Where is the fair?
There are no set rules, only recommendations.
In section 5E(1) of its Committee Procedures, the USGA offers general guidelines for competitions, including the suggestion that holes not be placed too close to the collar or on slopes where a ball will not come to rest. But those aren’t inscribed in the Rules of Golf. There is no such thing as an “illegal pin.”
An unfair pin? Sure. Those exist. But what qualifies as a reasonable hole location depends on a range of factors, such as the speed, firmness, and slope of a green as well as the skill of the player. Which means the proper place to cut a hole is mostly a matter of common sense.
The three-feet rule
In the absence of written rules, superintendents have commonly accepted practices. The consensus, Buchen says, is that you want to cut the hole on an area of the green where it’s relatively level, with three feet of flat ground around the pin. If you drop a ball from waist height near the hole, it shouldn’t roll away.
Setting the hole on or at the edge of a steep slope is pretty much a no-no. A putt struck at the proper speed shouldn’t roll back to you. Or off the green. “You want people to be able to get the ball to stop around the hole,” Buchen says.
At what point does a sucker pin become just silly?
When Buchen was starting out, it was widely accepted that a hole should never be cut closer than five paces from the edge of the green with each pace measuring about a yard. Over time, that minimum shrank. Nowadays, Buchen says, you might see holes cut as close as four paces from the collar, depending on the course, the superintendent and the seriousness of the competition.
Mixing it up
Contrary to popular belief, most supers aren’t sadists trying to torment golfers with punishing hole locations. They strive for a balance of easy and difficult cups, cut in the front, center, back, left and right. Barring budgetary constraints, they also change their hole locations every day, so that regulars don’t get bored, the holes themselves don’t get dried out or misshapen, and no section of any green gets overly abused.