Course length - How long is too long for you and your handicap

RNG

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Curious with the different ages and handicaps we have on THP : How long ( in yards) a golf course are you comfortable playing. I know distance isn't the only fact or but for most it is a major one.

For me anything over 6600 yards is really hard as a 10 handicap. Being 62 years, old courses longer than that mean I'm hitting lots of 3 hybrids / 3 woods into par 4s which is OK some time but I don't want to do it all day. I have to depend on accuracy - not length to play up to my handicap. I would rather see narrow fairway and high rough which helps neutralize the guys that can consistently bomb it and just have a short iron in their hand.

What do you think???
 
My handicap is pretty high and I usually play around 62-6500 yards, I've played a little longer without a great increase of score.
However, I think if I played closer to 6000 I'd score better.
 
This is a good question. I played from 7100+ yards yesterday for the first time ever and I shot way over my 7 handicap, but honestly I don't think I would've done much better from a forward tee box. I need a larger sample size. It wasn't fun hitting a heavenwood or hybrid into some greens on par 4s and I even had to hit a 4w on a 230+ par 3, but it was more about not getting up and down. I'd par the 460 yard par 4 and then double the 340 yard par 4 that came after it.
 
I like the longer the better. I like the variety of shots I have to hit. Anything shorter than 6800 leaves me hitting wedges and short irons all day which takes the fun out of the game to me.


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I struggle a lot of the tee, so anything over 6400-6500 is tough for me
 
For me, depending on the course layout, once I get to 6600 or so, things could get ugly if I'm not driving the ball well. It also depends how the course gets there - if there are just a few real long par 5s, I can play them in 3 shots and be fine. If the par 3s start playing at 215-220 yards, and the par 4s start getting into the mid to upper 400s, I'm going to have a bad time.
 
Anything over 6600 yards is tough for me. If I'm not getting off the tee well, I'm in for a long day.....
 
6500 to 6700 yards is typically what I play. However, I can play up to about 7200 yards comfortably due to my length off the tee. What I don't like however is playing at 7,000+ when the tips are in a position that really don't make sense as if it was an afterthought just to get a set of tees over 7000 yards.

Most courses I play I have a wedge into the green on par 4s when playing from 6500 yards.
 
Anything over 6800 is too long for me
 
I think anything over 6700ish would make approaches on par4s longer than I would like and maybe have par 3s in 200+ range. If my ball striking is off is doe at matter what tees I play from I will struggle.
 
I only played one course last year that felt "too long". It was an early season round, in about 40 degree weather with 20+ mpg gusting wind. I just checked the score card and it was playing 7250. Basically my long game isn't the problem, and the reason I can't score well has to do with irons, decision making, and my short game.
 
I'm in same boat as Dawg Daddy.
Have played entire rounds without being able to hit a regular iron above wedge. Clearly no GIRs. Goes something like this:
Driver - Hybrid - Wedge - Putt
For me, 6000-ish is max. Anything over, I am toast
 
Keep it around 6300 - 6400 yards for me and I can work with that. TBH, many times, for me, yardage issues are more based on how the yardage is divided up. Courses that get a lot of their yardages from longer par 4's ( over 400 for me ) are tougher than those that mainly get yardages from long par 5's for me.
 
7,200+ but it's also heavily dependent on the area of the country where I am playing.
 
Length of course you can play isn't really handicap driven, it's driving distance driven. You can be a 10 HC but drive 300 and just have a mediocre short game. In that case you could easily play courses 7k+ and be fine.

For me and my length off the tee, anything that starts pushing 6,800-7,000 starts getting long for me. I can do it, but I don't enjoy it as much haha.
 
I'm usually playing between 5800-6200. According the the PGA link posted above, I should be playing between 6200-6400. If I'm having a good day with the driver I'd be comfortable up to 6500 probably. The problem is I don't have good days with the driver very often. I'll work on that...
 
Curious with the different ages and handicaps we have on THP : How long ( in yards) a golf course are you comfortable playing. I know distance isn't the only fact or but for most it is a major one.

For me anything over 6600 yards is really hard as a 10 handicap. Being 62 years, old courses longer than that mean I'm hitting lots of 3 hybrids / 3 woods into par 4s which is OK some time but I don't want to do it all day. I have to depend on accuracy - not length to play up to my handicap. I would rather see narrow fairway and high rough which helps neutralize the guys that can consistently bomb it and just have a short iron in their hand.

What do you think???

I usually don't enjoy playing anything longer than 7,000 yards. It certainly adds to the challenge, but almost always means a couple 230+ yard par 3s and I don't enjoy that at all.

Going the other way, I am usually happy down to about 6,100 or so. It doesn't bother me because I really enjoy throwing darts with wedges and like the variety off the tee that comes with shorter courses.
 
I've rarely pushed the 7,000 envelope, but I'd have to say that meets the criteria for me. Meaning: it's when my score goes up purely on distance. Typically my comfort zone is 6,500 +/- a couple hundred.

Of course, I can blow up on a sub 6,000 course too.
 
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For me, anything over 6200 yards is too long. I don't enjoy hitting FWs or hybrids into every par 4. At 6000 yards I'm usually hitting mid irons or low irons into the par 4's.
 
Anything over 6700 will get difficult for me. A couple of the courses I play regularly are 6600ish from the blues, and then another one is barely over 6000. Depending on how things go though, I can usually find trouble no matter what!
 
I don't enjoy playing more that 6500 yards, just makes for too many long shots into greens. My preference would be more like 6200 yards.
 
for my handicap? I don't know. 6700 is usually the yardage that I start to get a little uncomfortable on. But hell I play a lot of shorter courses that can really screw with my scores too.
 
It depends how the yardage is spread out, but I can manage around to about 7200. Over that and usually there are just too many holes where I might not be able to get there in regulation even on two really well struck shots.
 
Length of course you can play isn't really handicap driven, it's driving distance driven. You can be a 10 HC but drive 300 and just have a mediocre short game. In that case you could easily play courses 7k+ and be fine.

For me and my length off the tee, anything that starts pushing 6,800-7,000 starts getting long for me. I can do it, but I don't enjoy it as much haha.
With our similar driving distance, I'm in the same boat. 6800 tends to push it. I have to be on with my driver to enjoy that length. 6400 to 6500 is my sweet spot I feel. Some tee shots with the option to leave driver in the bag.
 
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