TL;DR: For the first three centuries of golf, the hole was marked by nothing more than a wooden stake in the ground, with no flag and no standard design. The addition of a cloth flag in the 19th century solved the visibility problem that walking golfers faced over long distances, and in 1913 David Foulis of Wheaton, Illinois patented the metal flagstick support that kept the flag from blowing out of the hole entirely. Original patent art prints of Foulis's 1913 design are available framed or unframed.
There are roughly 34,000 golf courses in the world. Each one has 18 holes. Each hole has a flagstick. That is more than 600,000 flags marking targets across five continents, every one of them performing a function so fundamental to the game that it is easy to forget someone had to invent it. The flag on a golf course is not decorative. It is the target. And for most of golf's history, it did not exist at all.
Marking the Hole: The Problem of Visibility
Early golf was played on coastal Scottish links, where the terrain was irregular and the holes were natural depressions in the ground rather than cut cups. Golfers playing the Old Course at St. Andrews in the 16th and 17th centuries were aiming at targets that were barely visible from any distance. The entire length of a fairway might separate a golfer from the hole he was trying to reach, with no visual reference to guide him.
The earliest hole markers were exactly what Occam's razor would suggest: a wooden stake driven into the ground. No flag, no color, no visibility aid beyond the stake itself. On a calm day with good visibility and familiar ground, this was workable. On a links course in Scottish weather, with wind and mist and unfamiliar terrain, a wooden stake was essentially invisible from 200 yards.
The stakes themselves varied by course and era. Some were painted; most were not. Some were topped with simple carved shapes. None carried fabric of any kind. The concept of using a colored cloth to improve long-distance visibility had not yet been applied to golf.
The Flag Arrives: 19th-Century Course Development
The addition of a cloth flag to the hole marker is a 19th-century development, coinciding with the expansion of golf beyond the Scottish links and the formalization of course design as a discipline. As golf spread to England and the United States during the 1800s, courses were built on varied terrain, often in parkland settings where the hole could be hidden by trees, hills, and other visual obstacles that did not exist on an open links.
The flag solved a specific problem: a golfer standing 200 yards from the hole could not see a wooden stake but could see a brightly colored flag. The size of the flag was not standardized. Colors were chosen by individual clubs, typically from whatever fabric was available or most visible against the local vegetation. White, red, and yellow were common choices because they contrasted well with green fairways and rough.
Early flags were made from wool or cotton, fabrics that were readily available and took dye well. The shape was not standardized either. Triangular flags were common because a triangle is easier to sew than a rectangle and catches the wind in a way that keeps it extended rather than drooping against the pole. Rectangular flags appeared on some courses; so did pennant shapes and other configurations.
The pole carrying the flag was typically made of wood in this period: a thin, straight-grained wooden staff, sharpened to a point at the base so it could be pushed into the cup liner. The combination of a wooden staff and a heavy cloth flag in any significant wind created the problem that would eventually drive the need for an engineered solution. The flag did not stay in the hole.
The Engineering Problem: Wind and the Hole
A golf flag operates in a mechanical environment that is hostile to simple solutions. It must be light enough to be carried by a single player and inserted or removed from the hole with one hand. It must be visible from 200 yards or more, which requires a flag large enough to catch the eye. It must stand upright consistently, including in wind that pushes on the flag fabric with significant force. And the staff base must fit into the hole liner without damaging it or becoming stuck.
The wind problem was particularly persistent. When significant wind hit a flag with a fixed base in a hole, the leverage exerted on the staff's base could push the staff sideways and lift it partially out of the hole, or cant it at an angle that made it less useful as a target marker. Players had to replace the flag properly after each hole, and on windy days the flag could blow out between players reaching the green.
Various solutions were attempted: heavier staff bases, thicker staff diameters, rubber gaskets around the base to create friction, and cups designed with tighter tolerances. None fully solved the problem because they addressed symptoms rather than the underlying mechanism.
David Foulis's 1913 Patent: The Flagstick Support
In 1913, David Foulis of Wheaton, Illinois filed a patent for a Golf-Flag Support that addressed the mechanical problem of keeping the flagstick stable in the hole. Foulis was an active figure in American golf during this period, and the golf-flag support was one of several golf-related patents he filed during his career.
Foulis's design used a metal supporting staff structure that increased the flagstick's resistance to being blown out of the cup by wind. The engineering addressed the leverage problem directly: by changing how the base of the staff interacted with the cup, Foulis's design made it harder for wind force on the flag to translate into upward or lateral movement of the base.
The patent is notable for the specificity of its problem statement. Foulis was not designing a new concept; the flag had existed for decades. He was engineering a solution to a known failure mode: the flag that blows out of the hole and requires a player to walk to the green to replace it. That kind of targeted, practical invention, identifying a specific failure and designing to prevent it, is characteristic of how golf equipment developed during the early 20th century.
Wheaton, Illinois, where Foulis worked, was home to the Chicago Golf Club, one of the oldest golf clubs in the United States (founded 1892) and a founding member of the USGA. Foulis would have had direct access to the operational problems of a working course, which likely informed the specific design choices he made.
The Modern Flagstick: Rules, Materials, and Placement
The modern flagstick has been formalized in the rules of golf in ways that the 19th-century flag never was. The Rules of Golf specify that the flagstick must be centered in the hole, that it must be cylindrical, and that a player may choose to leave the flagstick in the hole when putting from anywhere on the course. That last rule changed in 2019 when the USGA and R&A eliminated the penalty for putting with the flag in, a change that has measurably sped up play.
The flagstick itself is typically made of fiberglass or aluminum today, lightweight materials that withstand the elements without the weight of wood and resist the bending and breaking that wooden staffs were prone to. Modern flags are made from nylon, a synthetic fabric that is more durable and more weather-resistant than wool or cotton, and remains extended in light winds better than heavier natural fabrics.
Flag colors are often assigned meaning on modern courses: a flag's position on the stick (high, middle, low) or its color relative to other flags on the course indicates where the hole is cut on the green. A front flag position means the hole is near the front edge; a back flag signals a back-of-green location. This system of flag-based communication was developed by individual courses over the 20th century as a way of helping golfers plan approach shots without walking to the green first.
The combination of all these elements, the designed staff support, the synthetic flag fabric, the standardized rules, and the color-coded placement signals, represents a device that started as a stick in the ground and became a piece of precision communication equipment. David Foulis's 1913 engineering solution was one link in that chain: the moment someone decided the flag's mechanical performance was worth the effort of a patent.
Shop Golf Flag Patent Art Prints
The original U.S. Patent Office drawing that defined the engineered flagstick support. Starting at $49.99 unframed.
Golf Flag (1913), David Foulis
Foulis's 1913 patent is the engineering document that addressed one of the game's most overlooked mechanical problems: the flag that blows out of the hole. The drawing captures a device so familiar on every course in the world that most golfers have never thought about who designed it or why. For a golf room, a clubhouse wall, or anyone who wants a print from an unexpected corner of the game's history, this is that piece.
Best for: Course design enthusiasts, golfers who notice the details of the game, gift buyers looking for a print that will start a conversation
Frequently Asked Questions
Who invented the golf flag?
The cloth golf flag developed gradually during the 19th century as a visibility solution for courses built outside the open Scottish links, where a wooden stake was insufficient to mark the hole from a distance. No single inventor is credited with the first flag. David Foulis of Wheaton, Illinois patented the Golf-Flag Support in 1913, addressing the specific mechanical problem of keeping the flagstick stable in the hole in windy conditions.
Why does the golf flag have to be centered in the hole?
The Rules of Golf require the flagstick to be centered in the hole to ensure it accurately indicates the hole's location from a distance. An off-center flag could mislead a golfer about the precise line needed to reach the hole, particularly on putts and short approach shots. The requirement for a cylindrical, centered flagstick is part of the standardization of the game that the USGA and R&A developed through the 20th century.
Can you leave the flag in the hole while putting?
Yes. A rule change by the USGA and R&A in 2019 eliminated the previous penalty for putting with the flagstick in the hole. Players may now choose to leave the flag in or have it attended or removed. Research has shown that the flagstick, when struck at a low angle, can deflect the ball into the cup rather than rebounding it away, and many recreational players find it faster to leave the flag in for all putts.
What do different flag colors mean on a golf course?
Flag color and position on the stick are used by many courses to indicate where the hole is cut on the green. Common systems use a flag high on the stick for a back hole location, in the middle for a middle location, and low for a front location. Some courses use different colored flags for each third of the green. These conventions are set by individual clubs and are not standardized by the rules of golf, so systems vary from course to course.
What material is used for modern golf flags?
Modern golf flags are made from nylon, a synthetic fabric that is lightweight, durable, and weather-resistant. Nylon flies better than the wool and cotton used on early flags, extending more fully in light winds and resisting the fraying and fading that natural fabrics were prone to. Flag poles are typically aluminum or fiberglass, replacing the wooden staffs of earlier designs. Modern cup liners are typically plastic or aluminum, providing a consistent fit for the standardized flagstick base.
Written by Rider Tuff, founder of Timeless Patents. Timeless Patents makes museum-quality patent art prints from original U.S. Patent Office documents, celebrating the inventors behind your favorite sports, hobbies, and passions. Every print is available framed or unframed, starting at $49.99. Shop the full golf collection →
Cover image: "ATTNationalProAmFlag9thHole" by Carl Lindberg, licensed under CC BY 2.5, via Wikimedia Commons.
