Isn't Anyone Repairing Ball Marks?

[Shindig]

I had a great situation on a par-3 yesterday.  There was a backup (that takes me back!) on the tee ahead of me, and I couldn't start my birdie putt because doing so would put me in the way of two of my group's pitch shots.  So I wandered over to another part of the green and repaired ball marks.  They weren't on the line my ball was going to travel, but I hoped it would help me in some sense.  Fixing them was a good deed overall, but it didn't help me avoid the three putt (having a 50' birdie putt also didn't help me avoid the three putt, and was probably a bigger contributor). 

Anyway, it was fun to just go looking for ball marks to repair. 

[Billy Z]

A guy I was paired up with the other day was fixing his ball mark, but the wrong way. He was lifting with a lever type action instead of manipulating the grass inward as you are supposed to do. I'm not sure which is worse an unrepaired ball mark or one that has been repaired improperly. Of course most golfers know when you use the lever action to lift up the grass you break the roots and kill the grass.

Edited June 7, 2021 by Billy Z

[dennyjones]

8 hours ago, Billy Z said:

A guy I was paired up with the other day was fixing his ball mark, but the wrong way. He was lifting with a lever type action instead of manipulating the grass inward as you are supposed to do. I'm not sure which is worse an unrepaired ball mark or one that has been repaired improperly. Of course most golfers know when you use the lever action to lift up the grass you break the roots and kill the grass.

One guy I play with even after being schooled in the proper technique still does this.   smh

[darthweasel]

9 hours ago, Billy Z said:

A guy I was paired up with the other day was fixing his ball mark, but the wrong way. He was lifting with a lever type action instead of manipulating the grass inward as you are supposed to do. I'm not sure which is worse an unrepaired ball mark or one that has been repaired improperly. Of course most golfers know when you use the lever action to lift up the grass you break the roots and kill the grass.

minor point: in my experience the last sentence would have the word "don't" in it...I will be the first to admit that until I saw the thread on hear about how to properly repair ball marks, I did the lever thing thinking I was doing it right and had never heard that. To this day most people I see who are repairing them do the lever thing as they don't know...it is good and valuable information and worth dispensing if/when you get the chance. 

 

I have changed how I repaired them and actually watch the video every so often just to make sure I don't get sloppy 

[Yukari]

IMHO, new players that took up this game due to COVID don't know the etiquette of fixing their own ball mark.  In addition, you have regular players who are lazy and don't fix their own ball marks.  I noticed more ball marks on the green than pre-COVID rounds (or it's because more rounds are being played due to increased number of players).

Personally, I always fix mine plus any others that i see on the green.  Heck, I will be playing the course again soon so I want to course to be in good condition when I return. 

[wakefield724]

I notice this on cheaper courses. I view it like the broken window theory. You have an abandoned crappy isolated house and a kid throws a rock and breaks a window. As time goes on, more kids will do it. Now you paint that house and fix it up, kids are less likely to throw a rock. Once one guy does it, more people will follow. Fix other people's marks. 

[darthweasel]

3 hours ago, wakefield724 said:

I notice this on cheaper courses. I view it like the broken window theory. You have an abandoned crappy isolated house and a kid throws a rock and breaks a window. As time goes on, more kids will do it. Now you paint that house and fix it up, kids are less likely to throw a rock. Once one guy does it, more people will follow. Fix other people's marks. 

used to work at a place that we had a meeting specifically to go over the whole "broken window" thing replete with a diatribe about how it had improved the prison they used as an example in the book, blah blah blah...and how they were adopting that philosophy to foster a better workplace environment

 

the very next day when we got to work someone had shot the window in that conference room with a BB gun. This was back around...i don't remember for sure it has been many, many years, but I think probably 2004, 2005 maybe? last time I was there a few weeks ago...same BB hole still in the window. For years every time I walked past it I laughed and will do so for the remainder of my days

[Billy Z]

It's so easy to fix a ball mark it's silly. It's just laziness and lack of respect for other people's property that causes people not to repair them. I take pride in how I repair a ball mark, always trying to get it to a point where I can't tell there was a mark in the first place. Just fix the freaking things, it's easy!