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In or out?
That has been the question faced by us golfers since the new Rules of Golf came in on January 1, which gives us the option of whether we want to putt with the flagstick in or not.
So far, opinion among tour pros has been rather split. Bryson DeChambeau and Adam Scott have predominantly been putting with the flagstick in, while Justin Thomas said he ‘couldn’t take himself seriously’ if he did.
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Edoardo Molinari, however, thinks he has the definitive answer.
The Italian, who is widely regarded as having one of the sharpest minds on tour, has been conducting his own studies on the matter over the past few weeks in order to work out, once and for all, whether you should be putting with the flagstick in or out.
Without further ado, we’ll hand it over to ‘Dodo’ in this video uploaded to the account of his golf academy.
Of course, Molinari’s findings are contrary to those offered by short game guru Dave Pelz, who pored through data to suggest that it is more beneficial to leave the flagstick in.
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But Molinari elaborated further about his studies on Twitter in a conversation with Denis Pugh, who coaches Francesco Molinari.
Obviously if I start hitting putts at all possible speeds the flagstick is going to help...but, again, how many times you hit a putt with a speed of 8’ past AND you hit the hole right in the middle?
— Edoardo Molinari (@DodoMolinari) February 7, 2019
It would be like saying that if you hit the tee shot down the fairway AND you hit a sprinkler then I am hitting the ball longer...so in order to hit the ball longer don’t swing harder but aim for the sprinkler! Sorry, but this is not very smart in my world!
— Edoardo Molinari (@DodoMolinari) February 7, 2019
So, there you have it.
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