Selecting pin locations

Changing the cups on a golf course is one of the most basic tasks we do. Frequency may vary, but nearly every golf course in the world changes their cups. While the job is simple, there are many reasons behind why we change the cups and how we determine where to place the new cup.

A manager in the Grounds Department lays the pin on the green early in the morning so that our staff knows where to place the new cup. This is not a universal strategy but it works well for us. We do this for a several reasons. First, the burden of selecting fair/unfair pin locations is squarely on our shoulders and not our staff. If anyone has a complaint or is curious why a pin was put in certain area, we are the ones to speak with, not our staff. We accept all responsibility for a potentially controversial or unfair cup, not the staff member who was just trying to get his job done. Second, if we select where the pins go, we then inherently know where every pin on the golf course is at any given time. While this may not seem like that big of a deal, it is for us. It allows us to have a feel for how the course will play based on pin locations.  It also allows us to know how the course will react to Mother Nature. We know the areas that get really dry, really wet, easily diseased, etc. and we can plan accordingly. If we didn’t select the pins, we may come across a pin in a vulnerable location later in the day, but it may be too late to take any necessary steps to protect that weak turf. Lastly, selecting a new pin location is not as simple as finding a flat area. While our staff is excellent at their jobs, they are not trained turf managers. There are many potential consequences for the turf of which they may be unaware. Therefore, if we select the location, we prevent the untrained staff member from unknowingly placing a flag in a location that we do not want.

Managing wear on the putting green is a constant battle. Our mowing and rolling practices combined with hundreds of golfers a day can wear grass out quickly, especially on a green. Rotating the foot traffic on the putting green is widely accepted, and one of the main reason for changing cups. If the cup stayed in the same place too long, the grass in a 6 foot radius around that cup would wear out and die. A pin in a fresh location, can tolerate all the rounds of the new day, giving the previous location a chance to recover. A few of the day’s golfers may still walk in the area of the previous cup, but not to the extent as when the flag was there. In order to continue to rotate the cups to new locations, we have to have the maximum square footage putting surface at our disposal. We can’t place cups on or near slopes, so that area is subtracted from the total area of the green. We also use an 8 foot buffer away from the collar around the green. The USGA recommends (not a rule) that flags be kept 4 paces from the edge of the green. However, most people do not realize how few places this would leave to actually place a cup. 4 paces/yards is roughly 12 feet (3 feet per pace). Bretton Woods' greens average about 7,000 square feet. Taking 12 feet from the area of the green makes the available size of that green about 3,900 square feet. Once we account for slopes, we are talking about less than 3,000 square feet of available pin location area. That is incredibly small to manage cup rotation and golfer traffic. In fact, more than half of Bretton Woods' greens are smaller than 7,000 square feet and would become almost unplayable from traffic because of a lack of area to move the pins. This will lead to wear, increased ball marks, putting over old plugs, and turf thinning and death. However, if we take only 8 feet from the area of the green, by using the length of the flag instead, we increase the area for pin locations by more than 1,000 square feet. That is 1/4 more pin locations on average, and 1/3 on most of the greens. Using this flexibility in placing pins slightly closer to the collar is one our biggest tools for combating wear and traffic on the greens.

So, what else goes into our decision of selecting pin locations?

Staying away from slopes is important in our thought process. Every golfer has seen a pin that was placed a little too close to a slope. It makes for a bad hole no matter how well played from tee to green. We always try to avoid this mistake.

We also have to judge how wet the green is. Foot traffic on a wet green can be damaging to the turf and soil. If a cup is located on the farthest corner away from where golfers exit to the next tee, then every golfer is going to cause wear on the entire green, walking to the cup and back to the next tee. However, if we plan correctly, when the green is wet or will become wet, we may put the pins in “high and dry” locations near the exit point of the green. This accomplishes two things: One, the course remains playable because the cup is not underwater, and two, foot traffic is not extending entirely across a saturated green.  Now, the golfers only walk on ¼ of the green, minimizing the wear. We are also cognizant that many golfers ride in carts. When the course is very wet, we are likely cart path only. Therefore, placing the pin near to the cart path side of the green, which usually coincides with the exit side, reduces the extra walking the golfer must do to get from cart to cup. This also improves pace of play.

We have to be mindful of upcoming tournaments and outings as well. Most tournaments want a variety of 6 easy/ 6 medium/ 6 hard pin locations. We also don’t want the players having to putt over old plugs if possible. Depending on the tournament, we may avoid a certain area of a green for a week or more leading up to the tournament to keep it clear of old cups. Likewise, some greens just don’t have a hard pin location. Those greens have to be either easy or medium locations. But, if we finish all 6 easy locations and are only left with greens that don’t have any hard locations, then we are in a bind. Similarly, outings often have hole-in one contests. These contests have a minimum yardage from which the shot must be taken. Generally, it is not difficult to attain this yardage; however, keeping the shot playable is a consideration. For example, #9 at Bretton Woods is a terrific par 3 over water. It is a favorite hole-in-one contest hole choice for outings. If the contest requires a 165 yard shot and the pin is in the front, then the tee markers must be moved back to attain the yardage. Now this forces the golfer into an extra-long carry, including the entire pond, leading to lost balls and slow play. In contrast, if the pin is in the back, the tees come forward, and now the forced carry is simpler.

Non-agronomically speaking, we also choose pin locations to increase variability for the golfers. Most of our rounds are played by members who play regularly. We do not want someone who played Saturday, to play the exact same course setup on Sunday. We also like to put pins in interesting/hard/easy/intriguing- locations. Changing cups does have, and should have, a unique and specific effect on how a course is played. We want everyone to play a “new” course every round. Sometimes cups will be in hard places, sometimes easy, sometimes left, sometimes right, sometimes way in the back, sometimes way in the front. Each shot of each round should be new or interesting. For example, we do not want someone to walk off the 8^th green and grab their 7 iron because that is what they ALWAYS hit on #9. They should have to think about their shot, decide on the club, and adjust for that day. We want everyone to be challenged/captivated/surprised/excited every time they play Bretton Woods.

We do not take any of the decisions we make lightly. We put much thought into everything we do, even something as “simple” as changing the cup.

See you on the course!

Joe

jvillegas@bwrc.org