole I've had a fantastic round of golf.
Once I can par every hole on a course on a regular basis then I will be happy....
Russ
Reply : Fri 22nd Nov 2013 15:05
The par of a hole can play strange tricks on the mind.
Take our first hole, it's 474 yards long. The drive, particularly, for the first of the day, is quite tight as it is a fairly narrow fairway and tree lined on both sides. There is a ditch across the fairway at 270 yards which hasn't really bothered me for a lot of years now! After the drive you are faced with OOB all the way down the left and more trees on the right.
Now here's the thing. For the 1st 20 years of my golf career this was a par 5. As a par 5, it was a very gentle starting hole. Most decent golfers viewed it as a good birdie opportunity and a par was almost a certainty.
One day, someone decided we should make it a par 4. There were no changes to the length of the hole, no remeasurement. They just decided it would be a 474 yard par 4. Overnight, a score of 4 on this hole went from being a realistic expectation to being a score rarely achieved even by the lower handicap golfer.
The only thing that had changed was our perception of the hole. It went from an easy par 5 to a difficult par 4 and in striving to achieve par, for most, if not all, the scores deteriorated significantly.
So, does par matter? Yes, I think so!
Reply : Fri 22nd Nov 2013 20:40
Good point richard, I agree. Playing off around 16 I get a shot on most holes and on most courses barring the longest I can hope to reach most greens in regulation. Although anything over around 420yd I will treat as an easy par 5 and I aim for 2 Stb pts. If I one putt then great. Dave CAC handed Geordie.
Reply : Fri 22nd Nov 2013 21:13
The aim on every hole is to get the ball in the hole in as few shots as possible. Do that, and ignore the (par) label and you'll start scoring better.
As Richard points out, changing the perception on a hole can make a huge difference to what you score, even though there is no physical change to the difficulty of the hole.
Reply : Sat 23rd Nov 2013 00:15
Par is just a number.
The same hole can play a hard par4 one day and an easy one the next (due to weather/wind etc), yet the next hole can be the opposite. How many of us low handicappers have played in conditions where a 520yd par5 can be reached with a drive and a low iron, while a 425yd par4 can't be reached in two shots.