When golfers speak of golf course etiquette, the obvious
come to mind. Repair ball marks on
greens, replace your divots, properly rake the bunker if you hit out of the
hazard.
I challenge you to take it a step farther. If you are the first one out in the morning
you have freshly mowed greens and a smooth ball roll. However, when you play in the afternoon, you
have to deal with the wear and tear around the hole location caused by spikes. Sure, Soft Spikes were a great invention
compared to the tradition metal spikes.
However, as Soft Spikes evolved, new models were developed and, in my
opinion, can be worse than metal spikes.
The Black Widow spike has to be the most damaging spike for a putting green…particularly
for folks that drag their feet when they walk.
Remember all of the golfers for the day that will come behind you. When you putt out, turn around and see if you
are causing any damage to the putting surface.
With these types of soft spikes, any kind of dragging or twisting motion
of the foot can be very damaging to the turf.
When you play in the morning, you also have the luxury of a
fresh cut hole location. At Highlands
CC, we change hole locations 7 days a week.
When you replace the flagstick, do it gently as to not damage the
integrity of the edge of the hole. As
hole edges wear, lip-outs of putts are more likely!
While sand is provided on the golf carts, replacing a divot
is the preferred method of dealing with divots on bentgrass fairways. Like a tiny piece of sod, new roots will
emerge and tack the divot to the soil.
For this to happen, the divot needs to stay moist and have good divot to
soil contact. Therefore, when you
replace your divot, step on it to ensure its making good contact with the soil
below. Then, sprinkle some sand around
the edges of the divot to help prevent it from drying out along the seams. If your divot “explodes,” simply fill the
void with sand.
Finally, when repairing ball marks, do so correctly! If you see sand/soil when you are finished
repairing your ball mark, it was NOT
repaired correctly. This will only lead
to a perfect spot for moss and or Poa
annua to germinate!
Although these things are picky, they will enhance the
playability of your golf course for all of the members!
