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I love par-3 golf courses. Technically I guess I love executive or par-3 courses, but I like the term par-3 better (par-3 are supposed to only consist of par 3 holes where executive courses have a couple of par 4, and in very rare occasions a par 5 holes).

I got out to play for the first time since 2007 (I’m not counting the round of virtual golf at my mother’s condo) and it was on a little course in Edina, MN called the Fred Richards Executive Course. It was the first time I’d been on a short course in a few years and it was a lot of fun. It seems that golfers will often dismiss the par-3 course because they feel like the red-headed stepchild of the of golf world. You rarely have to pull out anything over a 7 iron, greens and fairways are often small and not very dynamic, and I think folks just don’t think the course is worthy of their time. On the other hand, my feeling is that if the course is put together well a round on a short par-3 or executive course can be one of the most fun things in golf. A par-3 course gives you the opportunity to work on some very specific skills without having to worry about shanking a tee shot into the woods with your driver or playing from the deep rough every other hole because you can’t smash a 280 yard shot, arrow straight for the nice approach. Instead you get your “approach” shot right off the tee. At the same time, you’re actually playing a course so you’re not just hitting out of context driving range shots that rarely translate onto the course. I’ve learned more about hitting a clean iron shot playing on par-3 and executive courses than I’ve ever learned on the driving range and it’s helped my game immensly.

Of course, you can take all of this with a grain of salt, because I’m not a great golfer by any stretch of the imagination. However, I’d like to think I get a little better every year and that those occasions when I get to play a short par-3 course and really focus on my short game have helped with that in some way.