Importance of Ballmark Repair

Repairing your ballmarks does more than just maintain a smooth putting surface.  If ballmarks are not repaired, it can result to unwanted grass or weed contamination on the greens. A seed needs soil or sand contact to have a chance to germinate. For instance, if a weed seed lands on an area of the green that has no ballmarks/voids then the seed will not have any contact with the sand. If a seed lands or blows into an unfixed ballmark, then it immediately has contact with the sand and can start germinating in that ballmark. Seeds can be spread from one surface to another by way of getting stuck on someone’s shoes, by an animal or even through the wind. Since we have no control over this, we need to try and do our best to control the unwanted grass or weed germination through unfixed ballmarks. Eliminating these unwanted seeds growing environment means smoother greens. So please fix your ballmarks and any others you may see while waiting for your playing partners to finish putting. Thank you for your continued efforts with helping maintain the golf course.

Above: This was a unfixed ballmark from number one green with a poa plant growing inside of it.