DaneFenton:
I agree with you as a decent golfer myself outside this game I know that you can't put a pin to close to the edge of the green and WGT haven't done that but you also have to place the pin on a reasonably flat surface away from slopes on the green and WGT has not done this at all. I have played many good golf courses even some with bigger slopes on the green than Oakmont but never ever seen pin placements on the edge of slopes or even on the slope this is because your not allowed to.
The way the pins are placed at oakmont it doesn't even reward a good shot most of the time. Would be far better if the pins were placed so that if you hit a good shot you were rewarded and only punished for the bad shots.
There are no official rules regarding pin placements. It is at the green keeper's discretion. Though there are "guidelines and recommendations", there are no rules. There is no such thing as an illegal pin placement if it's on the putting surface. I worked golf course maintenance for a few years, and have set many pins. I've also played golf professionally and have seen quite a few treacherous pin locations. Typical rule of thumb is to keep the hole at least 1 flag stick length away from the fringe. As far as slopes go, you can put the hole right on the crown of one if you so choose. Granted, after the complaints from players you may be in deep *** with your boss afterwards. The only rule a pin setter really has to follow is making sure the cup does not exceed 4.25 inches in diameter, and the cup must be sunk in at least 1" below the surface
Not sure if they do it in your area, but if you ever get a chance to play in a green keeper revenge tournament do yourself a favor and sign up. We held one every year at my old club and it was awesome. We'd park mowers and carts blocking the path to the greens and in landing areas of the fairways, leave piles of limbs and shrubs all over the course, turn sprinklers on at random, mow half of the green, or just leave crazy stripes everywhere, take away all the bunker rakes and have the most outright EVIL pin locations you've ever seen. I'm talking brutal. On the larger greens we'd put 2 pins out at opposite ends of the green, but one didn't have a hole, better hope you guess right lol.