Lyman, the technique you describe is the "Sum of Shortest Splits (SOSS)" which is in the Manual (or at least it was in earlier additions). Bob Baumel's old Measurement Program, which was written in Basic and no longer runs on newer operating systems, provides that figure as the final course length figure. Using it will mean your course is almost always longer than the SCPF requires; it is a very rigorous method, but worth using in some situations.