The municipal course at Jacksonville Beach offers a bag of sand to all walkers at the start of their round and fresh bags at the turn. It’s a nice way for walkers and they have a large amount, to fill their divots.
The municipal course at Jacksonville Beach offers a bag of sand to all walkers at the start of their round and fresh bags at the turn. It’s a nice way for walkers and they have a large amount, to fill their divots.
The new rule of leaving the flag in the hole while putting has done an enormous amount of damage to the edges of the cup. Don't believe me? Take a large practice putting green with 1/2 the holes using the standard practice flag with the flared cup attached to the bottom of the flag, and the other holes with a standard, regulation sized flag.
At the end of the day, the edges of the cups with the standard sized flag will have damaged edges from people trying to get the ball out of the hole with the flag in.
Why not attach a little soft rubber, flared tray to the bottom of the flag so we can use the flag to gently pull the ball out of the hole?
I think this is a great idea, I have been advocating for several years. It would also speed up the game. the pool noodle foam inserts being used now to prevent needing to reach into the hole and contaminating it has been a blessing to the speed process. with the leave the pin in rule we were told by the superintendent that it would speed up play but because it is more difficult to extract the ball with the pin in people will try and pinch the ball with the pin and flip it out. it works but often damages the edge of the hole. the rubber cup on the bottom of the pin would remedy this. I have been playing the last couple of weeks on a public course withe the Covid-19 foam inserts with guys in the 25+ handicap range and markedly higher rough( read lose your ball in the first cut and we have been finishing in under 4 hours.
You are being too kind, Tim. I see this problem's roots as just the fact that people are more ignorant, even willfully ignorant than ever before. Much of it is the "I paid my green fee" mentality that seems to also carry into the behavior of fans attending games and acting obnoxiously "I paid for my ticket" mentality My last two rounds of golf were played at Shale Creek golf club (Medina, OH., 9/26/19), and Butler's golf course, Lakeside course (9/29-19, Elizabeth, PA.) and I actually kept track - average of 6 ball marks I fixed on EVERY green. Even worse are the golfers (NO!! I will no longer call them golfers. They are just people who go play golf - and in my mind there is a difference) who will literally DEFEND THEIR IGNORANCE, which is doubling down on their cretin-like behavior. My other pet peeve is when someone drives their (wooden or plastic) tees into the ground on a tee box. This will cause a destruction of the root system of the grass in those areas. The plastic tees will not decompose, and the wooden tees can take years - yes, years, to decompose.
I'm fairly new to the game, and I had a fellow golfer tell me that replacing a divot is a waste of time because they never take. If the course does not provide sand mix, don't bother. He then pointed at a failed attempt to replace a rather large beaver pelt, pointing out the dead grass around the edges. That didn't, and still doesn't make sense to me. I still repair/fix/rake any damage I make (and any other damage I see), but have no real proof that what I fix in the fairway actually "stays fixed". BTW, around here it seems like the guilty parties on ball mark repairs on the greens are solo golfers (I've actually witnessed several times)...I think when people play in groups, repairs are more common.
Maybe not surprisingly, the worst I’ve seen here in the San Diego area is at both the North and South Torrey Pines courses. The number of unrepaired ball marks on the greens is simply shocking. I usually fix 5 fresh marks on every green. Maybe this expensive city-pwned facility falls victim to the attitude that “I paid a fortune to play here, so let them fix my damage”. Of course, this attitude gives no regard to the other players who must play on these highly damaged greens ... Damage that could easily be repaired, and should be by the golfers who created the damage.
I play my weekend round with a bucket of sand mix. As the assistant, I’m trying to set an example . My bucket usually last two holes before I have to refill.
Agree, I find on every green people not fixing their ball marks.
I find newer players need to be taught how to take care of courses. Maybe after giving a golf lesson a pro could mention a tip or two on course repair.
Absolutely! When my wife and I played in the US (California) for the first time, we did not know what these bottles at the side of the carts are for. But the use of rakes and the pitchmark-tool should be known by everyone after only a single golf lesson.
Bulle Rock in Md. supplies a pitch mark tool in every round with instructions on how to use it. they want the damage fixed. Maybe Marshalls would be better utilized by encouraging/ teaching people how to fix damage rather than just pushing golfers to speed up.
I agree with all of the ideas, however, the super's need to do their part. I play a course where there were sand boxes strategically placed on the par 3 tee boxes. The decision was made by the super to move them well away from the tee boxes to planting areas because it took "20 extra minutes" to move them when mowing. I never could figure out why they didn't have a paver under them so mowers could edge right around them but what the heck it was the super's stop watch.
I too enjoy a well maintained course, but rarely have experience any golfer really abusing one. Sure I have seen and I am guilty too of not repairing a fairway divot, but then again rarely have I had a cart with sand provided to do so - if there is a grass piece to replace , then most players do so. So I'm really not sure what this article is going on about. What does cheese me off is paying big bucks and finding a course poorly maintained by the owner - with crappy sand bunkers, poorly kept greens and tee boxes that look like the third world war has hit them. Sorry, but as a paying golfer I want value - and that in far too many cases has nothing to do with other golfers who are paying a lot to play the game. too. The course has to set the tone - far too many are in it just for the cash - and most are over priced!
I have been told by pros that replacing divots in the mid Atlantic summer is a waste due to the heat and the sand/seed mix is a better repair. I have found that when a course designates too many fairways as cart path only they really don't want them repaired since the average person isn't going to walk to the ball trying to carry several clubs and bottle of sand seed/mix, or make another trip from divot to cart get bottle to divot then back to cart to fix divot.
Dennis, Dave is right, YOU can choose to be part of the solution or part of the problem. Sounds to me like you have chosen - part of the problem.
Dennis, it sounds like maybe you are part of the problem and not the solution. If you are so wrapped up in "value for your money" and not so much on pitching in to help maintain good course conditions your missing the point. The maintenance staff needs and should take care of the course over all, but if you play on a high traffic course your going to have more players who don't care about the course itself, just themselves. As a patron of the game you seem to forget about respect for the course.. Remember if the course turned into a cow pasture because the maintenance staff cannot keep up with the number of people who don't care about the conditions, you would not be playing at all. All it takes is if you create a divot or a ball mark, fix it and also the one right next to you that you didn't make. It's really pretty easy to help.