Ridiculous pins

[Imurg]

Hold the Phone..........
Nobody's complaining about tough pin positions, it's the virtually impossible ones that are the subject of this thread.
One's cut halfway down a slope or right on the edge of one, ones that mean any kind of miss and you're 20 feet away...

You also need to take into account the standard of golfer playing. If there's a 4 square yard window to pitch on otherwise you run off, how many times out of 10 is the average golfer going to hit it from 150 yards? And how do you know that the flag is next to a slope if you
a, can't see the bottom of the flag
and
b, if you don't have a daily pin sheet.
Regardless of how well you know the course, the vast majority of players wouldn't have a hope in Hell of "adjusting" a few yards off their shot.
Robo's right in what he says - a good player would be able to adjust.
But the average player..?
Not a chance.

 

[garyinderry]

not a bit drafty. ive made my point. im not even sure robobum has read this whole thread!

 

[ScienceBoy]

Its pin positions like this we are talking about:

Not legitimate difficult pins on undulating greens like blackmoor

 

[Lump]

Hold the Phone..........
Nobody's complaining about tough pin positions, it's the virtually impossible ones that are the subject of this thread.
One's cut halfway down a slope or right on the edge of one, ones that mean any kind of miss and you're 20 feet away...

You also need to take into account the standard of golfer playing. If there's a 4 square yard window to pitch on otherwise you run off, how many times out of 10 is the average golfer going to hit it from 150 yards? And how do you know that the flag is next to a slope if you
a, can't see the bottom of the flag
and
b, if you don't have a daily pin sheet.
Regardless of how well you know the course, the vast majority of players wouldn't have a hope in Hell of "adjusting" a few yards off their shot.
Robo's right in what he says - a good player would be able to adjust.
But the average player..?
Not a chance.

This is spot on.
I'm not complaining about hard pins or sucker pins as the yanks call them. But pins that are unfair and pointless.

I had another look at the two pins I was complaining about today. The First pin is 2 paces from the fall off. (Which sends you ball off the front of the green 30ft away) and the second pin is against R&A guidance (Its on a slope and even worse there isn't a level spot anywhere on the front of the green)

 

[In_The_Rough]

We had one on captains day once. The 18th is a two tiered green and they put the flag literally less than a foot away from the slope so everybody was playing their putts short as they could not afford to roll it past, 5 putts on that green on the day were not uncommon, the amount of complaints that day nearly reached 3 figures. I was happy to have a 3 putt that day. It made it a mockery and a farce.

 

[beggsy]

The first one i wouldn't have a problem with as 2 paces is roughly 6foot and if your that far past there is only you to blame but would not be happy about the 2nd

 

[SocketRocket]

A putt in line saves nine.

 

[Doon frae Troon]

Surprised that my earlier comment that 'easy pins make it easier for low handicap players to win competitions' comment did not get a bigger mention. It usually creates quite a debate when I bring it up in golfing banter.

 

[rosecott]

The 9th hole at my local, is a 159 yd par 3 and is a stroke index 12. I'm not sure how the stroke index has been worked out because it is one of the hardest holes on the course due to the pin positions, slopes and bunkers.

I quite often par the SI 1 hole on the course however I find the the 516 yd par 5, 4th hole, (SI 2), lots of hazards, and the SI 12, 9th the hardest two holes on the course, (I have no idea how they get SI 12).

Here we go again. Currently, the SI should NOT be a measure of how difficult it is to play a hole to its par. If you look at your scorecard, you should see that the even SIs are on one nine and the odds on the other. There are about half a dozen other factors to be taken into account (such as SI 1 and 2 to be placed close to the centre of each 9) to ensure an even spread of the 18 SIs over the 18 holes. CONGU now acknowledge that there is a case for having 2 sets of SIs - one, as in the current recommended settings, for matchplay and another, based on difficulty in playing to par, for stablefords and bogeys. Last weekend I played Ullesthorpe Court and their scorecard has the 2 sets of SIs.

 

[MadAdey]

There was uproar at my club club in one of the big comps of the year due to outrageous pin positions. Players of all abilities raised complaints. This also included a top amateur player who has represented England in his younger days alongside Lee Westwood, so saying people should learn to be better golfers is rubbish. Hasten to say, the committee looked into things and have now stopped the greenkeepers from using these positions for the pins. I would say that day the greenkeepers had put the pins in some very tough places that I do not see a problem with as it was going to take ability to negotiate the green. It was the 6 or 7 holes that had placements that were impossible to play as the hole was cut right at the top of sharp inclines.

 

[wull]

we tend to put our pins in nice and easy positions to keep everyone happy.we keep them away from recently changed holes and never on any slopes.

but every now and then i'll make them a bit more interesting,nothing mental though...just enough to keep the golfers thinking.some easy,some a little difficult and some hard is perfectly acceptable.

 

[HomerJSimpson]

I played the GM meet at Blackmoor last year. In the morning round with Smiffy and hit two mates I was about 8 foot away on the 5th (I think from memory) putting downhill. I then had a 12 foot uphill return and I didn't charge the first. Was it unfair? Possibly but we were warned before we went out that the greens were quick and that downhill putts would be hard to stop if the didn't go in.

The argument is armed with that knowledge and as everyone is keen to point out, golf is a game of skill, then surely the error was mine for leaving myself on the wrong part of the green. Suffice to say I aimed much further left of the flag in the PM round and two putted.

I take on board that there is a difference between challenging and downright sadistic and to be fair it is a fine line and I'm sure a lot to do with the quality of the greens committee and the greenkeeper who decide where the flags go in big events. If you have a sensible committee along with a greenkeepr that knows the job then it should be easy enough to set a test that challenges the single figure player and doesn't make the 20 something look stupid.

 

[Imurg]

I played the GM meet at Blackmoor last year. In the morning round with Smiffy and hit two mates I was about 8 foot away on the 5th (I think from memory) putting downhill. I then had a 12 foot uphill return and I didn't charge the first. Was it unfair? Possibly but we were warned before we went out that the greens were quick and that downhill putts would be hard to stop if the didn't go in.

But at least the putt didn't roll 30 feet off the green....

That was a very tricky green/pin position - but not unreasonable.