A question for those who would know:
Are there many 'bad pins' on any of the classic GB&I courses? And if not many 'bad pins' come to mind, is this solely because of the more moderate green speeds there?
I ask because, over the years of watching the Open, it seems that the rota greens (even those that have more contours than others) are very pinnable throughout.
Peter,
I can’t think of a single current example on a GB&I links, even on the most undulating set of greens. What I mean by that is if the pin is placed sensibly. There are plenty of transition area pins (Mike’s main gripe) that can’t be reached. So don’t place pins in transition areas.
Some of the most severe examples are at Carne. The Hackett course has only one - a front pin on the 9th where it is sometimes near impossible to keep the ball on the green if putting from the back. The Kilmore has quite a number of pin positions that would be made a mockery of if they ever take the green speeds above 7...
Of course, there are plenty of pins on 5% slopes around many of the courses that have been “lost” because of green speeds. The whole back portion of the Eden 11th at TOC is one. So unfortunately they altered it.
So whilst I agree wholeheartedly with Mike’s main point, I still am firmly in the “fast greens are losing us some interesting hole locations” camp.