Par 3s Bottom of Flagstick Visibility

[SwingsitlikeHogan]

We have a 168yd (centre of green) par 3 that is pretty much dead flat with a front cross bunker. The front rim (green side rim) of the bunker is not very high, but high enough to mean that we cannot see the bottom couple of feet of the flagstick- no matter where it is positioned. This makes it very difficult, if not impossible, to accurately visually judge where the flagstick is positioned.

There is some debate in the club around whether this is 'fair'/desirable - or whether it would be preferable to lower the rim of the bunker so we can see the bottom of the flagstick. We could also raise the tee a bit (at much greater cost) with the same effect.

Any thoughts?

 

[Deleted member 1147]

I used to play at Ashbourne Golf Club, they have 2 par 3's where you even can't see the green from the tee, let alone the bottom of the pin.

If you know the distance, all you need to do is hit that distance, seeing the bottom of the pin shouldn't matter.

 

[stokie_93]

Should try our 13th hole.

190 yards all uphill, slopes right to left and sometimes you can see about 1 foot of the pin never mind whereabouts it is :rofl:

 

[upsidedown]

17th at ours , all up hill and can just make out the flag also

 

[duncan mackie]

Any thoughts?

1.Totally and complete waste of money
2. Someone's having a laugh
3. The greens committee should have more important things to do
4. There should be some clear visual indication of the relative distance from the pin positions of the day and the centre of the green that can be seen from the tee of the day.

Send the committee to play Braid Hills, or closer, Rye - holes there you can't see any of the green you are aiming for let alone a flagship (and I don't mean the bottom of it!)

Playing to elevated greens is part of the game.

 

[Robobum]

Remove the bunker completely, those little suckers can be tricky to get out of you know.

Trial some "bumpers" down each side of the hole, like the ones for the kids at ten pin bowling, and make the hole bigger (go on Delc, fill yer boots son)

 

[chrisd]

😄😆 want to borrow my Bushnell laser SILH??

 

[Deleted member 15344]

We have a 168yd (centre of green) par 3 that is pretty much dead flat with a front cross bunker. The front rim (green side rim) of the bunker is not very high, but high enough to mean that we cannot see the bottom couple of feet of the flagstick- no matter where it is positioned. This makes it very difficult, if not impossible, to accurately visually judge where the flagstick is positioned.

There is some debate in the club around whether this is 'fair'/desirable - or whether it would be preferable to lower the rim of the bunker so we can see the bottom of the flagstick. We could also raise the tee a bit (at much greater cost) with the same effect.

Any thoughts?

Why do you need to see the bottom of the flag ? Surely you can use a course planner and see the top of the flag as well as course knowledge to know approximately where the flag is located.

Either that or get a laser range finder to help.

But changing to course to help people see the bottom of the flag is the most ridiculous suggestion I have ever heard and unbelievable waste of money and time.

 

[ruff-driver]

:mmm:

 

[Robster59]

You want to try our 11th.
http://eastrengolfclub.co.uk/course/hole/11/
200 yards, all uphill with only the top half of the flag visible.

What's being asked all seems a bit petty to me.

 

[garyinderry]

Hate playing uphill par3's. as mentioned it is part of the game so it is what it is.


Certainly a mountain has been created from a molehill, you could put the tee box on that.

 

[Bunkermagnet]

Is it April 1st today?

 

[patricks148]

we have four par 3's and only the 217 downhill 14th the bottom of the flag is visible all the others a behind deep pot bunkers.

I don't think its an Issue TBH

 

[NWJocko]

SiLH, the issue wouldn't have been raised by someone who is against the use of DMD's by any chance?

Absolute nonsense and I can't imagine any club would entertain such a "debate" longer than politely dismissing it asap.

 

[Imurg]

We have quite a few flags that we can't see the base of, not just par 3s....
One of the reasons I got a laser........

 

[PIng]

We have a couple of par 3s where you can't see the bottom of the flag, but the flags on all the greens are either red, white or yellow, indicating where on the green they are. Not much use for the colour-blind I suppose...

 

[Crow]

I'm of the firm opinion that you should be able to see the hole on all par threes, one of the great thrills in golf is seeing your ball heading towards a hole in one, even if like me you've never had one drop.

 

[Tashyboy]

Bamburgh castle, gorgeous course, any roads some of there par threes you can only see the flag, not the green if you climb about twenty steps up some ladders to heaven. Proper squeaky bum time playing your shots.
The hole you describe sounds similar to a hole at ? Foxton. Man in Black played a shot on a par thre and we knew it was close. It was it had missed the Lhs of the hole by 1/2 - 1" and run past 4" if it had dropped, he/we would not of seen it happen.
Oh ah on the hole I mentioned at Bamburgh, we played the par three and were stood on the next tee overlooking the par three green. The fourball behind us. One of the lads teed off, the ball landed a foot in front of pin hit the hole and bounced 12 ft right. He did not know how close he was til we told him in the club house after

 

[3565]

Your members not got anything more worthwhile to discuss?
So you got a 2nd shot to a par 4 similar to the par 3? Are you going to complain about that as well?

 

[HomerJSimpson]

The fourth at Wimbledon Common is a par three over a mound and is completely blind. They did have a longer flag stick but it made no difference and you had to wander to the right of the tee box to have an inkling where it was. Granted it was only 170 odd yards and a very small green so if you found the target it was never a long putt but was always hard committing to a blind shot (for me anyway)