Do Gold players LIKE or just RESPECT Gold course designs?

[ck34]

It's been my observation, but not scientific research, that top Gold level players (super pros) don't necessarily like courses designed to challenge their skills even though they may respect courses like Renny Gold and Winthrop Gold for tournament play. I believe it's because they are used to destroying and have fun torching the design parameters of typical public courses with hole lengths from the long tees that are more suited for Blue (975>) level players. I don't blame them but I think it's interesting from a designer's standpoint.

Gold level players average about 0.3 better per hole than Blue level players with the top Gold guys doing even better. If a hole averages 3.0 for Blue level, the Gold player will average better than 2.7 meaning they will get a birdie at least one out of three times to steadily surge ahead of the Blue player. Even better, good holes that average 2.7 for the Blue player will fall into the dreaded Par 2 zone for Gold players with an average under 2.4 on those holes. That can be fun, not only for Gold players, but all players.

I'm in the process of developing a new public course that is mostly open, so length is the primary element that's available to produce scoring spread. A local Gold level player prefers some 400 ft holes (Houck's dumb hole length range for Blue level), that only a handful of players in the state might birdie, versus setting these holes in the 475-525 range (the space is available) which would make these holes more challenging for most players except the super pros to strive for 3s.

He claims that rec players love open holes in the 375-425 range. He's partly right because there are more White level (900) rec players than Blue level, especially non-PDGA players. For them, a hole in that range is a challenge to get a 3 like the 480 footer is for Blue level. So, do you follow the ball golf design approach and design consistently for one skill level from each set of tees? Or, not worry about it and just throw down the pins and tees and not worry too much about hole lengths and scoring spread? Remember, there's nothing but elevation to deal with (which has been accounted for in the effective lengthsfor this discussion), very little foliage and no OB hazards. There will also be a shorter set of tees on this course.