Why this language of learning the green has sparked controversy, confusion among golfers
What does “one cup left” mean to you?
getty photos
Golf has all the language you want to know: morning ball, hosel rocket, swing oil, wormburner, yank, intradermal.
And on that list: one cup left and his cousin, one cup on the rightas in putt-aming instructions a caddy (or partner) may give golf. For example, if the right fairway has a slight break from left to right, the caddy may advise his player to mean “one cup left.” Conversely, if this same golf course has a slight break from right to left, the looper may tell the player to aim “one cup to the right.”
Simple, right?
Umm, not so much. That's because, as we learned in a lively Reddit town hall earlier this week, not all golfers interpret “one cup left” the same way. The debate started when r/golf user Captain-Obvious posted a thought-provoking photo of a golf hole with two circles that fit the golf hole directly to the left and the caption, “What point should you aim for when you're 'told to aim' with a cup left?” one'?”
Reddit: Captain-Obvious
Dozens of Reddit comments revealed hundreds more; as of Wednesday afternoon more than 1,200 golfers have made their voices heard. The debate also spilled over to X and Instagram, where a retweet of the Zire Golf image drew more than 1,400-plus comments. Even the US Solheim Cup team entered the scale. Most of the commenters said that their understanding of the “one cup left” is option 2 – some went so far as to refer to those gamblers who are part of option 1 or 3 as “psychopaths” – but many different opinions were circulated.
The first sticking point: Does one cup left mean one cup left in the middle of the hole, or one cup left? To non-golfers, this difference may sound trivial, but to golfers with a birdie attempt or a $5 ride for a lesson ride, this is serious business.
“For me because it's my mistake to aim for the center of the cup, pointing to the remaining cup means 3rd place,” wrote Ok_Victory_6108 on Reddit. “If I was looking for position 2, I would say the cup is left on the left. As one commentator said, if the putt breaks the width of the cup, and I'm told to aim the cup to the left, I don't want to focus on position 2 or the ball will roll off the rim. When I go to position 3, it sinks to the ground.”
Added Benjamin244, “As a builder I would say 3 (which is the distance between the center and the center of one cup). As a golfer I would still say 2 though, I feel accurate even though I am geometrically incorrect.”
One user, whose R-rated handle cannot be printed on this website, provided a 309-word reflection that was full of diversity. Here's a quote: “#3 sounds full. The ambiguity is caused by people not understanding that people understand both the center and the edges as the origin of measurements: yes, the borders extend half a cup to the left and right, and you usually measure from the edges… it seems that the center is everything that has holes in the pocket of any kind. 'I don't mean the rest of the cup, I'm looking at the rest of the cup where I used to take it.'
If your head is spinning, so was I, because the illustration made me think about something I never thought about – and now I can't. Wait I think. When I shared the Reddit post with my fellow golfers, the most widely agreed upon option 2 was the “right” read, but one co-worker commented, “I've heard the argument for 3.” My golfing friends also lean toward option 2, but one added to the text, “It's funny when you think about this debate…because one person will read the putt and tell the second person, 'I see the cup coming out.' on the left.' But if everyone has a different definition of what that means it's useless.'”
Hungry for an expert to tackle this issue, I reached out to a few of the top golf instructors in the country, GOLF Magazine's Top 100 Instructors. Certainly, they can provide closure.
“Option #2,” Cheryl Anderson, director of instruction at the Mike Bender Golf Academy in Lake Mary, Fla., wrote bluntly in an email. “I teach my students to read their putts as straight, inside left, left, 1/2 cup outside or 1 cup outside. I would say that many experts read it this way. It allows many options. “
It makes sense. But just as I was digesting Anderson's response, another response popped up in my inbox — from New Orleans-based Top 100 teacher Brian Manzella.
“The obvious answer is in the middle of the second cup – #3,” Manzella wrote. “If the reading was 'one cup left, the left edge' or 'the left edge of one cup left,' that would be one thing. But 'one cup left' is something else.”
Ugh, back to square one, which meant there was one last place to turn: the caddy ranks.
My first call was to Scott Curry, who has lived at Bandon Dunes for over twenty years and also teaches out of San Diego. A source of dreams for the conundrum at hand! When I reached Curry on Wednesday, he said he saw the “one cup left” image on Instagram and read the comments as they provided a window into how golfers think about studying the green. For Curry, this argument is grade A market research.
For his part, Curry said he's an option 2 guy and put his thinking bluntly.
“Let's say I told you the putt broke 4 inches from right to left,” he said. “Does that mean it broke 4 inches from the center of the hole, or does it mean it broke 4 inches from the edge?”
It was a trivial question. The answer Curry was looking for was “edge.”
Of his Bandon caddies, he added, “None of them would say 'hit the cup,' which means only 2 inches outside the hole. In Bandon, the “flow cup” is the flow cup: 4.25 inches.
The last word? We present the former PGA Tour caddy you might see on TV: NBC Sports golf reporter John Wood. Wood has played for more than 20 years on Tour, most recently for Matt Kuchar, and now, in addition to his TV work, he has filled the newly created role of manager of the US Ryder Cup team. Players trust Wood, and for good reason: He's one of the smartest and most thoughtful people in the game.
Like Curry, Wood had seen the graphic reading the green before I asked him about it on Wednesday.
“To be honest with you, it could be different,” he began in a message after I asked him for his explanation of “one cup left.” “It is something that the caddy and the player must agree on before it is put together. But in my opinion, if you are trying to start one cup, the correct answer is '2', and I think many players would say the same. Here's why: When you say, 'ball out,' I think most would agree that would mean one golf ball out of the cup. To start it on the rim is to split the ball, half outside the rim, half inside. How does this work here, if you have agreed that '3' is out of one cup, what word do you use to get the ball out? Because when you say 3, 'one ball out' means it's left in the middle of the cup, and you can never say that. You'd say, 'left center.'”
Wood then gave the exact words he used when giving advice, going from “center left” to “one cup out”:
Center left
Inside left
Separate the edge
One ball out
Two balls out
One cup came out
“All the players I have worked for, and I can say that most of the players on the tour, have used these words,” he wrote. “After the cup, we tend to target certain areas.”
Wood being Wood, he posted a helpful photo caption, too. We work with his system, but only you (and your card) can decide what's right for you.
John Wood
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