The walking golfer is bad for the course?

[Emile Bonfiglio]

I have recently played several courses that were very explicit about their desire for you to sand your divots with the mixture provided in the cart. However, being a walking golfer (I carry my bag, no push carts) I have no option to repair the course beyond replacing my divot.

Am I more damaging to the course than the carted golfer who sands their divot?

[JESII]

In that specific action, yes. In total, no.

[Bill Seitz]

If the course provides no facilities for the walking golfer to sand their divots, I assume they understand that it's a maintenance cost they're willing to live with.  Two courses I've recently played with fescue fairways approach the problem in different, but similar ways.  One provides caddies with a tube of sand, though they didn't require us to carry them in rounds played without caddies.  The other has tubes of sand stationed on positions of the course where balls often funnel, usually in swales or bowls near greens so that walking players can sand their divots in high traffic areas.  To my knowledge, both courses have individuals tour the course in the evening or next morning to sand obvious divots. 

I've also heard two different instructions with regard to fescue divots.  One school of thought is not to replace them, because they won't grow in, and replacing them hides them from the crew who sands the divots.  The other is to replace them, because even though they won't grow back, replacing them keeps the soil cool and moist and keeps it from drying out.  I'm never quite sure which I should do. 

[Jon Wiggett]

I've also heard two different instructions with regard to fescue divots.  One school of thought is not to replace them, because they won't grow in, and replacing them hides them from the crew who sands the divots.  The other is to replace them, because even though they won't grow back, replacing them keeps the soil cool and moist and keeps it from drying out.  I'm never quite sure which I should do. 

Fescue divots do grow back in no problem. Of course if the ground is properly firm and fast then there aren't any deep divots to replace

Jon

[Jonathan Mallard]

I caddied for a friend in the Mid-Am back in the day. At the second course, on the day of the qualifying round, we were given a bag of seed mix and asked to use it in divots. This was a surprise as it wasn't mentioned during the practice rounds.

It required three folds to open/close, and couldn't be attached neatly to the golf bag. Everyone was stuck with carrying it - bend over and pick it up after you shouldered the bag. Quite cumbersome in the heat of the competition.

I was one of many who absentmindedly forgot to pick it back up after one of the shots on the first few tees.

I get that clubs want people to do that. I do, however, think that the means provided to complete the request needs to be much less troublesome.

[Jim Sherma]

My club has used small(20oz) Gatorade bottles filled with sand mix on the first tees for walkers to use. Most carry bags have a place to conveniently put them and as you use them the diminishing weight is motivation to keep using it. The reuse of the bottles is a pretty cool application of what would be discarded otherwise.

[Bill Seitz]

Fescue divots do grow back in no problem. Of course if the ground is properly firm and fast then there aren't any deep divots to replace

Jon

In case I wasn't clear, I mean the flying piece of grass won't take hold in a replaced divot.  I didn't mean that the hole in the ground would never re-fill.  You may have understood what I meant, but just in case...

[Andrew Lewis]

I face the same conundrum at my club and have reconciled my "walkers guilt" by grabbing a cart divot mix tube from a refill stand and emptying it into divots while walking that hole, leaving the empty tube on the next tee.

I may not fill all of my own divots in this way, but I'm pretty sure I end up net-positive over the course of the round.

[Wayne_Kozun]

@Emile - did they prefer you to use sand rather than replace the divot?  I always thought that courses with bermuda fairways wanted you to use sand, even if you had a fully formed divot, while courses with bent fariways preferred you to use the divot if at all possible. 

[John Foley]

Emile - plastic bottle from any Target with seed / sand mix clipped to your bag works just fine for me

[Brian Finn]

The club to which I belonged in CA provided seed mix tubes for walkers. They conveniently clip to a bag and barely seem to add weight. Here is a photo that looks just like  the ones we used (found by google search for seed mix tube). 

http://www.eagleonegolf.com/store/viewItem.asp?idProduct=654

[Jon Wiggett]

Fescue divots do grow back in no problem. Of course if the ground is properly firm and fast then there aren't any deep divots to replace

Jon

In case I wasn't clear, I mean the flying piece of grass won't take hold in a replaced divot.  I didn't mean that the hole in the ground would never re-fill.  You may have understood what I meant, but just in case...

Bill,

I did understand what you meant. As I said, fescue divots grow back in just fine. I think the big difference compared to the grasses usually used in the USA is that it will be slower to knit in as fescue creeps slower than bent or rye. However, playing out of a divot hole is a challenge that every golfer should relish/accept every now and then.


Jon

[Ivan Morris]

Obligatory golf carts are an abomination!

[Brent Hutto]

It's the reason I play 90% of my rounds with a 3-wheel trolley for my clubs. I always carry a bottle of the sand/seed mix for my divots and the extra five or six pounds makes shouldering the bag very tiring. I use the same bottles that they have in holders on riding carts, our club provides a rack of them for walkers to use near the first tee of each nine and at another spot about midway through each nine. We expect members and guests to sand their divots whether walking or riding, although many don't.

[Mike_Trenham]

How many people think golfers can properly fill a divot with mix/sand?  Why bother with adding seed to the mix?  Should golfers dispose of their divots if we are not going to replace them?  Should this have been written in green type?

[Jason Topp]

I still do not know whether or not it is better to sand or replace divots in northern areas.  I have been adamantly told both. 

I did like Australia's approach where you pretty much had to take a pull cart with a bucket of sand attached to it.  We also had the small tubes at my club this year and they work fine as well. 

I would rather play from an unreplaced divot than a sand filled divot most of the time.

[Josh Tarble]

I'd have to guess if a divot comes out pretty intact then replacing is probably the best way to go.

People that don't replace or fill divots and repair pitch marks aggravate me to no end, I just don't understand if you are paying to play a course why you wouldn't try to leave it in as best condition as you can.   I know I'm preaching to the choir here but I needed to get it off my chest. 

[David Cronheim]

I for one fall firmly into the replace your divot when you walk category. I am not a fan of pull carts, have never (and will never) use one. I refuse to carry a bag of sand with me because (a) it's heavy; (b) I replace my divots. As far as I'm concerned, replacing my divot and fixing my balls marks (and others I see on the green) is perfectly acceptable.

One HUGE area where I guarantee you walking golfers are much better for the course than cart riders is in fixing ball marks. When you ride in a cart you generally park behind the green and walk onto the putting surface. Most golfers do not spin their shots into greens. As a result, they walk to their ball and never see their pitch mark because it is closer to the front of the green. If you walk, you walk right past your ball mark because you walk onto the green and see it on your way up. I'm convinced carts are the main reason so many ball marks go unfixed. People simply do not see their pitch marks because they walk from behind the green.

[Alex Miller]

The club to which I belonged in CA provided seed mix tubes for walkers. They conveniently clip to a bag and barely seem to add weight. Here is a photo that looks just like  the ones we used (found by google search for seed mix tube). 

http://www.eagleonegolf.com/store/viewItem.asp?idProduct=654

The course I played high school golf on in SoCal also had these. Since we weren't members, it didn't feel like it was a hassle we were undeserving of, but I can see how it would be an annoyance for some. After a while, we didn't notice it though.

[John Kavanaugh]

One HUGE area where I guarantee you walking golfers are much better for the course than cart riders is in fixing ball marks.

Do you have any idea how difficult it is for an older gentleman as myself to repair a ball mark while still carrying his golf bag?  By the time you lay your bag down at the egress point you are just as unlikely to fix a mark as if you are in a cart.  You either fix them or you don't.

My second biggest complaint about walkers, out of three complaints, is their lack of filling divots.  Several members at my club are making a hard push for push carts.  This may be the answer we are all looking for.  I will pass on the notion of an Australian model where walkers use trolleys with sand bottles affixed.  Thanks.

[Peter Ferlicca]

At the club I work at right now, we have a big tennis membership.  So we have tons of empty tennis ball cans, instead of throwing them all away, we save them for sand and seed.  We have a big walking membership, most of them use a push cart.  They don't have a problem at all walking into the cart barn grabbing a tennis ball can and filling it up with sand and seed.  I will admit though when I carry my bag, I can feel the weight difference when I have a full ball can of sand and seed. 

IMO, walkers do SO MUCH LESS damage to the course, that if they are replacing their divots and fixing their ball marks they are miles ahead of the cart riders, in terms of damage to the turf. 

[Adam Clayman]

Face it, if your ball finds a divot, you're either a horrible person or you need to be challenged. Either way the premise of this thread is more than ludicrous, it suggests a dangerous mindset, that will probably be used by some schmuck greens committeeman to further devolve our sport.

[Kris Shreiner]

Emile,

Nice question to post! Those carry tubes look fine to me. If there are filling stations located every couple of holes, you're golden. They can't weigh much and you don't even have to fill them up all the way unless you take trench-like divots. Where I caddied (7 different facilities for extensive stints) we would fire on the hard-hat and go out with some sand/seed mix or sand/organic mix in a trash can strapped to a golf cart, park it out ahead of play at a prudent location, and re-fill those heavy divot areas that needed attention in exchange for golf (often extra oportunities) privileges. I've NEVER seen cart that could do that.

Dave C. makes an excellent point about walking golfers(and caddies) generally coming up the approach and in front of where their ball(s) come to rest. They can see and should fix those ball marks. Usually cart courses also have greens that, unless firm, look like an asteriod shower hit them when they have had measurable play.

Carts are an aid, but etiquette in golf predates their use by centuries.

Cheers,
Kris

[Brett_Morrissy]

JK,
Why pass on the Aussie model - pull/push trolley with a little sand bucket underneath?

I have only seen those neat little tubes is sand for walkers once, in my limited experience in Nebraska.

At home, I find the 'big mouthed' empty bottles, like Gatorade, are ideal, for filling divots, we play both fescue and couch courses each with divots behaving differently at certain times of the year, and that they often require a top up of sand, to level. And agree with Jon, we replace our fescue divots as they do grow back.

I hope we can implement a walking golfer solution at our club soon, as there is certainly a strong degree of guilt, in Australia anyway, with not carrying sand, especially as a member, and this may encourage more to walk, which is certainly better for the course than cartball.

[John Kavanaugh]

Brett,

It was my intention to communicate that I was going to champion the Aussie model.  I think it would be perfect and solve all my issues with walkers.