Bryson DeChambeau likes to leave the pin in whenever he can. Under golf's new rules for 2019, he can leave it in all the time.
DeChambeau was asked by Golf.com about his current preference to leave in the pin, even when he's close to the green or putting from the fringe. His decision was made with careful calculation.
"It depends on the COR, the coefficient of restitution of the flagstick," he said. "In U.S. Opens, I'll take it out, and every other Tour event, when it's fiberglass, I'll leave it in and bounce that ball against the flagstick if I need to."
U.S. Open pins are notably thicker than typical PGA Tour pins, leading to more aggressive rebounding when struck.
Beginning in January, the Rules of Golf will allow players to leave the pin in from anywhere on the course, including on the green.
Top 100 teacher Dave Pelz conducted a study for GOLF Magazine years ago on whether leaving the pin in was the better call. His conclusion: "Leave the flagstick in whenever the rules allow, unless it is leaning so far toward you that the ball can't fit."
Pelz rolled thousands of balls at the hole with the pin in, out and leaning in each direction. Here are some of his notes:
• Perhaps most surprising, when the flagstick leans either slightly toward the golfer or away, the odds of it helping to keep the ball in the hole increase: With the flagstick leaning away from the golfer, the hole becomes effectively larger; when the flagstick leans toward the golfer, the ball rebounds downward, again helping shots find the hole.
• Only in the most obvious case, when the flagstick is leaning so far toward the golfer that there isn't enough room for the ball, is leaving the flagstick in a bad idea. Check the flagstick before you chip to be sure it is sitting properly in the cup.
• Even if you don't hit the flagstick dead center, it still will aid you. It proved especially advantageous when chipping and putting downhill. The flagstick will help you make more putts unless it is leaning severely toward you or it's so windy that it is moving and might knock your ball away.
Ticket problems
On Sunday, NFL fans across the country expressed outrage that DirecTV's Sunday Ticket programming was experiencing technical glitches. Subscribers were seeing error messages on the screen when they were trying to watch games, and DirecTV seemed to be ignoring the situation, with its social-media accounts saying nothing about the matter.
Five days later, DirecTV apologized to subscribers.
"You may have experienced problems during Sunday's NFL SUNDAY TICKET broadcast. While the problems have been resolved, the fact is we made a mistake. We're truly sorry," DirecTV said in an email. "We love our football as much as you do, and our goal is to make sure that you can watch your favorite team -- whenever and however you want."
DirecTV is offering customers compensation, with a catch. To customers who don't have the "Sunday Ticket Max" package, DirecTV sent an email saying they would get the package for free for the rest of the season as compensation. To customers who already had that package, DirecTV sent an email saying they could click a link to redeem a partial refund.
The problem there is that link was broken as of Friday afternoon.
Sports on 11/03/2018