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
| # | Course | Toughest test |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bell Gardens Golf Course | slope 113 |
| 1 | Palm Royale Country Club | slope 113 |
| 3 | Sherwood Lakes Club | slope 104 |
| 4 | Rancho Casa Blanca Country Club | slope 103 |
| 5 | Reidy Creek Golf Course | slope 102 |
| 6 | Town Park Villas Golf Course | slope 101 |
| 7 | South Par 3 at Alondra Park Golf Course | slope 96 |
| 8 | Bella Verde Golf Club Signature Par 3 Course | slope 92 |
| 9 | Heartwell Golf Course | slope 90 |
| 10 | Leisure Village Golf Club | slope 89 |
| 10 | Shadow Hills Golf Club North Par 3 Course | slope 89 |
| 12 | Emerald Hills Golf Course | slope 88 |
| 13 | Caliente Springs Resort | slope 87 |
| 14 | La Jolla Beach Tennis Club | slope 80 |
| 14 | Pico Rivera Golf Club | slope 80 |
| 16 | Panorama Village Golf Course | slope 77 |
| 17 | Outdoor Resort Indio | slope 74 |
| 18 | Eighteen Hole at Van Nuys Golf Course | slope 73 |
| 18 | Rancho Carlsbad Golf Club | slope 73 |
| 20 | Los Feliz 3 Par Golf Course | slope 72 |
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
| # | Course | Highest above sea level |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Panorama Village Golf Course | 1,561 ft |
| 2 | Par 3 at Vista Valencia Golf Course | 1,293 ft |
| 3 | Debell Golf Club Par 3 Course | 1,247 ft |
| 4 | Caliente Springs Resort | 1,020 ft |
| 5 | Sherwood Lakes Club | 975 ft |
| 6 | Sinaloa Golf Course | 775 ft |
| 7 | Reidy Creek Golf Course | 745 ft |
| 8 | Eighteen Hole at Van Nuys Golf Course | 734 ft |
| 9 | Weddington Golf and Tennis | 625 ft |
| 10 | Emerald Hills Golf Course | 585 ft |
| 11 | 3 Par at Four Points | 409 ft |
| 12 | Los Feliz 3 Par Golf Course | 398 ft |
| 13 | Laguna Woods Golf Club Par 3 Course | 394 ft |
| 14 | Town Park Villas Golf Course | 365 ft |
| 15 | Arcadia Par 3 Golf Course | 339 ft |
| 16 | Hanks Swank Par Three Golf Course | 336 ft |
| 17 | Colina Park Golf Course | 327 ft |
| 18 | Skyway Golf Park | 247 ft |
| 19 | Bella Verde Golf Club Signature Par 3 Course | 245 ft |
| 20 | Maggie Hathaway Par 3 Golf Course | 237 ft |
| 21 | Rancho Park Par 3 Golf Course | 224 ft |
| 22 | Pico Rivera Golf Club | 217 ft |
| 23 | Portola Country Club | 187 ft |
| 24 | Casserly Par 3 Golf Course | 183 ft |
| 25 | The Olympic Club Cliffs Course | 181 ft |
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) | Holes | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 25–49 | 6 | 1.1% | |
| 50–74 | 69 | 12.4% | |
| 75–99 | 122 | 21.9% | |
| 100–124 | 167 | 30.0% | |
| 125–149 | 106 | 19.1% | |
| 150–174 | 46 | 8.3% | |
| 175–199 | 31 | 5.6% | |
| 200–224 | 8 | 1.4% | |
| 225–249 | 1 | 0.2% |