Ball Mark Repair

While walking on the greens this morning I noticed many ball marks that have been repaired using the traditional ball mark tool, and as you can see they were repaired the old tried and true method that does not really fix the problem and in my mind makes it worse.












I will try to explain The correct way to repair a ball mark in some pictures.









First you should take your mark mark tool and gently insert from behind the mark and push the turf towards the center











Next take your tool to the front edge of the mark and gently push in and bring the depression up slightly





now gently level the back side of the mark using your tool








Step the repaired mark down with your foot or even the putter to smooth the green surface.

the repaired ball mark should on our greens be completely level and smooth, once repaired the ball mark will heal very quickly and should not cause any damage to the root system this way

Wetting Agents

The picture demonstrates the improved water uptake and the utilization of water using a soil surfactant or wetting agent on the golf course. You can see the reduce dew pattern on the fairway after an application of a wetting agent. I have been using these wetting agents for many years, this year I have expanded the program somewhat by spraying and also inject directly into the irrigation system. The benefits to the golf course are many: wetting agents help the water penetrate better into the root zone, and research has shown that the irrigation cycles at night can be reduce greatly. I have seen this over the last few years with a reduction of at least 5 million gallons of water saved over the course of the year. The saving of water also has many benefits to the club. One is a the obvious saving millions of gallons of water and with this savings the pump station and well does not have to run as long. The pump station has two 75 horsepower motors and the well has a 45 horse power motor with the reduced irrigation run times the electric bill is substantially lower. Another, benefit that I see is I am able to keep the turf firmer and drier and when i do need to water the wetting agents allow the water to filtrate through the soil profile much better. lastly after big rain events the water does not pool on the turf surface and we can allow carts onto the golf course much faster.

There is a cost in using these products but the when we add up all the benefits it is actually cheaper then not using them