The Hole Truth

With the course now fully operational it didn't take long before the grounds crew started hearing questions about pin placements. Everyone has an opinion about where the holes should be. Usually the comments, often in jest, go something like, "the flags are in the wrong places again, they are nowhere near where I'm hitting the ball". Other folks like to let us know when they think the pins are in unfair locations. We frequently hear about hole locations that are on top of domes so that the ball breaks away from the hole in all directions. Some players even go so far as to suggest that the holes have been placed in "illegal" locations; that they are so close to the edges of holes that the placement actually breaks the rules of golf.

I suspect that some players think that the grounds crew deliberately set out to make a hard game harder by hiding the flags behind traps or trees, out at the edges or on the slopes of greens, or just in the nastiest places we can find. I can assure everyone this is not the case. Although my duties are usually restrained to cutting the greens, and Russ is the one that most often picks the hole locations, we have to work as a team, both to provide patrons with a challenge and to ensure that the hole placements do not put unnecessary stress on the golf course. In fact, pin placement is more of an art than a science, and though a number of factors go into deciding where to put a hole, deliberately annoying the patrons is not one of them.

The first misconception to put to rest is that there are "illegal" hole locations. The rules of golf state only that the hole must be entirely on the putting green. There are no rules about how far from an edge the hole must be. There are some common sense guidelines. The last pass made by the greens mower is called a cleanup lap. The last pass of the mower goes completely around the outside edge of the green to pick up any stray clippings and smooth out the edges of the previous back and forth passes. Putting a hole in the clean up lap would be bad practice and would make it hard on the mowers, so you can safely assume  that the hole will almost always be at least 3 or 4 paces in from the edge.

In general terms hole placements follow a pattern of 3's. There should be three holes nearer the front of the green, marked with red flags, three near the middle marked with white flags, and three towards the back, marked out with flags of blue. Similarly there should be three easier to reach locations, three neutral ones and three that present a slightly greater degree of difficulty.  Course conditions can also dictate hole location. We try to maintain the playability of the greens by keeping holes out of low wet spots, muddy areas and away from areas where the grass has become stressed due to high traffic or mechanical pressures. Hole locations are rotated around the putting green regularly in order to present golfers with new and different challenges, as well as to give various areas on the green a chance to heal. Some hole locations are more attractive than others (think behind the tall trees on 6 or 8) but it can take up to three weeks for a hole location to recover, so moving the hole around is important.  

The context of play also needs to be considered. It makes sense to have the pins in more challenging locations for a best ball scramble or club championship. The ability to deal with tough hole placements is one of the skills that helps determine a winner.  The last round of the US Open is often a good example of context set up. Last year galleries at Pebble Beach flinched repeatedly as the best players in the world struggled with hole locations that punished all but the most precise of efforts. Par became an accomplishment and red numbers a rarity.

Fairness becomes the ultimate consideration in pin placement. The USGA guidelines on hole location suggest that for a hole location to be considered fair, it should be possible "for a putt, once struck at distance, to come to a stop on the putting surface within two feet of the hole". Such a guideline serves to eliminate holes situated on steep slopes or too close to the edge of a green. I emphasize however that this is a guideline. Ultimately the final arbiters of hole locations are the greens keepers. At Links the greens keepers are players too. We are playing the same holes as everybody else. Last I checked, none of us are scratch golfers, or amazing trick shot artists. Since the grounds crew are playing the same course as everyone else, you can be sure we'll be setting it up fairly!  We might enjoy a good challenge but we're not masochists!

In closing let me add that once holed, balls should be removed from the cup carefully and by hand. Fishing for a putt by dipping a putter head into the hole and jigging it out with a sharp upward pull is not cool. Such actions damage the lip of the cups and potentially spoil the chances of other golfers who come later. That hole is really only a few inches deep. Bending down to pick the ball out by hand really is not that hard, takes only a few seconds and demonstrates to everyone that your putt really was makeable after all! Working together, we can make sure that the "hole" experience remains positive for everyone!