I have been thinking about how hard golf is and how most people never break 80, let alone shoot par, and remembered this article I wrote that originally published over at World Golf. It has been so long now since I wrote it I thought I’d share it with you here now. Would love to hear your thoughts on the subject of par!
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What is par? The American Heritage Dictionary defines par as “an amount or level considered to be average” or in sports usage “the number of golf strokes considered necessary to complete a hole or course in expert play.”
How — or more to the point, why — did a word meaning average get morphed into expert when it pertains to golf? Experts in golf are a tiny fraction of the golfing population. The rest of us are left struggling to achieve such a high standard which is, perhaps, one of golf’s addictive properties. But does it even have any relevance?
Why do golf holes and golf courses have numbers set for par? Whether par on a hole is 3, 4 or 5, if you shoot 5, your score is still 5. And if your total score for 18 holes is 85, does it really matter if par is 70 or 72? You know if 85 is a good score for you or not. Aren’t personal goals more relevant than par? I guess par can be a good reference point when setting your own goals. For example, if you’re playing a long or tricky “par 4” hole, you might be happy to make a 5 or 6 there. I know some people set their own personal pars that might be equal to an “official” bogey or double bogey on any given hole. So what difference does par make to the average (not par) golfer?
According to the USGA, any hole measuring 400 yards or longer is a par 5 for women, regardless of what the scorecard states. If the scorecard lists a hole at 425 yards as a par 4 and a male and a female both shoot a 4, she gets to feel better about it and consider it a birdie? Yawn. At the end of a round, my score is still what it is so who cares? Handicap calculations are based on the USGA course and slope ratings for both genders from a given set of tees and the formula doesn’t consider par. In fact, the USGA offers a formula for determining the Bogey Rating of a course and recommends that “every golfer worse than a scratch” use it as a “truer yardstick of the challenge.”
I recently played a course with my boyfriend and we both played from the same set of tees at 6575 yards. Here is an example of the Bogey Rating in action:
Him: Slope Rating (121) divided by 5.381 (set value for men), plus the Course Rating (69.0) = Target score of 91.48. Actual score: 88
Me: Slope Rating (138) divided by 4.24 (set value for women), plus the Course Rating (75.2) = Target score of 107.74. Actual score: 100
*Interesting side note: if I use the men’s ratings with the women’s set value or the women’s ratings with the men’s set value, the result is much closer to my actual score.
I have my own, more precise calculator that uses my actual handicap index rather than just a standard bogey golfer index and it gave me a target score of 94, so the 100 I shot was 6 over. Greg’s target would have been 83 so his 88 was 5 over.
On the scorecard, par is 72, but there are 4 “par 4” holes from these tees longer than 400 yards which adds four more strokes to par for women for a 76. If we compared our scores to par instead of our targets, I would have been 24 over and Greg would have been 16 over. Like many golfers of our skill levels (our indices only differ by 2.3), he actually does compare his score to par. I just don’t see the point.
Considering that most golfers aren’t experts, if we’re going to put par on a card, shouldn’t we also list some kind of a bogey golfer par? Since par is synonymous with average, Par could be the higher number for the average player target score and the lower number that is currently called par could be called Expert Target Score (ETS).
In golf, there is nothing average about par.
November 1, 2011 at 2:22 am
Great article! I registered for a USGA Handicap for the first time in my golfing career this past season. I would not have done it if I wasn’t running a golf site to be honest. Given that (at least in the near future) I have no plans to “compete”, why do I need to know how “bad” I am on paper.
Most of the strokes that contributed to that “Bad” index does not reflect how “well” I feel I can play the game of golf.
With due credit and your blessing, I might like to continue with the theme you have set forth here.
Jay
November 1, 2011 at 4:27 am
By all means, Jay. Take it away!
November 2, 2011 at 5:05 am
About Par. I see making par on a hole as “Making Holes Disappear.” With every Par, you are playing a 17 hole, 16 hole, 15 hole course, and so on. On the other side, bogies and double, or triples is like adding holes to your course.
November 4, 2011 at 9:31 am
“In golf, there is nothing average about par” -true! I like your blog too!
November 5, 2011 at 11:48 am
GC,
Very thought provoking article. When you tell a friend you shot an 85, that conjures up a certain picture/standard in their head, but at the end of the day, you know in your heart the value of the score you shoot in relation to par. 85 has a totally different meaning when shot on a par-72 7,000 yard track than a par-70 5,800 yard course.
Thanks for the good read! Brian
November 5, 2011 at 12:54 pm
A few comments:
Excellent article and I agree with using the “Bogey Rating”. Honey Badger looks great from last video. Great looking grip.
I like the comment above from “Making Holes Disappear” from Daryl. Nice concept.
Char and I both keep track of our rounds in terms of bogey not par.
We try to go as low as we can. We are usually under bogey instead of over par. That puts us in a positive frame of mind.
The other goal is always nothing over bogey, no matter what!!!
November 7, 2011 at 12:23 pm
This so interesting and useful one to me.
November 16, 2011 at 5:28 pm
Super post! Just like your blog professionalism! Keep up the good work.
December 9, 2011 at 6:39 pm
Real brain power on display. Thanks for that awsner!
December 22, 2011 at 10:47 am
“In golf, there is nothing average about par”
True
You inspired me. Love your blog. Keep it up.
January 4, 2012 at 1:05 pm
Excellent article and I agree with using the “Bogey Rating”. When you tell a friend you shot an 85, that conjures up a certain picture/standard in their head, but at the end of the day, you know in your heart the value of the score you shoot in relation to par.
January 18, 2012 at 6:42 pm
This has been very useful information, i’ll try this on my next game!
Keep up the good work
February 16, 2012 at 1:04 am
Another Great article. And yes I agree in using the “Bogey Rating”. Keep up the good work and look forward to more of your articles.
September 14, 2012 at 5:53 pm
somebody told me about the bogey rating last month i forgot all about it. thanks for sharing all this