Fix Your Ball Marks Folks!
 

The greens at the Belmont executive course have been aerated and sanded. People apparently think this means they do not need to fix their ball marks. Wrong!! Use your heads and do this simple step to help keep the greens in the best condition possible.

😢

Totally agree!

:what: I'm not the sharpest knife in the drawer and I know exactly what Mleeja is saying. :oops: Maybe she is talking about you. Sorry.

After 13 years in TV I can ONLY conclude, far too many must believe fixing ball marks, filling in divots and raking sand in bunkers...IS SOMEBODY ELSES JOB!!!

What other possible explanation can there possibly be.....I could mention a couple more reasons but then I would have to ignore being polite!!

OK, in that case I'm happy to be impolite

Lets try:

Lazy
Entitled
Self absorbed

But to leave an out for some of them, how about the worlds most ignorant beginners?

I agree. And think about raking a sand trap after you've tromped around in it, would ya? Rude and inconsiderate do not make for good neighbors, or a good community.

I remember someone on here years ago saying that someone said doing all that was the Ambassador's job. :pray:

NO....it is the JOB of each golfer, for those who truly do not know.

Gee, I thought that the snow birds were responsible the ball marks in the greens

Over the years, I have accumulated a lot of metal divot tools that some golf courses give out free.

I have probably given away about a dozen of them in the last 6 years here, when I mention to someone about repairing their pitch marks and they give a lame excuse about not having a divot tool with them. :oops:

After explaining that I know they have tees on them and that they can also be used (if properly trained) to repair pitch marks...I'll then give them a divot tool so they no longer have an excuse.

I'm sure a lot of them probably only used it while playing with me and still don't bother to do the right thing, but hey...at least I gave it a shot. :shrug:

It's not only the thought that counts - but in your case, the effort. [emoji41]


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This drives me absolutely insane. I must fix 5-10 on every green on every course that I play.

I fully understand that there are a lot of people playing who are new to golf and may not understand the rules and etiquette of the game. But I always think that anyone that's good enough to make a ball mark should know enough to fix it.

Problem will never get better until ambassadors are empowered to watch and confront abusers.
I also usually look for two or three on each green to repair. Almost never am without success.

As I have said many, many, many times, there are the self-anointed privileged/entitled that live amongst us that leaves the tidying up of the golf courses to us less fortunate, lower rung on the ladder, people.

Now we know the truth.

Thanks. :ho:

If I create a ball mark I take a picture of it and then repair it. It's the closest I come to a hole in one.

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:1rotfl::1rotfl: Good Joke :jester:

:thumbup: Just watched John Daly hit his second shot on #10. The next thing he did was grab a sand bottle off a cart. Good luck today John.:gc:

It is great exercise

Bang on. I find myself fixing 3-4 ball marks on every green. I understand why it's important. It may be that some can't bend over to fix them. That's why they have those little rubber gadgets attached to their putter to pick up their balls off the green.

Divots
 

Yes, fix divots too! BTW, John Daly won his first Champions Tournment yesterday. You talk about a golfing character---he tops the list!

I worked at a golf course where I convinced the board of directors to foot the bill for inexpensive ball mark tools that we handed out on the first tee. If nothing else, it took away people's excuses and raised awareness of the problem.

The problem did get better, but we had to run an awareness campaign once or twice a year as the members lapse into not caring.

I played with a guy that had a ball mark repair tool attached to the end of his putter, as well as a suction cup--he just kept them in a pocket and switched them out when needed---so it IS doable for everyone

Wish I could make some of my own to fix.

I can see where folks find a delay in play if they stop to fix ball marks.
I can say with 100% certainty that I have NEVER been admonished for fixing YOUR ball marks, picking up YOUR disgusting stogies/ciggy butts, power bar papers and the errant beer can. Why is it that here in The Villages, some folks are too full of themselves to bend down and PICK UP AFTER THEMSELVES???
Heaven knows most would bend over for the quarter on the ground.
Fix your messes.
You would punish your grandkids for less!

Wherever you go to live you can bet there will always be those who think they are entitled, spoiled, and feel privileged.

How about picking up your broken tees. I come up to some tee boxes and see a half dozen broken tees. Buy some Martini tees (but not the green ones) I love finding them.

Oh no! Especially on executive courses I count on finding broken tees. :)

Mistakes in repairing divots!
 

One of the major problems is most people from north of the Mason-Dixon Line have played on Bent grass greens. They were taught how to repair ball marks on Bent grass greens!

BUT if you repair Bermuda greens like you do Bent grass you actuall kill the grass. This is where most of the brown spots on our greens come from!

Bent grass roots grow horizontal while Bermuda grass grow Verticals and therefore have deep roots.

If you will use your divot tool and move the surrounding grass towards the mark all the way around the divot you have done it right.

If you put your tool in under the divot and pop it back up you kill the Bermuda grass.

Please stop KILLING our Bermuda grass...be nice to our tuff!

FYI...many starter shacks have a small handout on the proper way to repair divots.

:bowdown:

Last night I saw the ultimate culprit. As I passed the second hole of Walnut Grove while headed South on the Mulberry to Belle Meade Circle trail, I saw a fellow hitting multiple tee shots to the green. He was a low handicapper and had hit the green about ten times. Hmmm, says I, let me watch this play out. I pulled over and observed. He picked them all up without repairing a single pitch mark and headed back to the tee to resume his practice. This was after the starter shack closed and the ambassadors left for the evening. Before anyone asks if I spoke to the guy, let me say this. I am not going to confront someone when I am wearing a wet swimsuit and wrapped up in a beach towel like it was a sarong.

Also not waiting for the other foursome to get off the green or letting them finish the second shot on a par 4 fairway. Fore.....got em !

I have played with two people in the past that stated that they didn't have to rake the sand or fix their ball marks because they were Premium members. Disgusting.

I've heard that myself.


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