Pin Placement

[Diane]

I'm not entirely sure how often the hole is moved at most courses, but yesterday every pin was in the middle of the green. Personally, I don't care, but others in my group were complaining a bit. Other days, I have to wonder if the greenskeeper's wife was mean to him because the placement is so difficult on every hole that it's a miracle if most people don't 3 putt half the holes. Do they follow a schedule or is it based on a whim? Does pin placement affect your round to any extent? Or your mood for that matter?

 

[TheGasman]

The course arounde here change every morning and usually have 3 or 4 zones they shift between. It seems like they make them a little easier on the weekends to pick up the pace of play.

 

[JPsuff]

The better courses usually have at least five spots; the four "quadrants" and various locations near the center. The ones that supply actual pin locations on their cart-borne GPS screens use a standard "A", "B", "C"..., pin location which, when coupled with the GPS mapping of the course itself, offer nearly dead on pin locations often down to the yard.

Relocation also has to do with traffic. On busy courses, pins are moved frequently to prevent excessive wear on the greens, but when traffic slows (as it does in seasonal areas), they'll often leave a pin located in the same spot for days at a time, or they may simply "center" all of their pins and leave them that way until business picks up.

Then of course there are the courses which simply can't afford to have a crew out there changing pins every day.



-JP

 

[thedue]

The course arounde here change every morning and usually have 3 or 4 zones they shift between. It seems like they make them a little easier on the weekends to pick up the pace of play.

Ditto, thats how they do it here most of the time. Occasionally they will place every flag in a tight spot for a special tournament and leave them their for a day afterwords like they are showing off how tough they could make them. I don't mind them close to the greens edge, but at the apex of a ridge can be really tough.

 

[TheGasman]

Occasionally they will place every flag in a tight spot for a special tournament and leave them their for a day afterwords like they are showing off how tough they could make them.

Haha, they do that with the ruff too.

 

[Fourputt]

I'm not entirely sure how often the hole is moved at most courses, but yesterday every pin was in the middle of the green. Personally, I don't care, but others in my group were complaining a bit. Other days, I have to wonder if the greenskeeper's wife was mean to him because the placement is so difficult on every hole that it's a miracle if most people don't 3 putt half the holes. Do they follow a schedule or is it based on a whim? Does pin placement affect your round to any extent? Or your mood for that matter?

During the season, the hole is moved every day, and some are easy, others are difficult, but most are quite fair.

In the late fall, our course greenskeeper cuts 3 or 4 holes in each green, then covers all but one (they can't keep cutting new holes when the grass is dormant because the old plugs won't heal properly). About every 2nd or 3rd playable day during the winter, the flagstick is moved to a different hole. The holes are usually cut near the edges of the green (6-8 feet) in an attempt to minimize traffic on the green. When the hole is near the middle, everyone usually walks and stands on the green while the rest of the group is putting. When the hole is near the edge, they are more likely to stand and walk on the apron or even off in the rough, thus minimizing wear and tear on the putting surface when the grass is dormant. We are in this mode now.

This sometimes means that the holes will be more difficult to get at, and may be on a slope that becomes a bit unfair as the area around the hole gets slick and worn down during the course of the winter. I just chalk it up to winter golf, and try to be thankful that I'm still playing in December or January.

 

[solidkjames]

Our pins usually get changed daily but this has been a hot topic the past few months at our course. The thing about my course is the greens are small meaning most are barely 20 yards deep and most are sloped but screaming fast. I've had a long talk with our GM about the placement of these flags lately. I mean some days only 20 percent of the green is usable b/c if you get above or beside the hole you are done. I'm talking make the ball start turning end over end and if it doesn't go in you are gonna roll 10 feet past the pin. It can be a bit unnerving having downhill putts that you can't stop and I've talked to several people about doing a better job of testing this. Having to worry about 3 or 4 putting from 4 feet away is a bit excessive in my book. But super fast greens, small and sloped does not equal fun times. It is making the course play 5 - 10 strokes tougher than normal when the greens are this fast and the pin's aren't placed delicately.

 

[Diane]

The course arounde here change every morning and usually have 3 or 4 zones they shift between. It seems like they make them a little easier on the weekends to pick up the pace of play.

I've always thought some of the busier public courses move the tees up on the weekends too.

 

[pjcedog]

I aim for the middle of the green 90% of the time anyway so it makes no difference to me. If I am playing in a tournament they will usually give out a pin sheet so in that case I will aim more to the side the pin is on depending on the green's topography and the trouble around it. Most of the time I use GPS to find the yardage to the front edge and then hit the club I know will get me at least beyond that yardage even if I miss hit it a little. I just play it the way it is, it is the same for everyone. Complaining about pin positions is not my style, it would be like complaining about the color of the carpet in the clubhouse or the clothes the other golfers are wearing, it makes no difference to me at all.

 

[provisional]

I know they change my home course's pin locations two or three times a week, but I never really pay much attention to where they are when golfing. They are where they are. I tend to focus on the front, middle, rear of the green yardage (GPS) then adjust from there depending on what I see on the green while walking to my approach shot. If I have a really long approach shot, I pull out my lazer to get a better look at the green. The only time I do pay attention is when I pay my green fees at a course and the counter guy gives me a score card, with a legend showing where the pins are located that day. Another time I pay attention is usually on the first couple of holes to see how professional a job the guy did cutting the new holes. I don't like it when they leave a mound when they pull the tool out before installing the insert. If you have ever hit a putt that rolled off to one side, or even backwards just as it reached the hole, you know what I mean.

 

[Badger_Golfer]

The courses around here have 4 different pin locations and the locations change a few times a week.
Im a pretty strong with my short irons, wedges and putter, so the pin location doesnt really matter all that much to me.
As long as they move it around so that the hole doesnt play the same all the time and get boring, Im happy.

 

[DebO]

Lots of course do 6-6-6 (6 easy placements, 6 hard & 6 in the middle) and rotate daily throughout the summer. I played the same course every Thursday morning for most of the summer and we had the same pin placements until the cooler weather set in - while that should have helped my game I found it kind of boring.

 

[Diane]

I've played at courses where they have a card in the cart showing which section of the green the pin is in for each hole. That's helpful.

 

[Smallville]

I've played at courses where they have a card in the cart showing which section of the green the pin is in for each hole. That's helpful.

Like this?

I've always seen it on the scorecards like this:

The first example might be nicer, since the drawings are larger and it doesn't take up space on the scorecard. Might be a pain if you're walking though.

 

[Diane]

Like the top one. I've never seen it on scorecards.

 

[mytime]

The local muni here has a sign up telling the pin placement(1-4) for that day. The scorecard has a little pic showing the quadrants.

 

[Harry Longshanks]

Most of the courses I've been to hand out little pin sheets.