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© Copyright 2003, Jim Loy
A lot of people claim that 5-card majors are superior to 4-card majors. And yet, quite a few World Champs bid 4-card majors. The true situation is this: 5-card majors are superior in describing many hands, and 4-card majors are superior in describing many hands. And it is mainly a matter of partnership style and preference which is preferable.
5-card majors allows you to easily find a 5-3 fit in opener's major suit. It's a handy idea. Partner opens 1H, I will soon show support with 3-card support.
In 4-card majors, I assume you open with your lowest ranked 4-card suit. Opening a major would suggest (not promise) a 5-card suit. This may vary, for various partnerships.
5-card majors and 4-card majors are very similar. In 4-card majors, an opening bid of one in a major (especially spades) very probably represents a 5-card suit, for if the major suit is of 4 cards, there is likely to also be a 4-card minor. Only the flattest of distributions (4333 or 4432 in the majors) are exceptions to this. An opening bid of one of a major doesn't promise 5 cards, but it more or less implies 5 cards. I don't think you rebid the 5-card major suit to show 5 cards; I know that is tempting, but that shows 6 cards. You should eventually be able to find your 5-3 fits, somehow, as partner will belatedly show support.
People keep asking if we bid a "short club." That is a 1C bid, with only 3 clubs (maybe even 2 clubs). That bid is mainly a feature of 5-card majors. 1C implies 4 clubs, but it may be shorter. Assume it is a 4-card suit, and notice if partner doesn't like your 4-card support (or if clubs becomes relatively unimportant). We don't really bid a short club as a routine matter, instead we occasionally have to lie about our club length.
In Goren, the 4-card major was opened if that suit had at least a minimum strength, making it even rarer that we open a 4-card major. We also must rarely opening a weak 4-card minor suit or a 3-card minor suit. I like to think of Goren as 5-card majors, in which we pretend that strong 4-card suits have five cards. I think that idea is pretty rare, nowadays. We are trying to find a fit, not brag about our strongest suit. Those honors are often just as valuable in a side suit.