An under-appreciated job of the green crew - hole placement...

[Anthony Gray]

   Dan,

 Nice thread.I live in a "golf course community" and at times I go with the guy and place the pins early in the morning,It is great fun.I like to place some were the balls like to feed/collect and some where coming in from the proper side of the faiway gives an advantage.I hope it makes the player think more when they see the pin,I even tinkered with moving the te boxes a little but the redknecks didn't like it.Makiing a par 4 drivable much like they did at #4 at PB for the US Open,but it did not go over well.Small golf IQ I suppose.

  Anthony

 

[Dan Herrmann]

Changing holes is much more about regulating the wear and stress than it is about bringing the architecture into play for most situations.

But isn't it wonderful when both goals can be accomplished together!

[Adrian_Stiff]

Changing holes is much more about regulating the wear and stress than it is about bringing the architecture into play for most situations.

But isn't it wonderful when both goals can be accomplished together!

Yes we you have that sunday pin situation it is, but simply pins have to rotate around the greens so you get quite a few that have to be in less interesting spots and what happens is the good places get taken for the tourneys so for general play you are going to get the duller spots.

[Mike Nuzzo]

From Tommy Witt CGCS at Northmoor Country Club's Blog - http://northmoorturf.blogspot.com/

Who decides the daily cupping locations for the greens?
What factors are involved in where the cupping locations are set?

For daily play, the Golf Course Superintendent determines the cupping locations.
For particular tournament play, the Golf Chairman or the Golf Professional may provide input.

The consideration and actual placement of the cupping locations on the greens each day is dependent on numerous factors. They include, but are not limited to:

Undulations and slope of the green
Wind direction
Wind velocity
Actual speed of the green
Moisture level of the green
Number of ball marks in the vicinity
Distance of the hole on a particular day
Entry and exit points of the green
Traffic flow and wear patterns of the green
The health of the turf in the localized area within the green
The quest to meet a 6 easy – 6 medium – 6 challenging cupping location set-up
Even distribution of front – middle – and back cupping locations (preferably 6 each)
Even distribution of left – center – right cupping locations (preferably 6 each)
Make the course play at a designated distance each day
Number of available and fair cupping locations on a given green
Suggestion by the Golf Committee for the degree of course difficulty for given events
Meet general USGA course setup guidelines as related to green’s edges, slopes, etc.
The particular design of the hole
The distance and difficulty of the approach shot for that particular day
The skill level of golfers for a particular event
The firmness of the green

[Davis Wildman]

Nice homework Mike...did Tommy indicate which of the many variables are more important than others?  In the end, seems it'd still be good to have a 'reference map' of green slope so you could make adjustments at the margins, so to speak, if green speed was low, green moisture was up, and wind was not a consideration...then might choose a cup location that is a bit more than 3%...maybe 4% and not get a bunch of lip from members/players at the end of rounds for cupping too steeply.

It is a shame all this damn technology is taking the fun out of golf