How Long a Course Should You Play?

I have wanted to tackle this question for sometime because it is a real big deal, and I have seen some half baked answers to this question.   In my book, every golfer should have the opportunity to hit par threes in one shot, par fours in two, and par fives in three.  If this is not possible, you are playing a course that is too long, and If you play a course that is too long or too short, you will not get the joy you should from the game.

Computing Your Ideal Course Distance. The answer to the question of how long a course should be is real simple.  It is  28.  Just multiply the length of your average drive by 28 and that, in my estimation, is the length of a course that will be challenging but enjoyable to play.

The logic behind the “Driver x 28″ is that an ideal course will have a combination of easy, moderately difficult, and difficult holes.  Knowing the length of your drive, you can estimate how far you hit your other clubs.  For example, most golfers will hit their 6 iron 64% of the distance of their driver.  If a medium distance par 4 is a drive and #6 iron, you know the length of a good par four for you is 164% of the distance of your drive.  Having this information plus definitions for short, medium, and long holes, you can compute the total distance for an ideal course for you based upon your driving distance.

Now the only thing you need to know is the distance of your average drive.  This is a more difficult question than you might think, and as a clue, most of us overestimate.  To get a real accurate estimate, you can have the TrackMan radar units at our range measure your drives.  They are accurate to within 1 foot for every 100 yards.  Anyone who signs up gets a 30 minute free trial and this is plenty of time to get an accurate read on your driving distance.

How “Driver x 28″ Was Created. My definition of a course that is fun to play will have a combination of short, medium, and long holes.  For example, since the average course has 4 par three holes, one should be easy, 2 moderately difficult, and 1 hard.  There are generally 4 par fives so the same logic applies to par 5s.  There are usually 10 par fours so I am saying there are 3 easy, 4 average, and 3 hard par fours.

The chart below tells how far a typical player hits each club relative to their driving distance.  This information is from a TrackMan analysis of the PGA and LPGA tours.   You can see the distance for each club as a percent of the driver distance.

Club Distance as a Percent of Driver Distance.

	PGA	pct of		LPGA	pct of		average
		driver			driver
driver	296			246
3w	260	0.88		218	0.89		0.88
5w	242	0.82		200	0.81		0.82
7w				186	0.76		0.76
hyb	237	0.80					0.80
3	220	0.74					0.74
4	209	0.71		180	0.73		0.72
5	198	0.67		170	0.69		0.68
6	185	0.63		159	0.65		0.64
7	177	0.60		147	0.60		0.60
8	162	0.55		135	0.55		0.55
9	149	0.50		123	0.50		0.50
pw	137	0.46		109	0.44		0.45

Hole Difficulty Index
Par	Difficulty	Club Selection		% of Driver	# per Round		Total % of Driver
3	short	9 iron		0.5	1		0.5
3	medium	6 iron		0.67	2		1.34
3	long	3 iron		0.74	1		0.74
4	short	driver + 9 iron		1.5	3		4.5
4	medium	driver + 6 iron		1.64	4		6.56
4	long	driver + 3 iron		1.74	3		5.22
5	short	driver + 3 wood		1.88	1		1.88
5	medium	driver + 3 wood + PW		2.37	2		4.74
5	long	driver + 3 wood + 6 iron		2.52	1		2.52
					18		28
Driving Distance		150	175	200	225	250	275
Recommended Total Yards		4200	4900	5600	6300	7000	7700

I am arbitrarily defining short, medium and long  holes.  For example, my definition of a medium length par five is a driver, three wood, and pitching wedge.  So to compute the distance of a medium length par five relative to your driver distance the math looks like this:

Medium Length Par Five

Driver                         1.00

Three Wood              .88

Pitching Wedge       .45

Total                            2.33

If your average drive is 200, a moderate par five distance is 466 yards. (2.33 x 200 yards).  Carry this same logic for each hole and you come up with a distance of (driver distance x 28) for an ideal course length.

Questions regarding “Driver x 28″:

1.      What if there is not a set of tees that correspond with my ideal yardage? First of all, don’t expect that you will be able to match the yardage number exactly.  If you are close, within 5%, that should work out fine.  Also, there is nothing wrong with making up your own course.  Your course me be comprised of holes using different tees.  Your objective should be to play holes that always give you the possibility of hitting each green in regulation (1 for par three, 2 for par fours, and 3 for par fives).  The only downside to making up your own course is that you will not have a course rating for handicapping.

2.      What if everyone else in my group is playing from different tees than me? Hold your ground.  Everyone will have more fun if you play the proper tees.  Nobody likes to play with a frustrated playing partner.  If you are wagering, the handicap system accommodates players using different tees, so if you are playing a shorter course, you will receive fewer shots.

3.      Shouldn’t the length of the course be adjusted by your handicap? NO.   There are tons of examples of high handicap golfers who can hit it a ton.  Are they going to like playing a real short course?  The same for a low handicap golfer who is a short hitter.  Will he or she enjoy hitting fairway woods into most par fours?

4.      How well will the “driver x 28″ system work for the real long or short hitter? I am not sure, but I think it will be OK.  I would like some feedback on this question.

Tagged as: golf course length, length of golf course