Yesterday, I had a conversation with a friend who happens to be a golf course maintenance superintendent. He’s gotten so flustered with the players at his course that he asked me to help put out the word on a little bit of etiquette that too many people forget.

At the end of summer, normally in September (at least in the northern U.S.), it’s prime time for courses to do core aeration on their greens. The process is pretty straight forward. A machine comes and removes little plugs of grass and dirt, leaving putting surface full of holes. Then, the greens are top-dressed, where a layer of sand and peat is used to fill the holes and is also spread across the rest of the putting surface.

It does a few things: promotes root growth, smooths the surface of the green, and improves drainage by reducing soil compaction.

What it really does is make the greens nice to play on for the rest of the year. Sure it’s bad for players for a few weeks until the holes close up and the sand works its way in. But the payoffs for the rest of the year are worth it.

Now back to the etiquette problem: fixing ball marks.

We should always be fixing them. Always. There’s simply no excuse. If you want a nice putting surface to putt on, then do your part. If you don’t care, then play somewhere else because I don’t want to have to putt through (and fix) your mess.

It’s important the whole year, but it’s especially important during times when the greens are healing from being cored and top-dressed.

At that time, because the surfaces are soft and sandy and because of all the aeration holes, ball marks get bigger and uglier. If they’re not fixed, then they cause damage. Instead of the maintenance crew looking over the greens a few weeks later and being satisfied at a job well done, they have to look at all their hard work scarred up with ugly, bumpy ball marks.

If that doesn’t put a little guilt into you, then realize that it translates into a decline in playability, too.

Having worked on golf course maintenance for a few years in college, I can tell you that I hated this periodic ritual. Gathering and disposing of the plugs, loading and dispensing the top dressing, spreading it around the green, etc., were not things I enjoyed doing. It’s somewhat frustrating when you put in all that work and it doesn’t pay off like it should.

Please do your part and fix ball marks. Do it all year, but especially do it during these times.

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