If you need the definition of golf course term, we explain terms relating to architecture, maintenance, turfgrasses, course setup and other areas. The grid that appears first includes terms for which we have more in-depth definitions.
The average length of a golf course is 6,700 yards (6.12 kms). If you’re a professional and play on the PGA tour, you’ll probably be playing on a golf course which spans a length of about 7,200 – 7,300 yards.
(Australia's Nullarbor Links, billed to be the world's longest golf course with its scattering of holes from different golf courses that stretches out to around 850 miles long, doesn't qualify.) Most of the courses on this list are open to the public, and seven are in the United States.
The first golf courses were based on the topography of sand dunes and dune slacks with a ground cover of grasses, exposed to the wind and sea. Courses are private, public, or municipally owned, and typically feature a pro shop. Many private courses are found at country clubs .
On the PGA Tour, the average golf course length these days is around 7,200-7,300 yards. On the LPGA Tour, average golf course length is around 6,200 to 6,600 yards. On the Champions Tour for over-50 pros, average golf course length is around 6,500 to 6,800 yards.
A golf course is normally about 7,000 yards. Not all golfers will play from this distance, but this is the average length of most golf courses. Of course, there are some challenging courses out there that are going to be over 7,000 yards and some executive courses that won't get close to 7,000.
Our definition of a "Short course" is any course that is less than a par 70 or 6,000 yards. This means everything from par-3 courses to regulation-length 9-hole courses to 18-hole executive courses are eligible as long as they are publicly accessible.
A 6800 yard golf course by comparison is classed as only an average length golf course in both Canada and Japan and only just above average in the USA. It would though just about qualify as one of the longest courses in Great Britain & Ireland.
approximately 7,200 yardsThe average course length on the PGA Tour is approximately 7,200 yards. That's 4.09 miles. And the average PGA Tour pro plays 78 rounds per year.
The beginning of long course represents the transition from shorter pools broken up into 25 yards, to the much longer and sometimes more daunting 50-meter length. The first swims in this pool are sometimes akin to swimming in an ocean.
At the individual level, an average 18-hole golf course covers 150 acres, approximately 100 (67 percent) of which is maintained turfgrass. This area is predominantly comprised of rough (51 acres) and fairways (30 acres).
While most modern 18-hole golf courses occupy as much as 60 hectares (150 acres) of land, the average course has 30 hectares (74 acres) of maintained turf.
Fairway widths range from 25 to 65 yards, with medium widths of 35 to 45 yards. Widths vary for a variety of reasons, including course theme, hole design, natural conditions and the effective throw of the irrigation system.
The average golf course is approximately 6600 yards long (3.75 miles or 6 kilometers) made up of Par-3, 4 and 5's, with a varying number of each depending on the course.
Nowadays, almost all private and public golf courses have a standard of 72 as their par. In other words, a majority of all modern day golf courses have a standardized baseline of 72 par. Both the USGA and R&A have made efforts to standardize what par is.
4 to 4.5 hoursHole-by-Hole A normal golf hole will take a group of four amateur golfers around 15 minutes to complete. This equates to an 18-hole round of golf taking anywhere from 4 to 4.5 hours.
The course I play every week plays a pretty true 6800 yards from the tees I play from and 7100+ from the tips (never have played there nor should I). There is only like 3-4 holes (besides the par 3s) that don't have a 200yard+ carry to the fairway so it pretty much puts driver in my hand all day long.
Ill go with 7000 for me, I once played a course that was like 7100, and had a par 4 480. I hit like driver, 3 wood. It was crazy.
i'll go with anything over 6800 as being "long." there are two local courses i play fairly regularly, one is 7100 from tips and the other is a staggering 7400. the 7100 i'll hit from the tips, but the 7400 i just can't do. i usually move up to the blue tee (6800) on that one.
I agree with the others anything over 6,800 and it's a long way in to the green. The course my buddy and I played at yesterday had the tips at around 7,200...We played the whites at 6,500. Kinda wish they had something around 6,700 I feel like that is a good distance to make it fun, but challenging.
Most of the courses in my area max out around 6800-7000 yards, which I consider long. I am not a short driver (realistic carry distance 230-240), but I have found my ideal yardage to be around 6100 yards because that usually means I am hitting a short to mid iron into all greens.
I'm definitely in the minority here; I like my courses to be 5,700 to 6,300 yards. I try to play the tees where the Par 3's are in the 140-160 range for at least 2 of them. 180 or so is a long enough Par 3. More than length though, I try to play the tees which puts the slope at around 116-124.
Really depends on where the yardage falls. Doesn't really matter if a par 5 is 520 yds or 600.....it's a 3 shot hole either way and I'm going to lay up the same in either case.
Probably better known for its par-3 Extreme 19th hole, the Legend Golf & Safari Signature Course is pretty cool in its own right. Not only is it nearly 8,500 yards, making it the second-longest course in the world, but also a different big-name golfer or designer designed each of the holes, many from South Africa. (Retief Goosen designed the 18th, for example.) Most of the holes feature elevated tees, but none so elevated as the auxiliary par-3 hole. The tee is only accessible via helicopter (which will cost more than $200 extra to play) and the tee shot is to a green shaped like Africa some 1,200 feet below.
Jason Scott Deegan/Golf Advisor. Located high in the Himalayas of China, Jade Dragon Snow Mountain Golf Club, at 8,548 yards, is the longest par 72 in the world. Courtesy of Kunming Golf. The longest public golf course in the U.S. is Ross Bridge at the Renaissance Birmingham Ross Bridge Golf Resort & Spa.
Hailed as the toughest golf course in Utah, the Jack Nicklaus-designed Painted Valley Course is one of two courses at Promontory Golf Club (the other is the Dye Signature Course ). With views of Park City's three major ski mountains, the front nine plays down and up a valley and starts with a 718-yard par 5, the longest hole on the course. The back is laid out more along meadows and features plenty more long holes, including the par-5 12th at 673 yards and the par-4 18th at 480 yards.
Designed by Tom Lehman and Chris Brands, the Dunes Course at The Prairie Club is laid out along the Sand Hills of Nebraska on the rim of the Snake River Canyon to create a most memorable golf setting. With a rolling landscape of prairies grasses, undulating fairways, elevated tees and big sky, golfers not only have to hit it long, but also control their ball flight and direction. The Dunes Course is one of three terrific layouts (the other two being the Pines Course and the 10-hole, par-3 Horse Course) at The Prairie Club, which offers reasonable stay-and-play packages.
Although we advise, in most cases, that simply playing one of the world's longest golf courses from any tee is good enough. With that said, here's a rundown of the 10 longest golf courses in the world.
Not only is the Dye Course at French Lick one of the longest golf courses in the world, but it's also one of the most difficult with its endless uneven lies, high grass and difficult greens and bunker. So you'll want to think twice about playing anywhere near the back tees.
Links course. First up is the most famous type of golf course, the links course . The term derives from the Old English word hlinc meaning rising ground or ridge and refers to sandy area along coast.
The terrain is often undulating in a similar way to links and the sandy soil is similar as well. Many of the best courses in Britain are heathland courses, including Woking Golf Club, Sunningdale Golf Club, and Alwoodley Golf Club. Woking Golf Club in the UK. Woking Golf Club.
Many resorts are beginning to put in short courses including Sand Valley (the Sandbox), Pinehurst (The Cradle) and Bandon Dunes (The Preserve).
They’re called parkland courses because they look and feel like you are playing golf in a park. It’s usually the case that parkland courses are well-manicured, and are full of man-made features like dug bunkers, ponds and built-up rough. Parkland courses are often built in places that don’t have ideal conditions for golf.
Some of these courses include The Old Course at St. Andrews, Royal Troon, Lahinch, and several of the courses at Bandon Dunes golf resort. The 18th hole at the Old Course at St. Andrews. But this doesn’t tell the whole story.
When most people think of links-style golf, they are picturing golf that can be played along the ground with lots of undulation, plenty of dunes and little to no trees. These courses also usually feature pot bunkers as opposed to the larger sprawling American-style bunkers.
Short courses are great because they take up less land (which makes them cheaper and environmentally friendly), are quicker to play and can be playable even for a first-timer.
Aerial view of a golf course ( Golfplatz Wittenbeck at the Baltic Sea, Germany) A golf course is the grounds where the sport of golf is played. It consists of a series of holes, each consisting of a tee box, a fairway, the rough and other hazards, and a green with a cylindrical hole in the ground, known as a "cup".
The cup holds a flagstick, known as a "pin". A standard round of golf consists of 18 holes. Most courses contain 18 holes; some share fairways or greens, and a subset has nine holes, played twice per round. Par-3 courses consist of nine or 18 holes all of which have a par of three strokes.
Each tee box has two markers showing the bounds of the legal tee area. The teeing area spans the distance between the markers, and extends two-club lengths behind the markers. A golfer may play the ball standing outside the teeing area, but the ball itself must be placed and struck from within the area.
The first section of every hole consists of the teeing ground, or tee-box. There is typically more than one available box where a player places his ball, each one a different distance from the hole (and possibly with a different angle of approach to the green or fairway) to provide differing difficulty.
White – Farther still, typically used by low-to-average-handicap men and low-handicap teenage boys. Black or Blue – The farthest tee from the hole and with the most exposure to any major hazards; typically used only during tournaments or by zero-handicap ("scratch") male players.
The hole is called a "dogleg left" if the hole angles leftwards, and a "dogleg right" if the hole angles rightwards. A hole's direction may bend twice, which is called a "double dogleg". Fairway and rough, Spur Valley Golf Course, Radium Hot Springs, Canada.
The hole, or cup, is always found within the green and must have a diameter of 108 millimeters (4.25 in) and a depth of at least 10 centimeters (3.94 in). Its position on the green is not fixed and typically is changed daily by a greenskeeper in order to prevent excessive localized wear and damage to the turf.
A golfer must know the heights of a golf club because he is a golfer. But many of us don’t know the exact golf club length. Well, the length should be 48 inches but can’t be more than that. But this length depends on your club types. Like if you use an iron then 39 inches for 3 iron.
Then follow the steps given below-. With an overlap of 1-2 inches, tape a ruler which is 12 inches to the end of your yardstick. You must ensure that to start at the measurement of 2-3 inches, your ruler is perfectly aligned.
Genuine Golfers. Golf is a kind of game that players hit the ball the golf clubs. Actually it has become popular all over the world. And a golfer loves to play golf but he has to carry something with him while playing golf. For example- Golf clubs, balls, gloves, and so many things.
So the first thing is to measure your height. Secondly, You have to look forward to wrist to floor distance. Thirdly swing a standard length club at the store that you have chosen. Choose the right club so that you can score perfectly and swing perfectly too.
Bermudagrasses have thicker blades than bentgrass, resulting in a grainier appearance to putting surfaces. Burn: A creek, stream or small river that runs through a golf course; the term is most common in Great Britain.
Cup: The hole on the putting green or, in a more specific usage, the (usually plastic) liner-slash-receptacle sunk down into the hole on the putting green. Daily Fee Course: A golf course that is open to the public but is privately owned and operated (as opposed to a municipal course).
Water Hole: Any hole on a golf course that includes a water hazard on or alongside the hole (in a position where the water can come into play).
The second mowing is usually in a direction perpendicular to the first mowing. Double cutting is one way a golf course superintendant can increase the speed of the putting greens. Facing: A grassy incline up out of a bunker that slopes in the direction of a putting green.
Front Nine: The first nine holes of an 18-hole golf course (holes 1-9), or the first nine holes of a golfer's round.
Some examples of cool-season grasses cited by the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America include colonial bentgrass, creeping bentgrass, Kentucky bluegrass, perennial ryegrass, fine fescue and tall fescue.
Although golfers often call these areas grass bunkers they are not, in fact, bunkers or hazards under the Rules of Golf. They are treated like any other grassed area of the golf course. So, for example, grounding a club - which is not allowed in a sand bunker - is OK in a grass bunker.
Section 1c states that golf clubs other than putters may not exceed 48 inches long.
Graphite shafts are longer, Kramer notes, to help golfers build greater clubhead speed, thereby gaining more distance on their shots. Shorter golfers or those who are uncomfortable with longer shafts can order their graphite shafts shorter to match the length of a comparable steel-shafted club.
As of 2012, Callaway drivers are 45.5 to 46 inches long, according to the company’s website, while Cleveland lists drivers ranging from 45.25 to 46.25 inches long. According to "USA Today," Cobra began marketing a pair of 48-inch drivers – the maximum legal length according to the Rules of Golf – in early 2012.
A club length that suits one player won’t necessarily suit another, which is why there are professional club fitters. With respect to off-the-shelf clubs, there is no organization authorized to set standard lengths for golf clubs.
The term "long irons" is traditionally applied to the 1-iron, 2-iron, 3-iron and 4-iron, as a group. Today, nearly all golfers use only the 3-iron and 4-iron from the long irons group, and many golfers don't even use the 3-iron anymore. In fact, some golfers no longer carry any long irons, for reasons we'll get into.
Hybrids exploded in popularity in the 21st century precisely because, for various technical reasons, they are easier for most golfers to play compared to long irons. In fact, golf club manufacturers often market hybrids specifically as replacements for long irons.
However, 1-irons are virtually non-existent in golf, outside of the professional golf tours (where they are not common, either). In fact, no major OEM golf club company still manufacturers 1-irons, outside of special, custom orders. And 2-irons, while still manufactured, are used pretty much only by the most-skilled golfers ...
In fact, some golfers no longer carry any long irons, for reasons we'll get into. A traditional set of golf irons included the 3-, 4-, 5-, 6-, 7-, 8- and 9-irons, plus pitching wedge. A 1-iron and 2-iron plus a sand wedge were often offered as add-ons. The lower-numbered irons are both the longest in terms of shaft length (as measured in inches), ...