Rotating Pin Locations

                During the winter months, the golf course maintenance staff at St. James use a 6 hole rotation on all of the putting greens.  You will notice that there are 5 blue dots and 1 white dot on the greens.  Each dot represents a different hole location on that green.  There are 2 pin locations in the front, middle, and back of every green.  In addition to this, in the winter the holes are moved every 3^rd day, weather permitting.  Once the greens are actively growing again, the maintenance staff will start moving pin locations every day.

 

                The main reason we use this system is to decrease the number of plugs on the greens.  When the weather is cold and the greens are not actively growing, it is difficult for old plugs to grow in.  With 6 different locations that rotate, we can cut down the number of old plugs and keep the greens in better overall condition. 

 

                It is important to note, that when we select hole locations there are a number of criteria that we use.  The hole locations are selected by both the golf professionals and the golf course maintenance staff in a joint effort.  Every hole location is at least 4 paces from the edge of the green and has a slope of less than 3% in any direction.  All slopes are measured by using a slope meter.