Flag In or Out - interesting article.

[6535]

Out for me, all day every day and it will remain that way until the day I die.

 

[Trojan615]

That's ridiculous!! Its clearly the other way round 👍

Both wrong ... it’s obviously out for the front nine and in for the back nine when more tired 🧐

 

[HomerJSimpson]

Played a club match at the weekend and the opposition (home side) were taking the flag out at the earliest opportunity and very little "would you like it in or out". Tad annoying. I had to ask for it back in a couple of times because as anyone who has played Caversham Heath will know, there isn't a flat green on the course and I simply couldn't see the hole from where I was

 

[Imurg]

I have no problem with flag in or flag out or flag tended - whatever people want.
I do wonder if the powers that be really thought about this change enough.
There's no doubt that leaving the flag in speeds up play. Not by huge amounts but it can make 10-15 minutes difference on a round.
Homer's scenario above highlights where the whole purpose of the change, to speed things up, is going to do the reverse.
Common sense will prevail in many groups and the flag in players will putt first and then flag out players will putt second.
But when you get balls missing the hole and finishing near the line of a flag outer, the flag inner will have to mark, take the flag out, wait, put the flag back in and putt again to avoid stepping on lines...
With the best will in the world, the Okey Cokey of flag in, flag out has to slow down play more than if they'd simply left the rule alone.
And, although I've embraced the idea of having the flag in all the time, there are better ways of speeding up play than this.

 

[Yorkshire Hacker]

Totally agree with Imurg. At the weekend it was "flag in, flag out" routine the whole way round. I have my doubts about the speed of play.
Another issue. The sun, causing a shadow of the flag near the hole, or near your ball. You don't want the shadow of the flag flapping near your ball, so it's "flag out please".
Next player, "flag in please", and so on. When you're near the hole, it's flag out for me, as stated earlier. However, for a down hill putt, I dare say, it's "flag in please".
Confuse the Meerkat!!

 

[Orikoru]

Also, we've mentioned it before, but this happened to me on the weekend - I had a blind shot where you can just see the top of the flag from where I was playing from. In the old days, if the flag was in you assume the green is clear, but you can't anymore. I had to stop myself from playing for a minute and wait for a playing partner to walk up the hill and bit and signal to me that the green really was clear.

 

[TheJezster]

Played a club match at the weekend and the opposition (home side) were taking the flag out at the earliest opportunity and very little "would you like it in or out". Tad annoying. I had to ask for it back in a couple of times because as anyone who has played Caversham Heath will know, there isn't a flat green on the course and I simply couldn't see the hole from where I was

Did you not just say to them "leave it in please" as they approached the flag? That's what I'd do, especially if they had taken it out without asking a couple of times.

 

[Deleted member 21258]

When clubs have proper metal flagsticks, then I would choose to always leave it in, as they don't lean. If the flagsticks are the cheaper type and are plastic(?) they tend to not sit straight up in the hole, so we just take the flags out for all putts.

Played with 3 people under the age of 25 recently, and non of them wanted the flag in, so was happy to attend, take out etc like old times. Just thought it was funny that the young guys hadn't moved with the new rules.

 

[r0wly86]

I don't really have strong feelings about it, and no one I have played with has either.

Generally for long putts we keep it in as little chance of holing it and it's a lot easier to see from further away. If it's in gimmee range then keep it in as should be just a simple putt.

The only time I have taken it out really was when it was blowing towards me. But never played with anyone who asked for it to be put back in, we just cracked on. Basically whether the flag was in or out we all just continued with it like that

 

[duncan mackie]

I don't really have strong feelings about it, and no one I have played with has either.

Generally for long putts we keep it in as little chance of holing it and it's a lot easier to see from further away. If it's in gimmee range then keep it in as should be just a simple putt.

The only time I have taken it out really was when it was blowing towards me. But never played with anyone who asked for it to be put back in, we just cracked on. Basically whether the flag was in or out we all just continued with it like that

All very sensible.

Most people haven't played enough in recent months (relative to the previous paradigm and thousands of rounds!) to have established firm preferences (in terms of best chance to hole putt) and I see most just going along with what's happening with others through the play of the hole. Whether, and how, that changes over time is yet to be seen. Personally I went to always in (unless someone else had removed it) straight away, and have now gone to pretty much in when i would previously have had it attended, and out otherwise. My reasons are that the closer to the hole I got the more I was focusing on the gap next to the pin as a target, or the pin, and it appeared to be detrimental. This made any theoretical advantage on heavily hit putts insignificant.
There's also the issue of hole damage from removing the ball with the stick still on place. We have had the green keeper and director of golf producing video evidence of the damage and requesting that people care fully remove the flagstick before removing their ball...which completely negates any timesaving arguments for leaving it in when everyone's close.
Anyway, people have choices - will be interesting to see how games are conducted by late summer.