Should You Leave the Flagstick in the Hole or Pull it Out?
September 5, 2006 – 5:49 pm | by GolfdirtSOURCE: GolfOnline - Dave Pelz
GIST: Dave Pelz answers the age old question, “When chipping, should you leave the flagstick in the hole or out?” Conclusion? His data proves to leave it in whenever the Rules allow, except when…
“… it is leaning so far toward you that the ball can’t fit.”
MY TAKE: I’ve sunk a few with the flag in. And I’ve holed them with it out. But since I rarely get those chips within 3 feet anyway, heck if this revelation matters to me one way or the other. Good thing there are smart, highly educated guys like Pelz who’ve got nothing better to do than generate and assemble the empirical data we need to solve these weighty issues.
For what it’s worth, on the 6th hole of a round I was playing just yesterday (yay Labor Day!), I had a 15 yard pitch to the green, which I then proceeded to skull. Zoom it went horizontally on its way to destinations and distances unknown behind the green… but the flag got in the way. Plonk! Into the hole it drops! Thanks Dave! [GO]
