The ubiquitous flagstick has rather humble origins. The Rules define the flagstick as “a movable straight indicator with or without bunting or other material attached, centred in the hole to show its position . It must be circular in cross section. Padding or shock-absorbent material that might unduly influence the movement of the ball is prohibited”. The evolution of this definition did not happen overnight. The circular reference was added when it was realised that flagsticks could be craftily positioned in the hole for an advantage, as was the prohibition on using padding material.
Today’s golfers fly into a rage when they see a flagstick removed by the previous group, inadvertently not put back into the hole. Spare a thought for our forefathers who had no such luxuries with Rules such as the 1783 Aberdeen Code stating, “When the hole is distinctly in view of the player, no person shall be allowed to stand at it for direction”.
It wasn’t till 1875 that the word flagstick appeared in the Rules and has, over the years, finally settled to the modern Rule where a player is penalised 2 strokes if he strikes the flagstick while it is being attended.
The wicker basketIt is normal practice to use cloth flags as “the bunting”. There is a quaint tradition at the Merion Golf Club in Pennsylvania (a US Open venue) where orange and red wicker baskets are used instead. The British used such baskets as they withstood the strong seaside winds better than cloth and I found some old folklore that said Scottish shepherds, whose walking sticks were topped by baskets in which they stored their lunch, used them as flagsticks!
The hole in oneThe flagstick needs to be around 7 feet high, with its diameter at a maximum of three-fourth of an inch, from three inches above the ground to the bottom of the hole. This will allow a ball to go into the hole when the flagstick has not been removed. Ask anyone who has had a hole-in-one (41 years on, I am still to have one, unfortunately) and they won’t complain.
The pros do it tooJack Nicklaus
At the 2000 Open Championships, the great Jack Nicklaus was guilty of not having the flagstick removed while playing from the green. Readers familiar with the Old Course may know that the 2 and 16 share a large (read 2 acres) common green. While playing the 2, his ball landed up on the 16 green side and he elected to chip the 40 yards to the hole, forgetting to ask someone to attend to the flagstick. He almost holed the shot, and had that happened, he would have been penalised 2 strokes!
Boo Weekley
There are occasions when trying to help someone lands you in trouble. At the 2007 Arnold Palmer Invitational, Weekley was penalised 2 strokes while trying to help fellow competitor Tom Johnson, who, at the 2 hole, elected to chip instead of putt the 85 feet, and forgot to tell his caddie to attend to the flag. Weekley, realising that the flag was still in, rushed to remove the flag as the ball was rolling towards the hole. Weekley was in breach of Rule 17-2, which prohibits the unauthorised attendance of the flag, which might influence the movement of the ball.
Nick Price
At the 2004 Dubai Desert Classic, Nick Price was on the verge of making a putt at the 3 hole when he asked his caddie to help him with the line. In all this, he forgot to have his caddie attend to the flagstick and made his putt. Much to his chagrin, the ball rolled into the hole. He was in breach of Rule 17-3 (c) which prohibits the ball from striking the flagstick in the hole unattended, when a stroke has been made on the green. So, it is just not us but the golfing greats themselves who can run afoul of the Rules, but as renowned golf course architect Peter Dye put it, “the ardent golfer would play Mount Everest if somebody put a flagstick on top of it”.
