Golf_Digest_USA_-_May_2019

Illustrations by Todd Detwiler

Only in the rarest of cases is a flagstick

going to “catch” a missing putt.

BRYSON’S LOGIC

▶ Bryson DeChambeau has been

an advocate for putting with the

flagstick in: “I haven’t studied

all the variables in this research,

but I’m out here doing this, and

I know it works. I had a putt in

Dubai that was going at least four

feet by the hole, and that putt

wouldn’t have gone in had I not

had the flag in. There’s more to it

than geometry. There’s the visual

aspect. It allows you to see the

target. There are times it helps to

leave the flag in, and I know it’s

more than .0033 percent.”

WIND ADVISORY

▶ In strong winds, the flagstick

can bend, creating more space

on one half of the hole and less

on the other. In tests, that change

opened up one side of the hole

by an eighth of an inch—or the

size of a golf-ball dimple. Seems

inconsequential compared to just

pulling out the flagstick, which

opens up the entire hole.

A FINAL POINT

▶ This data argues against

leaving the flagstick in. One more

reason: Retrieving putts made

with the flagstick in also could

lead to hole damage.

VISUAL AID OR DISTRACTION?

▶ Does leaving the flagstick in provide

a visual benefit? Sports-vision experts believe

it would, but a test of elite players was

inconclusive. A group of 36 elite college

golfers hit 25-foot putts at holes with the

flagstick in and out. In both situations, the

average putt finished about two feet from

the hole. Another point to consider: Because

putting with the flagstick in is different, its

presence could be physically and mentally

distracting to your pre-putt routine.

DIFFERENT STICKS, SAME EFFECT

▶ Putts rolling just off-center and 4½ feet

beyond the hole were tested with three

flagsticks: fiberglass (the one played most

often on the PGA Tour), tapered aluminum

and multi-diamater aluminum. All measured

approximately one-half inch in diameter at

green level. Fiberglass, the lightest, had the

least negative results with 61 percent made,

followed by multi-diameter (38 percent) and

then tapered (36 percent). Each was worse

than no flagstick (90 percent).

THE 99.9967% SOLUTION

▶ Based on probability and

standard deviation calculations

and PGA Tour statistics, the

best tour players would strike

the flagstick dead-center from

20 to 25 feet about 3.3 percent

of the time. If you assume the

best pros would rarely roll their

first putt nine feet past the hole

—perhaps one in a thousand

times—that would make leaving

the flagstick in a benefit on only

.0033 percent of all putts from 20

to 25 feet. And that’s for the best

pros. For a typical amateur, those

percentages are much worse.

THREE-PUTT FACTOR

▶ Keeping the flagstick in

can help avoid three-putts.

The flagstick kills much of the

ball’s velocity on a putt hit too

hard, even a glancing blow.

That leaves a shorter second

putt—assuming the putt hits

that half-inch-wide flagstick.

STRAIGHT PUTTS

▶ Flagstick in or not, all putts
aimed for dead-center went in,
even at speeds rolling eight feet
past the hole. At nine to 12 feet
past, almost all putts missed
without a flagstick in. Almost
all were made with flagsticks in
(fiberglass, tapered).