27 vs 18

[optidiscic]

Would you rather play 27 holes of well designed interesting technical par 3's or would you rather play a par 72 championship caliber 18 hole course? Assuming the 27 holes par is 81 and the Championship Course is 72.

[Lewis]

Either would be great, but there are so many short courses around...

[DSCJNKY]

I like both... the only thing I don't like is a 23... or a 14... It just seems incomplete to not have a number divisible by 9. That's just me though.
DSCJNKY

[REDARMY]

at my present skill level, 27 of well designed.

as my bag and skills progress, ill take the 18.

/voted 27 because i'm not that good yet

[steven2361]

championship 18 as they are not as many

[mashnut]

Honestly, it depends on the day for me. I voted championship 18 just because that implies a little more variety, especially in length to me.

I have no issues with odd numbers of holes, to me that says that people worked to use all available space without cramming things in. I've played plenty of 24 hole courses that were lots of fun, and would clearly be worse courses without the extra holes, or if more holes were crammed in to make them the 'right' number of holes.

[mr.smOOOth]

Champ 18. We have to make our own par 4s at my home course.

[aarikc17]

Championship level course!!!!!!

Par 72 would be awesome!!

[Disc Golf Live]

24.

27 holes takes too long during tourneys.

Joe

[Disc Dog]

The 27 would be great, as long as it was well designed.

The 18 Champ courses are fun and I like to play them but I have a bum left leg and if I am not careful I really physically struggle on them. Renny in Charlotte NC is a perfect example.

[scarpfish]

Neither, as I'd likely find either option irritating after awhile, (although I'd probably find the 27 technical a bit less irritating). Just give me a run of the mill 3.5-4 star park course with dual pads and multiple placements instead.

[DavidSauls]

How 'bout a Championship 27 ?

My all-time favorite course came very close. The now-extinct Gran Canyon in Brookesville, Florida had an 18-hole loop and a 9-hole loop. It didn't average par-4 but it was pretty challenging. The tournaments I played there consisted of a single, 27-hole round per day, which took about 6 hours.

[biscoe]

hawk hollow is a championship 27 as well but we only use 18 for singles events. we use all 27 for the Virginia Team Invitational in the spring. par for 27 is 94, par for 18 is 63.

[superberry]

27 holes any day of the week! I think the fun in playing a course is the chance for an ace. I'll take the par 3 and a chance for an ace with an excellent drive on a technical hole. (My assumption is that the championship par4 has no chances for an ace, all holes greater than 400' and not reachable on a drive by 90% of all players).

I want variety though, and no throwaway holes. You know what is wrong with most par 4's? They JUST add distance!!! Technical par 4's are awesome though! The ones that require a precisely placed 200-300' shot before some huge obstacle or turn in the fairway and another technical 200-300' upshot again to the green. Add a risky sloped green, and maybe you have a par 5! Distance par 4's are challenging, but just plain boring. Put 3-4 holes over 400' on the course to satisfy the cannon-arms, and challenge the rest.

[bongripper0420]

I would take a 27 any day. I prefer a more technical course.

[wolito]

I would rather play 27 different holes. I always finish 18 and then I am still looking for more and usually play another 9 or more. If I played 27 distinct holes, I might be satisfied, at least for that day.

[CwAlbino]

27 technical.

[WindyCityROCer]

rrr... I used to play ball golf everyday... I'm partial to the 18 hole course (it is GOLF, right) 27 most times seems like a little too long... It seems like a lot of times, more is more.... Personally, I would like to see more true Par4/5 courses than a 20x hole ace run course... (having said that, I love my Shorewood!) Most of the time, it depends on the land and the course routing. I know of a few BG courses that are 3 9hole "loops" letting a player pick 2 for an 18 hole round...

I think that's my 2 cents.....

[billnchristy]

3 9 holers:

1 Long bomb course equalling over 4k feet
2 Shorter and technical, around 2100'
3 Longer but technical around 2700'

A course like this would give you mad flexibility as you would have 3 combinations of course:

1+3= super long and technical nearly 7k feet
1+2= long and technical over 6k feet
2+3= short and technical at around 4800'

Or you could do 2 rounds on course 2 for strictly rec etc etc...possibilities are endless.

You could also have 9 additional gold tees on both course 2 and 3 for a total of 18 long bomb holes.

[superberry]

3 9 holers:

1 Long bomb course equalling over 4k feet
2 Shorter and technical, around 2100'
3 Longer but technical around 2700'

A course like this would give you mad flexibility as you would have 3 combinations of course:

1+3= super long and technical nearly 7k feet
1+2= long and technical over 6k feet
2+3= short and technical at around 4800'

Or you could do 2 rounds on course 2 for strictly rec etc etc...possibilities are endless.

You could also have 9 additional gold tees on both course 2 and 3 for a total of 18 long bomb holes.

Come play it - Winter Park (http://www.dgcoursereview.com/course.php?id=2030) in Kewaunee, WI

Holes 1, 2, 4, 5, 10, 15, 16, 17, 18 are mainly open and total 3635' from the Blue Tees (future GOLD Tees will push that to nearly 5000')

Holes 6, 8, 8A, 8C, 8E, 9, 11, 12, 13, 13I offer amazing tight technical shorter holes totalling 2185' from the Blue Tees

Holes 3, 6, 7, 8B, 8D, 9F, 13G, 13H, 14 offer long technical wooded holes totalling 2585' from the Blue Tees

[superberry]

Look at the pictures if you want to get what we mean by 'mainly open' or 'amazingly technical'

[billnchristy]

Looks nice.

[BogeyNoMore]

As for which I'd rather play, Redarmy hit it on the head for me:
at my present skill level, 27 of well designed.

as my bag and skills progress, ill take the 18.

/voted 27 because i'm not that good yet

However, if asked about what I'd like to see for a new course, I'd pick 18 championship, because as some have said, there are a lot of short courses out there - so that's how I voted.

My question is, "Is it possible to design a truly championship caliber course that doesn't have high likelihood of losing discs?" Something you can feel comfortable playing without spotters.

Call me a wimp if you must, but I hate losing discs! :mad: Especially on throws that really aren't that bad: e.g. there's a thick, nasty a$$ stand of bushy crap 5 feet off the fairway 250 ft from the teebox, and you know that's where my disc's gonna land (and of course, it's a blind hole so you don't even know where to start looking in the thick stuff -you're just hoping to get lucky). I don't mind blind holes - they can be neat. I just hate REALLY thick brush. Just give me a fighting chance of finding my disc.

Maybe that's why I prefer woody courses to brushy courses.

Sorry, didn't mean to threadjack - got a bit emotional there.

[Donovan]

Without reading what was written before me....

I have played both styles in the same day when I was in Lincoln, NE, USA last year. Here is what I was thinking after that day.

FOR 18:
1. When playing 27 par 3 holes, unless the terrain is really unique, Drive approach and putt and start to wear on you some as you get closer to 27 holes.

2. Cost wise, 18 holes are cheaper for building.

FOR 27
1. 27 hole course get some recoginition as there really are not that many of these and people love to talk about something that is different.

2. It will get more new players to the sport if they can sometimes make a par their first time out.

3. Techincal holes usually have a bigger fun factor rating for many players. Lots of people love trying to hit aces and birdies on tough holes.

[trashmonster1985]

I like both... the only thing I don't like is a 23... or a 14... It just seems incomplete to not have a number divisible by 9. That's just me though.
DSCJNKY

dido, courses have got to be 9's. it is just weird not to be. plus it makes scoring weird, i feel... incomplete

[trashmonster1985]

The bijou course in S. Lake Tahoe is a 27. I know they have had pro/am tourneys there in the past, but i'm not sure if it is quite a championship level course. but when the pins are in the far position it is an extremely long course. Same can be said for DeLeveaga in Santa Cruz as well.

[G Bud]

Gotta be Champ 18. Want to play a course where a championship was held. Came close to an Am Worlds but no banana. :(

Anything over 18 is cool. Gave played some 22 & 24 pin courses in tournament play. Anything between 9 & 18 is like kissing your sister, just plain freaky! :eek:

[peteg]

par 72 18 hole layouts are the direction disc golf should be moving

[tmahan]

I personally think a pro par of 65 - 66 for 18 holes is ideal. Gives you enough possible par 3s so the beat down doesn't sting so much. ;)

[harr0140]

DOnt care how many holes but I would like to see true par 4's and par 5's on every course. I am sick of this play everything as a par 3 rule! It doesnt make sense.

With that said I would rather play 27 holes at one course than 18 because it is less driving to disc golf ratio!

[tstack10]

just played some great courses in austin and had some par 4s and 5s that were great. enjoy good mix anf variety of holes. as said above pro par 65 or 66 is ideal. like how disc gold doesn't need to conform to 18 holes par 72 like ball golf.
good thread keep up the talk like to read varying opionons on the subject.

[Lewis]

I would rather play 27 holes at one course than 18 because it is less driving to disc golf ratio!

Amen to that!

[G-MIL]

I chose 18 over 27 because of variety. I normally like technical but usually not for an entire 18 (there needs to be a few open holes regardless of the course). However I would never suggest anything over 18 for a championship course. (I recently played a 24 hole champ course and it was almost too demanding, 18 would have been just fine. 6 more pins doesn't sound that bad but when it's championship we're talking 1500-2000 extra feet which at the end of a round is exhausting.)

[harr0140]

Amen to that!

Of course I would also rather play 81 holes in one spot compared to the 81 holes I once played in Northern Illinois. I hit 9 - 9 holers in one day. Doktor John was with me for 7 of those 9 courses. My day also included about 200 miles of driving to the area, and between courses, and then back to Milwaukee.

[ShaZaun]

I like shorter courses.....

[aarikc17]

27 holes are good for tournaments because you can fit more people.

But I prefer just 18, don't know why really.

[simpletwist]

At my skill level an interesting and technical par 3 may seem like a par 4 or 5. Hell some of them miht seem like par 15s and I might just birdie one like that.

All things being equal I like both. I have a demanding 18 hole Championship course nearby, but not close enough to go to every time out. So I try to get there at least once or twice a month. I normally play my 27 hole home course most frequently. If gas and time were not a factor I'd say it would probably be an even split.

[Lewis]

Of course I would also rather play 81 holes in one spot compared to the 81 holes I once played in Northern Illinois. I hit 9 - 9 holers in one day. Doktor John was with me for 7 of those 9 courses. My day also included about 200 miles of driving to the area, and between courses, and then back to Milwaukee.

This should go in the "You might be addicted..." thread. :)

[nitegolfer]

If the area does not already have a course then I would say go with 27 holes. If the area already has a 18 hole course that appeals to rec players then go with the champ 18 hole layout.

[discgolferjr]

27 holes. hello you get to play more. and if you arent as good you might not be able to play championship