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You're off the green. Do you leave the pin in or take it out?

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I generally leave it in for chips, but pull it for putts
 
These are articles by Dave Pelz on the matter:

http://www.golf.com/instruction/flag-or-out

http://www.golfeneur.com/flagstick-in-or-out-off-the-green/

Short game guru Dave Pelz published his research on this in Golf Magazine (1990′s). After he had a machine and a golfer hit a total of ten thousand putts off the green, his researched found that:


  • Machine made 33% more putts
  • Man made 18% more putts
With the flagstick left ‘IN’ the hole. **This holds true when you are chipping off the green as well because once the ball is rolling on the green, it is the same thing as a putt.**
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There's also the time(s) when the ball hits the flagstick or flag on the fly. That can't do anything but help (personal experience).
 
Almost always leave it in unless it is a short putt.
 
I didn't read the whole thread, but I'm positive that it depends. If I think that there will be an advantage to removing it, then I will do so. If I don't care and the others are on the green and need the flagstick removed, then pull it and just leave it out when it's my turn. Most of the time though, I will leave it in.

I prefer the flagstick in the hole for any chip - the longer the chip, the more I'm likely to want it in the hole. For putts from the fringe, I'll leave it in for longer putts, or for downhill putts where a backstop might come in handy. For short uphill fringe putts, I'll have it removed most of the time.

It also depends on wind. If the flag is leaning toward the side from which I'm putting, I will try and straighten it. If that isn't possible then I'll have it tended or removed.
 
Left it in last night and sunk a putt from about 5 feet off the green. It definitely would not have fallen if the flagstick had been pulled.
 
In fo'sho'!
 
I leave it in. I'll take all the help I can get.
 
It really depends on the shot distance and lie. If I have really good control of what the ball is going to do, I'll take it out. If not, I tend to leave it in. If I'm putting it and actually trying to make it over just lagging it up there, I'll take it out.

Sent from my HTC6500LVW using Tapatalk
 
I have it out for the most part. I will leave it in if it's a downhill shot.

An instructor told me in a group class I took many years ago, "the pin only helps a bad shot, do you intend to hit a bad shot?"
Right or wrong, that has stuck with me.
 
Drumdog said:
I have it out for the most part. I will leave it in if it's a downhill shot.

An instructor told me in a group class I took many years ago, "the pin only helps a bad shot, do you intend to hit a bad shot?"
Right or wrong, that has stuck with me.
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But it doesn't usually hurt a good shot, and since we all poor hit shots with too much pace from time to time which the flagstick might actually help, why not leave it in?

One other comment. It sometimes depends on what the flagstick is made of. The typical cheaper fiberglass ones actually deaden the rebound when the ball hits them and are more likely to let it just fall in the hole, while the steel sticks can make the ball bounce harder and tend to be less forgiving. I'm more likely to remove the steel type.
 
I'm with you Small. I've chipped a million practice balls at pins and I cannot cite any one real example where a ball that would have gone in did not because of the stick.

But it I can point to about 100 shots where a straight ball with the wrong speed was saved by the stick.
 
I leave the flag in. Any time I'm playing when someone else that is trying to chip on I look to make sure the flay is not leaning towards them to block the ball.
 
Most of the time pin in as sometimes I will one bounce it and hit the pin
 
Smallville said:
People say that they have hit the stick and got a bad bounce off of it. I figure if you hit it hard enough to get a bad bounce off one, then it was highly unlikely that it was going to the bottom of the cup anyway, and was going to go way past the hole on the other side.

I rarely hit the stick anyway, and I have had chips and putts from off the green hit the stick on the way to the bottom. When I do hit the stick and it bounces away, I figure it absorbed some of the energy of the shot, so it winds up not as far away as it would have had I missed the stick.
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I concur with everything you said here Smalls but the Bolded is 95% of why I ask to leave the pin in much to the chagrin of the guys on the green :)
 
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