Well, after reading all of this, I have come to a new conclusion for the present time of setting par. Some people know good course designers and some bad ones. Although, you just gotta love a guy who puts up courses no matter what!
Anyway, I like the thinking that the course designer needs to use his best judgment for now. I like the fact that ERicJ went out there and tried the various par methods and then considered adjusting them from there. That is truly the way it should be for now. I say this because none of the systems really take into account the length of the dog leg or the huge tree that sits right in front of a whole as it grew bigger later on, or the fact some people may have to lay up before a pond with range limitations.
I like the idea of a par and a pro par, a red par and a gold par. I think that just makes sense. Let the designer set these as he wants them played. The rest of us should enjoy it from there. This is sometimes a factor in how we feel about certain course designers.
Keeping score (regardless how you do it) is keeping score. Having pars to compete with on each hole is what makes each hole a fun challenge and something a little extra to shoot for....that is golf.
I have never confused tracking par and score keeping, besides what someone may quote to me
, but if you don't take setting a course par seriously, you are missing out on what golf is all about.