I grew up doing summer swim in an area with some very quirky, grand dame kinds of pools from the 20s and 30s. Some of them were fancy country clubs and others were former resorts absorbed by the suburbs. We had distances from 22-40 yards and some pools had 1920s decks and gutters with the gutters 18” below the deck. Blocks were literally wood blocks like the ones at CrossFit and they hooked over the lip of the deck. You’d have a friend hold the back down for you.

Anyway, we always checked our backstroke flag stroke counts because they changed at every meet and we had to do legal turns. And we did that even through club and HS at standard pools. Do kids not do that during warmups anymore?

Yes, pools with legacy dimensions may have backstroke flags that are not precisely 5m from the end. This is stated clearly in MCSL rules.

Some pools just have unique features generally: unusual gutters or projections, staircases in locations that require modified lane arrangements, etc.

It’s required to move the cups if the pool is redecked. If not, flags at 5y is permissible.

But these are summer league meets. And kicking and gliding actions are permitted in intermediate backstroke turns.

Obviously there are a ton of pools in Montgomery County. We are in a smaller division and I've noticed this season especially that the location of the backstroke flags was off at a couple of the pools we swam at. Does this have to do with pools upgrading their decks and not moving the flags? Has anyone else noticed this? I'm guessing it is hard to move poles that are cemented into the ground, but at the same time, the flags are supposed to be set at 5m from each end.