What Do You Consider A Long Course?

[Parker0065]

A lot depends on when and where you are! My home course to me is rather short at 6500 yards from the back tees at 300 feet above sea level. Pretty much Driver/Wedge all day except for a couple holes. I played the Carolina Club(Outer Banks, NC) from the back tees (7000 yds in a strong wind) earlier this year at sea level and it was a great challenge. I reached most of the holes with 7,8 iron and thier were only two holes that were just a bit to much. One was the 16th, +480 into a strong wind. I'm not use to playing in seaside winds and got my drive solid, but a little high. From there I hit 4Wood, and a 50 yard pitch to 10 feet just missing my par. To give you a idea how strong the wind was on the very next hole I hit 4 iron to a downwind par3 +230 yds to 18 feet from the cup.

Wind, terrain, and elevation all have a part in course length. Earlier this spring in Saratoga, NY we had so much rain the courses were playing 200-300 yards longer because you got absolutely no roll in the fairways. It was pure mush :)

[23Rounder]

My home course is around 6500 yards and I consider anything over 6600 to be fairly long. Obviously a lot of new courses are extremely long but it is only on the rare occasion that the plates are all the way back

[FLOG4]

Is that 7500 yards at Bethpage Black from the '09 Open tees that supposedly aren't finished?

While I played teeboxes prob 7200...Son played tips, and 13 was 614 with new tee box that really just added a few yards. Back 9 was LONG....And rough already being formed to the narrowness that Open will require. Other than a few greens though relatively flat.

[onthehunt526]

didn't they shorten the carry on 10... because the pros were complaining so much?

and I have some inside info on the scorecard for the '09 Open PM for details

[golfmonke]

I agree, the conditions of the course can add or subtract yardage from the actual distance.

But assuming calm conditions and "normal" hardness of the ground then depending on par anything over 6700-6800 yards is long for me.

However, i've played courses in the 6400-6500 range, which felt longer than some 7000 yard courses i've played, because they were so tight and took driver and usually 3 wood out of my hand also.

Actually I play this 2900 yard course in a 9 hole league after work. It's short, but it's so damn tight and the greens are tiny. There is one par 5 , 470 yards, but you cannot hit the ball more than 200 yards off the tee, past that point and it narrows down to 10 yards between the treelines! It's ridiculous. It expands down around 130 and in , but that stretch in the middle, forgetta bout it.

I've played 7200 yard courses which didn't feel long at all, except for the par 3's because there were so many doglegs and/or downhill tee shots.

[RC]

Great question, hard to answer. As a general rule, anything that is par times 100+ yards would be about right as being longish, but how do you factor in courses that have a short, driveable par 4, par 4's that take the driver our of your hands, or a par 5 that requires three iron shots? These make distance relative. Par threes also change things. A couple of 165-175 yard par threes play a lot differently from a course with 195 being the shortest par three and the longest maybe 225 or even 250 yards (I've played a 253 yard par three... it sure was hard when into the wind.) Narrow landing areas, precision doglegs, forced club selection off the tee, etc., can all make a shorter course seem much longer. And, a couple of 575 to 600 yard par fives can make a long course play a little shorter overall. Grasses, predominant wind, moisture and hardness of fairways, and slope of landing areas all factor in to answering this question -- but it is a good one.

As a general rule, I think people should play the tees that do not require than one or two holes where a wood is required for them to get to a par four (at the most.) I like variety and risk/reward courses more than just long ones. I don't much like courses that yield too many wedge and short iron approaches. Just an opinion.

[Fraser]

7000+ is long for me.

The CC where I used to be a member was 5700 off the mens tees and 5900 off the medal ones but it felt a lot longer than the one I play most often now which is less than 5800 off the whites.