How Do Golfers Score On Par 3s, Par 4s and Par 5s?
Sam De'Ath breaks down the scoring trends among golfers of every ability across par threes, fours and fives with the help of data from Shot Scope
Video Transcript
Have you ever wondered if you score better on certain lengths of hole, be that par 3s, par 4s, or par 5s?
Well, we've been crunching the numbers from Shot Scope, and the results are interesting to say the least.
The first interesting finding is that par 5 scoring is heavily biased towards the lower handicap player, no doubt due to the extra length they tend to have at their disposal.
So a scratch handicapper, for example, averages 4.8 on par 5s, whereas a 25 handicapper averages seven shots.
This is two shots worse than par, whereas on a par 3, a 25 handicap only averages 1.2 shots over par.
Another interesting nugget is that every ability of golfer has a higher average score relative to par on par 4s versus on par 3s and 5s.
This will likely be down to the sheer volume of par 4s golfers play compared to the par 3s and par 5s, which typically only make up for around 40% of a course setup.
The final takeaway from the Shot Scope data is that par 3s make up the lowest increase in score relative to par, the highest being a 25 handicapper at 1.2 higher than par.
So while it's clear every ability of golfer could do with improving their strategy on par 4s and keeping double bogeys off the card, some extra distance would clearly make a big difference for higher handicap players on par 5s.
Hopefully, this has provided you some food for thought as to the holes that require the most attention the next time you play.
And if you want this data for your own game, be sure to visit the Shot Scope website to start your performance tracking journey.
