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Something I did not know about color coded flags


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Okay, so we all know (I hope) that when a course is using 3 different colors for flags that the color of the flag tells you if the hole is in the front, middle or back of the green.
At my home course:

Red = Front
white = Middle
Yellow = Back

What I never knew is how the Greens Crew decides on the color of flag to use when the hole is cut on the border of the front/middle or middle/back...

Recently I was playing and hit into a green with a red flag, I came up short as the red flag was pretty far back and could of easily been marked white (a short white though).

Our head greens keeper happen to be doing something by the green and I started joking with him about how they messed up on the flag. It was then I learned how they choose the flag if it happens to be on the border.

The greens crew are supposed to choose the flag color that helps the golfer the most. For example if the green slopes back to front and the hole is on the border of front/middle they chose a front color flag as it would be better to be short with an up hill putt then long with a downhill putt.

This is pretty cool and could even help you out if you use a laser range finder but don't know the course that well (it gives you a clue where to miss).

Of course I am sure this varies from course to course, by our GK told me that it is pretty common way of doing things.

Just thought I would pass it on.
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A lot of times it's blue or black as the back flag. I don't think I've ever seen yellow as back, only front, but I have seen gold as back. White, however, seems to be almost the consensus middle.

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Driver: Titleist TSi3 | 15º 3-Wood: Ping G410 | 17º 2-Hybrid: Ping G410 | 19º 3-Iron: TaylorMade GAPR Lo |4-PW Irons: Nike VR Pro Combo | 54º SW, 60º LW: Titleist Vokey SM8 | Putter: Odyssey Toulon Las Vegas H7

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A lot of times it's blue or black as the back flag. I don't think I've ever seen yellow as back, only front, but I have seen gold as back. White, however, seems to be almost the consensus middle.

Your right our flags are "Gold" back just like our back tee are "gold" but they look yellow to me.

Driver R7 Superquad NV 55 shaft or Bridgestone J33 460 NV 75 shaft
3 and 5 Wood X
Hybrid original Fli Hi 21* or FT 22*
Irons AP2
Wedges Vokey 52* - 8 , 56* 14, 60*-7Putter California CoranodoBall TP RedGPS NeoRange Finder- Bushnell Tour V2 When Chuck Norris puts spin on the ball, the ball does not...
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Ours are red, white, blue for front, middle, back, matching the tees which are red, white, blue for short, middle, long. It took me a long time to even notice that. I wonder how universal the "help the player" strategy is.

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Two styles of courses in my area. Red, White, Yellow(not gold, not canary...just yellow) and then ones who use a pin sheet each day.

I've made quite a few comments while playing like "that flag is red but it looks pretty deep" or "its yellow but it looks more like middle from here".

My philosophy on golf "We're not doing rocket science, here."

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Locally Red for front, White for middle, and blue for back is what im used to around here....although there is a local course that has all white pins on the green, but has different clolor flags at the 150yd marker to indicate pin position....red, white, blue...etc to indicate where the pin is for that day
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Our head greens keeper happen to be doing something by the green and I started joking with him about how they messed up on the flag. It was then I learned how they choose the flag if it happens to be on the border.

If that helps the golfer then that's fine.

A very simple system of hole locations works something like this: Protect the turf by spreading the wear. 6 front....6 middle.....6 back. 6 easy....6 medium....6 tough 6 left......6 centre.....6 right Once again; protect the turf by spreading the wear. The health of the turf is more important than whether or not Harold M. Fader can hit his cut shot to 6 right hand hole locations on any particular day. The 6-6-6 is not written in stone. Other considerations; wind direction, mix it up for par 3 holes, upcoming events may require certain hole locations be preserved. If the Hole Changer can keep these simple rules of thumb in mind, the course can be set up with a good variety. If we happen to play two days in row, we'll se a different course each day.
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Some of the local courses use a plastic wiffle-ball softball on the flagstick, held in place by a rubber ring. It the ball is near the top, the pin is on the back of the green | If it's down low, it's near the front.

Focus, connect and follow through!

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Some of the local courses use a plastic wiffle-ball softball on the flagstick, held in place by a rubber ring. It the ball is near the top, the pin is on the back of the green | If it's down low, it's near the front.

A bunch of courses that I've been to have little flags that they slide up and down the flagstick. Near the top means back, near the bottom means front.

In my bag:

Driver: Titleist TSi3 | 15º 3-Wood: Ping G410 | 17º 2-Hybrid: Ping G410 | 19º 3-Iron: TaylorMade GAPR Lo |4-PW Irons: Nike VR Pro Combo | 54º SW, 60º LW: Titleist Vokey SM8 | Putter: Odyssey Toulon Las Vegas H7

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A bunch of courses that I've been to have little flags that they slide up and down the flagstick. Near the top means back, near the bottom means front.

Funny because I've been to several courses that have the little flag, but this is the first time I've heard of sliding them up/down to indicate the hole location. The standard around here is the red/white/blue flags.

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Funny because I've been to several courses that have the little flag, but this is the first time I've heard of sliding them up/down to indicate the hole location. The standard around here is the red/white/blue flags.

There are two flags: a big one that is static on top of the flagpole and a smaller one that is slid up/down. Pretty standard system around here but recently different colored flags have grown more and more common to replace these small flags.

Problem with those small flags is that players tend to move them either on purpose or by accident and then they no longer serve the purpose.
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For some reason, our course changed from "red-white-blue" flags to "red-white-yellow". Since the greenskeeper generally places the pin locations in order (front on one hole, middle the next, then back, etc.) it is generally easy to tell, but if you aren't paying attention, the yellow and white flags look almost the same from a distance.

Wish I could say our greenskeeper is knowledgeable/interested enough to care about locating the pin postions, but judging by what I've seen, I think they just put them in the usual places. Would be nice if they changed their routine a bit, and actually moved the pin locations a bit more.
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For some reason, our course changed from "red-white-blue" flags to "red-white-yellow". Since the greenskeeper generally places the pin locations in order (front on one hole, middle the next, then back, etc.) it is generally easy to tell, but if you aren't paying attention, the yellow and white flags look almost the same from a distance.

We have a good crew at our club and the "compete" to see who gets to set the holes. On of our crew shot the course record this year - hell of a player. You can always tell when he set the locations as he able to put many of them in what look like easy spots, but they turn out to have subtle brakes that you can easily miss. He never gives you any circus putts, but it always a tough day when he gets his hands on the hole cutter.

Driver R7 Superquad NV 55 shaft or Bridgestone J33 460 NV 75 shaft
3 and 5 Wood X
Hybrid original Fli Hi 21* or FT 22*
Irons AP2
Wedges Vokey 52* - 8 , 56* 14, 60*-7Putter California CoranodoBall TP RedGPS NeoRange Finder- Bushnell Tour V2 When Chuck Norris puts spin on the ball, the ball does not...
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I can never remember what the blasted colors mean (and they vary course-to-course IME). Another reason to own and use a rangefinder ....

Driver: Cobra 460SZ 9.0, med.
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Wedges: PW, 52, 56, 60 Mizuno MP30
Putter: Odyssey 2-ball

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A bunch of courses that I've been to have little flags that they slide up and down the flagstick. Near the top means back, near the bottom means front.

Some of the local courses use a plastic wiffle-ball softball on the flagstick, held in place by a rubber ring. It the ball is near the top, the pin is on the back of the green | If it's down low, it's near the front.

The disadvantage to this is that the flags often get moved during play by careless of unaware players (or by some smart-ass just screwing around). My course tried this for about 2 years then went to red-white-blue flags instead because the movable marker system just wasn't very effective.

Another thing to keep in mind - supposedly when the tees are forward in the tee box, the flag is supposed to be in the back position, and if the tees are back the flag should be in the front. This is to keep the yardages near what is posted on the card. Not all courses seem to be aware of this subtlety though.

Rick

"He who has the fastest cart will never have a bad lie."

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My home course doesn't use any code system, nor to they give a pin sheet. Most holes, it's not bad. But, there are a few holes with uphill approaches and odd greens complexes (my course is an old-ish style without many contemporary design conventions around the green) so I have a hard time on occasion. Hole #5 has lead to me blurting out many an f-bomb once I get near the green and realize where the flag REALLY is, as opposed to where it LOOKED like it was.

Current Gear Setup: Driver: TM R9 460, 9.5, Stiff - 3W: TM R9, 15, stiff - Hybrid: Adams Idea Pro Black, 18, stiff - Irons: Callaway X Forged 09, 3-PW, PX 5.5 - SW: Callaway X Series Jaws, 54.14 - LW: Callaway X Series Jaws, 60.12 - Putter: PING Redwood Anser, 33in.

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Another thing to keep in mind - supposedly when the tees are forward in the tee box, the flag is supposed to be in the back position, and if the tees are back the flag should be in the front. This is to keep the yardages near what is posted on the card. Not all courses seem to be aware of this subtlety though.

Now that IS interesting. Does this truly mean that I can infer from the position of the tees in the tee box roughly where the pin is going to be on the green, when I finally hack my way there?

I doth infer too much methinks ...... still, I'll check this out at my home track and see if there's any sort of a correlation. I might ask my partner for an opinion; it might put him off his game sufficiently to make the necessary difference hmmm, should have thought of this while playing my bro last week.

Driver: Cobra 460SZ 9.0, med.
3 Wood: Taylor stiff
3-hybrid: Nike 18 deg stiff
4-hybrid:
Taylor RBZ 22 deg regular
Irons:5-9, Mizuno MP30, steel
Wedges: PW, 52, 56, 60 Mizuno MP30
Putter: Odyssey 2-ball

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Another thing to keep in mind - supposedly when the tees are forward in the tee box, the flag is supposed to be in the back position, and if the tees are back the flag should be in the front. This is to keep the yardages near what is posted on the card. Not all courses seem to be aware of this subtlety though.

I can't say I've ever seen that done (not that it's never been done of course, I've just never seen it). Most places I've been to adjust their tee locations only when the grass is worn down.

Some part of me thinks that the challenge of par 3's (where I assume what you described mainly happens) is to have to adjust to slightly different lengths, but another part of me likes the consistency. Pin sheets are my favorite, but it seems like mostly pricey courses are the ones to use pin sheets.

In my bag:

Driver: Titleist TSi3 | 15º 3-Wood: Ping G410 | 17º 2-Hybrid: Ping G410 | 19º 3-Iron: TaylorMade GAPR Lo |4-PW Irons: Nike VR Pro Combo | 54º SW, 60º LW: Titleist Vokey SM8 | Putter: Odyssey Toulon Las Vegas H7

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