paddyjk19 I would suggest if you have certain pins that you think showcase your hole and the way you want it to play that you put them in first round (or second at the latest). Not everyone makes it to rounds 3 and 4. Also pin 1 is generally the most common played in casual rounds. That being said, with the tools at our disposal I'd also suggest making 4 unique and thought provoking pins on each hole. Some of the most fun I have designing is sculpting greens and finding pins that play fairly, challenging and different from day to day.
Most of the points that have been mentioned I agree with, I also agree pin4 shouldn't be the hardest and pin 1 shouldn't be the easiest BUT I do personally feel pin 4 should be the showstoppers, the Sunday pin, the memorable location.
My favourite tournament is the Masters and there's a reason why Sunday at the Masters is such a brilliant spectacle - great holes and great pin positions, I can remember every single Sunday pin position at Augusta because they create drama through both opportunity and through risk but they also do get balance with Left Right, Front Back etc.
For me it's a perfect mix of positions but definitely also the signature positions on about 75% of holes which is why I like my Pin 4 to be this way.
Hole 1 - Middle Right, Tucked in a little valley that feeds in from the front and back, accessible right hand side of green, Easy flag interesting position.
Hole 2 - Back Right, slope from the middle creating a chance to use the contours, Medium difficulty, memorable.
Hole 3 - Middle Left hand side, drop off front and long, Hard but interesting on a short hole
Hole 4 - Front Left plateau, slope behind the hole but narrow target, best pin on this hole.
Hole 5 - Back Left, over the top of a steep ridge with trouble long and short, opportunity if you find the level, bogey if you don't.
Hole 6 - Back Right, signature location on top of the hill, reasonably difficult.
Hole 7 - Front Right, slope behind if you can find it easy birdie, signature location
Hole 8 - Back Left, hidden behind a mound but can be accessed with a sweeping draw and using the contours, hard position, arguably signature
Hole 9 - Middle Left, just above a false front with a slope behind, medium difficulty but still a chance
Hole 10 - Back Left, probably 2nd easiest location, not signature.
Hole 11 - Back Left, Hardest location and probably the signature location
Hole 12 - Back Right, hardest and definitely signature location
Hole 13 - Middle Right, Contours assist you and definitely the signature hole location
Hole 14 - Middle Right, Contours make this an opportunity but also a difficult slope to come over, signature position alongside back left
Hole 15 - Back Middle, Easiest location on the green, not signature
Hole 16 - Back Left, Countless HOI's, Tiger in 2005, Nicklaus in 1987, need I say more
Hole 17 - Back Right, not signature
Hole 18 - Front Left - slope behind, trouble in front, signature pin.
In my opinion 13-14 of the holes are using their most "interesting" or "signature" position in rd4, there's obviously still fantastic other positions on some of the holes.
10 pins were BACK
3 were FRONT
5 MIDDLE
8 RIGHT
9 LEFT
1 CENTRE
Again in my opinion, difficulty;
8 EASY
5 HARD
5 MEDIUM
Another takeaway is that on 2 occasions there were back to back holes with identical pin positions;
Holes 10-11 (BACK LEFT)
Holes 13-14 (MIDDLE RIGHT)
There was also multiple times we saw consecutive LEFT pins;
Holes 3-5 (3 in a row)
Holes 7-11 (4 in a row)
We also saw multiple RIGHT pins on back to back holes with one triple on 12-15.
There were 2 occasions where we saw 3 BACK pins in a row;
Holes 10-12
Holes 15-17
I think when you look at this data that you will agree that it's not so important to follow an exact system when laying pins down, Augusta gets it right for tournament golf every time and it's stood the test of time and I for one would like to see designers create FAIR drama on Sunday with a strong presence of Signature pins and a great mix of easy and hard locations.
It's why I always like to do my pin set 4 as the first set of pins I lay down and then spread the rest out over days 1,2 and 3 to create a harmonious blend of locations.
Perhaps the F-M-B and the R-L-C rotations system is a good idea to create diverse pins on days 1,2 and 3 but I'll always be convinced that day 4 is for the best pins I'm afraid!