Two questions about divots

[Capella]

I just read an article by a greenkeeper in a German online magazine, where he says, he wished people would leave a bit of grass between divots on the practice area/grass range. That goes completely against how I learned it, namely that you try to keep your divots as closely together as possible, so leaving one large square or rectangular area instead of many small individual divots. Another alternative I have seen is to make long lines of divots but leave a strip of grass between them. I am aware this might be like the "where to leave a rake in or around bunkers" question (no, thanks, I don't want to revisit that one), so a question of personal preference or at least different philosophies/approaches in different clubs, but how do you (ideally) handle this? Individual divots (the greenkeeper's argument was that those grow over more quickly), stripes or rectangle?

The other question concerns divots on tee boxes. In Germany you are told never to replace your divots on the tee box, since other players coming behind you might slip on the lose ground. Yet I did see a few times in the course vlogs by some of the YouTube pros, that they do replace the divots on the tee. So maybe expectations are different in the UK. So, what is the correct/recommended procedure at your home course? Do you replace divots on the tees or not (assuming that there is no divot mix availabe ... in that case it is pretty obvious).

 

[fundy]

dont replace divots on tees (we have seed and sand on most tees)

practising I keep divots as close together as possible, easy for the greenstaff to add soil and seed to the area and flatten it off, if you leave clumps in between it just leads to a really lumpy surface (the grass area of our range a perfect example of this sadly)

 

[hovis]

The green keepers at the belfry said from a green keeping point of view they prefer people not to replace divots as they just get turned over by birds looking for worms or don't re-take and just turn brown. If they're left out then the seeders can see where they need to seed. They also pre germinate there grass seed so its already growing when they put it down

 

[Garush34]

I go with lines on the practice ground and never replace divots on the tee. We have a mix of sand a seed on the par 3 tee's.

 

[jpjeffery]

Yep, never replace on the tee. It can create unstable ground that may not be obvious until it's too late.

Nice to hear that you all have grass to practice on though.


*sniff*

 

[Hosel Fade]

Straight lines with space between is the preferred way, the rectangle takes forever to grow back and individual divots take up a lot of space

There is a better picture from the USGA but I can't get on it because of the web filter here

 

[LCW]

I was always taught it should look like this

As it allows better growth back is there is some grass in between them (to knit i would assume) instead of massive chunks of concentrated divots.

 

[SocketRocket]

I tend to take a divot with the first swing then place the following balls in the same spot so the club is bottoming out in the same spot and not taking more divots. The objective being striking the ball with a descending blow, the divot is just a by product.

 

[dewsweeper]

I do replace a divot on the tee because I just do not like leaving a scar behind.
I have never understood the "unstable ground" argument, in 4 decades of golfing I have yet to slip on a replaced divot or on a deep scar .
My argument would be you choose where to tee up on a tee and can surely see the state of the ground.
Also we do not seem to be slipping all over the place" through the green" on replaced fairway divots.

 

[the_coach]

[video=youtube;fTRwmEexg6Y]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fTRwmEexg6Y[/video]

not usual practice to replace sods into divots on the tee-box

 

[dewsweeper]

[video=youtube;fTRwmEexg6Y]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fTRwmEexg6Y[/video]

not usual practice to replace sods into divots on the tee-box

What is the reason for this being accepted practise coach, in your experience?

 

[the_coach]

What is the reason for this being accepted practise coach, in your experience?

mostly around recovery of grass on the tee-box either through folks using the mix provided to fill in at the time - or making it easier for ground workers to see immediately where needs reseeding if none provided on the tee-box so none missed because they covered up by folks replacing sods

true to a certain extent any real deep ones having been replaced with the sod could present an ankle turn over issue

 

[dewsweeper]

mostly around recovery of grass on the tee-box either through folks using the mix provided to fill in at the time - or making it easier for ground workers to see immediately where needs reseeding if none provided on the tee-box so none missed because they covered up by folks replacing sods

true to a certain extent any real deep ones having been replaced with the sod could present an ankle turn over issue

Thanks for your reply.
We have a new greenkeeper at our course and he is very good.
One thing he has done is take the soil mix boxes from all our tees , I believe he wants his staff to do all tee repairs.
He does appear to be using a different kind of soil mix for all divot repairs, it has, I think a seed mix in it and is a distinctive greenish colour.
He is a very well qualified course manager and seems very up to speed with new management procedures and our course is in excellent condition.

 

[TonyN]

Like most places, we dont replace on tees, we have seed/divot mix on the tee box and I use the liner method when practicing.

Our grass range is hard to find a good flat spot with a good portion of grass so linear method isn't always possible, you just have to find a good lie.

 

[HomerJSimpson]

We have seed boxes on the tees so we never replace divots. As for the practice ground, I've been brought up to uses a straight line/gap/straight line. As for using the linear method, I don't care what lie I have. Can't pick the lie out on the course so I work on my pitching from all lies

 

[TonyN]

We have seed boxes on the tees so we never replace divots. As for the practice ground, I've been brought up to uses a straight line/gap/straight line. As for using the linear method, I don't care what lie I have. Can't pick the lie out on the course so I work on my pitching from all lies

I hate all that "practice for reality" "dont pick perfect lies you dont get them on the course"

I probably get a crap lie, ball in a divot once.in a blue moon.

If im on the range im looking to drill a repeatable action, i dont need variable factors from one swing to the next.

 

[3565]

[video=youtube;fTRwmEexg6Y]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fTRwmEexg6Y[/video]

not usual practice to replace sods into divots on the tee-box

Ok, Ive learnt something today then, I'm more of the good intentions player and is a big patch. Well not anymore. Thanks for posting.

 

[HomerJSimpson]

I hate all that "practice for reality" "dont pick perfect lies you dont get them on the course"

I probably get a crap lie, ball in a divot once.in a blue moon.

If im on the range im looking to drill a repeatable action, i dont need variable factors from one swing to the next.

I've got the linear swing working so I don't need to be working on getting a repeatable action. I need to be refining it, working out how the ball reacts from fluffy or heavy lies in the rough, side hill lies etc. That way when I'm playing and face this shot I have an idea of how the ball will react. I can already trust the technique so I can focus more on getting it out as I want

 

[TonyN]

I've got the linear swing working so I don't need to be working on getting a repeatable action. I need to be refining it, working out how the ball reacts from fluffy or heavy lies in the rough, side hill lies etc. That way when I'm playing and face this shot I have an idea of how the ball will react. I can already trust the technique so I can focus more on getting it out as I want

Im pretty sure I know what the ball will do when I look at the lie. If I dont have a repeatable swing, it wouldn't matter if it was sat up or buried, a crap swing will cause a crap shot.

Horses for courses!