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The longest par-3 course in California is Shadow Hills Golf Club North Par 3 Course, at 3,006 yards — one of 47 par-3 courses in the state.

Ranked against California's other par-3 courses, not against its regulation golf. Each list counts only the courses that publish that figure, so the totals differ between them. Slope and course rating measure difficulty, not quality.

Longest

— the top 25 of 41 courses with a published scorecard

The longest tee set the course publishes, in yards from the tips. Compared against every course that publishes a scorecard — length is a measurement, not a verdict on the golf.

Toughest test

— all 20 courses with a USGA slope rating for its men’s tees

The highest USGA slope rating published for any of the men’s tee sets. Slope rates difficulty for a bogey golfer relative to a scratch golfer — a rated figure issued by the golf association, not an opinion about the course. Men’s ratings only, because a tee is rated separately for men and for women and the two scales do not compare; a course rated only for women is not in the running rather than converted.

Widest tee spread

— all 19 courses with two or more tee sets of different lengths
# Course Widest tee spread
1 Reidy Creek Golf Course 924 yds between tees
2 Shadow Hills Golf Club North Par 3 Course 900 yds between tees
3 The Quarry at La Quinta Short Course 612 yds between tees
4 Rancho Carlsbad Golf Club 433 yds between tees
5 Sherwood Lakes Club 415 yds between tees
6 Palm Royale Country Club 307 yds between tees
7 Portola Country Club 204 yds between tees
8 Indio Golf Club 194 yds between tees
9 Emerald Hills Golf Course 153 yds between tees
10 Laguna Woods Golf Club Par 3 Course 143 yds between tees
11 Outdoor Resort Indio 110 yds between tees
11 Weddington Golf and Tennis 110 yds between tees
13 Casserly Par 3 Golf Course 106 yds between tees
14 The Golf Center at Palm Desert 99 yds between tees
15 Sinaloa Golf Course 96 yds between tees
16 Pico Rivera Golf Club 73 yds between tees
17 Arcadia Par 3 Golf Course 71 yds between tees
18 The Olympic Club Cliffs Course 64 yds between tees
19 Bell Gardens Golf Course 58 yds between tees

Yards between the longest and shortest published tee sets — how far the course moves to fit a different player. Courses publishing a single tee set are not in the running, because one set is an unmeasured spread rather than a narrow one.

Oldest

— the top 25 of 42 courses with an opening year

The year the course opened, as published. Ranked oldest first. An opening year is not a design credit and not a renovation date — a course that opened in 1921 and was rebuilt in 1998 still opened in 1921.

Highest above sea level

— the top 25 of 47 courses with a coordinate we could sample

Height above sea level at the course’s own published coordinate, sampled from the USGS 3DEP elevation model. THIS IS A FIGURE WE DERIVED, not one the course publishes — anybody can re-query the same public dataset at the same coordinate and get the same number, but no scorecard states it. Because every course carries a coordinate, this is the only board here whose field is nearly the whole database rather than the courses that publish a particular figure. Elevation changes how far a ball carries; it says nothing about whether a course is good.

How long a par-3 hole actually plays

Every hole on the 46 published par-3 scorecards in California, in 25-yard bands. One tee set per course — the longest that publishes a card — so a course with six rated sets counts once rather than six times.

Hole length (yards)HolesShare
25–49
6
50–74
69
75–99
122
100–124
167
125–149
106
150–174
46
175–199
31
200–224
8
225–249
1