In more than 50 years as a golf course superintendent, Dick Gray never was at a loss for words. Even in retirement, he still finds it difficult to hold his tongue on some issues. So it should have come as no surprise that during what should have been a simple "how ya doin?" phone conversation went off the rails into a rant on a hot button issue for superintendents: "unfair" pin placements.
Green speeds (too slow or too fast), fairways that do not produce enough roll, cart path-only days and greens aerification all are among the many things that get under golfers' skin.
Of all the complaints golfers lodge — and there are a lot of them — the one grievance that should make any superintendent bristle is anything about unfair pin placements.
Just the word unfair implies that the prevailing conditions give one player a competitive advantage over another. Since every golfer plays the same conditions, is anything about the location of a hole really "unfair?" Maybe poorly placed, or not well thought out. But unfair?
Superintendents seek out pin locations that are challenging, fair and offer variety. There are unwritten rules about where and where not to cut a cup. Typically, a cup should be cut in an area that has a 3-foot radius of flat space in every direction.
Still, there are times when pin placements make headlines for all the wrong reasons.
Third round scores of the NCAA Women's Division III championship were tossed last year when a pin location on the par-4 sixth hole on the El Campeon Course at the Mission Inn and Resort in central Florida was ruled unplayable. Then there was the 2022 girls 3A state championship tournament in Iowa when a sloped pin placement resulted in an average score of quadruple bogey on the finishing hole of River Valley Golf Course in Adel.
The latter example was bad enough that it prompted tour pro Billy Horschel to rant on social media that whoever set up the 18th hole should be banned from setting up tournaments in the future.
Although every pin placement might not necessarily be a good one, Gray, whose wife died of cancer in 2020 at age 58, says the term unfair is a stretch and denotes something far more negative and permanent than a four-putt on the 10th green.
"Wait a minute. What are we talking about here?" he said. "Unfair? Life is unfair. Cancer is unfair. A heart attack is unfair. Pin placements are not unfair. There might be stupid ones, or dumb ones. But there aren't unfair pin placements."
Whether the stakes are a Nassau during a friendly foursome, bragging rights at the club championship or the $25 million winner's share at the Tour Championship, golf at the end of the day is still a game.
And no one wants to listen to someone complain while playing a game. Likewise, it is difficult to have empathy for professionals with out-of-this-world athletic ability bemoan playing conditions on the way to a seven-figure payout.
The 2016 TurfNet Superintendent of the Year while at PGA Golf Club in Port St. Lucie, Florida, Gray had a successful career at many of South Florida's best club's, including Loblolly Pines, Sailfish Point and Jupiter Hills. He also was the construction superintendent and architect of record at the Florida Club in Stuart. While at PGA Golf Club, then a four-course property, he managed four renovations over four years. Clearly, he knows a thing or two about where a cup should be cut and where one should not, even if his former employers thought otherwise.
He recalled many a green committee meeting throughout his career where unfair pin placements were a topic of discussion. His response was to remind pe
"I told them that hole wasn't unfair, it was just beyond their playing ability," Gray said. "There is no such thing as an unfair pin location."
His message to golfers: "Remember, it's just a game."