Pitch Marks - Who and Why?

[Joe92385]

I don't understand this either - if a serious golfer leaves a ball mark, they should know to fix it.  If a hacker (like me) leaves one, they should be excited to fix it.  The guys I golf with all shoot around 100, and we all see "own ball marks repaired" as a positive statistic, haha (along with any others we see, of course).

[Asmanning95]

I play with a lot with a couple of friends my age who both play off 5. One is a golf fanatic, spends all day at the club fixes just about every pitch mark he sees. The other guy, will fix his a lot of the time, but not every time and has genuinely said "that pitch mark isn't mine" when I've asked him to repair some. He just doesn't really care to be honest. Drives me mad!!

[14ledo81]

1 hour ago, saevel25 said:

You fail to consider that there are substantially more worse players than better players. 

Lets say that a the better players hit the green 20% more often than a worse player. If there are over 20% more worse players than better players than there would be more pitch marks done by the worse players just by volume instead of accuracy. 

 

20%??

It has to be more than that.  The hacker might be lucky to hit one or two greens a round from 100 yards out (quite possibly none).  That would mean the better player hits 1.2 to 2.5?

[colin007]

32 minutes ago, Asmanning95 said:

 and has genuinely said "that pitch mark isn't mine" when I've asked him to repair some.

That's grounds for a kick in the tender vittles....What an asshole...

[jamo]

I fix my pitch marks, but to be honest I don't really see it as a big issue. I also don't really see spike marks or sunflower seeds all over the greens either. And I'm not playing fancy courses.

[krupa]

I have a friend that drives me crazy, if he doesn't like the course he won't bother fixing marks.  If he does he might fix his mark.  

There's one course in my area where pitch marks are the least of my concerns.  These little assholes are everywhere.

 

Edited July 13, 2016 by krupa

[Joe92385]

6 minutes ago, krupa said:

I have a friend that drives me crazy, if he doesn't like the course he won't bother fixing marks.  If he does he might fix his mark.  

There's one course in my area where pitch marks are the least of my concerns.  These little assholes are everywhere.

 

I think golf, and my resulting dislike of geese, is a big reason I enjoy waterfowl hunting.

[Asmanning95]

15 minutes ago, colin007 said:

That's grounds for a kick in the tender vittles....What an asshole...

He's great apart from that!! Yeh his (and others) attitude about these things sucks sometimes. And it isn't every time he plays, but once is too many times in my view.

[Dave2512]

I can't always find mine. Often wandering around looking for it I will see older marks, some can be fixed some can't. My guess is due to angle and green texture there are times my ball doesn't leave a mark or I may not see it. If I hit a green with a 5 iron on a 190 yard par 3 it probably isn't going to drop and stop. If there are people behind us and I can't find it within the time I'd usually take just have to move on.

[DaveP043]

11 minutes ago, Dave2512 said:

I can't always find mine. Often wandering around looking for it I will see older marks, some can be fixed some can't. My guess is due to angle and green texture there are times my ball doesn't leave a mark or I may not see it. If I hit a green with a 5 iron on a 190 yard par 3 it probably isn't going to drop and stop. If there are people behind us and I can't find it within the time I'd usually take just have to move on.

I know this happens, and I've had problems finding mine too occasionally, especially when the greens get really firm.  And sometimes I find a real shallow pitch mark only because the grass has started to discolor a bit, but I can see by the shallowness of the mark how someone could miss it initially.  All I expect anyone to do is to make a reasonable effort to find and repair his own pitch mark, and hopefully a couple more if possible.

[Gunther]

Depends on the course, if you play a lot of bent grass greens, a pitch mark can be left with a 10 yard shot.  On Champions Bermuda you could drop a ball from 35,000 and not leave a mark.  I play probably half and half.  I  always look for my mark regardless cuz I want to know how much spin or check I got, it's important feedback.  And I always repair.

[billchao]

I'm of the belief that failure to fix pitch marks (and divots, for that matter) doesn't have much to do with skill level. It's just people being lazy and/or inconsiderate.

And conditions make a big difference; you can't just assume pitch marks are caused by shots from 100 yards and out. I've played courses where I can make one from a greenside pitch and I've played courses where I can't find one after hitting a full 8i on.

[newtogolf]

I must subconsciously aim for the fringe all the time just so I don't have to repair pitch marks.  

[DrvFrShow]

Only better players make them from outside 100 yds? Really? Does that mean I'm one of them? Holy crap! I thought I sucked. Just because I hit a green from 140 with an 8 iron last week left a ball mark, and had the ball back up 3 feet. I think with my "handicap" I'm an outlier. I do fix my ball marks.

[Osnola]

People do not fix their pitch marks or ball marks because the course they are playing isn't their own personal property...If it was, maybe they would fix them...

[mcanadiens]

1 hour ago, newtogolf said:

I must subconsciously aim for the fringe all the time just so I don't have to repair pitch marks.  

One course I play has greens so firm that the fringe is the only option for a GIR.

Actually, the greens are so firm that they barely show a pitch mark on a direct hit.

 

[Aflighter]

If you take the game seriously and really love it then youd fix your ball marks.Its  habit for me mainly cause id like to see where my ball hit.

[DrvFrShow]

You know sometimes people just don't have the tool to fix them and don't know enough to use a tee - the tee is back on their golf cart, not in their pocket.

I think golf courses could benefit if instead of charging the meager 50 cents for the pitch mark repair tool - the cheap one they have at the counter that works, they'd just give one away when a person checks in. I know these seem like an added expense, but come on, I'd pay an additional 50 cents a round if the thing was included in the price. If you have one on you already, you get a 50 cent discount.

This way there's no excuse for not fixing your pitch marks.