As I write this article, it is a sunny and beautiful summer day-the kind of day that means the golf course is busy and our customers are happy. A busy golf course also means that the golf course begins to show its wear and tear from excessive traffic. This is particularly true in regards to ballmarks on greens which on some holes-notably the par 3’s-have become a nuisance to both the staff and the players. I know that I have been over this topic before over the years and so I will not bore people too much about the need to repair ballmarks promptly-most players know this. The problem is that many simply do not do it. I understand that sometimes in the excitement of the moment after a big shot a player might forget but I think that there are some who think that “I paid money to play here so I shouldn’t have to fix it.”
Our staff repairs all ballmarks every morning before players arrive and while nothing works better to repair ballmarks than to fix them within minutes of their making, it is the best that we can do. The problem is that ballmarks left untended affect the groups playing behind you for the remainder of the day until we make the repairs the next morning. The only way we could prevent this would be to station a person by each green throughout the day to fix ballmarks as they are made-not a realistic option.
Thank you all for your patronage and we hope to see you here soon.
Vincent Dodge CGCS