Why isn’t there a standard height for flagsticks?

[JerseyThursday]

I played Windy Knoll in Ohio earlier today and was thrown off a bit by their funky short flagsticks (see image from a course review on this site). I was left wondering what was the point and why it can vary so much. They also hit on one other course pet peeves, positioning the hole within ten feet of the fringe. There was no need as most of their greens were quite large and in good (other than being very hard) shape.

What are your opinions on flagstick height and placing the hole super close to the fringe?

[skierbri10]

I have never seen anything like that....lol

[thor]

I thought there was

[Big_M]

As far as cutting the hole... I don't mind if it's close, they have pins like that on tour... but I think about 10 feet is the limit. I think it IS poor planning if every pin is like this, but a few is fine.

Flag height... that pic is crazy! I understand why some are longer... so you can see the flag over a hill or something... but anything under 6ft is kind of puzzling. I don't think we really need a standard size, but courses shouldn't be stupid. If I can poke my eye out bending over to pull the flag out, then it's too fricken short.

[Sherpat]

Are you sure you're both not just really, really tall?

[jmurdock]

I see flagsticks positioned 10 ft from the fringe all the time. The usual setup for flags at my course is 6 hard, 6 moderate, 6 easy. Some holes you can fire at and some you need to think about. That's golf. If they were all set up in the middle of the green or away from trouble areas, (sandtraps, greenside lakes, slopes) that would be boring.

[underparnv]

I think the reason for the short flags is so that they stay in the hole when there is a strong wind. At least that is what the windy courses do here in Reno...

My $0.02

[iacas]

  JerseyThursday said:

What are your opinions on flagstick height and placing the hole super close to the fringe?

Six easy, six hard, and six medium is about right. When I played Windy Knoll, though (and took the picture in the review), they didn't seem to follow that rule. Almost every flag was a few feet from the fringe. Very, very few were even "medium."

The flagsticks, as I said in the review, were probably short because of the wind. The course is pretty flat so you can always see the flags, even though they're shorter. It threw me off for quite awhile, but I don't imagine it would if I played there frequently enough. And I'm fine with the rules not specifying either of these things. The last thing we need to worry about should be golf courses replacing flagsticks because they're non-compliant.

[popey]

Maybe they could not afford proper flags!