I rarely ask people to tend the pin for me anymore because they way they do it drives me nuts. I just want to make sure that I'm doing it right because no one else does it the way I do.

I guess I always thought that the correct way to tend a pin was to leave the pin straight up and down in the hole. Simply remove the pin once the player hits his shot.

But pretty much everyone I've ever seen tend it lately tilts it one direction or another which, in my opinion, completely eliminates any good that is being done by tending it in the first place. If I need the pin in the hole, it is because I need the pin to see the location of where I need to hit the ball. If you tilt it left, right, or even backwards, it's going to alter my perception of where the hole actually is.

Am I correct?

You mean like this:
.

When tending the pin, you should make sure you can remove it in time. That means most of the time it is best to lift the pin a tad so that you're sure it won't get caught in something.

It's almost impossible to make sure the flag is straight whilst not staying close to the hole (which IMHO is much worse!).

jev wrote:

You mean like this: .

That's actually pretty mild by comparison of what I'm talking about.

Quote:

When tending the pin, you should make sure you can remove it in time. That means most of the time it is best to lift the pin a tad so that you're sure it won't get caught in something. It's almost impossible to make sure the flag is straight whilst not staying close to the hole (which IMHO is much worse!).

Not sure what you're saying here.

I think that if a person is standing behind the hole and off to the side, his/her distance from the hole doesn't really affect me at all.

I guess I'm trying to say it's pretty much a personal choice: do you want someone to stand closer to the hole or don't you mind that the pin is a bit (!) crooked?

If the person tending the flag bends the pin or otherwise exercises a sideways force on the cup, chances are the cup will be damaged. Now thát would be an infraction on the etiquette if you ask me.

Bryan.. I understand what you are talking about and it is about preference. Would there by a way to not piss anyone off by asking them to hold it a different way? I know in my group ( and when I play in a tourney ) I ( we ) always ask the player if this is ok or do they have a preferred side that we stand on.

I was always taught to stand on the high side of the hole, because more than likely the putt will end up on the low side, and you are less likely to spike the line of the next putt.

golfingbumunderpar64 wrote:

Bryan.. I understand what you are talking about and it is about preference. Would there by a way to not piss anyone off by asking them to hold it a different way? I know in my group ( and when I play in a tourney ) I ( we ) always ask the player if this is ok or do they have a preferred side that we stand on.

This is good advice. Thank you.

srogers13 wrote:

I was always taught to stand on the high side of the hole, because more than likely the putt will end up on the low side, and you are less likely to spike the line of the next putt.

This is also something I hadn't thought of, and it's a good idea. Even if the put does miss high side (which should be the goal of every golfer), the odds are that it's going to curl around the hole and becoming from the other direction anyway.

From my caddy days we were taught to stand to the side of the cup to remove any shadow, slightly lift the pin so it can't hang up when it is removed, stand at full arms length not to effect any one else's line and always grip the flag portion to stop it from flapping if there is any wind.And stand perfectly still.

joe jones wrote:

From my caddy days we were taught to stand to the side of the cup to remove any shadow, slightly lift the pin so it can't hang up when it is removed, stand at full arms length not to effect any one else's line and always grip the flag portion to stop it from flapping if there is any wind.And stand perfectly still.

This is actually the way I usually do it with the addendum that I always try to keep the pin straight up and down.

It's amazing how tending a pin can be such a challenging task!

For me it’s a YES to almost everything you’ve said: Stand still, keep my shadow away from the line and the hole, not to step in anybody’s line, hold the flag to stop flapping and loose (lift a bit) the flagstick to prevent it from getting stuck (you don’t want to pull the flagstick AND the hole liner). Something else that has not been mentioned: I try to stand in the low side of the break so my feet won’t become an aiming aid, or a mark of the line of play (even more if my partner is putting). If mi shadow gets in the way by doing that… I stand behind the hole. I think spike marks are not a problem with the new shoe soles.

uness asked other wise, I always pull the pin and make sure that it will not "stick", and stand to the side that will not be affected by the shadow from the sun.

Quick story, long time ago, my buddy was furthest out, so I went to tend the pin. Knowing that I would need it tended as well, my intention was to leave the flag in, unless his putt looked close. He hits, ball is tracking well, about halfway I think this ball might be close, I grasp the pin firmly and pull, nothing, flag's stuck, I tug again, more nothing, his ball is on track and close, one more pull and in the instant his ball dropped into the hole, the flag comes out, perfectly ejecting his ball out of the hole and leaving it a foot away. I always pull the pin to make sure it moves.