Eighteen holes of golf can be a grind - mentally and physically. It can also be long, as in four, five or - gasp - six hours. For many, that’s just too much time taken out of a busy day. But there are alternatives that allow you to slip in a quick 18 without clearing your schedule. They’re called executive courses, and plenty exist within easy driving distance. While executive courses feature more than the usual amount of par-3 holes, they also include a number of shorter par-4s and, on rare occasions, a par-5. Here’s a look at five.

                  Southers Marsh, Plymouth

    It barely measures 4,100 yards from the back tees and plays to par-61, but it’s not an easy walk in the park. You will be challenged on every shot as you stroll past actively maintained cranberry bogs and down tree-lined fairways.

      Southers Marsh demands a succession of carries over wetlands, beginning with the difficult 370-yard par-4 opening hole. The 190-yard 3^rd hole is entirely over a cranberry bog, while hazards must be carried on four other holes.

    The prevailing theory is that executive courses are stress-free. Not here.

           Harwichport Golf Course, Harwichport

       Don’t call for a tee time, because there aren’t any. The white      

clubhouse, a converted barn, has stood since the club opened in 1920. Only nine holes, it plays to a par-34 at 2,461 yards, with two par-3s and seven par-4s.                                                          

       The fairways are wide and mostly flat and there isn’t a single nasty sand bunker on the entire layout. Clearly, this is a course for a casual round of golf for seniors, a great spot for beginners to learn the game and even a place that can provide a lesson to the serious golfer.

        It’s a no-frills course, but it can pose challenges. There are dogleg holes both right and left, elevated approaches, delicate downhill pitches and the smallest greens this side of a miniature golf course. You had better be able to play finesse chips around the greens, because you won’t hit many of them with your approaches.

        One thing is for sure, the price is right: $22 for nine holes, $32 for 18.

                  Paul Harney Golf Club, Hatchville  

      Built and owned by former PGA Tour pro Paul Harney and his family, this is a pleasant course with a laid-back atmosphere. The unpretentious clubhouse is adorned with photos and memorabilia from Harney’s career, while the old-school greens fees (never more than $35) are certainly a drawing card.

      Playing to a par-60 from 3,585 yards, this is a superb place to work on every iron in your bag. With 11 par-3 holes ranging from 90 to 225 yards, you’ll be pulling out everything from a pitching wedge to a perhaps 3-wood. Your putter will also be tested on the severely sloped greens.

       The roller-coaster fairways present a series of challenges. The shot on the 160-yard 3^rd hole is all carry to a back-to-front sloped green, while the 170-yard 9^th must clear a hazard and a front bunker. The par-4 holes aren’t long (none more than 270), but they 

are either uphill, feature a sharp dogleg or demand an accurate drive to a narrow fairway.

  Squirrel Run Golf & Country Club, Plymouth

          The course opens with a seemingly benign 310-yard par-4, until you realize that the tee shot is blind, with the woods creeping in along the left side demanding a difficult, precise drive. The approach to a postage-stamp green isn’t any easier, with bunkers front and right, and a sloping, crowned putting surface. That is followed by a 131-yard par-3 that is guarded by a large pond and a narrow green. On the 140-yard 3^rd hole, water comes into play on the right and in front of the green.

            You get the idea.

            At 2,809 yards and playing to par 57, Squirrel Run has only three par-4 holes, all on the front nine. The par-3 holes range from the 109-yard 11^th to the 192-yard 14^th, with numerous carries over water and a series of mounded, undulating greens that require

accurate iron play. Nearly every hole features some sort of obstacle. At Squirrel Run, there is little room for error.

    The Club at Yarmouthport

         With three par-4 holes measuring more than 320 yards, three par-3s at better than 200 and a par-5 finishing hole, The Club at Yarmouthport doesn’t exactly play like an executive course. However, it is a par-60, only 3,911 from the back tees. But with fairways lined by oak and pine trees, along with Scottish-style bunkers, rolling terrain, undulating greens and more than a few water hazards, this Brian Silva layout is quite stingy about dishing out pars.

            The 160-yard 5^th hole is considered the signature. Spectacular views of Cape Cod Bay might distract you from the task at hand, which is playing into what is usually swirling winds to a three-tiered steeply downhill green guarded by a left-side bunker.