FIX YOUR BALL MARKS

[codylowrygolf]

How many really go unfixed?

We did this at our club to get the "it's just one ball mark" mantality out of our members heads. Turfcare put one ball in every unrepaired ball mark they found. If you look close, after all that, you can still find unrepaired ball marks. So please, fix yours and fix one more. Crazy shots though, huh?

[mat562]

I agree wholeheartedly.

But imagine the havoc it would play with the anodised finish on a Scotty Cameron pivot tool...

[golfernut78]

those are awesome pics.

i am curious, was the flag at the front of the green and was just moved or did that many people come up short?

[codylowrygolf]

[quote name='golfernut78' post='876449' date='Jan 22 2008, 11:25 AM']those are awesome pics.

i am curious, was the flag at the front of the green and was just moved or did that many people come up short?[/quote]

I would think that those pics are from several days of pitchmarks. We change our cups everyday so maybe just missing short. Or maybe more people hit the green when the pin is up. That could be it too becuase most people don't take enough club and miss when the pin is long.

[adam10]

that is a huge problem at my home course. each green must have at least 200 poorly repaired ball marks and another 200 fresh ones left unrepaired. I have begged them to get their rangers out of their golf carts and have them repair ball marks instead of trying to direct traffic.

[codylowrygolf]

[quote name='adam10' post='876459' date='Jan 22 2008, 11:33 AM']that is a huge problem at my home course. each green must have at least 200 poorly repaired ball marks and another 200 fresh ones left unrepaired. I have begged them to get their rangers out of their golf carts and have them repair ball marks instead of trying to direct traffic.[/quote]


Quick FYI. Thats green has almost 2000 balls on it. Seven range baskets which hold about 300 ball a piece.

[oregongolf]

Wow, that's nuts.

I'm always asking people to fix two or three for everyone one they make.

[BEND OF THE RIVER GC]

Nice course, where is it?

I was laways taugt, fix your ball mark and another one everytime.

Even if I don't make one, I'll fix 2, 3 or even 4.

[ramylson]

That's crazy..

Like Bend, I'm always correcting other marks on the green while waiting for others to inspect their line, practice strokes, etc.

Actually, I think I'm going to print that picture and show it to all of the employees at courses that don't seem to care.

[ripsid]

I play a crappy Muni, and I'm constantly fixing ball marks! I know the guys when I play (early sat am) are guys that play right and fix em, it's the late afternoon, high schoolers that don't fix em. Nothing worse than loosing a stroke because of poor repair.

SiD

[Dr Rangelove]

While waiting for others to line up their putt it's always good practice to look around and repair what you see, just part of the Be Kind To Your Course program.

[golfernut78]

[quote name='ripsid' post='876640' date='Jan 22 2008, 12:29 PM']I play a crappy Muni, and I'm constantly fixing ball marks! I know the guys when I play (early sat am) are guys that play right and fix em, [b]it's the late afternoon, high schoolers that don't fix em[/b]. Nothing worse than loosing a stroke because of poor repair.

SiD[/quote]

the best is playing with the guys who never fix them, but constantly complain about the ones not fixed in their putting line. karma is great. ranks second to people who never rake the bunker and then hit into the bunker only to have their ball in someone's footprint.

edit: i'm not calling high schoolers out in general (although i've seen many that are the culprit). if anyone is to be called out, its the afternoon drunks on the course that are playing golf, that the only difference between them and an alcoholic is they are doing it on a golf course.

[qrispy2]

Huge pet peeve here.
Lots of talk about a game of honor and class.
Apparently not so much any more.
I play all types of courses muni to High end daily.
Same everywhere lots of unfixed ball marks.
I fix more than my own, but.
[i][b]All it would take is everyone fixing one, their own![/b][/i]
Disrespectful and rude to not fix a ball mark you made.
NO EXCUSE!
Always read and hear "I fix my own and 2 more"
Then Who is the guy that isn't?
Rant off

[codylowrygolf]

[quote name='BEND OF THE RIVER GC' post='876480' date='Jan 22 2008, 11:46 AM']Nice course, where is it?

I was laways taugt, fix your ball mark and another one everytime.

Even if I don't make one, I'll fix 2, 3 or even 4.[/quote]


The Standard Club in Duluth, GA. It's great!

[jebb]

A great post and food for thought.

I try and repair my own PLUS one more. This sort of damage is entirely avoidable and must drive greenkeepers mad.

My idea at the club I'm a member of is to add a couple of quid on and give everyone a pitchmark repairer and to give out cheap plastic ones to visitors whe they pay their fees.

Great course by the way!!

[DaveyH]

I hate most the people with the ''smart' pitch repairers who dont use them haha!
Or people who believe because they dont hit it high it doesnt create a pitch mark!

[nobogeys59]

Last year in a state tournament as me and my other 2 playing partners were on the green, after I marked my ball i took a quick look around and fixed a couple ball marks. One of the fellows remarked that I must play public courses, due to the fact that I was fixing pitch marks. I replied "yes I do" plus I'm also a golf course superintendent. The 2 other fellows were from private clubs. This is one of my biggest pet peeves is un repaired ball marks.
Oh and the other is about a dozen times a year I need to fix areas of the green where people have took a gouge out of the green with there putter.

[scotton]

I played with a guy one time (only once) at my course who wouldn't fix his, so I would fix them for him in a pointed way. Then on the back he complained because they had sanded the greens the week before and the greens were still a little sandy. I told him I had asked the super why he sanded so often and his reply was that he had to sand often to fill in the un-repaired ball marks. And I was repairing one of his marks as I said this. Shockingly, he fixed the rest of his marks that round, but I'm sure it didn't last. The problem seems more prevalent on higher end courses, because hackers have the mentality of "I paid all this money, I shouldn't have to fix marks or rake bunkers or fill divots". I've always thought that if Tiger fixes his own ball marks, no one else has any excuse not to. I've even played with handicapped gentlemen who insisted on fixing their own marks even though it was clearly painful to do so. I find a big fat mark to be a badge of honor. It means that I hit a short iron or wedge into the green, and I hit the green. Fixing the mark is feedback for hitting a good shot.

[mat562]

I can't imagine making a pitch mark on a green and [i]not[/i] fixing it...

I couldn't walk off the green and leave it.

Impossible to do.

[SHERO]

sometimes I spend an hour with mates late in the evening just putting on a green and repairing pitchmarks.
My club did something like this, on the front portion of a short par 4 there was 8000 unrepaired or ill-repaired pitchmarks.
Shocking really.

[The Duck]

I am happy to repair a ball mark. It means I have hit the green.

I always try to repair mine and find another to fix as a general rule.

1-1=o

[MR MIZUN0]

I actually like to repair ball marks (a little crazy). But what is the proper way to fix a ball mark....I have heard many diffrent ways (is the one on the titleist site the correct way?)

[mat562]

Apparently the method shown on the Titleist site was actually originally thought up by Callaway...

[mihi4]

[quote name='mat562' post='877434' date='Jan 23 2008, 01:43 AM']Apparently the method shown on the Titleist site was actually originally thought up by Callaway... [/quote]
LOOL...

Here's a good video by Shawn Clement demonstrating the proper repair:
[url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f-ZzT8yMnmg"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f-ZzT8yMnmg[/url]

greetings
michi

[DuManchu]

Apparently the method shown on the Titleist site was actually originally thought up by Callaway...

LOOL...

 

Here's a good video by Shawn Clement demonstrating the proper repair:

 

greetings

michi

I am actually guilty of using the first method he shows, that's how I was taught. Now I know better, and it makes more sense.

[jed]

I played a muni last year that the starter required you to show a divot tool and how to use it .

 

no tool no play .

[tarheel]

too many go unreparied. with all the blitering idiots with zero etiquette on the course, the greens look like the surface of the moon.

 

idiots all of them. and why can't these same morons learn how to rake the bunker properly? it's no good to just rake where they hit ... why doesn't anyone tell these people that they should rake off their footprints as well?

 

i go up to the offending idiots every chance i get and tell them. and don't get me started on course divots.

[dlnljl]

I have been working at a Municipal course for the last five years as a Marshall and starter. It is a very nice course with the quality of the greens being one of the best features. Before the first tee time of the day I have grabbed the pitch repair tool from the Super and gone around and tried to fix as many pitch marks as I could. But by then they were at least a day old. At the end of the day it would look as if I hadn't done any.

I have been golfing for about 30 years now and I think it has gotten worst with the new golfers out there since the Tiger era. There was a large number of new golfers who decided to take up the game with no instruction on golf or etiquette. As a starter I have asked people if they have a divot repair tool, and do they know how to fix the pitch marks, and a lot of them ask what is a divot tool.

 

As for repair tools they also have not been updated in design. Those long prongs must be for prying up the pitch mark.

I have used a new tool designed by Danny Edwards of the Champions tour and it is the best one I have ever used. It is simple and works.

Below is a link where he demonstrates the old method of repairing and the new method.

Even is people used the new method with the old tool it would be better.

http://www.greenfixgolf.com/As-seen-on-the-Golf-Channel.html