Comparison Between Nines/Course At Your Home Club

[dagolfer18]

What’s the difference, in yardage/par/difficulty, of the nines (or courses if you normally play at a club with more than 18 holes) at your home club? For me, I play at a standard 36-36 course. There’s a pretty good yardage difference between the two nines though. The front nine is 3099/2910, and the back is 3343/3153, from the blues and whites respectively. The difficulty is amped up on the back as well. The back nine is much more narrow than the front, and there’s OB on both sides of the fairway on every single hole compared to only one side OB on all but two holes on the front. And the OB is much closer to the fairway. If you miss the fairway by 40 feet on the front, you’re probably gonna be fine. You can miss by maybe half that on the back, except in a few spots. In a typical round, I’ll score two to four strokes worse on the back than the front.

Edited February 16, 2020 by dagolfer18

[Bonvivant]

The front nine is shorter at my home course(s), but tougher. I'm usually between 4-8 strokes lower on the back nine of either even though thats the 36 side on both. There is only 1 par 5 on the front of each. 

[gbogey]

On the course I cut my teeth on in NJ, the course rating for the front 9 was essentially par but the course rating for the back 9 was a stroke under par - that doesn't really tell the story.  The 9th hole was the easiest hole on the course and the 8th was a short par really wasn't that difficult relative to others, so what you really had was a very tough seven hole opening stretch that was much easier the rest of the way.  Several times I would be +6 or +7 over par after 7 holes and then go even par or +1 the rest of the way.  At least once I was even under par the last 11 holes.  In some regards it was a good learning experience - never give up the round can turn around - and it some ways it was really frustrating - if your game was really off it was hard to correct until the back 9.

[dagolfer18]

19 minutes ago, gbogey said:

On the course I cut my teeth on in NJ, the course rating for the front 9 was essentially par but the course rating for the back 9 was a stroke under par - that doesn't really tell the story.  The 9th hole was the easiest hole on the course and the 8th was a short par really wasn't that difficult relative to others, so what you really had was a very tough seven hole opening stretch that was much easier the rest of the way.  Several times I would be +6 or +7 over par after 7 holes and then go even par or +1 the rest of the way.  At least once I was even under par the last 11 holes.  In some regards it was a good learning experience - never give up the round can turn around - and it some ways it was really frustrating - if your game was really off it was hard to correct until the back 9.

My home club has five really difficult holes, and thirteen easier holes. Here’s how I organize my course, based on my game:

Holes 1-5: A difficult opening stretch with two hard holes, and three moderately difficult holes, a stroke or two over bogey golf isn’t too bad.

Holes 6-12: If I lost some strokes to bogey on the first five holes, this seven-hole stretch is an opportunity to score and get my round back on track before the last third of the course.

Holes 13-15: This is my home course’s version of “Amen Corner”. Three difficult par-4s where prices for missing are high. If I can get through this stretch in +4, I’m happy.

Holes 16-18: Three moderately difficult (and fun) holes to finish off the round, including what I think is the signature hole, the 160-yard 18th over water.

More info on my home club, if you want it, can be found in my other thread, “Hole-By-Hole Of Your Home Course”.

[p1n9183]

The front nine are a little easier. Same distance. My average is half a stroke more in the back 9. 

[jetsknicks1]

My home course is standard 36-36, without a whole lot of variation between the front and back. What makes it different is that we have 5 par 3s & 5 par 5s.