My task each morning this week was to cut cups. Like most courses we cut new cups every day at Mount Juliet, but one crew member is chosen to cut cups for the whole week. This allows that person to pick their own spots, and remember them throughout the week, so that proper rotation of traffic around holes is met. I'll first take you through my philosophy for choosing the correct placement of a cup, and then guide you through how check for a perfect finished product.

A great example of this philosophy in action was the cup I cut on hole twelve today. The hole measures 411 yards from the back tees, and is a pretty standard par 4, with a gentle dog leg to the right. A 250 yard drive leaves a golfer with 150 to 170 yards left into the hole. With this in mind, I know that golfer is going to be coming into the green at a steep angle from their approach shot, thus, I can tuck pin positions in a little tighter behind the bunkers and moguls around the green because a proper approach shot wont need an avenue to run up to the hole. When I walk up to a green to change a cup, I take into account three details that immediately shrink my space for a new hole down to a more manageable area.

The first observation is seeing the green with a border of the length of a pin away from the fringe. I believe in the pin being a perfect guide to keeping the hole far enough from the edge of the green to be fair to the golfer.

My next observation is to note where the large undulations are. I want to use the undulations to make for more exciting putts, but I don't want to cut a cup on them. I like to pick an area that would fit a circle in it with the diameter of a putter. (Around 34 inches) This provides a true and fair roll into the cup at the end of a putt.

Finally, I look the risk/reward aspect. On hole 12, there are two bunkers on each side of the hole, and two large undulations on the sides about 2/3 of the way back into the green. My goal for Friday was to tuck a cup in behind the right side bunker, but also allow golfers to get away with a deep approach shot. So I picked a spot behind the right side bunker, which also had the undulation behind it, acting like a small backstop for a deep approach shot. After choosing the location, it was time to cut.

When the new hole is completed, I put the pin in, step back to make sure its level, and make one final judgment about the fairness and playability of the hole.

The old adage of 'with great power comes great responsibility' may seem cliché, but when it is my job to cut cups, it really is true. I am the one who partially decides the fate golfers for that day when they reach the green, and I owe it to everyone playing the course to provide a hole with the perfect blend of complexity and creativity.