Repairing Ball Marks is Necessary

Repairing ball marks on a putting green is not only good etiquette, it's courteous as well. A ball mark takes roughly 15 seconds to repair. If immediately repaired, the mark will fill in and heal in 24 hours. If it is left alone and never repaired it takes around 15 days to completely heal. Properly repairing ball marks will keep a smooth surface for the groups behind and it will not leave a nasty scar for weeks to come. We fix ball marks whenever we can however, we don't have the time to fix every single one. That's where we need the help of the golfers. The most courteous golfer will fix their ball mark and one other. If that were to happen, I would confidently say that there would be no blemishes on the green from ball marks.

The way to fix a ball mark will vary from person to person. The method that I use seems to heal the spot much faster than other methods. I avoid the twisting motion because it rips roots and could bring soil to the surface. If you take a chunk of turf from the green from a ball mark then place the repair tool on the edge of the mark and lift the soil in the mark. There will be no turf there but it will level out the playing surface.

Auger Carrier on a Triplex

Today we discussed taking mowing and cutting cups and combining them together to one job. The limited manpower has made us use our time more efficiently and we came up with a holster to hold our auger and our bucket. The bucket will carry our cup setter, cup puller, hole paint, and anything small that is needed for the holes. It is very secure and has not fallen off yet. Thanks to Mike for coming up with the final product in this spur of the moment invention.

Update and Conditions

Recently, we have added this blog to add to the information that we provide the patrons and members. This can be updated much easier and quicker than updating long hand. To check the days playing conditions, look to the right of this column and there is a heading titled, "Course Conditions,". Here you can expect to find the course conditions and the weather conditions. This will be updated more than the course condition sheets were because it is more readily available to access and add information.

We have been very busy the past few weeks, keeping the greens in the best shape possible and mowing frequently due the recent cool temperatures. A plus side to the cool temperatures is we can get some cultural practices accomplished that would halt us in higher temperatures. With expected highs in the 90's by the end of this week, we will be out hand watering the hot spots and syringing to keep everything in the best shape possible.

We hope you can find this blog useful and informative. If you have any questions you can email me at ryan.leach@troyohio.gov