How do scores on short courses compare?

[wasilvers]

There is a shorter municipal course I play. The stats are 9 holes for 2710 yards, slope of 106, par of 34, it has all par 4 holes except 2. The par 3s are 170 and 135. I wanted to break 100 this year. I have scored 85 and 89 on this course, which feels great to me. Would this compare to breaking 100 on a normal course? Maybe you guys who play a lot can tell me how your scores compare for shorter courses?

[Hardspoon]

The beauty of the handicap system is that it gives you a pretty good way of calculating this: the "differential" used for handicap purposes.  You can calculate the differential for your round, and compare it to a 99-shot round on your "normal" course.

If my math is correct, the differential for a round of 85 on a course with a 68 rating and 106 slope would be 18.1.

That's definitely better than breaking 100 on basically any course short of a PGA Tour setup (you'd need a 74 rating and 150 slope to shoot 99 and have an 18.1).  On the most difficult course I play regularly (70/128), it's equivalent to shooting a 91.

TL;DR: Both your 85 and 89 are better than breaking 100 on a "normal" course.

[jcjim]

There is a shorter municipal course I play. The stats are 9 holes for 2710 yards, slope of 106, par of 34, it has all par 4 holes except 2. The par 3s are 170 and 135.

I wanted to break 100 this year. I have scored 85 and 89 on this course, which feels great to me. Would this compare to breaking 100 on a normal course? Maybe you guys who play a lot can tell me how your scores compare for shorter courses?

My guess is you play these 9 holes twice to come up with your 85/89....I don't know what the other par 4 distances are but after the par 3's you have about 2400 yards that's short for 7 par fours...Most the average courses will be about 6000 yards...if you play from the short tees you could be down to 5600/5700 yards....This gets a little closer to your 2 rounds at your course...So you have 11 to 14 strokes available to break that 100...

You'll find a number of par 4's that are longer and some longer par 3' s plus you'll have 18 different holes to deal with.. all told you may be close to your goal...why not get out and see....

[wasilvers]

My guess is you play these 9 holes twice to come up with your 85/89....I don't know what the other par 4 distances are but after the par 3's you have about 2400 yards that's short for 7 par fours...Most the average courses will be about 6000 yards...if you play from the short tees you could be down to 5600/5700 yards....This gets a little closer to your 2 rounds at your course...So you have 11 to 14 strokes available to break that 100... You'll find a number of par 4's that are longer and some longer par 3' s plus you'll have 18 different holes to deal with.. all told you may be close to your goal...why not get out and see....

The holes are 320-340, shortest par 4 is one 277 with water and trees everywhere. And 1 460ish all uphill. I do play the 9 twice to hit 18. Today I walked the 18 carrying the bag the whole way. Golfing wasn't the best day I've had, that bag got heavy! The longest holes on other courses i play are 550ish, I still go bogey on those too. Drives are 250, but today i used my hybrids to drive after the 4th duff that I had to rescue. They only go 210-220 but they always go straight, and I wanted to score rather than just hit far. Thanks for the info!

[Lihu]

There is a shorter municipal course I play. The stats are 9 holes for 2710 yards, slope of 106, par of 34, it has all par 4 holes except 2. The par 3s are 170 and 135.

I wanted to break 100 this year. I have scored 85 and 89 on this course, which feels great to me. Would this compare to breaking 100 on a normal course? Maybe you guys who play a lot can tell me how your scores compare for shorter courses?

http://www.usga.org/course-handicap-calculator.html

EDIT: Looked up the slope of 103 and calculate my course handicap to be 10. This means I get one less stroke than on a regulation course. Your handicap of 15 is 14 on this course.

This means that your 85 is probably like an 86 on a 72/113 rated course, and the 89 is a 90.

[StefanUrkel]

short easy courses are a joke compared to hard ones. I shot 84 from the tips at Oakland Hills today. Not horrible but ok. If I shot that at Glen Oaks, I'd shoot myself

[DrvFrShow]

Nothing wrong with playing from 5600-5800 yds. A course like that will be rated about 66-68 with a slope of 105-117 for men.

I will warn you, if you are a long hitter, it will bring a whole different look to the course as you will not be able to bang your driver on every hole like you're used to doing.

I play a 5600 yd course regularly, and most of the women's leagues play shorter tighter courses and they're killers for me. One course is 4700 yd tees, tight tree lined and I have to hit a 7 or at most a 6 iron off the tee or else I'm in the woods, and then after that have to lay up to the water and hit over. Painful. They're not fun courses to play. Give me a long wide open links course any day.

[Dave2512]

Course rating is all that matters and how your typical score is in relation to that.

[Lihu]

Course rating is all that matters and how your typical score is in relation to that.

Yeah, this was a tough one for me, but USGA has a slope and handicap calculator.

Seems like he only loses a stroke on this course. . .

[wasilvers]

Usga says slope is 117. I gave the wrong number. If I take bogey golf numbers, I might break 100. Would need some pars or birdies in the bunch and no 3 putts.

[tefunk]

short easy courses are a joke compared to hard ones. I shot 84 from the tips at Oakland Hills today. Not horrible but ok. If I shot that at Glen Oaks, I'd shoot myself

I don't think the OP asked what you shoot, or how the course he's referring to compares to a tour caliber course

[tefunk]

Here is the differential calc if it's helpful: [(score - rating)*113]/slope * .96

[wasilvers]

short easy courses are a joke compared to hard ones. I shot 84 from the tips at Oakland Hills today. Not horrible but ok. If I shot that at Glen Oaks, I'd shoot myself

84 is an awesome score of that's the course I'm seeing on the usga website. Slope rating of 145! Congrats!

[MyrtleBeachGolf]

short easy courses are a joke compared to hard ones. I shot 84 from the tips at Oakland Hills today. Not horrible but ok. If I shot that at Glen Oaks, I'd shoot myself

I shot 68 from the tips at Muirfield Village GC today. Not horrible, but ok. If I shot 84 at Oakland Hills, I'd shoot myself.

[Dave2512]

I shot 68 from the tips at Muirfield Village GC today. Not horrible, but ok. If I shot 84 at Oakland Hills, I'd shoot myself.

Lol

[Lihu]

Usga says slope is 117. I gave the wrong number. If I take bogey golf numbers, I might break 100. Would need some pars or birdies in the bunch and no 3 putts.

In that case 117 slope is probably a regulation course, in which case 5400 yards is kind of short for a male player? What's the name of the course, it might be in the USGA database?

[Dave2512]

Slope doesn't matter much, more of a handicap thing. Rating is essentially par. Yardage a huge factor but not the only factor. Just look at any course ratings as the distance changes so does the rating. move up shoot better move back shoot worse. Your scores should even out.

[Lihu]

Slope doesn't matter much, more of a handicap thing. Rating is essentially par. Yardage a huge factor but not the only factor. Just look at any course ratings as the distance changes so does the rating. move up shoot better move back shoot worse. Your scores should even out.

True, I just assumed they matched, but not all the time. . .