Sand Bags

[Buck Wolter]

I remember reading here that some places rotate sand bottles around the course -- walkers take a bottle on that  hole and use it up and leave it another box by the green. Sure it's not hassle-free for the crew but it seems a good solution.


The Old GM at Kingsley always told me he'd take divots that can be easily filled over the damage done by carts.


Buck

[Jon Wiggett]

Why not just replace your divot?


Jon

[Matt MacIver]

Bermuda doesn't leave replaceable divots but rather the grass explodes into tiny pieces.

[Buck Wolter]

Why not just replace your divot?


Jon

Fescue doesn't recover --replacing divots is counterproductive.

[Jon Wiggett]

Why not just replace your divot?


Jon

Fescue doesn't recover --replacing divots is counterproductive.

Buck,


with all due respect having played a lot of golf on courses with a high % of fescue in the sward it has no problem what so ever. Replacing divots is not counterproductive, it is good etiquette and a lot less effort than humping a sand bag around.


Jon

[Thomas Dai]

Like others I've seen and used sand bags on various courses.


I've also seen courses hand out green pegs (apparently bio-degradable) that you pin divots to the ground with. I can't comment on there success however.


Atb

[David_Tepper]

Based on what I have seen playing Dornoch & Golspie quite often over the last 13 years, the crows/jackdaws are relentless in removing replaced divots so that they can dig for worms and insects in the bare ground. Filling the divots regularly with sand/seed, while requiring more time and effort (and expense) is a more effective solution, at least in the Highlands.

[SL_Solow]

I hate to be a curmudgeon but I suppose I am in the mood.  I have read this entire thread.  I am a devoted walking golfer albeit often with a caddy.  I am, as many of you know, a long time greens chairman who works with supers throughout the Chicago area.  I find it almost amusing when those who wish to walk and who often proclaim the benefits to conditioning from reducing cart traffic complain because of small burdens placed upon them to assist in course conditioning.  Of course, it is hard to get players to replace divots and repair pitch marks much less fill divots.  The suggestion that it has always been thus is just an excuse for an unwillingness to assist the professional in maintaining the course.  Additionally, the more we, as players do, the less the crew has to do thus decreasing costs`  Courtesy sometimes requires effort.  Its generally worth it

[Kalen Braley]

Perhaps I'm being a bit obtuse here, but isn't this a shared responsibility of the grounds crew?


Or is the expense that large that only $$$ places do it?


P.S.  If you take a cart, carrying problem is solved.. 

[BHoover]

Perhaps I'm being a bit obtuse here, but isn't this a shared responsibility of the grounds crew?


Or is the expense that large that only $$$ places do it?


P.S.  If you take a cart, carrying problem is solved.. 

Are you one of those people who take the same attitude with respect to fixing pitch marks (let someone else do it)?

[Kalen Braley]

Brian,


I play my golf almost exclusively out west on non-bermuda/fescue courses .. so i rarely have a divot I can't fix/replace


As for ball marks, I always fix them, unless playing on frozen greens... 

[Bill Seitz]

My home course puts sand tubes/bottles out on the course in areas that are likely to get a lot of divots (in addition to bottles on carts).  Mostly gullies and swales around greens, and fairway areas to where a lot of people lay up.  Works pretty well for the most part.  I would gladly carry a refillable tube if they were provided.  But for the most part, the staff knows where they need sand tubes and provide them accordingly. 


Then there are courses like Wolf Run, where the short par four seventh hole has a landing area that must have had at least 30-40 sand tubes set out.  It works, I guess, but it was a strange visual.

[Sean_A]

Like others I've seen and used sand bags on various courses.


I've also seen courses hand out green pegs (apparently bio-degradable) that you pin divots to the ground with. I can't comment on there success however.


Atb

I used to see these green pegs somewhat, but not anymore...ever try getting a biodegradable peg into hard ground?  Of course, for the big guns, the trend is to provide a mat in winter when grass doesn't grow...no divots, no problem.  Pennard did it for a while, but discovered that it only bought three weeks of conditioning on the summer side of the season...not worth 5 months of mats. 


Shel


If folks want golfers to do green keeping they must make it as easy as possible to do so.  Have you tried slapping a sand bag to your bag?  No wonder walkers balk.  I hope small tubes with maybe 4-5 tees with sand racks about the course comes into fashion for the winter months, thats not so bad.


I still think the best solution is to push balls to the rough in winter or dry times.  I can also see value in providing a mat for those willing to use them.  Sometimes they are great because you can generate a ton of spin for short shots 


For member courses, its dead easy to assign members to each hole for divot filling etc.  Why all clubs don't do this is a mystery to me.  Hell, they could even do this for public access courses.  Tell players to concentrate on one hole rather than the entire course. Of course, all golfers would still be expected to do their own divots.


Ciao

[Thomas Dai]

I've seen the rack/frame that the filled sand bags hang from mounted on wheels and moved to a different hole each day.


I've also heard greenkeepers say the effort for them to re-fill and transport the used bags is so time consuming that they'd rather do all the divot filling themselves.


Not easy to please everyone.


Atb

[John Foley]

I used to carry a small container w/ mix as we did not put bottles out for walkers but I love the Gatorade bottle. just put one next to the bag in the basement.


My biggest issue is education we need to make sure people understand how important this is for the golfer to take responsibility of helping to keep up. I've mentioned to our pro (but haven't done yet) a fall maintenance party where we take a bunch of people out to fill divots / repair ball marks as giving back to the staff that takes care of our course.


One other question, does Streamsong have a crew that fills divots? in Three rounds there I was just surprised that we never filled a divot.

[Dave August]

I recently had a discussion with one of our pros about just this issue (walkers filling divots). 


As my club does not replace divots (they do not grow back), sand is the preferred method of repair. The pro told me that, twice a week, the grounds crew fixes divots throughout the golf course, and that is the practice of the course. If I wanted to take a tube (as pictured in an earlier post), I could, but those were usually reserved for the pull carts (the hooks tend to break and bend with the walkers trying to clip them to their golf bag).


I may suggest to the club that the membership use sand on one hole (maybe one per nine?) each day, as mentioned above, to help with the repair.