Unrepaired Pitch Marks - Head Greenkeeper's warning

[Yer Maw]

Well I think the ethos should be repair one pitch mark per green. this being because yesterday I struggled to find mine as the greens had just been sanded but found plenty others and as it was a quiet day repaired two per green.

I honestly felt guilty not finding where I thought mine were but tbh I think the problem revolves around those who don't belong to the course and have no affinity or sportsmanship or sense of ethics. I have seen fewer old folk and younger chaps repairing for whatever reason. The middle aged people seem to care more.

 

[palindromicbob]

Is that Farnham in Co Cavan that your from mate?

If so I played there in march and I thought your greens were in superb condtion at that time, they were very quick and true which giving how wet it had been was a credit to the greenstaff.

Loved the course as a whole in fact and hoping to get back down to play again

I played it when it had been baked dry. Wouldn't mind seeing it a little more lush. Would hire a buggy though. It's a long track and that's just between green and the next tee box!

 

[smange]

I played it when it had been baked dry. Wouldn't mind seeing it a little more lush. Would hire a buggy though. It's a long track and that's just between green and the next tee box!

Man up ya big woofter

Anyway we still dont know if it is indeed the same track we talking about and are you up for a game there someday? and remind me whats that date in august we are thinking about Murvagh?

 

[drawboy]

The solution is to place a ball in every pitch mark, take a photo of the green then post it all over the clubhouse and on the first tee with a note saying something like "How can I provide good greens when certain members leave them like this after a round"? A picture is worth a thousand words sometimes.

 

[pbrown7582]

....or armed with paintball guns?

A big orange splat on your back would soon identify offenders!

Seriously though it is amazing how many regular players who should know better constantly ignore requests to repair pitch marks.
In last comp I was second out and there was a several great pitch marks unrepaired one 12 inches from the hole.

 

[MadAdey]

Always been a problem and always will be. It is up to everybody to make sure pitch marks are repaired. I always go on the philosophy of repair mine and one other, (if I see and that is) I just keep my eyes open on the green as I am walking along it and repair what ever I find.

Can anyone on here honestly say that they have never forgot to repair a pitch mark? I bet I have at some point, but this would be a rare occurrence.

 

[HawkeyeMS]

From an ex head greenkeper I can tell you that you only really get pitch marks on poor greens.
Good greens should be firm enough to hold and spin a ball.

Tell the members and comittee menbers to man up and lay off the overuse of the sprinklers.

In an ideal world where everyone can generate lots of spin and it hasn't rained non-stop for 4 months, I agree.

 

[Heidi]

On a lot of Spanish courses they have plastic pitch repair tools and hand them out to you for free. I dont think i have ever seen a pro shop with a stack of these in the UK. Why not?

I love fixing pitch marks - i dont make many as i tend to bump and run the ball to the green, so i just fix other people's!

oh and the method of repairing - i was told the best way was to pull the edges in, but I've seen people try to dig under the pitch mark to pull the grass and earth back up - so, what is the best way to do it?

 

[Slab]

From an ex head greenkeper I can tell you that you only really get pitch marks on poor greens.
Good greens should be firm enough to hold and spin a ball.

Tell the members and comittee menbers to man up and lay off the overuse of the sprinklers.

I'm no greenkeeper but agree with the above, & the thought that went through my head as I went through the replies

Why aren't greens constructed/maintained more in line with the level of rainfall the UK gets

 

[Mary]

On a lot of Spanish courses they have plastic pitch repair tools and hand them out to you for free. I dont think i have ever seen a pro shop with a stack of these in the UK. Why not?

I love fixing pitch marks - i dont make many as i tend to bump and run the ball to the green, so i just fix other people's!

oh and the method of repairing - i was told the best way was to pull the edges in, but I've seen people try to dig under the pitch mark to pull the grass and earth back up - so, what is the best way to do it?

I was told the same - bring the turf in from around the pitch mark, never try and dig up from underneath it.

Like Heidi, I don't make that many of my own, but always repair a couple on each green.

 

[robbest3offthetee]

At our course they have introduced a scheme that by the first letter of your surname it is assigned to a particular number green, and you are responsible for that one, so say A-D is the 1st etc, seems a good Idea to be honest

 

[Doon frae Troon]

You cannot generate spin on 'lush' greens.
The ball breaks through the turf and ultimately produced top spin.

On good greens you get spin on the second bounce.

 

[ScienceBoy]

You cannot generate spin on 'lush' greens.
The ball breaks through the turf and ultimately produced top spin.

On good greens you get spin on the second bounce.

But a ball at pace still makes an almighty dent, I played a course recently that proves DfT right.

On the front 9 it was wet as anything, made a pitch mark in EVERY green but the ball ran out and only got close to the pin a handful of times. The back 9 is on higher ground and the greens were firmer, I made hardly any pitch marks but the ball stopped dead on pretty much every green.

 

[need_my_wedge]

I despair at unrepaired pitchmarks, especially playing at a members. I played into a green the other night, the ball coming down from quite high. Walking up to the green there were two pitchmarks so deep that you almost see Australia. I know for a fact that only one of them was a result of my shot.......

 

[SwingsitlikeHogan]

I despair at unrepaired pitchmarks, especially playing at a members. I played into a green the other night, the ball coming down from quite high. Walking up to the green there were two pitchmarks so deep that you almost see Australia. I know for a fact that only one of them was a result of my shot.......

...mine too - so when I catch up with the player's immediately in front of me - they find out very quickly that I noticed and had to repair pitch marks they 'missed'. I don't care whether or not it was their shots that made them - there is no excuse AT ALL for not repairing an obvious pitch mark.

 

[sydney greenstreet]

...mine too - so when I catch up with the player's immediately in front of me - they find out very quickly that I noticed and had to repair pitch marks they 'missed'. I don't care whether or not it was their shots that made them - there is no excuse AT ALL for not repairing an obvious pitch mark.

Rude is it not ? chastising someone although you admit it might not be them as you dont care if it was them or not. I know what my reply would be anyone coming up to me like that would be.

 

[SwingsitlikeHogan]

I don't chastise - I just may comment to a partner within earshot of those in front that I repaired a load of pitch marks over the last few holes. Besides - even if I did say to them 'guys? did you not spot all the bleedin' pitch marks', I don't really care if some folk get upset and think they are being accused of something - well they are! - why should it really bother me - what is anyone feeling 'accused' by me going to complain about? Does it not show I really care about the course and I'm willing to say something. It's like skirting around the issue of slow play - why don't we just say to culprits - 'you got to speed up - playing too slow'

Anyway; each to his or her own how to confront pitch marks and other etiquette issues. Maybe it would be better if we were all made completely aware from the outside that the culture of the golf club is to care for the course and confront issues as and when they arise - but then I'm a bit of a bolshie g*t. But when I'm bolshie I try to be bolshie with a smile on my face.

 

[6inchcup]

my pitch marks look like little divots that leave a small piece of the green about a foot from the impact point,and i always repair them,i have found the ones who don't are the first to moan and tend to be the same ones who ram their putter into the cup to drag the ball out.