Rough Yardage Difference - par 72 vs. par 71

[bkuehn1952]

Assuming one has similar courses in all respects, would it be reasonably accurate to say a 6,500 yard par 71 is the equivalent in length to a 6,600-6,700 yard par 72?

My thinking is that if one "converted" the longest par 4 on the par 71 course, one might add 100-150 yards to make it a par 5.  If there were an extra par 3, one might need to add up to 200 yards to "convert" it to a par 4.

I suspect many of us who don't hit accurate 280+ yard average drives have played a par 71 or 70 layout and were surprised by how long the course played compared to the initial impression of the modest yardage.  I need to remember to add 150 yards or so to account for the lower par. 

[Golfingdad]

  On 1/19/2016 at 9:06 PM, bkuehn1952 said:

Assuming one has similar courses in all respects, would it be reasonably accurate to say a 6,500 yard par 71 is the equivalent in length to a 6,600-6,700 yard par 72?

My thinking is that if one "converted" the longest par 4 on the par 71 course, one might add 100-150 yards to make it a par 5.  If there were an extra par 3, one might need to add up to 200 yards to "convert" it to a par 4.

I suspect many of us who don't hit accurate 280+ yard average drives have played a par 71 or 70 layout and were surprised by how long the course played compared to the initial impression of the modest yardage.  I need to remember to add 150 yards or so to account for the lower par. 

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Seems reasonable.  There is a nice course I like around here that plays 6,645 from the tips, but it is a par 70.  It has three par 5's and five par 3's so I always have to remind myself that it's basically the equivalent of a 7,000 yard par 72 because you'd need to take one of those par 3's (155, 185 and 172 are the yardages of the back nine 3's, the side that's missing a 5) and make it a 5 to convert it to a traditional 72 layout.

[Dave2512]

Depends on the design I suppose. My home course is a 71 at 6500 yards but it's a mix of a few really short par 4's (two are sub 300 from the whites), long par 3's (200+) and long par 5's (560+). One thing for sure if either of the longest par 3's were a par 4 it would play easier the par 3's are a bear.

Meant to add this before I was interrupted at work and hit save. The longest par 3 precedes the longest par 5 at our course. I think it could be made into a par 4 by moving the tee boxes up on the longest par 5 up without much difference in total yardage.

[saevel25]

  On 1/19/2016 at 9:06 PM, bkuehn1952 said:

Assuming one has similar courses in all respects, would it be reasonably accurate to say a 6,500 yard par 71 is the equivalent in length to a 6,600-6,700 yard par 72?

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I would check out the difference from the course rating from what par is. That will tell you how difficult the course plays yardage wise. 

 

[DaveP043]

I read on this website once a reasonable way to compare:

http://golfnook.com/AFSD.htm

Essentially, you take the yardage, and divide it by (par - 36).  The result is yards per "full swing", and is usually on the order of 180 yards.  I also look at things the way that @saevel25 does, course rating as compared to par.  I mostly do that because I can't do long division in my head.

[SavvySwede]

I think the real test is the number of long par 4's. I courses I play play regularly are a 7200/par72 and a 7000/par71. The 7000/par71 plays a lot tougher because the length is all on the par 4's. There are only two par 5's (512 and 540, not very long) and three par 3's (150, 182, 195) which leaves you with eight par 4's that are 424y-477y. The 7200 plays a lot easier because the yardage is used up on four long par 5's (580, 540, 555, 620) so you end up with more wedges into the greens/

[VOX]

I have always normalized courses by taking the average distance of non putts. My home course is 6300 yards. Most newcomers look at it and assume that it is very short. But it is a par 69. If you take the average full shot 6,300/33=191yards (69-36 putts = 33). So it is equivalent to a par 72 course of 6,873 (36 shots x 191yards.) -- not that short.

[Pendragon]

  On 1/19/2016 at 10:57 PM, saevel25 said:

I would check out the difference from the course rating from what par is. That will tell you how difficult the course plays yardage wise. 

 

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I agree. As long as the course rating is equal to or higher than par, it's not an easy course, no matter how long (or short) it is. A great example here in northern California is Pasatiempo, an Alister McKenzie design consistently ranked as one of the top public courses in the country. From the tips it's 6,478 yards, with a par of 70, but is rated 72.4 with a 143 slope. I don't care how far you hit it, this course will eat your lunch if you don't have all the shots...and 2 of the 3 par 5's are 500 yards or less.