Max distances for Par 2 design

[gottafixit]

I'm working on a Par 2/Tiki/Putt Putt course and from what I searched did not find any guidance on the upper limit of a Par 2 hole. If anyone has thoughts on what the max length for Red, White, Blue, and Gold levels would/should be I'd like to hear your input. Course will have tees on holes from as short as 34ft (Red/Green) to 212ft (Gold?/Par 3).

 

[seedlings]

If they're wide open, par 2, 212 ft sounds fun. In the woods a 200' hole can be a beast.

 

[gottafixit]

I had some logic that if their first shot can be expected to land within 15ft Red, 30ft White, 45ft Blue, 60ft Gold?

 

[BillFleming]

Wow, it's difficult to give an answer to that question. Instead, what level of player is the course planned for? A beginner's Par 2 ability is much less than a 1000+ player's Par 2 ability. Are you planning for the course to be a mid-range/putter course? Or a 'every disc available' course. A 250 ft hole is Par 2-able for quite a lot of players. Heck, I can throw that distance with a 5 speed and I'm rated in the mid-600s. But a beginner might not be able to make it in 2. A 1000 player? They are probably using a putter and going for an ace.

Start with what level of player you expect to be playing it most frequently and plan for that. Multiple tees, same thing....what level of player do you envision playing from each tee pad (realizing of course that most players will play from the longs even if they shouldn't be)? Figure out how far that level of player throws and adjust accordingly.

With multiple tees, you could even include ratings on each sign Red < 700, White 700 to 900, Blue >900.

 

[txmxer]

Lengths between 100 and 300 feet make sense for PAR 2 depending on the actual throw. A 100' throw through trees and tight lines can be more challenging than a 300' open throw.

 

[Steve West]

From https://www.pdga.com/documents/par-guidelines

An extremely easy (think: downhill into a catcher's mitt-shaped hillside of soft ground) 350 foot hole could be par 2 for Gold.

For ratings lower than 850, for any tee throw longer than a putt they would not be expected to get within their one-putt range often enough to call it a par 2.

Do you you really want a legit tournament-style competitive course with all par 2s? Or do you want an upshot-practice (pitch & putt) course, or do you want a putter-only course, or do you want an ace-run course?

Depending on what you are trying to do, the better question might be: How short are you willing to make the holes?

 

[gottafixit]

Thanks for the PDGA link, seems they have updated somethings since I looked last. I would love to see the Par by Effective Hole Length and Foliage in numbers versus a bar graph. Ie does the line start or end with the number it just passed, Red Par 2 0-100 or 0-125?

What would be the difference between a legit tournament style course with all par 2s and a upshot pitch and putt course?

My goal is to have a pitch and putt all par 2 course with 3 of the tees being aimed at red, white, and blue level play, and then a 4th tee that is either Gold level par 2 or Red/White level par 3 where space allows. While this is a private course on my own property I have designed it so that it would be possible to have events on the course with 20 of the 22 holes (18 hole event layout) having unique fairways.

I think from the updated info I will likely use both the Close Range and Par by Hole Length distance to judge things tailoring based on the hole.

 

[Steve West]

Thanks for the PDGA link, seems they have updated somethings since I looked last. I would love to see the Par by Effective Hole Length and Foliage in numbers versus a bar graph. Ie does the line start or end with the number it just passed, Red Par 2 0-100 or 0-125?

When the line is near a line, your own judgment takes over, based on the particular hole you have in mind. There are no hard edges to a range of lengths for par. The lines are where a hole is about as likely to be one par as the other.

What would be the difference between a legit tournament style course with all par 2s and a upshot pitch and putt course?

Not much, and there is certainly overlap. I'd say the pitch and putt might have more interesting (or gimmicky) - but shorter - holes. Like scrambling, rather than a nice drive off the tee. But, it's whatever you want it to be, the only real requirement is fun.

 

[ThrowaEnvy]

Our local heritage (35yrs+) course is par 3... but if you aren't getting 5/6 birds over 9 you are out of contention. Personally I'd say the 220' range is probably max. If you are building it for beginners just tag it all par 3. Pros will be playing it for two's anyhow and kids will be happy to get a birdie. Many ams get 3's on a 180' hole.

One of the guys has a partwo-zee course on 2 acres, it's all putting range about 150ft or less.

 

[Gblambert]

For the par 2 course at the Flying Armadillo, the holes average around 100 ft in length. To determine the difficulty of the course, we followed the close range par guidelines. If I remember right, only a gold level player is expected to consistently get up and down at a distance of 100 ft or more in 2 strokes or less. So we decided it's a gold level course, made some gold tee markers, and then named it the Gold course. This fit nicely with the full length course on the property, which has blue, white and red tee pads. The gold designation has proven to be accurate because in 7 or 8 years since the par 2 course has been open, I've only heard of one player ever beating par and it took a pro, Jay Reading, to do it (he won the $1000 bounty for his round of 17 pars and an ace).

https://www.google.com/search?sxsrf=APwXEddmg_B7aQOaixZHkgRXccsDqQZ21g:1687181015014&q=flying+armadillo+disc+golf&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwi2iMmIt8__AhX_ATQIHejZAKYQ0pQJegQICxAB&biw=1422&bih=820&dpr=1.35

 

[Olorin]

Here are the revised Close Range Par maximum lengths from which a player of each level would expect to complete a hole in 2 throws. This is analogous to the green in traditional golf.

Course Level	Close Range​	Putt​	Total​
Gold	195​	25​	220​
Blue	170​	20​	190​
White	145​	15​	160​
Red	130​	10​	140​
Green	120​	---​	120​
Purple	100​	---​	100​