distance vs. par score

[tuffluck]

there are a few courses i play that are 6500y and par 72, but there is one that is 6500y that was a par 71 and they just changed a 500y par 5 to a par 4, so now the course is a par 70.  i'm a +20 so my general goal when playing is breaking 90, though if the par is 70, does that mean i really should be trying to break 88?

i just think at least in the case of this course, par 70 is unfair if not for that particular hole, for the sake that many other nearby courses are the same length and give you an extra 2 strokes to par.  what's the explanation behind this?  if courses have the same distance and slope rating, why wouldn't they have the same par score?  i obviously understand one may have more par 3s than another, etc.  but from a difficulty perspective that just means they are making up the distance on another hole, i.e. a par 4 that is 500y.

IMO that makes comparing handicaps difficult if one guy is playing a par 70 that has the same slope/distance as another guy playing a par 72.  right?

[saevel25]

Because par has nothing to do with how hard the course is. Firestone country club in Akron Ohio is a 7000+ yard tournament that plays a par 70. There are pro tournaments that play a par 72 that are shorter. Just depends on how the owners of the course wants it. All being equal, par 70 will just mean you will have to play 2 strokes better to get the same score relative to par. It doesn't mean the course is tougher to play, just means your score relative to par changes.

As for handicaps, you don't base that on par for the course, but on the USGA course rating. This rating takes out what the owner's want and defines the course based on unified criteria.

[MJK3122]

The poster above me is correct.  A par 70 could have a higher rating than a par 72.  The rating is what a handicap is based off of, not the par of a course.  Rating is the score that a scratch player should be able to shoot on a given course.  If you play a par 70 that has a rating of 73 and you shoot an 88, you would have a 15 handicap for that round, not an 18.

[BuckeyeNut]

Originally Posted by tuffluck

there are a few courses i play that are 6500y and par 72, but there is one that is 6500y that was a par 71 and they just changed a 500y par 5 to a par 4, so now the course is a par 70.  i'm a +20 so my general goal when playing is breaking 90, though if the par is 70, does that mean i really should be trying to break 88?

i just think at least in the case of this course, par 70 is unfair if not for that particular hole, for the sake that many other nearby courses are the same length and give you an extra 2 strokes to par.  what's the explanation behind this?  if courses have the same distance and slope rating, why wouldn't they have the same par score?  i obviously understand one may have more par 3s than another, etc.  but from a difficulty perspective that just means they are making up the distance on another hole, i.e. a par 4 that is 500y.

IMO that makes comparing handicaps difficult if one guy is playing a par 70 that has the same slope/distance as another guy playing a par 72.  right?

Yes....what the guys above said

The one big thing you need to keep in mind with regard to Handicap is that course par is irrelevant.  The only thing that matters is how you score in relation to the CR.   If they simply changed the course par and kept the hole the same and you're playing from the same tees, the CR won't change and it will have a zero net effect on your handicap.

[tristanhilton85]

I wouldn't focus on it too much...

Also, keep in mind that it's not just distance that determines a courses par... how open is the hole, are there a lot of hazards, etc. The hole may be long, but if it is substantially downhill or there isn't a lot of trouble than it may still play to it's par just fine.

Originally Posted by tuffluck

IMO that makes comparing handicaps difficult if one guy is playing a par 70 that has the same slope/distance as another guy playing a par 72.  right?

Not really... it's kind of the reverse. The rating/slope of the course doesn't care what the par is for the course. For example shooting a 20 over 90 on the par 70 is exactly the same as shooting a 18 over 90 on the par 72 if the rating/slope are the same between the two courses. Even though you scored two shots worse in relation to par, your index will be the same because the course rating/slope is the same. That's the beauty of the handicap system; we can compare golfers to one anther and it takes into account the differing difficulties of the courses played so somebody who plays easy tracks and shoots in the low 80s won't necessarily have a better index than somebody on a harder course and shoots upper 80s.

[CanuckAaron]

As stated above, the course rating is what is used for handicap calculations and also keep in mind that the course rating is based on which set of tees you are playing. A par 72 course may have a rating of 69,70, 71 and 72 at the same time depending on the tees.  In either case, 500 is a long par 4 but that must be from the back tees?