Pros Filling Divots on Tour

[sirsteveo55]

So I have noticed that no player or their caddie fills any divots while they are playing. I know they are pros and that the course has ground maintenance people who do that after the tournament. I just find this to be weird because you never want you ball to land in a divot, so if they filled them they wouldn't have to worry about that. You also sometimes hear the commentators be like "he was lucky that did not land in a divot". I just think it would be beneficial to all if they did fill them. Is there a specific reason they dont fill them?

[Buckeyebowman]

Uh, every golf broadcast I've ever watched showed caddies hunting down and "replacing" divots. Those will last until the fairways are mowed for the next day's play, when they will be displaced by the mowers. That's when the grounds crew comes out and fills divots with a mixture of sand, fertilizer, and grass seed. What are the caddies supposed to do? Tote the bags and a 50lb sack of seed mix?

[loverofgolf]

I believe the caddies attempt to fix the divot, but that can be very tough sometimes. Makes me wonder if in the future there will be people whose only job is to fill in the divots.

[iacas]

17 hours ago, Buckeyebowman said:

Uh, every golf broadcast I've ever watched showed caddies hunting down and "replacing" divots.

This.

[HitAndGiggle]

33 minutes ago, loverofgolf said:

I believe the caddies attempt to fix the divot, but that can be very tough sometimes. Makes me wonder if in the future there will be people whose only job is to fill in the divots.

I may have found YET ANOTHER part-time job for my retirement...

[Buckeyebowman]

4 hours ago, loverofgolf said:

I believe the caddies attempt to fix the divot, but that can be very tough sometimes. Makes me wonder if in the future there will be people whose only job is to fill in the divots.

It already exists. Well, if you play at the New Albany Country Club outside of Columbus, Ohio it does. I read, years ago, that every foursome that goes out hauls along a couple of "attendants". These folks are there simply to replace divots, rake bunkers, fix ball marks, and otherwise maintain the course!

I can't imagine what the initiation fees and dues are at a place like that!

Also, it dismays me to see guys playing local courses the way folks can play that course! Absolutely no regard for the course, or for their fellow golfers coming along behind them!

Hell! I'm PROUD to fix my ball marks! It means I've, usually, made a good approach shot. So I strut up there, repair tool at the ready, and do my job. Which usually turns into doing a half dozen other jobs neglected by others!

And I learned long ago to look closely at the line of my putt! One time I had a birdie putt tracking perfectly, only to have it jump a foot in the air, go offline, and die a mile short! I walked up to discover a ball mark directly in my line.

[Lastpick]

Did they not have people attend to the bunkers at the Open either this year or last year.  Hell, if I played at some these courses on a bad swing day, my caddie could end up a couple holes behind just raking the carnage that I had caused.

[1badbadger]

Who remembers when Payne Stewart's ball found a sand-filled divot during the '98 U.S. Open?  If I recall correctly, after this incident he pushed for the USGA to consider sand-filled divots as "ground under repair."  Here is the video of what happened:

https://youtu.be/FDCi0eRcLUM

[DaveP043]

On 1/16/2017 at 11:28 PM, Buckeyebowman said:

Uh, every golf broadcast I've ever watched showed caddies hunting down and "replacing" divots. Those will last until the fairways are mowed for the next day's play, when they will be displaced by the mowers. That's when the grounds crew comes out and fills divots with a mixture of sand, fertilizer, and grass seed. What are the caddies supposed to do? Tote the bags and a 50lb sack of seed mix?

I've seen the same thing, caddies are regularly seen repairing divots.  The filling and leveling with sand mix comes later.  The first time I volunteered at a US Open (97 at Congressional) I was walking out to the shuttle bus stop at the end of the day and saw what must have been 20 or more people in a line across the first fairway, repairing divots with sand mix.

Another interesting "repair", working the AT&T at Congressional a few years ago, I saw an official on the short-game practice green with a bunch of little bottles of sand.   My assigned duties were relatively slow at the time, so I talked to him a bit.  He was trying to come up with a mix of various colored sands that exactly matched the greens.  A tiny bit is then used to cover pitch marks that remain visible on the greens, even after they've been repaired by the player.  The PGA didn't want them showing up on the TV cameras.

[14ledo81]

9 hours ago, 1badbadger said:

Who remembers when Payne Stewart's ball found a sand-filled divot during the '98 U.S. Open?  If I recall correctly, after this incident he pushed for the USGA to consider sand-filled divots as "ground under repair."  Here is the video of what happened:

https://youtu.be/FDCi0eRcLUM

We have had this discussion multiple times before.

At what point is it no longer "ground under repair"??

[iacas]

10 hours ago, 1badbadger said:

Who remembers when Payne Stewart's ball found a sand-filled divot during the '98 U.S. Open?  If I recall correctly, after this incident he pushed for the USGA to consider sand-filled divots as "ground under repair."

Someone from the USGA asked Payne if he'd ever practiced hitting the ball out of a divot hole. He said no. A year or two later a player was complaining to Payne that he hit a bad shot out of a divot hole and the same USGA official heard Payne ask the guy if he'd ever practiced out of a divot hole, and the guy said no. Payne said "I've started to. You should too."

[k-troop]

22 minutes ago, 14ledo81 said:

At what point is it no longer "ground under repair"??

On Monday, when the tour has moved on.  (There are likely no divots on the course from the members, because the members have been excluded from the course for a few weeks prior to the event.)

(I keed, of course.  That would work on tour, but not for the rest of us losers.  And this issue has been beaten to death.)

[1badbadger]

39 minutes ago, 14ledo81 said:

We have had this discussion multiple times before.

At what point is it no longer "ground under repair"??

I wasn't involved in those other discussions, so I honestly don't know what the consensus is on this, but I would have to ask then at what point does it become ground under repair?  When the divot was made, or when it's filled with sand?

That's a good point about when it would be deemed to no longer be GUR.

(Sorry, not trying to bring up a subject that has been beaten to death.  Sometimes divots just explode and there is no way to replace them)

[14ledo81]

1 hour ago, 1badbadger said:

I wasn't involved in those other discussions, so I honestly don't know what the consensus is on this, but I would have to ask then at what point does it become ground under repair?  When the divot was made, or when it's filled with sand?

That's a good point about when it would be deemed to no longer be GUR.

(Sorry, not trying to bring up a subject that has been beaten to death.  Sometimes divots just explode and there is no way to replace them)

 

As far as I know, it is not ever deemed as GUR.

[k-troop]

12 hours ago, 1badbadger said:

Who remembers when Payne Stewart's ball found a sand-filled divot during the '98 U.S. Open?  If I recall correctly, after this incident he pushed for the USGA to consider sand-filled divots as "ground under repair."  

 

2 hours ago, 14ledo81 said:

We have had this discussion multiple times before.

At what point is it no longer "ground under repair"??

 

1 hour ago, 1badbadger said:

I wasn't involved in those other discussions, so I honestly don't know what the consensus is on this, but I would have to ask then at what point does it become ground under repair?  When the divot was made, or when it's filled with sand?

That's a good point about when it would be deemed to no longer be GUR.

 

3 minutes ago, 14ledo81 said:

As far as I know, it is not ever deemed as GUR.

Just to wrap this up for @1badbadger

*Divots, whether sand-filled or not, are not considered GUR under the Rules.

*This issue has been discussed at length on the rules forum. 

*One major argument against treating divots as GUR is that it would be impossible to manage.  You can't have a crew out painting white lines around every divot in real-time, and it's too hard/inconsistent to allow every golfer in the world to judge when a divot ceases to be a divot.

[1badbadger]

1 hour ago, k-troop said:

 

 

 

Just to wrap this up for @1badbadger

*Divots, whether sand-filled or not, are not considered GUR under the Rules.

*This issue has been discussed at length on the rules forum. 

*One major argument against treating divots as GUR is that it would be impossible to manage.  You can't have a crew out painting white lines around every divot in real-time, and it's too hard/inconsistent to allow every golfer in the world to judge when a divot ceases to be a divot.

I realize divots are not considered GUR...ledo made the point that hypothetically if they were, at what point it be considered playable, so I was merely making a hypothetical point as well.  I get the hint though...thanks for wrapping this up for me.

[k-troop]

2 minutes ago, 1badbadger said:

I realize divots are not considered GUR...ledo made the point that hypothetically if they were, at what point it be considered playable, so I was merely making a hypothetical point as well.  I get the hint though...thanks for wrapping this up for me.

Sorry...no hint being made (other than we already have a thread for that), just trying to be helpful!

[1badbadger]

8 hours ago, k-troop said:

Sorry...no hint being made (other than we already have a thread for that), just trying to be helpful!

No worries...if I took it out of context I apologize.  I appreciate the help.