Key takeaways
- Read par as the score a scratch player would generally be expected to make, allowing two putts, not as the score an average golfer should make.
- Expect length to set most pars, but allow for elevation, forced lay-ups and prevailing wind, which make a hole play longer or shorter than the card says.
- Treat a hole whose length falls in two ranges, such as 470 yards for men, as a judgement call that can legitimately be a par 4 or a par 5.
- Use Course Rating and Slope Rating, not par, to judge how hard a course is; par is a reference point that handicaps and Stableford scores are measured from.
- Remember that changing a hole's par changes net double bogey and Stableford points on that hole even though the hole plays exactly the same.
Par is set hole by hole, and mostly by length. The World Handicap System's Rules of Handicapping define it as "the score that a scratch player would generally be expected to achieve on a hole" in normal course and weather conditions, allowing two strokes on the putting green. Their Appendix F recommends length ranges for par 3, 4, 5 and 6, and then allows for how the hole actually plays: elevation changes, forced lay-ups, prevalent wind, and the way the hole is designed to be played. The pars of the individual holes add up to the par for the course.
Two consequences follow, and both surprise people. Par describes a scratch player, not an average one. And par is not a measure of difficulty; other numbers do that job.
The length ranges
These are the recommended ranges in Appendix F of the Rules of Handicapping, as The R&A publishes them (checked on 2 October 2026).
| Par | Men | Women |
|---|---|---|
| 3 | Up to 260 yards (240 metres) | Up to 220 yards (200 metres) |
| 4 | 240 to 490 yards (220 to 450 metres) | 200 to 420 yards (180 to 380 metres) |
| 5 | 450 to 710 yards (410 to 650 metres) | 370 to 600 yards (340 to 550 metres) |
| 6 | 670 yards and up (610 metres and up) | 570 yards and up (520 metres and up) |
The table assumes an altitude below 2,000 feet (610 metres). Height above sea level is one of the factors that can make a hole play shorter or longer than its measured distance.
Read the par 5 row as the answer to "how long is a par 5": 450 to 710 yards for men and 370 to 600 for women, with overlaps at both ends.
Why the ranges overlap
Every boundary in the table overlaps with the next. A 470-yard hole for men, or a 400-yard hole for women, sits in both the par 4 and the par 5 ranges, and Appendix F says such a hole may be allocated par 4 or par 5 depending on its difficulty.
The overlaps are deliberate. They are where judgement replaces measurement, because a tape measure cannot tell you whether a 470-yard hole plays downhill with the wind or uphill into it. Two holes of the same length on different courses can carry different pars, and both can be correct.
Effective playing length: when a hole plays longer than it measures
Appendix F names three effective length correction factors.
- Elevation changes. A hole that climbs steeply plays longer than its yardage, and one that falls steeply plays shorter.
- Forced lay-ups. If a stream or ravine crosses a hole at a point that stops a tee shot from going its normal distance, the player cannot use their full length, and the hole effectively becomes longer than it measures.
- Prevalent wind. A hole that usually plays into the wind is effectively longer than the same hole would be in still air, and one that usually plays downwind is effectively shorter.
Altitude acts on a whole course at once, and the table is written for courses below 2,000 feet. The common thread is that par is set for how far the hole plays, not only how far it measures.
Design intent and consistency across tees
The other factor Appendix F lists is the way the hole is designed to be played. Some holes are built around a decision, such as a par 5 with water short of the green that a long hitter might reach in two, and the intended challenge informs the par.
Appendix F also recommends keeping par consistent across sets of tees where that makes sense. Its example is a hole where every set of tees falls inside the men's par 5 range except a forward tee at 410 yards. If the hole was designed to be played as a par 5 by most players who use that forward tee, the forward tee should be a par 5 as well. The guidance also suggests considering the tees most commonly played, and the most common par across all tees on the hole.
Who sets par
The Rules of Handicapping put the responsibility for adjudicating par on the Authorized Association, or on the golf club where the National Association allows it. Either way, par sits inside the handicapping system, because handicap calculations use it.
Par is not a difficulty rating
Here is the confusion par most often causes. A long, narrow, uphill par 4 and a short, open, downhill par 4 have the same par and wildly different difficulty. The World Handicap System measures difficulty with two other numbers:
- Course Rating: how difficult a course is for a scratch player, meaning someone with a Handicap Index of 0.0, under normal course and weather conditions.
- Slope Rating: how much more difficult the course is for players who are not scratch players, relative to scratch players. The reference is the bogey player, defined as a Handicap Index of about 20.0 for men and about 24.0 for women.
Appendix G describes the two together as the evaluation of a course's playing difficulty for the scratch player and the bogey player. Within a course, each hole's stroke index does a similar job: the recommended method ranks every hole on its playing difficulty relative to par. Golf handicaps for beginners explains how the two ratings make a handicap portable between courses.
Where par still matters
Par is a reference point, and several calculations are measured from it.
Net double bogey. For handicap purposes, your maximum score on a hole is par plus two strokes plus any handicap strokes you receive there. On a par 4 where you receive one stroke, that is 4 + 2 + 1 = 7, so a 9 is recorded as a 7. The Rules of Handicapping note that net double bogey is the lowest score on a hole that earns zero Stableford points.
Stableford points. Under Rule 21.1 of the 2023 Rules of Golf, still the current edition, Stableford awards points by comparing your score with a fixed target score for each hole, which is par unless the Committee sets another: two points for matching it, one for a score one over, none for anything worse. Golf tournament formats explains the format.
Course Handicap. In associations that have chosen to include it, a Course Handicap contains an adjustment for the difference between the Course Rating and par. The course handicap calculator includes that adjustment, so you can see how a course's par feeds into the strokes you receive.
This produces a neat thought experiment. Re-designate a 470-yard hole from par 5 to par 4 and nothing about the hole changes. Yet net double bogey on it drops by one stroke, a 5 that earned two Stableford points in a scratch competition now earns one, and every golfer's score relative to par on that hole gets worse. Par moved the reference line, not the hole. How golf scoring works covers the vocabulary built on that line.
A short history: from "perfect play" to ranges
The word started as a single number for a whole course. Scottish Golf History records that in 1870 the golf writer A H Doleman borrowed the stock-exchange term for the 49 that two professionals, David Strath and James Anderson, said perfect play should produce over Prestwick's twelve holes.
Hole-by-hole distances came later. The same source records that in 1911 the USGA set out distances for determining par: up to 225 yards for a par 3, 225 to 425 for a par 4, 426 to 600 for a par 5, and over 601 for a par 6. Set beside today's men's ranges, which run to 260 yards for a par 3 and 490 for a par 4, the change is plain: the yardages have stretched considerably, while par has kept its link to expert play, from Doleman's "perfect play" to today's scratch player.
Par and your own game
Because par assumes a scratch player and two putts, a hole's par says little about the right strategy for anyone else. A 470-yard par 4 may be a three-shot hole for many golfers, and playing it that way can be sound course management rather than a failure. Knowing your real carry distances, which club distance gapping covers, tells you which holes those are.
The same separation of the reference number from the decision runs through Golf Career Simulator Pro Tour, a golf career game with no swing meter, where each shot is chosen from the hole, the lie, the distance, the wind and the course conditions, and aggressive and conservative lines are both viable. Its tours, events and golfers are fictional. More golf guides are on the golf hub, and the full catalogue is under sports career and GM games.
Good to know
Frequently asked questions
How is par determined for a golf hole?
How long is a par 5?
Who decides par on a golf course?
Is par a measure of difficulty?
Why does par matter if it is not difficulty?
Sources
- Rules of Handicapping, Appendix F: Establishing Par (opens in a new tab)The R&A — accessed
- Rules of Handicapping, Definitions (Par, Course Rating, Slope Rating, Scratch Player, Bogey Player, Net Double Bogey) (opens in a new tab)The R&A — accessed
- Rules of Handicapping, Rule 3: Adjustment of Hole Scores (opens in a new tab)The R&A — accessed
- Rules of Handicapping, Appendix E: Stroke Index Allocation (opens in a new tab)The R&A — accessed
- Rules of Handicapping, Appendix G: The Golf Course, Course Rating and Slope Rating (opens in a new tab)The R&A — accessed
- Rule 21: Other Forms of Individual Stroke Play and Match Play (Rule 21.1, Stableford) (opens in a new tab)The R&A — accessed
- New and Updated Model Local Rules for 2026 (opens in a new tab)The R&A — accessed
- Stableford (points table) (opens in a new tab)Wikipedia — accessed
- Bogey to Blow-Up: Meaning of Golf Words (Par) (opens in a new tab)Scottish Golf History — accessed
- Par (score) (opens in a new tab)Wikipedia — accessed
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