Flagstick in or flagstick out?

By Neville Idour

When the rules were changed in 2019 by The R&A and the United States Golf Association to allow players to putt with the flag in, no one could have predicted the entrenched attitudes that would prevail.

Personally I have loved the freedom to get to the green first on occasions and line up a putt and sometimes putt out before anyone else is ready to putt. It is so convenient in a casual round not having to fluff around taking the flag out.

(Photo by David Cannon/Getty Images)

But I digress. Back to the question. Statistically is there more chance of holing putts with the flag in or out? Well to those golfers who always want the flag out the findings are quite decisive and not in their favour. My Golf Spy, considered the golf industry's leading independent testing and review platform, have undertaken extensive testing of putts from a variety of distances, with the flag leaning back and forward, with rigid and less rigid flagsticks, plus centre and off centre strikes have come up with quite conclusive results.

A putting machine called the perfect putter was used. Each test was run at three different speeds where the ball would run three, six or nine feet past the hole. The make and miss perentage from all putts and distances was recorded as well as the distance of missed putts.

The end result after all the testing was “leaving the flagstick in” is ALWAYS an advantage versus taking the flagstick out. Now we will go into more detail as to why. Flagstick in keeps the ball closer to the hole on misses. A less rigid flagstick has the highest make percentage and least distance from a miss. Even the most rigid flagstick in is still an advantage for makes and misses over flagstick out.

Dead centre strikes provided the best make percentage and left the shortest distance to the hole on misses. Off centre strikes on the flagstick also provided a higher make percentage. Even with the flagstick leaning toward the player it is still an advantage to leave it in. Depending on how strong the wind is this is the only time I might take the flag out.

Putting guru Dave Pelz put it very succinctly when he said: “The science proves you should leave the flagstick in when you putt.”

He also mentioned the rule change was a major move to speed up play. Golf Magazine published the results of a pin in/pin out test in 1990. Again the results were conclusive. ``You will hole a higher percentage of putts when you leave the flagstick in.’'

So in 35 years nothing has changed.

Matt Fitzpatrick is one high ranking tour player who always putts with the flagstick in. His world ranking has improved since he made the change. He said he feels more comfortable and the flag in narrows his focus. His results are eye opening. He was 60th for putting average in 2018-19 with the pin out. Four years later he was 43rd with the pin in. As for number of putts per round he improved from 77th to 16th, while his one putt percentage improved from 53rd to 35th.

So the question is will these conclusive facts move the needle for any flagstick in entrenched advocates? From my experiences with golfers of all types there are many who simply won’t depart from the tedious tradition of flagstick out even on tap ins.

Of course, as mentioned earlier, the rule change was also intended to speed up play. Unfortunately when you are in a group and some want it out it becomes quite tedious and frustrating having to ask for the flag to be put back in when your partners know you like it in and vice versa.

So the intention to speed up play is hampered by this continuous scenario. However on the other hand, if you are in a group or just a twosome where all putt with the flag in it is simply wonderful and the time spent on the greens is reduced considerably. The game flows nicely. If all golfers could putt with the flag in the time spent on an 18 hole round could be cut by 20 minutes or more.

Maybe that is too much to hope for, or is it? Don’t let tradition get in the way of shooting lower scores. The facts speak for themselves. Putt with the flag in. Try it, you might enjoy it. It is only a small step for golfers but in the scheme of things it is one huge step for the game.