The right way to repair a ball mark (and wrong way), according to an expert
GOLF.com
If you’re like a lot of golfers, you don’t hit all of your greens in regulation.
Your upkeep stats are in all probability spotty, too.
Odds are you don’t all the time repair your pitch marks on the placing floor.
And even whenever you do, there’s a likelihood you go about it within the wrong way.
Mark Patterson, a longtime member of the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America, is the highest man in turf care at Legacy Golf Club at Lakewood Ranch and Serenoa Golf Club, each in Florida.
The way he and lots of superintendents see it, any effort is best than no effort.
“If a golfer is going to attempt to repair a pitch mark, I deeply appreciate that,” Patterson says. “And if they’re using the wrong technique, that’s just a sign that we need to do a better job of educating them.”
In the spirit, right here’s an overview of Patterson’s pitch mark do’s and don’ts, together with a supplemental video tutorial (above), starring Patterson himself.
Tool of the commerce
It’s referred to as a divot-repair instrument for a motive. Those pronged issues are designed to repair pitch marks, and so they make the job simpler. Bu they’re not the one implement you should use. A tee, Patterson says, suits the invoice simply superb. Same with a pencil or a automobile key. If you occur to be carrying a fork or a chopstick, be happy to make use of these, too.
“What matters most isn’t what you use but your technique,” Patterson says.
The correct method
Resist the urge to dig your instrument into the turf and pull straight up. That’s a frequent tendency, repeated all too typically by Tour execs on TV, and it’s counterproductive, because it tears the grass roots, which might kill the turf.
The right approach is to work across the pitch mark, beginning on the excessive facet, the place the turf has been pushed up increased by the angle of the shot, and transfer in a circle across the despair, pulling the encompassing turf towards the middle till that mini-crater is crammed. Think of it at a “twist-and-up” movement. When you’re completed, tamp down gently on the turf together with your putter to easy over any lingering tufts.
Repair multiple
The golden rule of golf course upkeep is to all the time go away the grounds in higher situation than you discovered them. By definition, which means you want to do greater than repair your individual pitch mark. This isn’t arduous. While your taking part in companions are plum-bobbing or in any other case losing time, repair one other pitch. And then perhaps a third.
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