Why the new flagstick rule might not speed up play

There is a lot of talk and experimentation going on about the new flagstick rule (Rule 13.2a(2)) that went into effect January 1st by the USGA and R&A.

I certainly think this is a good rule change and do plan on leaving the pin in as much as possible. Especially, after seeing the results from the MyGolfSpy team. The evidence is pretty clear that keeping the stick in will help you sink more putts. At the very least leave you with a shorter miss.

But in some cases I am skeptical if this will actually speed up play…

I don’t actually think the USGA and R&A are trying to speed up play on Tour, but let’s use the tour as an example of where this might fall to pieces.

Let’s assume that Bryson DeChambeau, who has said and demonstrated he will keep the pin in for every putt. Say he’s paired with Justin Thomas who has “I can’t really take myself seriously if I kept the pin in”.

If Bryson wants it in for every putt and Justin wants it out, one of their caddies will be running back and fourth with the stick to replace and remove it.

When the flagstick rule slows down

Admittedly this scenario won’t play out often, but just humor me for a minute.

If both players are on the green and Justin is away he will have his caddie pull the flagstick. Justin misses his putt and is left with a 5 footer. With Bryson away he has the pin replaced, because… Bryson. He in turn also misses his putt and is now 4 feet away and marks.

With Justin now away he has the flagstick removed once again and makes his putt. He is a pro after all. Now Bryson with his 4 footer keeps to his convictions and has the flag replaced. Bryson makes his putt and they head to the next hole.

If you are still with me, the flag was removed and replaced a total of 4 times. Using last years rules in this same scenario the flagstick would have been removed and replaced, once each. That just doubled the time on the green, more.

So at your local course when you don’t have a caddie to do this work. What would you do?

Personally, I’ll probably just point anyone like Justin Thomas to the MyGolfSpy article to help change their mind. Then we will all fly through our round and make more putts without having once removed the stick.

On tour, I believe more players will see the success that Bryson is having and will follow suit. But I’m super interested in what will happen with this rule.