What are your preferences on length and par?

6294 off the whites and most clubs used during the round. I prefer there to be variety to a course, not all drives and long second shots into par fours and with some good short fours and testing par threes. Most par fives are three shotters for me and so the variance in distance from say 500 up to 550 odd yards doesn't make too much difference
 
Have to say I don't really mind the length, I'll happily play most places.

It's just over 6300 off the Whites at mine, par 70 SSS 71. I feel it has a decent mix of par 4's shortish and long. Only thing I'd prefer is another par 5 as we only have one which is a decent risk/reward hole.
 
I hardly ever use anything longer than a 7 iron to get into a par 4 these days and that's a real shame. I wouldn't mind the odd 500 yard par 4 just so that I got to use my longer irons off the fairway every now and again. Par5's could be longer at ours too. 2 of the 3 are driver and a 6/7 iron. The other is not too bad and needs. Good drive and a better 2nd with a long iron

this must be the proverbial forum distances we hear about.
500 yard par 4? No thanks. Go on the pro tour if you want that.
 
From what I've found is that most of the shorter courses I've played have lots of dog legs and blind shots to keep you honest. I am not really fussed about course length as long as it's a test.
 
As most have said, I don't mind the overall length so much as long as it has a good variety of holes.

Having said that, I'd always go for long if only given the choice between the two.
 
I prefer long but fair, no point if the course is always set up like the US Open. If you have one slightly longer par 3 then you can have a slightly shorter par 4. A reachable par 5 and one completely out of range is fine by me... just get the balance right.
 
Short doesn't mean easy. I find short tighter hazard filled courses a lot harder than long open ones.

It should mean EASIER as you're supposed to be able to take less club off the tee.... however, it might have tiny little excuses for greens in which case it could still be hard...as normally is the case for tiny little courses crammed into a small bit of land.
 
Given the choice I prefer a well laid long course, I find tight short courses boring as I am happy to stand on the tee and hit my 2 hybrid as it is a banker to be on the short stuff around 230/240 yards off the tee.

give me a big old beast of a course like where I go, a par 72 6800 yarder.

Par 3s: 221, 182, 180, 167
Par 5s: 570, 565, 532, 516
 
Variety is the spice of life, being a non member of a Golf Club due to my profession; I prefer a mix of length and Par and can play on a variety of courses. However I always prefer a Golf Course where you have to plot your way around and not take Driver off of every Par 4 & 5, that becomes boring

Richie
 
The three I play most are 7,300 up to 7,500 yards from the back tees, par 72's but I'd never dream off teeing off from that, I'd get zero enjoyment from it

Mostly I play them a bit over 6,500 yards and I still find that a little longer than I'd ideally like so I guess around 6,100 would be my preference of a course length to get a variety of approach shots

Obviously you need variety & interest in the hole design in that too
 
Variety seems to be the default option, then.

At least the one good thing about the short par 67, 5500 yard course I play at is the variety of par 3s.

215yd, 130yd, 230yd, 165yd, 150yd. Better than playing 5 x 150yd every time.
 
My course is 71 - 6450. A good mix of a couple of par 4s under 350 and a few over 400 as well as par 3s ranging between 130 - 210. I like a good long par 4. Good sense of reward when you smash a drive than hit a good long 5/6 iron into a green, but I guess thats just me. My sense of 'practice' is to smash 50 balls on the range than having an hour on the short game.
 
At least the one good thing about the short par 67, 5500 yard course I play at is the variety of par 3s.

Same, my home course is short (5961 white tees, Par 69), but great variety like you say,

Par 3s go 164, 125, 180, 210 and 170.

So everything from a wedge to a 4 iron used! The 125yard one although SI 18, is bloomin tricky due to the shape of the green and the pin locations! A great challenge!
 
I'd rather play a shorter, technically difficult course with loads of hazards than a long boring up and down course. Depends on how the course is set up in my opinion. Length of par is only one consideration.

Mine is 6,200 yards, par 72.

There's a course near me that is longer and absolutely immaculate, but on a lot of the par 4/5s you can literally spray your driver over a 150 yard dispersion and still have a shot/be in bounds. There are also few real hazards. I don't like that. At my home course if you hit a poor tee shot you get punished.
 
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