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Rec Par vs. Pro Par
- Thread starter thenamesben
- Start date
MrHollywood
Newbie
- Joined
- May 18, 2010
- Messages
- 12
My brothers and I always play pro par. The only exception is if a hole gets over 500' then we may decide to make it par 4 or 5 but we usually stick with par 3.
I've never scored a single round of mine, including the one tourney I played in. I have plenty of fun playing that way. I just try to do the best I can with every throw, that's all I care about. How good each my shots are. Score is meaningless to me.
If I were to play by a par, I'd play everything as a 3. That would be more fun to me, especially at longer courses. When I play <300 foot holes I expect a 2, 300-400 feet I expect one too if my drive hits the line I want. Hole #1 at Dover, Ohio from the White tee is 800 feet or so and it's fun to try and get it in 3 shots. Takes 2 really accurate, long drives to get in good putting position, but I've been able to hit the basket on my 3rd shot.
Last edited:
Rameka
Par Member
I play all holes as par 3 no matter where I am. It makes things way less confusing, and easier to keep score in my head.
The only reason to mess with anything other than par 3 is to make scoring easier.
If a course has sixteen par 3's and two par 4's, then everything is just considered par 3 to keep it simple. Courses with lots of par 4 and 5 holes use a different par on every hole to make scoring easier, once again.
For ease of scoring, if you shoot closer to the Rec par, use it. If you shoot closer to or under the Pro par, then use it.
If you want to use par as a guide to how you should be able to perform on the hole and don't care about ease of scoring, then you can call it whatever the hell you want.
Its not complicated. The "everything is a par 3" crowd doesn't really analyze what par is for, and might as well just be adding up all their strokes and not calling anything par.
If a course has sixteen par 3's and two par 4's, then everything is just considered par 3 to keep it simple. Courses with lots of par 4 and 5 holes use a different par on every hole to make scoring easier, once again.
For ease of scoring, if you shoot closer to the Rec par, use it. If you shoot closer to or under the Pro par, then use it.
If you want to use par as a guide to how you should be able to perform on the hole and don't care about ease of scoring, then you can call it whatever the hell you want.
Its not complicated. The "everything is a par 3" crowd doesn't really analyze what par is for, and might as well just be adding up all their strokes and not calling anything par.
Most of the courses I play the holes are Par 3...
I've been playing tournaments and in handicap rounds, and majority of holes are par 3's...
So I play based on whatever they say par is.
If I'm playing on my own at my "home" course, I play whatever the Handicap league says par is.
If I'm not sure, and the hole is long (>300'), I use whatever par is listed.
When I post my scores on here, I usually just put Pro Par and change the par for an individual hole if it was a 4.
So in other words...I do whatever I want.
Working to get par is fun...whatever that par is. 3 is usually good for most holes, with exceptions.
I've been playing tournaments and in handicap rounds, and majority of holes are par 3's...
So I play based on whatever they say par is.
If I'm playing on my own at my "home" course, I play whatever the Handicap league says par is.
If I'm not sure, and the hole is long (>300'), I use whatever par is listed.
When I post my scores on here, I usually just put Pro Par and change the par for an individual hole if it was a 4.
So in other words...I do whatever I want.
Working to get par is fun...whatever that par is. 3 is usually good for most holes, with exceptions.
- Joined
- May 3, 2010
- Messages
- 3,791
Par is a buzzword
Yeah, it's true. Saying every hole is a par 3 is like saying nothing at all.
That being said, I use all holes as par 3's so I don't have to write anything down, or remember what the tee said after putting, or believe something someone wrote in Sharpie on the basket.
All Par 3's allow you to easily come up with a +/- number for the round you just played. Add that to the 27, or 54, or 72 or whatever the total would be to keep easy track of your rounds. If you do the +/- system with varying pars, then you also have to figure out or remember what the par is instead of using the numbers above, which is a waste of time.
The only way I see using any par other than 3 is if it is your first time playing a hole. After you play it a couple times, you should know what your own par is for the hole, and can say "all right, I birdied it!", or in some cases "all right, I double bogeyed it!".
Yeah, it's true. Saying every hole is a par 3 is like saying nothing at all.
That being said, I use all holes as par 3's so I don't have to write anything down, or remember what the tee said after putting, or believe something someone wrote in Sharpie on the basket.
All Par 3's allow you to easily come up with a +/- number for the round you just played. Add that to the 27, or 54, or 72 or whatever the total would be to keep easy track of your rounds. If you do the +/- system with varying pars, then you also have to figure out or remember what the par is instead of using the numbers above, which is a waste of time.
The only way I see using any par other than 3 is if it is your first time playing a hole. After you play it a couple times, you should know what your own par is for the hole, and can say "all right, I birdied it!", or in some cases "all right, I double bogeyed it!".
Rockyraccoon
Newbie
I'm confused.
Why not just play what the course designer intended?
If the course has a pro par and a rec par, then why not play what's listed?
If your make a living at, or supplement your income by playing disc golf....then by all means you should play the pro par.
If your income has nothing to do with disc golf, then you should consider yourself an amateur and play the rec par.
I suppose this is one of the main differences in ball golf and disc golf. In ball golf, the course designer sets the given pars for each hole and it's abided byl. In disc golf, people seem to want to ignore the course design and go with what makes them happy.
The whole argument of counting every thing as a par three making it easier to keep score really makes us seem like morons. I mean, if we cant keep up with 4's because our little brains can't comprehend a little more arithmetic, then that's pretty sad. That's what they make paper, pencils, and score cards for.
I guess in the end you can just count strokes and come up with the same results. Just hard to measure your success or failures against the course.
Why not just play what the course designer intended?
If the course has a pro par and a rec par, then why not play what's listed?
If your make a living at, or supplement your income by playing disc golf....then by all means you should play the pro par.
If your income has nothing to do with disc golf, then you should consider yourself an amateur and play the rec par.
I suppose this is one of the main differences in ball golf and disc golf. In ball golf, the course designer sets the given pars for each hole and it's abided byl. In disc golf, people seem to want to ignore the course design and go with what makes them happy.
The whole argument of counting every thing as a par three making it easier to keep score really makes us seem like morons. I mean, if we cant keep up with 4's because our little brains can't comprehend a little more arithmetic, then that's pretty sad. That's what they make paper, pencils, and score cards for.
I guess in the end you can just count strokes and come up with the same results. Just hard to measure your success or failures against the course.
"All par 3" is a scorekeeping shorthand. It would be better if we didn't use the word "par", but we do.
Perhaps it's not being a moron, but being efficient. Those of us who use it---and are shooting less than 63 on an 18-hole course---don't need paper, don't need to remember what par the hole was, don't need to debate whether par was set too high or too low. We just count the over/under from 3 throws.
Perhaps it's not being a moron, but being efficient. Those of us who use it---and are shooting less than 63 on an 18-hole course---don't need paper, don't need to remember what par the hole was, don't need to debate whether par was set too high or too low. We just count the over/under from 3 throws.
On my local course, the par on the signs is 68. I am an Am, a mediocre one at that, and I average 52. It seems silly to say I shot -16 (-20 recently), or that I birdied almost every hole. It's also a lot more math than treating holes as "par 3". Not hard math, just unnecessary.
Ultimately you get to the total number of throws, which is how the game is won or lost. "All par 3" is the easy route to get there---for me, for most courses.
Technohic
* Ace Member *
- Joined
- Jul 27, 2009
- Messages
- 8,517
That is a tough hole for me in the distance alone. Not to mention if you wind up down the hill to the left :doh:
There are some where I would just feel dirty using sign par. I would much rather be +4 than -16.
People freak out on this site when anyone brings up what par should be. Everyone I know uses 3 as standard but there are people on here that will argue to the death that par should be 5 or 6, because higher par's make people feel better about their high scores. I think thats the main reason why people like it that way. If I played the par listed on tee signs at many of my local courses I would end up 20 under par most of the time because 300 foot holes are listed as par 5 on the tee sign. Nobody I know pays attention to the par on the tee sign.
A 54 is a 54. A 63 is a 63. Without being rude, regarding forum guidelines; this discussion is endless. See: 54 is 54; 63 is 63. End thread....
Technohic
* Ace Member *
- Joined
- Jul 27, 2009
- Messages
- 8,517
In the end of the day it doesnt matter at all but every once in a while, if I am getting frustrated; I use my par system of up to 300' is 3, up to 400' is 4 and anything above is 5. Its a good way to just relax and enjoy the game over getting frustrated and does make it nicer for my fiance and the 2 young boys.
Also what helps with new players that come out with me is I will play all 3s and they will use my system and it makes a good handicap for them; but at the end of the day; over and under doesnt mean squat and its all about the total strokes.
Right on, simply put just count your strokes and dont worry about what par is or should be, just try to get less strokes than you did the game before and improve. Good advice tallpaul and Technohic.:thmbup:
What did you shoot?
I got a 3.
I shot 4, I think....yeah, 4!
I duced it!
Let's see, that was brutal. I lost a disc, shot short, missed the putt, 5!
This is score keeping. At tournaments at DeLavega, we used to write 0, +1, +2, -1...etc. Just keeping score related to par 3. Over or under at the end. Now with new math, we can count on our fingers and come up with a 3, 4, 5, 7, or 8. 27 holes there times 3 = 81.
I got a 3.
I shot 4, I think....yeah, 4!
I duced it!
Let's see, that was brutal. I lost a disc, shot short, missed the putt, 5!
This is score keeping. At tournaments at DeLavega, we used to write 0, +1, +2, -1...etc. Just keeping score related to par 3. Over or under at the end. Now with new math, we can count on our fingers and come up with a 3, 4, 5, 7, or 8. 27 holes there times 3 = 81.
- Joined
- May 3, 2010
- Messages
- 3,791
Going by the signs is for people who are just starting out, and little kids, IMO. Maybe a few exceptions on professional length courses.
So many older courses have no tee signs, so you don't even know what the rec par is supposed to be. What would you do then? Arbitrarily choose a number based on what you think it should be? Why not arbirtarily choose 3 every time then?
Plus, we are just talking about keeping score. Thinking about it more now, I might classify courses themselves as par 3 or par 4 courses. I will admit that I'll shoot +18 on some tougher courses, I am probably better off just doing par 4's on those. Basically, I want to avoid writing things down, I just want to have fun and not take it too seriously.
I think the biggest hangup here is on a hole-by-hole basis, where people want to know how they did on a hole vs. a typical player. To this, I say, you should be able to tell how you did without a concrete number to compare against. Compare it against your past performance, your individual shots in the hole, and your sense of execution. Not what some random course designer thinks.
So many older courses have no tee signs, so you don't even know what the rec par is supposed to be. What would you do then? Arbitrarily choose a number based on what you think it should be? Why not arbirtarily choose 3 every time then?
Plus, we are just talking about keeping score. Thinking about it more now, I might classify courses themselves as par 3 or par 4 courses. I will admit that I'll shoot +18 on some tougher courses, I am probably better off just doing par 4's on those. Basically, I want to avoid writing things down, I just want to have fun and not take it too seriously.
I think the biggest hangup here is on a hole-by-hole basis, where people want to know how they did on a hole vs. a typical player. To this, I say, you should be able to tell how you did without a concrete number to compare against. Compare it against your past performance, your individual shots in the hole, and your sense of execution. Not what some random course designer thinks.
