Excerpt from the article: "It has taken me years to figure out by rigorous calculation what instinct told me all along. I’m most comfortable and having the most fun when I’m playing tees in the 6,200-yard range...That brings me to a measurement that I call “birdie yardage.” The concept is simple. I’m now in my eighth season of tracking every birdie (and eagle), and compiling a running list each year of the hole, yardage and par. I then figure out my average birdie yardage for par 3s, par 4s and par 5s. From that, I construct a composite layout comprising a par-72 course with four par 3s, 10 par 4s and four par 5s."

I have kept a running log of my birdies/eagles over the past 4 years and the yardage of my birdies on Par 3's is 160 yards, my average Par 4 birdie hole is 360 yards, and the average length of a Par 5 I've birdied is 501 yards. The formula in my spreadsheet then multiplies the average yardage on Par 3's and Par 5's by 4 and multiplies the average on Par 4's by 10 to get the standard Par 72 course set up. Therefore, my "Birdie Yardage" a/k/a as length of course that I enjoy playing, with my ability, is 6,241 yards. Voila! The white/member tees at my home club are about 6,300 yards (coincidence?) but I don't think so because I'll play more rounds a year from the blue tees that are closer to 6,600 +/- yards. But, I KNOW I'd enjoy the rounds more playing from the shorter tees and score lower, on average.

I'm fine with sharing my spreadsheet, with the built in formulas, if you post your email address. But it was pretty easy to set up...I just got a little lax in keeping it up to date because after a lot of results are entered, it doesn't move the needle much. That may be why the author updates his results on an annual basis so he is also tracking his overall game too.

Enjoy!

http://golfweek.com/2012/03/22/whats-your-birdie-yardage/

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    I have no idea. I don't get enough birdies to gather enough data to be meaningful........what's an eagle?

      Well, I was going to break down my results by year and discovered I hadn't posted a birdie on any Par 3's in 2015. I really should do it yearly as the author suggests and figure out if I should be moving on up (at least see how I'm trending). I believe there will be a few guys on here that keep their scorecards and will be back testing this formula and reporting.

      Birdies and eagles out, I do know that I have many more birdie chances from 5800 yards and below, par 72. My two home courses are 5800 ish but both are par 70 with some long par 3s. Once I get above 6000 yards and the par 4s are stretching out beyond 350, my chances go down, I hit my best drives about 200 - 215 yards, so most of my pars come on the par 5s and par 3s.

      I played in a Stabelford (Quota) game today on a new (to me) course and it was 6100y, par 72. All of my GIRs were on the par 3s and par 5s, so on the par 4s (most of the holes) I was hitting driver, FW wood, wedge tryin g to get up and down. It was a tough day for me.

      This just in - easier is more fun! I believe it. No reason to torture yourself when there's nothing on the line anyway, but driver wedge golf makes for an unnaturally high number of birdie opportunities.

      I like some "gift" par 4s in the 350-400 range, too.

      Par 3s I like 145 or 160, not much else.

      Par 4 anything in the 280 to 330 is damn near a gimme with a good tee shot.

      Par 5 500- 575 I have a shot at eagle.

      I get jacked up when I get those intermedia distances that stick me with 50 to 90 yards after the driver... hate those!

        On average, I get roughly 8-9 reasonable birdie looks per round (within the 10-20 foot range), from 6450 yards. I probably average 3-4 birdies per round over the course of a season. Has more to do with my putting at any given time than anything else... have days when I'm making 5-6 birdies from beyond 6-10 feet, then days when I'm not making much of anything inside of 10 feet.

        I don't think moving up another tee box and playing a shorter course reveals much (if any) difference. My proximity to the hole is probably better with a 9-iron as it is with a SW.

        Move me back outside of 6500 yards and that's where the numbers start to drastically separate. I'm one of the best putters at my club, as it relates to securing PAR. For some reason I just seem to roll in a lot more 5 footers for par than 5 footers for birdie. Not sure that's a common ailment, but it sure seems that way to me!

        So maybe I'm not as good a putter as a lot of people think I am, on paper. But in my mind - I'm pretty good. I guess that's ultimately the difference between a good putter and an average putter. Confidence means everything, but at the same time - there are days when good putts just don't drop. Keeping in mind - I'm competing in a lot of matches and tournaments, so a lot of it is very situational. Why get aggressive trying to make a 15-footer for birdie when par is either good enough for a halve or maybe even an outright win. Forget birdies, for that matter... par is usually a hard score to beat at our level.

        I don't get overly frustrated when I stroke the putt on the intended line at the proper pace and it doesn't go in. I know a lot of guys who I play with that can't say that with any sincerity.

        One thing I've learned about golf - making putts is the biggest difference - no matter which tee box I'm playing. And those short ones for par mean just as much as the longer ones for birdie most days.

        Interesting, its winter so I'lI give this a try sometime!

        Best guess: par 3 165, par 4 370, par 5 515

        I'd argue I have more of a birdie slope than yardage. 120 to 127 slope is where I make most of my birdies. Anything higher than that I'll need to get a bit lucky with longer putts or a chip in to up my birdie totals.

          In an recent posting and having read something similar, it seems the idle courser length for one to play is their 5 iron distance times 36.

          180 yard 5 iron says 6480 yards.
          170 yard 5 iron says 6120 yards.
          160 yard 5 iron says 5760 yards.
          150 yard 5 iron says 5400 yards.

          I bounced this off some the more experienced players at my club and using their numbers, all seemed to agree.

          livegolf

          I agree. That's a good example that probably fits somewhere into my more comfortable preference as well.

            letthebigdogshunt

            This ultimately comes down to which aspects of one's game are most reliable. I can't speak to everyone else, but for me - I feel much more confident swinging driver at 85% and maintaining reasonable control of where the ball is going (based on the 460cc club face alone) versus swinging 100 percent and having to be 90-100% spot-on with both angle of approach into the ball and contacting the ball in the sweet spot (with a club with half or 1/3 the face circumference).

            I would never advocate playing away from one's ability to keep the ball in play, first and foremost. Everything beyond that, imo, is secondary.

            I've been forced to become good at that feathered tee shot with driver over the years (shorter par4's and longer par3's in the 200+ yard range) because admittedly I don't have a lot of confidence with my hybrids/fairway woods.

            Someday I hope to counter that, but I've worked pretty hard over the last couple of seasons to shallow out my swing and hit those shots more solidly/accurately, with mixed results. Some days are good, other days are like, "man - what the hell are you doing!" My tendency is to get steep with those clubs, whereas I'm much more level through the hitting area with driver. It is what it is, but I am working on it and will continue to need to work on it this upcoming season.

            In the meantime, that 3/4 driver swing seems to be a good fallback option for me.