Quote:
Originally Posted by
dhanson 
i don't know what you mean by "better job" - i've never been able to use the plastic markers effectively. the small plastic nub that is supposed to keep them in one place doesn't penetrate the ground deep enough (or at all sometimes) and could very well blow around the green if a stiff breeze came up. people use coins because they're heavier, easier to find in your pocket/on your hat/on your pitch-mark tool, and have some sort of meaning to a player (lucky, ect).
This is pure nonsense - the only way they'd blow around is if the nub broke off altogether. The flat plastic ball markers with the plastic nub are by far the best sort of ball marker because they actually sit flatter on the green than any other sort of marker and one can roll a ball over them without disturbing the path of the putt.
Having said that, I don't use them because they are kind of tricky to find in one's pocket and I'd rather not spend an extra 5-10 seconds digging around for it, causing delays and losing focus.
I used to use the ball marker on the back of a glove, which was always handy to reach, small, unobtrusive, and sat pretty flat. However, as is sometimes the case in this sport, irrational snobbishness has prevailed and mostly done away with them and it's hard to find gloves any more that have markers on them. I've heard quite a few golfers over the years bash them, including some hotshot young assistant pros and there is no good reason for it - such criticisms make no sense at all, as they are far less obtrusive than a quarter or some larger coin. Nike still makes a glove with a ball marker and the marker is actually flatter and thinner than the older ones.
Nowadays, I have a magnetic marker holder that I clip on to the brim of my hat and used to use a thin Green Bay Packers marker that came with it; I bought it off eBay for something like $4. Lately, though, I've been using a polished 1943 penny. People who don't know anything about coins or military history are always astonished and ask me if it was custom made, not knowing that the shortage on copper during the war to use in brass shell casings resulted in the federal government's decision in 1943 to have pennies be made out of steel. It's unique and a penny is about the largest coin (U.S. currency at least) that will still sit flat enough not to interfere much with the path of any putt that rolls over it. My local coins and estate jewelry store had a big tub of them and I bought several as I think they were something like 4 or 5 for a buck.
