Counting a setup
Setting up a yard green from bare grass
Counting hardware for putting holes is simple until people double up on pieces they already have in the box. A complete hole takes one cup, one pole and one flag. This note explains how the boxes match the holes in your lawn, what you buy once for the whole yard, and where people buy duplicate hardware without meaning to.
Matching the box to the hole count
A boxed setup contains a flagstick with a flag sewn to fit it, and some boxes include the cup as well. When you see a pack count on that shelf, that number is the hole count. Three holes take three setups. Five holes take five. The common misstep is picking a three pack of complete setups and then adding three loose flags to the list, assuming the poles come bare. They do not. The flag is already on the pole or folded in the same carton. If your lawn needs four targets, you need four setups, not four setups and four extra flags on top.
What you buy once versus what you buy per target
Certain tools serve the whole yard no matter how many pins you plan to sink. The hole cutter is one of them. A single cutter pulls every plug from the sod whether you put in two holes or nine. A putting mirror is another single purchase since it sits on the turf for alignment practice and moves from hole to hole with the putter. Cups, poles, flags and covers work the other way. Each hole in the dirt needs its own cup set into the ground, its own pole standing in the center, and its own cover to drop flush when the mower comes through.
Keeping holes distinct across the lawn
A single flag in a yard can be solid red or solid white without confusion. Once you sink three or four cups across the same patch of turf, players standing on one side of the lawn need to know which cup they are aiming at. This is why we sew numbered flags, checkered patterns and the stars and stripes. Putting a number on each pin gives your yard an order of play. Checkers give high contrast against hedges and fences when sunlight drops, helping putters tell the short pin apart from the back corner.
Why someone keeps a spare flag around
A spare flag is not an extra hole. It is a backup for the flag that catches a gust and frays against a cedar branch, or the flag that fades under direct summer sun while the pole and cup remain sound. Replacing the cloth takes a moment if you match how the fabric hangs. Poles with clips take brass grommets. Bare rods take a sewn tube sleeve that drops down over the tip and spins in the breeze. Keeping one backup flag on a shelf lets you swap out a worn cloth without pulling the cup out of the soil or replacing the flagstick.
Capping the ground between rounds
Leaving an open cup in a lawn invites soil, blown leaves and mower blades to chew up the lip of the turf. Covers protect the cut between putting sessions. A plastic lid sits inside the rim to keep dirt out of the drain holes. A steel cover topped with turf sits flush with the lawn so you can run the mower straight over the cup without moving the hardware. Count your covers to match your cups, because every hole left uncapped will fill with clippings the morning you cut the grass.
Worth remembering
- A boxed setup includes the flag along with the pole, and select sets include the cup.
- The hole cutter is bought once because the same tool cuts every hole across the green.
- Covers, cups, flagsticks and flags must match the count of holes cut into the grass.
- Poles with clips take grommet flags, while plain poles take flags with a sewn sleeve.
- Steel covers topped with real turf sit flush so mower blades pass directly over the cup.
Planning your layout before cutting sod
Walk your lawn, count the cups you want to sink, and match the setup count to that exact number. One cutter handles the ground work. If you plan to leave cups in place through the summer, pick up one cover for each hole so the mower passes over the turf without catching the plastic rim.
