Leave the Stick In, Statistically a Better Play?

quantumtravels (63)in #sports • 5 years ago

You may have heard that the United States Golf Association and the Royal and Ancient have submitted revisions to the rules of golf for the upcoming 2019 season. After quickly perusing the updated rules, there are a few that are standouts such as allowing a player to drop the ball from knee height instead of shoulder height when a drop is necessary and allowing tournament operators to draw hazard lines virtually anywhere on the course, even when a water hazard is not present.

The rules updates are designed to make the game play faster and for interpretations to be simpler to understand. One of the major changes going into effect is the removal of a penalty for leaving the flagstick in the hole while putting. Currently, any golfer who is on the putting surface who putts and hits the flagstick while it is still in the hole is penalized, even if the ball does not go in. In 2019 this will not be the case, you will be able to leave the stick in, hole your putt, and not incur a penalty. A ball in the hole with or without the stick in will be a standard holed putt.

The idea of this rule is to speed up the pace of play by not requiring golfers to remove and replace the flagstick multiple times while on the putting surface. Golfers will still have the option to remove the stick at any time, but it is no longer obligatory. But will this new rule have an impact on putting strategy?

PGA Tour professional Bryson DeChambeau seems to think the new rule will give him an advantage, and he plans to leave the stick in for putting when the new rules go into effect. In a recent article published on ESPN.com DeChambeau explained why. (i'll post the link to the article below) DeChambeau has long been known on tour as something of a mad scientist when it comes to the game of golf. He is as analytical as it comes, and you better believe that he has run the numbers and probabilities of the new rules to find any possible advantage that he can. Apparently his research suggests that the new flagstick rule will in effect make the hole bigger!

I'll be interested to see his results when this goes into effect. I may have to take a page out of his book if he has success, although I will need a lot more than a couple of rule changes to the game of golf to help my game. How about allowing a golf ball that never veers more than 10 yards off target? Then I would be in good shape! ;)