Manhattan, Kan. – Kansas State University researchers concluded golfers should learn how to use their traditional ball-mark repair tool correctly or consider switching to a new tool on the market.
Golf courses can develop more than 1,000 ball marks every day. Ball marks can kill grass and wipe out the possibility of a straight-rolling putt. Yet a large number of golfers have never understood the correct way to apply the tool. They use two-inch prongs topped by a thumb-size grip to dig in and lever up the smashed grass and compacted soil. This method often tears plant roots.
“Levering seems logical, but it’s not the way the tool was meant to be used,” says Kansas State Research and Extension horticulturist Jack Fry. “We found the digging and lifting has a more long-lasting effect than leaving the mark unrepaired.”
“Our results indicate that poor technique, not the traditional repair tool, have been at fault,” says Kansas State Research and Extension horticulturist Steve Keeley. “We found the new device we evaluated is as effective, if not better, under some conditions. The new tool is less likely to be used incorrectly.”
The new tool used in the study is called a GreenFix, and it abandons the long prongs common to the traditional shape. Looking somewhat like the blades from tiny pruning shears, it’s too stubby to create the kind of damage an improperly used traditional tool can.
“You insert the blades at a 45-degree angle into the turf around the edge of the ball mark, and gently push in toward the center,” Keeley says.
The traditional divot-repair tool requires golfers to insert it into the edges of a mark and use a gentle twisting motion to bring those edges back together.
Researchers assessed their four treatments’ results weekly on the basis of scar size, surface smoothness and turf quality. They found:
· Every ball mark leaves a scar.
· Initially, unrepaired marks cause the poorest surface quality. After healing, they retain a cavity shape that impairs the trueness of ball roll.
· For the first few days, the quality of surface is better on a well-handled traditional repair than on a GreenFix repair.
· Properly used, both repair tools can bring complete ball-mark recovery in two to three weeks.
· On greens with firmer surfaces, the scar shrinks faster and recovery takes four days less with a GreenFix than with a traditional tool repair.
· Improper use of the traditional tool doubles the time ball marks need to recover. After healing, surface quality remains reduced, and the mark leaves the largest scar.
