Video Tip: Flag In or Out?
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With the beautiful par-3 3rd hole at Founders Club at Pawleys Island as the setting, Charlie Rymer discusses the circumstances that should best dictate whether you choose to leave the flagstick in or pull it on a putt.
Charlie:
So a common question I get is, “On the green, should I leave the flag in or should I take it out?” Well, the answer is, it depends.
Come over here and let’s check out this flag, it’s pretty obvious right here what it is you need to do because if you look at this flag, and they all get cut the holes a little bit differently every time, but if you look at this flag, even if I adjust it a little bit, it’s leaning a little towards the back portion of this green. And so if I’m putting anything in from this upper quadrant, this flag is going to knock the ball out, it’s going to really hurt you.
Now, the opposite is true from the lower quadrant, the way it’s sitting is leaning, it’ll actually grab the ball and throw it in the hole. So, again, the answer to the question is it depends on how the flagstick is leaning. right here it’s very obvious.
If you’ve got a flatter putt on a flatter surface and everything is perpendicular, a lot of times it just depends on how you feel. I’ve got friends that absolutely will not take that flagstick out, I think they’re a little crazy because I like to take it out myself. The idea is to putt a ball in that hole and when there’s a flag in there, there’s a little less volume, but it’s a nice option to have and if you play golf with your heads up and your eyes open, you’ll see opportunity like this to let that flagstick help you.