One thing that I've often pondered is, "How important is par - really?"
It IS just a guideline to let people know roughly what they should expect from a hole and from a course... but I've always personally been much more interested in the focusing on my personal score improvements. Sure, it's all tied together... but many hot debates over what par for a hole should be have stirred up while I'm around, but I've never felt inclined to give a crap enough to argue it. I just look at the scorecard at the end of a round and compare how I did compared to the other players... then look at my scores on that same course over time to see the improvement (or lack there of in some cases
). Also, if we're all playing on the same courses... and the par is marked... is it a big deal what it actually is since we're all being "judged" by the same standard on that course?
Eh, I'm not a very competitive person by nature, so take my thoughts with a grain of salt... what do you think?