Equipment
Forum Thread of the Day: “Brandel Chamblee: Every player should leave the flagstick in the hole while putting”
Today’s Forum Thread of the Day was submitted by RMGC_NV and concerns a hot take from Golf Channel analyst, Brandel Chamblee. Whether you love him or hate him, Chamblee is never one to hold back from speaking his mind, and in this particular case, the former pro is confident that it’s in every player’s best interest to leave the flagstick in the hole while putting. Our members discuss.
Here are a few posts from the thread but make sure to check out the entire discussion and have your say at the link below.
- jll62: “Looking forward to doing some of my own testing on this with my Perfect Putter, but I am firmly in the camp of leaving the flagstick in as the default state based on all of the evidence we have to date. The key will be knowing when it’s advantageous to take it out, but I think those situations will be rare.”
- HoosierMizuno: “I don’t think leaving the pin in will hurt anyone’s score. I do think its debatable on how much it will help….especially when it comes to putting. I get leaving it in on chips. I’m predicting that in 3 years there will be only a few if any guys still removing the pins to putt. there just isn’t any reason to take it out other than you think it looks weird.”
- Gautama: “Help or not I can’t say, wind is the big variable in my mind. Regardless, though, personally I hate the way it looks after thirty-plus years of pulling pins, and I’m sticking to my shallow and subjective opinion, lol. Anyone else find it just ugly to see a putt made with the pin in the hole?”
- sbjinx: “Played today with my group and we decided to keep the flag in for all our putts. It was weird at first, but by the 3rd hole, we all agreed that we’ll play with the flag in from now on. We didn’t have any instance where having the flag in helped or damaged a putt, but it’s nice not to have to walk to the hole and pull the flag once we’re on the green. We would just walk to our balls, hit our putts and move on to the next tee. I agree with the above poster that in a few years most people will be playing with the flag in.”
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Equipment
Why Rory McIlroy will likely use the new TaylorMade BRNR Mini Driver Copper at the RBC Heritage
Although we spotted Rory McIlroy testing the new TaylorMade BRNR Mini Driver Copper last week during practice rounds at the Masters, he ultimately didn’t decide to use the club in competition.
It seems that will change this week at the 2024 RBC Heritage, played at the short-and-tight Harbour Town Golf Links in Hilton Head.
When asked on Wednesday following his morning Pro-Am if he’d be using the new, nostalgic BRNR Copper this week, McIlroy said, “I think so.”
“I like it,” McIlroy told GolfWRX.com on Tuesday regarding the BRNR. “This would be a good week for it.”
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According to Adrian Rietveld, the Senior Manager of Tour at TaylorMade, the BRNR Mini Driver can help McIlroy position himself properly off the tee at the tight layout.
Here’s what Rietveld told GolfWRX.com on Wednesday:
“For someone like Rory, who’s that long at the top end of the bag, and then you put him on a course like Harbour Town, it’s tough off the tee. It’s tight into the greens, and you have to put yourself in position off the tee to have a shot into the green. It kind of reminds me of Valderrama in Spain, where you can be in the fairway and have no shot into the green.
“I’m caddying for Tommy [Fleetwood] this week, so I was walking the course last night and looking at a few things. There’s just such a small margin for error. You can be standing in the fairway at 300 yards and have a shot, but at 320 you don’t. So if you don’t hit a perfect shot, you could be stuck behind a tree. And then if you’re back at 280, it might be a really tough shot into the small greens.
“So for Rory [with the BRNR], it’s a nice course-specific golf club for him. He’s got both shots with it; he can move it right-to-left or left-to-right. And the main thing about this club has been the accuracy and the dispersion with it. I mean, it’s been amazing for Tommy.
“This was the first event Tommy used a BRNR last year, and I remember talking to him about it, and he said he couldn’t wait to play it at Augusta next year. And he just never took it out of the bag because he’s so comfortable with it, and hitting it off the deck.
“So you look at Rory, and you want to have the tools working to your advantage out here, and the driver could hand-cuff him a bit with all of the shots you’d have to manufacture.”
So, although McIlroy might not be making a permanent switch into the new TaylorMade BRNR Mini Driver Copper, he’s likely to switch into it this week.
His version is lofted at 13.5 degrees, and equipped with a Fujikura Ventus Black 7X shaft.
See more photos of Rory testing the BRNR Mini here
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Equipment
Spotted: TaylorMade P-UDI driving iron
It seems like the RBC Heritage is full of new gear to be spotted, and you can add TaylorMade’s P-UDI utility irons to that list.
We spotted a 17-degree P-UDI 2-iron in Nick Dunlap’s bag yesterday, and now have some photos of both the 3- and 4-irons. Nick has his P-UDI 2-iron setup with a Project X HZRDUS Black 4th Gen 105g TX shaft.
From what we can tell, this new P-UDI utility iron looks to have some of the usual TaylorMade technology as we can see the Speed Slot on the sole of the club for additional face flexibility. A toe screw is usually used to close off the hollow body design that will probably be filled with a version of TaylorMade’s Speed Foam that is present in the current iron lineup. This hollow body, foam-filled design should offer additional ball speed, soft feel, and sound, as well as an optimized CG for ball flight.
“Forged” is etched into the hosel, so we can assume that either the face, body, or both are forged for a soft and responsive feel. The club looks good from behind and at address, where we can see just a little offset and a topline that I would consider medium thickness. We don’t have the full details on what is under the hood or how many loft options will be available yet.
TaylorMade P-UDI 3-iron – 20°
TaylorMade P-UDI 4-iron – 22°
- Check out the rest of our photos from the 2024 RBC Heritage
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Whats in the Bag
Collin Morikawa WITB 2024 (April)
- Collin Morikawa what’s in the bag accurate as of the RBC Heritage. More photos from the event here.
Driver: TaylorMade Qi10 LS (9 degrees)
Shaft: Mitsubishi Diamana D+ Limited 60 TX (45 inches)
3-wood: TaylorMade Qi10 (13.5 degrees)
Shaft: Mitsubishi Diamana D+ Limited 80 TX
5-wood: TaylorMade Qi10 (18 degrees)
Shaft: Mitsubishi Diamana D+ Limited 80 TX
Irons: TaylorMade P770 (4), P7MC (5-6), P730 (7-PW)
Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue Mid 115 X100 (4-6), True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue X100 (7-PW)
Wedges: TaylorMade MG4 (50-SB09, 56-LB08), TaylorMade MG4 TW (60-TW11)
Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue S400
Putter: TaylorMade TP Soto
Grip: SuperStroke Zenergy Tour 2.0
Grips: Golf Pride Z-Grip Cord
Ball: TaylorMade TP5x
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Leo Vincent
Feb 19, 2019 at 11:29 am
I usually disagree with everything Brandel Chamblee says but he is correct on this one.Leaving the flag in helps the player and this is an old rule being brought back.A rule requiring the flag be taken out was adopted in the 1950’s i believe.Prior to that the flag could be left in
John
Jan 16, 2019 at 2:09 pm
We are witnessing the dumbing down of golf. Personally, I’d give up the game before I’d leave the pin in to putt. Stupid rule introduced by people trying to justify their existence.
dave
Jan 15, 2019 at 12:43 pm
Its a joke of a rule!!! UsGa is a joke , they are clueless!
Take the flag out, one guy says out next guy putting wants it in. Come on!!!
Agree it will slow play down.
Lastly, drop at knee height. Really? uSgA joke of an organization…
Hamish
Jan 13, 2019 at 1:32 pm
How about local rule.. if it hits the pin its in!
Most Flag pole’s are too fat reducing the width of the cup, ejecting putts that don’t hit the pole dead center. Bring back the thinner old school fiberglass flag pole.
Glftips
Jan 11, 2019 at 5:46 pm
This rule was adapted in order to speed up play. However, in my first five rounds of 2019. it seems to make play slower. One guy wants in out and then the next guy wants it in. Putting the pin in and out a few times on each green adds more time to the game. Maybe it will get better with time but right now it is not good.