Green Fix repair tools

[Jason Topp]

Our club got these this year, and frankly, I have not used them much - in part because I could not figure out how they worked.

Having looked at the website I think I get the idea.  Are they really better for greens than properly used normal repair tools?  


http://green-repair-tool.com/

[astavrides]

I don't know about those tools, but I cringe everytime I see people pulling up the center of ball marks.  Extremely common.  Those how to fix a ball mark cartoons should be required above every golf course urinal.  Or maybe I should carry around little cartoon cards in my pocket to give to people to avoid the awkward scoldings I sometimes give.   Maybe a greenskeeper can comment further.

[Jerry Kluger]

Jason: I was given such a tool at a club to use and frankly, it seemed to take a whole bunch of time to fix a ball mark and I didn't understand how you would get the indentation back up to the surface.  

[Michael]

I alway thought the "old" style ones worked fine if you knew how to do it correctly..but since I'm old..I would think that.

(not "gutty" old,..BTW)

[Paul Stephenson]

I went to the website above and looked at the demo.

Is it me or did the CEO completely use the wrong technique when he was using the traditional repair tool (i.e. lifting up the middle of the ball mark)?  Of course his tool is better if you're going to repair a ballmark like you're pulling weeds.

[Greg Holland]

Our club uses them, and I think they have made a big difference.  

They are incredibly easy to use.  You simply push the tool into the green at about a 45 degree angle at 4 points around the ball mark - you have to push firmly -- then tap it down with your putter.  They had a video for our members to watch, but it is very easy.  The greens are definately in better shape -- don't know if its because more people now repair marks or if these work that much better, or both.  But, we noticed a difference.  

[Rick Shefchik]

The claim is that the longer repair tools kill the roots of the grass.

I find that hard to believe. Grass seems to be a pretty hard plant, and I don't see how the prongs of a repair tool can kill it.

That said, I was given one of those new repair tools at a local course and I'll give it a try for a while. I just wish most golfer would use something to repair their pitchmarks, be it a fork, a ballpoint pen or their car keys.

[Zack Kelly]

I've played a few places that offer them and can honestly say that I just must be to dumb to figure it out.  Much like some other posts I can't figure out how to get the mark smoothed out, I prefer the old style but I can understand that they can cause more damage if the person using it doesn't know how to repair a ball mark.

[Dan Herrmann]

I asked the superintendant at a well-known course that's always in amazing shape about these.  They used them for a while, but didn't notice any difference.

Before I knew that, I tried to get them into my club without success.

Paging Mike Malone - didn't Rolling Green start using these last year?

[Michael_Stachowicz]

This is basically the dumbing down of fixing ball marks.  The assumption is that golfers cannot fix ball marks properly with the traditional repair tools and in fact can do substantial damage with them.  The new shorter ones improve the surface (but it isn't really the best repair)  but is not so long as to allow a golfer to do damage.  The assumption is that something, although not perfect, is better than nothing.

A properly repaired ball mark with the traditional tool is easily the best solution.  It actually gives me great joy to properly repair a mark and watch it disappear and so should it to every golfer.  

[Jim Bearden]

Just use a tee.

[John_Cullum]

Or two tees.

I think that the "traditional method" shown in the cartoon works best on bent grass. Bermuda seems to need a little bit different stroke so to speak.

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