"Tweeners"

[Steve West]

Originally Posted by optidiscic

I get lost in the math....

Move it over to What is Par and I'd respond there. The Scoring Spread table is just to show that scoring spread and average score are two separate things. One is only slightly influenced by the other.

[GT Chris]

Originally Posted by Sadjo

While I find these discussions of design interesting, how many that actually design courses take much of potential ratings into effect when designing a course?

When I work on a project (been involved in several) I tend to walk the property several times before I even jot down any potential holes. Once I have a feel for what could work I like to flag the different possibilities and then actually throw the holes with friends of different levels of abilities.

The guy who designed Perkerson Park (jdawg24 on here, I think he chimed in earlier) kept a detailed spreadsheet with hundreds of rounds worth of scoring data on the layout as it evolved. The course spent a long time in temporary status, allowing him to tweak tee and basket placements until he got the ideal score distributions he was looking for. Granted this scenario is unfeasible in a lot of cases, but it has created one of the most fun, challenging, and fair courses I've ever played.