| BY DESIGN
Length and Par Dispelling the Myth In this new column, award-winning golf course architect Paul Jansen questions why the majority of new layouts measure in excess of 7,000 yards and carry a par of 72.
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Opposite page from top: the wonderful Royal County Down; Laguna Lang Co, where the author acted as the lead architect, has garnered much praise since opening; the Old Course at Sunningdale, a heathland gem 38
HK GOLFER・APR 2014
ny ranking list that details the world’s top golf courses will reveal a couple of things. Pine Valley, just outside of Philadelphia, is likely to be ranked the best golf course closely followed by Cypress Point on the Monterrey Peninsula, not too far from Pebble Beach. Royal County Down, St Andrews (Old), Merion (East) and Shinnecock Hills will likely make up the next few to go with Ballybunion (Old), Royal Dornoch and Royal Melbourne (West). These are all wonderful golf courses that have a charm of romance, infinite variety and interest. If you take the time to study the best golf courses in great detail, as I have, you will note that a good percentage of these golf courses are less than 7,000 yards in length from the back tees. This is certainly the case at Cypress Point, Merion, Royal Melbourne and Dornoch. You can add Sunningdale (Old), Crystal Downs and Fisher Island to this list as well. In fact, I would be willing to bet that almost half of the world’s top 100 golf courses (on any ranking list) measure less than 7,000 yards / 6400m from the tips. To go further, the bulk of these golf courses have a par value of 70, 71 or 73. For instance, at Pine Valley this happens to be 70 which is the same for Shinnecock Hills, Merion and Dornoch. In the case of Royal County Down and Ballybunion the par score is 71. At famous clubs such as the National Golf Links of America and Woodhall Spa in England the par value is as much as 73. As you can see there is no ‘perfect’ number – and nor should there be. Instead architects should strive to create ideal golf holes and then combined they should make up the score.
But what of Asia? The last two golf courses to win the “Best New Golf Course in Asia-Pacific” award each have a total yardage of less than 7,000 and a par value of 71. Shanqin Bay (2012) on Hainan Island, designed by the Coore and Crenshaw team, measures just 6,894 yards. Laguna Lang Co (2013), located between the cities of Danang and Hue on Vietnam’s central coast, a golf course I was involved as lead golf architect alongside Sir Nick Faldo, has a total yardage of 6,958. As the game grows in Asia it will be our responsibility to create golf courses that are less about the scorecard and more about how they relate to their surrounds. It’s simple: the merit of any great golf course is not determined by its length and par value. Instead, a great golf course is a culmination of factors such as its character, interest and variety. Golden Age architect Albert Tillinghast’s famous quote, “It isn’t how far but how good” should ring as true today as it ever did. Yet still we are obsessed with designing and building long golf courses, over 7,200 yards, as if this is the prerequisite for great golf. In many cases these courses carry a par value of 72, as if this is important. I disagree with that opinion and one need only point to the best golf courses to make my point. Length does matter but it should never take precedence over wanting to create holes with character and interest. The land should dictate the length of any hole and the golf architect should pay less focus at fixing yardages for the purpose of figuring par. More yards inherently mean more money. The longer the golf course, the more land required. The result being additional costs HKGOLFER.COM
associated with land purchase and construction – more earthworks, more drainage, more irrigation, more grass. This then has a snowball effect as the maintenance scope increases, including but not limited to, the need for more water. Did you ever wonder why you were paying so much to play golf? I doubt anyone takes much notice of the total par score, so why are we hung up on the number 72? In fact one would argue that par is inconsequential anyway. I refer to the legendary Bobby Jones, who is quoted as saying, “The practice of printing par figures is literally a mental hazard”. If one were to think about this logically, a par of 70 or 71 would make more sense. The time it takes to play a round of golf would be reduced and the likelihood that the average golfer would break 90 would be vastly increased. Great golf courses are not a product of some magic number or figure. Great golf courses don’t conform by way of their score. Instead, great golf courses are a product of how much charm, interest and variety they possess. Great golf course makes us think, as they offer a multitude of strategic options. Great golf courses allow us the opportunity to enjoy our surrounds and experience some of the wildlife that wander these environments. Great golf courses are memorable in every way, even if we are building up a big score. So enough of this length and par nonsense. Let the focus be on creating golf experiences we can all enjoy.
Length does matter but it should never take precedence over wanting to create holes with character and interest.
Paul Jansen is the principal architect for Jansen Golf Design. For more information visit his website at jansengolfdesign.com HKGOLFER.COM
HK GOLFER・APR 2014
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