Yep my thoughts exactly. I don't care how many people are pro 'flag in', if I'm playing in a competition then it will be flag out for me irrespective of whether it is in or out when it's my turn to putt.
We had one in our group who preferred the flag to be out still. What we did was wherever possible the other two of us who wanted it in would putt first, even if we were slightly nearer (since in essence, ready golf can apply), and then remove the flag for the other guy's putts. If we weren't able to do it that way for whatever reason, then I would just leave it out once it was out, I wasn't going to be that much of a stickler about it.
Shouldn’t be any faffing about. Ready play allows those who want the flag in to go first as its alREADY in. Those who want it out go last.
Why should I change my mind based on what I see pros doing on telly? I will do what I feel helps me shoot the lowest scores.
Surely if all the pros come to the conclusion that keeping it in lowers scores, then they'd probably be correct?
Not at all. As I've said before, I putt better when I feel confident standing over the ball, happy with the line and pace that I've chosen. I put a better stroke on the ball in those situations. To me, the hole looks smaller with the flag in and as a result I don't feel as confident.
Funnily enough I found that aiming at a flag rather than the hole made me slightly more accurate due to the smaller target (well maybe, needs to be tested over more time of course). i.e. it made me aim for the centre of the cup rather than one edge or the other. Each to their own though! I don't actually think every pro will end up leaving them in, it will probably be about 50-50 in the end based on preference rather than cold hard numbers.
Sure but if 2 years down the road 90% of pros are leaving the flag in, do you really think everyone else won't follow suit.
