Combining regular and par 3 courses Cancel The title field is required!

1. Burr Betts

   

   0 posts
   
   1/30/2015 1:01 PM

   My course, Buffalo Peak in Union, Oregon, is a links course with stretches of native vegetation in front of most of the tees that result in lots of lost balls and time spent looking for them. In the spirit of playing-it-forward, I plan to add an additional set of tee boxes in front of these patches of tall, dense vegetation. My original plan was to create these new tee boxes out of flat areas of rough near the beginning of the fairways. An alternative our former general manager suggested was to place them in locations that could make all 18 holes par 3s. This has some appeal for marketing, but I see potential scheduling issues between folks wanting to play the "par 3 course" and those playing the original course. Is any one aware of a course where this has been tried? Any thoughts?

   
   
   
   
2. Clay Putnam

   

   33 posts
   
   1/30/2015 3:01 PM

   I do not see a scheduling issue. The group playing the "new" Par 3 would, theoretically, be teeing off in the landing area of the "original" Par 4. As such, any group behind the Par 3 group would simply wait for the Par 3 group to clear the landing area before teeing their ball and so on as the round continues.

   
   
   
   
3. Burr Betts

   

   0 posts
   
   2/2/2015 11:02 AM

   Clay, I'm more concerned with having a slow foursome playing the regular course followed tee-time-wise by several groups playing the par 3 course. The continual need for the foursome to let others play through--maybe several holes in a row--could drive the slower golfers away and we can't afford that.

   
   
   
   
4. Andy Jorgensen

   

   1 posts
   
   2/2/2015 2:02 PM

   We constructed forward tees on our North course last summer. Our goal was to make a shorter course that is more enjoyable for our aging members therefor keeping them active and members of the club. They opened to rave reviews to our residents. The course ends up playing just shy of 3,000 yards even though a few of the tees are located on existing tees of short par-4's. We had minimal cost involved, around $8,000 total to build them.
   
   As for scheduling, right now we are mixing in this play with regular play. We haven't had any issues, but may foresee having set times that we allow these tees to be used. It's not really that the forward tee players would hold up everyone, it's that everyone else will hold up the forward tee players.

   
   
   
   
5. Burr Betts

   

   0 posts
   
   2/3/2015 11:02 AM

   Thanks for the info, Andy. You did what I'm planning to do and for the same reasons. Are you aware of any other courses that have done this and if they have had any major problems with either the forward tee players being held up or making the back tee players feel pushed?

   
   
   
   
6. Andy Jorgensen

   

   1 posts
   
   2/3/2015 1:02 PM

   Only one other course nearby that built them years ago. They eventually abandoned them because nobody was using them since they already had a true par-3 course. There is another course up in Gainesville that built forward tees for juniors. I think they set schedules for when the juniors can use them though.