flagstick problem

I am pretty sure there is no penalty, but my old man is a green keeper and he reckons people doing it gives him the shits because it damages the lip of the cup, and when the lip of the cup becomes loose or frayed it actually makes holing putts more difficult as the ball tends to roll around the lip, as compared to when the cup is nice and tight the ball will drop more readily..... so a note for all please treat the flag and the cup with respect

Cheers

I have done this countless times. As someone else has mentioned I have never seen a pro do it. It looks to me to be legal so I will continue the practise. If someone in my group *****ed about it they would be added to the list of people not to play golf with.

Err, done what? I still don't really get what the actual thing we're discussing here is? Removing the ball from the hole with flagstick once it's been holed, yeah? By pulling it up suddenly so the ball follows it?

The more I read this thread, the more I think that's the question. Not, is the ball holed or not, but rather the ball IS holed; so can I yank the flagstick up and have my ball pop up? If I do that, is there a penalty (no). If I don't, is there a penalty? (no).

It could very well be the whole greenskeeper angle (damaging the edges of the cup) is why the pros don't do it (or more appropriately, their caddies).

Yeah, that seems to be how it is, LP.

I suppose if the committee took it to be persistently and deliberately damaging part of the course (ie; round the hole) then there could be a Rule 1 infringement, though I think that would be harsh and unlikely, depending on how it was done and how much damage resulted..?

I think he is talking about pulling up hard on the flag stick while your ball is in the cup causing the flange on the bottom of the stick to pop your ball out of the cup.From the rules that have been posted on here I dont see it as a penalty. I have never seen a pro do this. They usually wiggle the stick a little I think to make sure the ball bottoms out in the cup. Then they just reach in and take the ball out with a big smile on their face because they just holed out.

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Agreed.

The ball doesn't need to 'bottom out' to be holed - just all of it has to lie beneath the level of the lip.

The fact that the pros do anything is neither here nor there - there are plenty of rules they abuse daily, such as replacing balls that are still perfectly fit for play, etc

Thanks tosser for your informed response but you have got the wrong end of the sheep (as we say in our part of the country), I would never try and penalise a friend of mine with such a rule. As far as me being barking tosser, I think i should refer you to the muppet that tried to pull the wool over my eyes (as we say in this part of the country), when he informed me that the aforementioned was indeed a penalty. Suffice to say I will be giving this sado a wide berth in the future!!!!!

Far be it from me to not add my 2cw here...

To the best of my knowledge, provided the ball is "holed" then yes, you "can" remove the ball with the flag for no penalty...

Perhaps, the better question is "should" you do so...

Someone earlier opined that the possibility of damaging the cup should disuade us from the practice and that I agree with, we should leave the course as we would hope to find it ourselves...

Soap box away........

Cheers