Gary Player is one of the finest players ever to have graced the game, and his opinions are usually extremely insightful.
That was no different when he made a comment this week on something that Bryson DeChambeau and Matt Fitzpatrick have both done over the years which he completely disagrees with.
With nine major championships and 24 PGA Tour titles to his name, Player is one of the best to ever do it.
One of the South African’s superpowers was his incredible putting and magnificent touch on the greens.
His prowess with the putter in hand played a key role in his huge collection of winnings at big events.
And now he can mostly be found making strong statements about the best players in the world today.
Player recently claimed that Jordan Spieth is the best golfer in the world, but that he has simply been led down the wrong path.
That suggestion from the 89-year-old was as bold as they come, because Scottie Scheffler is clearly the best player on the planet.
Now Player has made yet another big statement, this time about DeChambeau.
DeChambeau is famous for his scientific approach to the game, especially on the greens.
Gary Player says Bryson DeChambeau’s statements on putting are ‘not correct’
Player is never one to hold back when it comes to criticizing his fellow pros.
And that was no different when the topic of putting came up, and specifically people who leave the flag in when rolling their rock.
Player was asked whether he takes the pin out or leaves it in when putting.
He said: “I’m an outer. In fact, I don’t think you should be allowed to leave the pin in the hole. It was basically DeChambeau who changed that. He came out with a lot of statements and facts which I don’t believe are correct.
“The thing is that when they have the pin in, this can help a lot. The average guy has got big hands so he squeezes his hand in [the hole] and pulls it and pulls the cup up with it.
“Once the cup is raised even that much [a millimetre], it invariably stops the ball from falling in the cup. There should be a rule – it must come up. Just like it used to be.“
DeChambeau was one of the pioneers when it came to putting with the flagstick in, although he switched back to taking it out in 2024.
Fitzpatrick is perhaps the most consistent exponent of leaving the pin in, and he has done since the rule changed to allow it in 2019.
However, Player clearly wants that rule to be banished.
What putting guru Dave Pelz once said about leaving the flagstick in
The late, great Dave Pelz was a master when it comes to putting.
He was the man that many PGA Tour pros sought advice from when they were struggling on the greens and he famously worked with the likes of Phil Mickelson, Vijay Singh and Patrick Reed.
Bearing in mind the expertise Pelz had on the greens, it is very interesting to look back on what he said about whether golfers should leave the flagstick in, or pull it out when putting.
When writing for Golf.com in 2019, Pelz exclaimed, “I can’t wait to see the PGA Tour ShotLink data that will be generated by this rule change, because I think it will help golfers hole more putts“, when it was announced that the rule was changing.
Pelz then went on to share the results of his testing:
- Assuming the pin is securely in place, standing vertical and not swaying in the wind, the hole is 4.25” wide.
- The diameter of a standard flagstick is 0.5” (some pins taper to ¾” and even 1” above the hole).
- If you look at the space left for a golf ball, the 2.125” half-hole minus the 0.25” half-pin, leaves 1.875” between the cup edge and the pin.
- Golf balls are 1.68” in diameter. This leaves a .195”-gap of open space for the ball to fit into the hole with the flagstick in place.
He said: “This doesn’t sound like much space, especially if the pin is leaning slightly toward the golfer. This effect, however, has been tested, and my studies show conclusively that you should putt with the pin in!“
Whatever side of the coin you fall on regarding this debate, the rule is that flagsticks are allowed to be left in, and that is highly unlikely to change anytime soon.
And at the end of the day, if leaving the flag in does improve the chances of holing more putts, then why isn’t every player on tour doing it?
