Rules of Golf Review: My ball ricochets off a new flagstick and never drops. Don't they have to be softer?
Yuichi Masuda
Golf is hard enough that introducing "stingy" flagsticks at a golf course seems just plain cruel. Granted, if you're putting, you should always pull the flagstick out as you gain virtually no advantage when leaving it in. Golf Digest ran tests on the value of leaving the pin in and found that other than perhaps a psychological benefit, you're much better yanking it out of the cup.
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That said, there are few things more heartbreaking in golf than seeing a chip shot or bunker blast track toward the hole only for the ball to carom off the stick. You know that feeling you get when you think you might just hole out? It's doubly devastating when only a split second later you find out you didn't—and the flagstick played a role.
You might be interested to know that the Equipment Rules do give very specific guidance on the dimensions and materials used to make a flagstick. For example, it must be round (you probably knew that), and its diameter can only be .75 of an inch for at least three inches above the ground at its bottom and no wider than 2 inches anywhere else. The narrowing at the bottom is supposed to help a golf ball drop, not deflect it away.
Also, a flagstick doesn't necessarily need a flag. Pennsylvania's famed Merion Golf Club, a 19-time USGA championship site that plays host to this year's U.S. Amateur and the 2030 U.S. Open, has wicker baskets at the top of its flagsticks. It's also permissible to have things such as reflective attachments on them to help golfers using rangefingers get a more accurate reading.
Andrew Redington
In terms of height, the sky's the limit—literally—as there are no restrictions. You might need a super tall flag on a hole with a blind shot, though most courses use sticks that are either seven or eight feet long. Wind can play a factor.
When it comes to materials, the flagstick can neither be "shock absorbing" nor have features or properties which are designed to unduly influence the movement of the ball. It also can't have attachments that are designed to allow a player to determine wind speed.
You might think that leaves some gray area in terms of how firm the flagstick can be, especially if it seems to "unduly influence movement" of the ball. But there's no conspiracy theory here about a group of manufacturers trying to make the game harder by introducing harder materials. Most flagsticks are either fiberglass or, at fancy clubs, Brazilian ipe ("ee-pay") wood.
In short, the flags at your course are probably conforming so if you think you might hole a shot or two, yank them out.