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Short Par 4's...good or bad?

For me it depends on the layout of the short par 4. If it's a straight hole with no trouble then sometimes it does feel like cheating. I love short par 4's that require you to avoid plenty of trouble though
 
I like the idea of 1 short par 4 on a course...as long as there is a risk that goes along with trying to drive the green.
A deep bunker, water, trees, or something to penalize the less than perfect drive.
 
There is a short par 4 at a course that I play regularly. It's in a retirement community so I think they intentionally made it really short to give those old guys a chance to drive the green.

You have to carry about 250 of water and then stop the ball on the green. I've tried several times and have made it over the water, but never had enough to hang on to stay on the green. Usually it's a par or bogey hole for me when I do that because it gives me an awkward stance for my 2nd shot out of some nasty rough. Last time out, I decided not to go for it and lay it up in the fairway. I hit it with a 60 yard shot left to the green and stuck my ball about 2 feet from the pin. Putted out for birdie.:D

Lesson learned, you don't always have to be a hero and drive the green if you can. Better to make sure your second shot gives you a a better opportunity to score.
 
mbole said:
There is a short par 4 at a course that I play regularly. It's in a retirement community so I think they intentionally made it really short to give those old guys a chance to drive the green.

You have to carry about 250 of water and then stop the ball on the green. I've tried several times and have made it over the water, but never had enough to hang on to stay on the green. Usually it's a par or bogey hole for me when I do that because it gives me an awkward stance for my 2nd shot out of some nasty rough. Last time out, I decided not to go for it and lay it up in the fairway. I hit it with a 60 yard shot left to the green and stuck my ball about 2 feet from the pin. Putted out for birdie.:D

Lesson learned, you don't always have to be a hero and drive the green if you can. Better to make sure your second shot gives you a a better opportunity to score.
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That's fine, it's a risk and reward short par 4. A straight away short par 4 that offers no risk is rather boring although usually good for the scorecard
 
Again I get to comment on the relevance of "Par". If the hole is 250 yard and called a par 3 I am intimidated; if it's called a par 4 I'm elated. All because of expectations.

IT'S THE SAME HOLE.

What is important is how many strokes it takes to get the ball in the hole.

Quota points aside, par is mainly good for comparing performance during a round among players at different points on the course.
 
I have actually started laying up on short par 4s. Unless it's the distance you stated(less than 280) I just find getting in the fairway and then a decent 2nd shot gives me my best chance for par.
 
good when i drive them! bad when i miss them :(
 
they are ok - but i dont like to see more than 1 on a course. Unless it is a dogleg with trouble you have to carry - ie. big risk/reward scenario that can be ok - but it should be very hard to drive the green IMO.

there is one hole on a course here, raymond - its 285 to the hole - but you have to go over trees and OB. I usually hit a 6 iron to the dogleg.. but i have played with guys that hit driver over the trees and land on the green. Ive seen it more than once - so im kinda put off by it.

a par 4 should not be driven!
 
the course i play has one thats 280.. i always take 3 wood annd and about a 50 yard wedge shot.. i always par it for some reason lol.. but from about 220 to the green there is several traps and deep rough
 
I love the risk/reward short par 4's, I even love seeing them on the PGA tour....but they need to be of the risk/reward variety not just a straightaway driveable par 4. At my home course #14 runs right on the banks of the Colorado River...pretty severe dogleg right with a large stand of trees right in the dogleg and continuing to the green, thick woods down the left side so that's no bargain either. From one up from the tips it plays 285, but with the trees there is no chance to cut the corner....you have to play a big power fade to get anywhere close. I have played hundreds of rounds here and have driven the green less than 10 times....now ask me how many balls found a watery grave in the river:banghead:

I now play this hole with a 4 hybrid to about 75 yards and a lob wedge to the green. since I started playing smart and not being stubborn and trying to drive the green, I have made many more birdies and pars than bogeys and others.

Course managment....who would have thunk it? :D
 
cg13 said:
they are ok - but i dont like to see more than 1 on a course. Unless it is a dogleg with trouble you have to carry - ie. big risk/reward scenario that can be ok - but it should be very hard to drive the green IMO.

there is one hole on a course here, raymond - its 285 to the hole - but you have to go over trees and OB. I usually hit a 6 iron to the dogleg.. but i have played with guys that hit driver over the trees and land on the green. Ive seen it more than once - so im kinda put off by it.

a par 4 should not be driven!
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I think if you can hit it that far and straight enough to keep it on the green then why not? Might as well say you have to hit 3 shots to any par 5.
 
I think a short par 4 is great to have on the course as long as it is designed properly. It can't just be a straight 300 yards that is wide open. I also think they are better if it is within the last 4 or 5 holes to really make you think about it. Are you in a position to where you need an eagle or a potential easy birdie, or will you lay back and take what the hole gives you.

My course has one that ranges from about 265 - 315. The fairway is quite wide about 100 yards from the middle but the last 30 yards or so is only about 10 yards wide and gets narrower the closer you get. There is more sand in the last 50 yards than grass. The green is angled in such a way that there is only about a 5 yard strip of the front that you can hit to with roll. Anything else and you would have to fly over sand and land on the green, unless you can play a perfect 265+ yard fade. So a back pin rarely even warrents an effort. If you miss the green, any second shot is difficult unless it is in the small strip of fairway. Even if you are 'around' the green, and not in the sand, the angles, mounds, lies, can make for a difficult shot. I have found it is easier to get close to the hole from 75 yards than by being pin high right. The more I play it, the better the score is just laying up. Sometimes it is just too tempting, especially since it usually plays downwind.
 
My home courses 9th hole is 250 to the green from a very high elevated tee box. you have to carry a small pond about 75 yards out (no issue for most, but gives hackers fits) and then the fairway slopes up hill to a elevated postage stamp green. Trouble right of the green and fairway with extensive marsh grass (if it goes in, you aren't finding it...) and steep hills to the felt. Long leaves a delicate chip (if long, it goes off the front of the green)

I usually hit 2 hybrid either on it or just short. Both are OK for an easy birdie or eagle. just as easy is if you go left or right, you can make a double. Thankfully, I hit my hybrid pretty well!
 
I played Cedar Crest in Dallas and #8 is a slight dogleg right 275? yds par 4 with a bunker at the beginning of the dogleg 180 yds from the tips (a measly 6532 yds), a creek in front of the green and the fairway runs toward the water. So off the tee the fairway runs downhill and to the right. Very scary tee shot and club selection is very key. You can't go for the green in 1 unless you can hit a baby fade (for right-handers) and carry it about 260 and roll it about 10 yds.
 
StLCardsFan said:
I think a short par 4 is great to have on the course as long as it is designed properly. It can't just be a straight 300 yards that is wide open. I also think they are better if it is within the last 4 or 5 holes to really make you think about it. Are you in a position to where you need an eagle or a potential easy birdie, or will you lay back and take what the hole gives you.
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TPC River Highlands has the 15th which is a good example of risk/reward. Hit a good drive and you still have some work with the flat stick. Leave it on the upslope to the front or left or right, you have a more work. Get lucky and hit it right on, birdie or eagle chance...
 
I love short par 4s. I think they offer some of the best variety of any hole type. They can be drivable or not, they can be easy or hard, they can be deceptively hard or deceptively simple, they can offer a lot of playing options, etc. A long par 3 forces you to hit a wood to have any hope of par. A short par 4 gives you the option of risking driving the green or laying up and playing safe, or biting off as much as you want to chew. There's a short 4 at a course I love around here that is around 270, dogleg left. Driving the green requires a draw around trees and there are three bunkers front-left, front-middle, and right at the green. The landing area there is also quite narrow and there are a few fw bunkers along the right farther back, woods on both sides. Pretty narrow hole. If you want to go for it you risk a lost ball in the woods, or catching a tree and needing to chip out, or catching a bunker, etc. Options. I usally just hit 8 iron - 8 iron and have a putt for birdie. (It is really weird hitting an 8 iron on a par four tee shot!)

I think some of the best holes in the world are short par 4s with options. I've seen plenty of long hitters wind up with par or bogey on them while other guys lay up and make birdie. Length alone isn't always an advantage.
 
They are just as hard as a 390 yard par 4. I played a hole today, I think it was 265 par 4, defiantly drivable. I hit 6 iron off the tee, left me a 56* to the green. I thinned it and went OB. Anything long on that hole was OB so its risk/reward. In my 3some, no one pared it.
 
I love risk reward par 4's! Add's some drama in a round. Good chance to make birdie, or maybe eagle, but could make bogey or worse.
 
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