Par 3.5...or 4.5...why not

[Skins]

I suppose it leads to phrases like a "half-birdie" and a "half-bogey".

Then may be a "one-and-a-half bogey", and so on.

Good point, or maybe half point, then maybe we should redefine half birdy as a bat and so on, break the mold and forge our own system instead of following the ball golf model and nomenclature.

 

[DavidSauls]

Does (ball) golf have similar holes, producing scores between 3 and 4, or 4 and 5?

 

[CaptainAnhyzer]

You don't, just a better valuation of a holes difficulty.
A diver scores in .x, a gymnast is scored in .x

Why not a par 68.5 course.

Judged "scores" from diving and gymnastics are a COMPLETLEY different conversation. WAY TOO MUCH grey area involved in those activities.

 

[CaptainAnhyzer]

So you want to further define the word "par" but your suggested fix is to make it impossible to score par on a Par 3.5 hole?

Thanks for the headache...........:\

 

[Hampstead]

I'm onboard as long as spit outs count as half a stroke.

 

[Putt for D'oh]

So you want to further define the word "par" but your suggested fix is to make it impossible to score par on a Par 3.5 hole?

Thanks for the headache...........:\

not Further define par, but replace par with course and hole SSA I think.

Seems pointless and way too complicated for most people.

 

[Improbably]

The .5 would better describe the holes difficulty.
Nothing worse than a hole that only birdies are scored by a fluke shot, and same goes with all the holes on tour, which are too many to count, that are a cakewalk par 4 that's 515' that the pros mostly birdy.

Par is not a metric of difficulty.

Par is a metric of expectation.

 

[Hyzflip10]

Another, rather pedantic, observation is that par is defined as the "expected score", and x.5 is never the expected score.

Perhaps it's a way of saying, on a particularly hole, that there is no expected score. But, again, is that bit of clarity worth the effort?

It could be a way to describe a hole that expert players are expected to 2 half the time, and 3 half the time.

 

[Cgkdisc]

Par 3.5 hole and there are other half par holes on this course. Note: Not my design but I'm okay with it other than it's tricky to apply par+4 for late arrival.

 

[Timthenchant3r]

Can some holes be a par pi? I'm in.

 

[Cgkdisc]

Can some holes be a par pi? I'm in.

Par for all holes on a March 14th tournament?

 

[Halcón]

People can't add their scores correctly as it is. Let's give them decimals to make it easier.

 

[Hampstead]

People can't add their scores correctly as it is. Let's give them decimals to make it easier.

Get the official PDGA MVP overmolded abacus when you renew your membership today.

 

[CaptainAnhyzer]

Par is not a metric of difficulty.

Par is a metric of expectation.

THIS

And since all our scores are measured in whole numbers, par would have to be a whole number also.

 

[aphilso1]

We have a 9-hole course nearby that fits the situation that OP has in mind, I think. Hole 8 is a 450+ ft wide open drive with a moderately protected green, and hole 9 is 400 ft with OB left (houses) and OB right (tennis courts) and usually plays into a stiff headwind. Neither is really a par 4, but they're also both pretty tough to 3 for most people. I typically am happy playing them with a combined score of 7, so from that perspective a 3.5 makes sense for each hole. I guess the problem is that while I think the combined score could be a 7, I don't think you should individually call each hole a 3.5 for the various reasons that others have already stated. Thankfully this course also has some super easy par 3's to even things out, so the overall course par seems about right. And maybe that's the perspective that course designers should take: don't worry so much that each individual hole has a "fair" par, but make sure the course as a whole does.

 

[lyleoross]

You would have to have a measure along the lines of, "expected average." PM would hate this discussion, and I'd agree with him.

What a hole really averages is important. But par is not that measure.

 

[lyleoross]

I'm onboard as long as spit outs count as half a stroke.

Have you read the, I almost aced, thread. By that discussion, a spit out is almost as good as an ace. So spit outs would be .95 of a stroke, or .05 of a missed stroke. As in, "I had 95% of an ace. And if the basket didn't stink, it would have stayed in."

 

[swhite]

Can some holes be a par pi? I'm in.

Let's be rational about this.



3.14 is okay.

 

[Grippenripp]

Because you can't take half a stroke

 

[Indiana574]

I've actually played in a couple sanctioned tournaments we're the TD made some holes par 2 can you say ridiculous.