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Ever wondered how par is determined?

As the game changes, we need to change our concept of par. There are 3 ways of determining par. Traditional par, Scoring Average par, and Ball Golf Par. It is time to determine which of these is best, and to have par make sense again. After some quick definitions, let's look at some sample holes and figure out which par method is best.

Traditional Par says that everything is a Par 3.
Scoring Average Par says that you take the average score (of a scratch golfer) and round to the nearest whole number.
Ball Golf Par is defined as the number of throws it takes to get close plus 2 throws.

Sample Hole 1 - 280' hole over water onto an island green.
Sample Hole 2 - 950' hole through woods with 2 dog legs.

Traditional Par would set everything to a par 3. As newer courses incorporate longer, more challenging holes, this traditional version of par is at best quaint. Getting a 3 on sample hole 2 is not a par. When every hole was 300 feet or less, this par definition made sense, but no more.

Scoring Average (SA) Par - In most cases, this method will work well and result in an overall course par that fits the scratch golfers' expectations. I see two problems with SA Par. First, it will create many Par 2 holes, which we have already defined as ridiculous. (note - the counter argument is that these holes are poorly designed and while this is possibly true, defining a hole as par 2 is just as poor a concept.) Second, on Sample Hole 1, the SA could easily be above 3.5 (assuming half the folks throw in the water just once), resulting in a 280', wide open par 4. That is silly.

Ball Golf (BG) Par - There are 2 problems with BG par. First, it uses the term Ball Golf and we are disc golf and have no need to always copy ball golf. We can come up with some things on our own (even though there may be no reason to since they have a 100 year head start on us.) Second, it uses the number of shots it takes to get close plus 2 throws. Presumably, close would mean on the green, and the green would be the 10 meter radius circle around the pin. If you are a 1000 rated golfer and you are within 10 meters, you should 1 putt. So, if this method is going to make sense, we need to redefine "close".

I now take this opportunity to point to Mr Lowe Bibby. He has tweaked Ball Golf par to Close Range (CR) par. There are a couple of semi-complicated algorithms (all of which I agree with) that result in Close Range being defined as 120'. So, par equals the number of errorless throws it takes the average 1000 rated player to get within 120 feet, plus 2.

I've tested this at Maple Hill and it works. The minimum par for a course is 54 and the longer, more challenging a course is, the closer the course par will be to the world class par (the average score of a 1000 rated golfer). Give this CR Par a chance at your home courses. Try a shorter course and a longer course and see what you get for pars. See if you like the pars. I'd love some feedback on this one.

And even better, I'd love for par to mean something again.