What type of course is best for you?

I absolutely slay longer, more open courses, no matter how difficult the rating (well, I've never golfed a 7,700 yard round so there is likely a limit to this). I end up with rounds adjusted to single digit handicaps even though my handicap is at 15 right now overall. It's kind of disconcerting though bc I have horrible rounds when I play tight, tree lined courses. I'm not all the wild off the tee, but I do skirt the edges of tight fairways to the point that I'm usually blocked on my second shot somehow. And forget taking out my 3 wood to go for long par 5's in two. Trees, here I come. So these courses I golf around my house are rated like a 67 or 68 for difficulty, and I suck on them, but the open, longer courses are rated 72 and above and I have way better scores than I do on the short, narrow ones. The point is, if I golfed mostly these big, open and long courses I would likely be a single digit handicap. If I golfed these tight, tree lined courses exclusively I would likely be a 20 handicap. Seems a little skewed and unfair to short hitters in a way.

Not sure about that, short hitters can't reach many GIR on a 7000+ yard course and there really isn't anything they can do about. The longer hitter can avoid the trees by playing more conservatively off the tee. I believe the bigger issue is that a lot off the bigger courses mow the rough too low in an attempt to speed up play and the course ends up playing a lot easier than its rating.

I agree. I actually meant that it seems unfair to short hitters that someone like me could have a single digit handicap based on pure distance whereas they might have a single digit handicap and have to work much harder to be much more precise.

Well handicap is more a measure of potential ability than actual ability so it makes sense that a shorter hitter would need to work harder to be single digit than a longer hitter because distance brings more potential opportunities.

Makes sense.

Is this a trick question? Short, wide open, huge flat greens, no hazards, no mounds, no doglegs. That about sums it up.

Ha yeah the question was stupid but I was trying to figure out a way to frame my question and somewhat explain it in the title.

In all seriousness, I play much better on shorter target golf type courses. I'm not a long hitter at all, so I play to my strengths and score much better on shorter courses. I usually try to play from a set of tees that are between 6200-6500. I like to "think" my way around a golf course instead of just grip, rip and hope.

It's always the tee shots that make or break my round. I can always hit my irons well enough to probably shoot low 80's to high 70's. But the only time I get around those scores is when I play at a more open course. The sucky thing is that it's not like I am so wild that all of my shots are going into other fairways all the time. It's that I always end up in the trees. And a lot of times it's not a slice or hook, it's just angle and aim. I might hit it straight but straight to 1:00 or 11:00 still ultimately finds the woods with my length. I'm not bragging bc I know there are a ton of golfers on here that are longer than I am off the tee, but a good drive for me goes 275-310 on average.

I guess that's the only upside to NOT having length off the tee. My misses don't go nearly as far right or left as yours do.

I sometimes find myself jealous of shorter hitters because it looks like they are always in the fairway. Much more room for error. However if a shorter hitter slices one in the woods they are probably in a worse spot.

Funny you should say that. Last year I played in the Golf.com World Amateur Handicap Championship. In my final round I was paired with a guy who was very long but also very wild. At one point during the round I commented to him about how I wish I had his length. He replied that he wished he had my accuracy. We shot the exact same score that round, and it ended up being the low score in our flight for the day.

How tight was the course? That's a cool story.

There was actually a decent mix of open holes and some tight holes that were cut through the tall pines. Also the greens were lightning quick. It was Panthers Run Golf Course, Ocean Ridge Plantation, NC. Our flight was index 10.5-10.9 and we both shot 82 which was the low score of the round.

Nice

Here is the course. Some holes are so wide open you can hit 3 fairways over and be in play - And some holes are super tight, like this zig zag par 5 on the back:

Looks like a blast! I would be hitting irons the entire time on that par 5 for sure

Honestly, I really suck on tight short courses. Of the courses in the area, Lake Spanaway is my favorite. The "ladies tees" are 5600 yds. 72.3/121. I tend to score far better there than on my "home course" which is 69.1/112, 5200 yds. Brookdale is another course that is fun to play. It's a real hike, though, and I really wish they took better care of it. Par 74, 6200 yds. Rated 74.9/125. White tees. They got rid of the red tees. If you don't get off the tee there, you're dead.

But Duff, on the shorter courses, you can always hit your 5 iron off the tee. I just bought a 4 iron to use for a driving iron. I can hit my 5 iron straight about 200 yds off a tee if I put some tabasco on it. The 4 iron is for when the driver misbehaves. Straighter than a hybrid.