My personal opinion is that the red/white/blue flags look tacky at a private club. They might work to move players around a public course, but for members that need to look at a flag color to determine the location on a green despite having played hundreds of rounds there makes no sense to me. It comes down to unnessasary maintenence. Not to mention, if there are any blind shots to greens a flag color doesn't make any difference. A small wooden 150-yard marker in the rough, with a white/red/blue top is a good compromise, but not my ideal either.
The form over substance police strike again.(look "tacky")
I'm perfectly fine if you don't like it for purists reasons(but then remove ALL distance aids), or extra maintenance-but how "it looks" is an oh so common American club thing.
The same reason pull carts were so long verboten in the US.
OT but Americans taking caddies in the UK/Ireland no doubt look "tacky"(or at least touristy) to locals and other club members.
So many clubs in America worry so much about how things LOOK, rather than how they play.(the clutter police)
I completely buy the extra maintenance argument-if we weren't talking about a club in America(which even if minimal is way more than the typical UK club)
Many clubs use a pin sheet--more time for maintenance-and pulling out the sheet.
a lazer will tell you how far it is, not where it is on a green-two very different things.
One can play "hundreds" of rounds and not know where a pin is on the green due to failing, aging eyesight, deception,architecture or terrain.
We can agree that the 150 post with a pin marker is a great idea/compromise