Fixing Ball Marks and the Pros

[Carl Johnson]

Why do so many recreational golfers not know how to fix ball marks on greens?  I had a revelation today at Quail Hollow.  It's because they've learned from the pros to use the pros' roto-tiller method.  Stab, chew, lift and pack.  Am I crazy, right, wrong, or this a subject no one wants to touch?  My immediate reaction is that although the pros may or may not know how to repair ball marks for the long-term life of the green, that's not in their short-term economic interests.  They're at the course for only a week and all they care about is a smooth surface, grass or not, for that week.  If I'm right, what can be done to correct the pros' behavior?  If anything?  Or, should we just shut up and go home?

[astavrides]

I too think its a big problem.  I'm not a superintendent, just a grass hugger.

It's true what you say about how the pros fix the marks, but I don't think that is why people do it the wrong way.  The wrong way just seems like the natural way to fix them.  I think it should be manditory to post diagrams of the right way above every golf course urinal.

[Phil McDade]

I too think its a big problem.  I'm not a superintendent, just a grass hugger.

It's true what you say about how the pros fix the marks, but I don't think that is why people do it the wrong way.  The wrong way just seems like the natural way to fix them.  I think it should be manditory to post diagrams of the right way above every golf course urinal.

Any insights from the GCA crowd? What IS the correct way?

[Jason Topp]

I too think its a big problem.  I'm not a superintendent, just a grass hugger.

It's true what you say about how the pros fix the marks, but I don't think that is why people do it the wrong way.  The wrong way just seems like the natural way to fix them.  I think it should be manditory to post diagrams of the right way above every golf course urinal.

.



Any insights from the GCA crowd? What IS the correct way?

Press down and push the top of the repair tool in towards the center of the ball mark rather than use it as a lever and lift the bottom of the repair tool up.

" Instead, they use its 2-inch prongs, topped by a thumb-size grip, to dig in and lever up the smashed grass and compacted soil. Rather than helping the mark heal quickly, they often tear the plants’ roots.

“Levering seems logical, but it’s not the way the tool was meant to be used. We found that the digging and lifting actually has a more long-lasting effect than leaving the mark unrepaired,” Fry said." (From http://www.oznet.ksu.edu/news/sty/2006/ball_mark020606.htm)


 Here is an article from Chris Tritabaugh's excellent blog:

http://northlandgrounds.blogspot.com/2008/02/ball-mark-repair.html


I noticed at the Masters that many pros do it wrong.   I also notice that many of the best amateurs in my state do it wrong.


Correct:

[Jamie Barber]

I must admit I always did it wrong until I saw a poster at a club somewhere. As above, the correct way is somewhat counter-intuitive hence why most people do it wrong

[Anthony_Nysse]

Any effort to fix ball marks is better than ignoring them....

Tony Nysse
Asst. Supt
Colonial CC
Ft. Worth, TX

[Joe Bausch]

[Mike McGuire]

You would think a pictorial on how to fix a ball mark would at least have a proper picture of what a ball mark looks like!

I saw a video of Gary Player demonstrating his technique. He takes the toe of the putter and gently taps the high spot into the low. No digging, pulling or twisting. All you need to do on 90% of them.

[Garland Bayley]

Maybe there are so many ways to do it right that no one does it "right" according to your right way.

Our super says twisting is forbidden, but yet we get a diagram here that says twist.

It says don't tear roots, but twisting will tear roots, pulling/pushing the sides into the center will tear roots.

Other experts say lift, and tools are made with a bend to aid the lifting, so why is it that we aren't lifting?

Is the goal the restoration of the grass? Or, is it a level surface to putt across?

[Bradley Anderson]

I think that every motion with the repair tool should be a gentle downwards motion with no twisting or lifting. And then tamp on it with your putter.

[Carl Johnson]

. . . . If I'm right [about how the pros miss-fix marks], what can be done to correct the pros' behavior?  If anything? . . . .

Any thoughts about this part of the question in my original post?

[Phil McDade]

The obvious, and in my view correct, answer is to change the rules and make players the course as they find it:  make fixing pitchmarks illegal and if one's in your line, that's just rub of the green....

...and unraked sandtraps as well. Bunkers would then revert to something vaguely penal for the pros.

All the more reason for the pros to take on the Reverse Jans, where everything is rub of the green, down to the empty beverage containers often found on fairways....

[Kalen Braley]

The obvious, and in my view correct, answer is to change the rules and make players the course as they find it:  make fixing pitchmarks illegal and if one's in your line, that's just rub of the green....

Shiv,

That would make more sense.  As it is, one most leave thier ball in a divot...

[Peter Ferlicca]

I remember my uncle who is the super at Woodland CC in Indianapolis said that when Pete Dye came in for the redesign everyone was replacing the ball marks wrong on the new bents grass greens.  He said that IDEALLY you don't want to use a tool at all on BENT GRASS greens, but push down with your thumb around the ball mark and then smooth it out with your putter.  This obviously only works on bent grass greens, but it seems to work very well and doesn't leave and lasting marks.

[Tim Bert]

Is it legal to repair a ball mark with a tool that has a cheater line on it?