What Is a 'Sucker Pin' in Golf?

PGA Tour player Billy Mayfair was leading the 2002 Michelob Championship when he decided to play aggressively to a hole location close to the left side of a narrow green. And after making double bogey, he was no longer the leader. "It (was) a sucker pin," Mayfair said, "and I guess I was a sucker for it."

In golf, a "sucker pin" is a hole location that is close to trouble and requires a golfer to take on some risk if she wants to aim at the flagstick. There are many specific examples we could give to demonstrate what a sucker pin is, but here are just a few:

  • A hole cut very close to the edge of a putting green, such that aiming at it and missing the shot will leave the golfer short-sided.
  • A hole location that is close to a hazard of some type (deep rough, bunker, water), or that requires a golfer taking aim at the flagstick to play over such a hazard to the pin tucked close behind it.
  • A hole location that is situated on a shelf of the green, higher than or lower than most of the rest of the green.
These are sucker pins, and a golfer who takes aim at them, rather than playing to the center or safer part of the green (also called "the fat part of the green"), has been suckered into playing too aggressively.

Or, as a sports writer in the Naples Daily News once put it, in such a situation a "smart player will play to the center of the green. A 'sucker' will fire at the pin."

A golf writer for the Charlotte Post once explained: "When the pin is tucked to one side or another, creating a short side to the green, never aim your shot where you have a chance of missing the pin on the short side. That's called a sucker pin, and it can turn a moderately good round into a disaster by simply getting too aggressive."

If you are trailing in a match or a tournament, you might feel you have no choice but to play aggressively to a sucker pin location. But resisting that urge, in most circumstances, is considered good course management.

A sucker pin is sometimes also called a "sucker pin location" or "sucker hole location," or a "sucker flag." As "pin" is just a synonym for flagstick, it could also be referred to as a "sucker flagstick," "sucker hole," or "sucker cup," although those terms are not used by most golfers.

The earliest appearance of the term that we have so far found in an American newspaper is this quote from Mason Rudolph that appeared in an April 10, 1967, edition of The Tennessean: "After eight years I finally learned not to go for the pin at the third hole. It's a sucker pin placement, and there's just no way to get the ball close to the hole when it's stuck out there in that neck."

More definitions:

Sources:
Bibb, John. "Hawk sees flight fail," The (Nashville) Tennesseean, April 10, 1967.
Ebert, John. "Turn shoulders to increase power, improve distance," The Naples (Fla.) Daily News, September 26, 2001.
Kurz Jr., Hank. "Late birdies give Jobe the lead at Michelob," Associated Press, The Dothan (Ala.) Eagle, October 2, 2002.
Tomasi, T.J. "Learn from a professional's mistakes," The Charlotte (N.C.) Post, December 14, 2006.

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