Repair Your Ball Marks and One Other:
This is something simple that everyone should do as they play. Take a prolonged object with a pointed edge, a proper ball mark repair tool is best but a tee will work just fine. As displayed below you want to insert the tool into the turf at the edge of the ball mark and push towards or twist towards the center of the indentation. You want to do this in three or four places around the ball mark until it enclosed and then tap down with you foot or putter. You NEVER want to repair a ball mark by lifting up from the center, that will expose more soil to the surface and tear the roots which will extend the heeling time of that ball mark.
Remember you are doing this to improve the putting surface for yourself, your guest, and other members so when you finish repairing your ball mark, repair one other before leaving the green.
Bunker Etiquette: First things first, when it comes to bunker etiquette, always enter the bunker on the low side. Major disruption and damage is caused by people entering the bunker on the high, steep sides. Also, when entering the bunker take the rake in with you. Remember to use two hands and smooth out any disruptions caused by your feet or the ball first with the back side of the rake and then rake out the disrupted area always pushing the sand way. Lines and indentations are made when the sand is raked and pulled back towards you. Finally, when raking out the bunker you want to exit the bunker the same way you entered minimizing the amount of area you disturb.
But you are not done just yet when you exit the bunker. Rake placement is a key part to bunker etiquette. You want to make sure that the rake is always placed on the outer side of the bunker so that it will have the least impact on play with the handle laying parallel with the line of the incoming shot. Also around greens, make sure to never place the rake between the bunker and the green
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| Proper Bunker Rake Placement for #1 Greenside Bunker |
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| Incorrect Bunker Rake Placement for #1 Greenside Bunker |
How To Rake a Bunker...
Divot Repair: Whenever someone asks me "What is the right way to fill a divot?", I always tell them "Less is More." When adding sand to a divot, you are merely bridging the gap for the turf to grow over. Giving it a medium to grow through. When you mound up the sand it does nothing but damage our equipment. So again, I always tell people "Less is More" when it comes to filling divots.
Cart Traffic: We, as a maintenance staff, are going to need a lot of help with this one. The general rule for carts is once you enter the fairway from the cartpath you stay in the fairway until you exit to return to the cartpath. Even if your ball is in the rough we ask that you pull up to the edge of the fairway, park, and walk out to your ball. Parking in the rough or driving in circles searching for golf balls is very bad for the rough. I know that seems counter intuitive since the rough turf is much longer than the fairway turf and you feel that it should be much hardier and be able to sustain the extra stress. Unfortunately, that just is not the case and once the rough starts going down hill due to stress (Which summer patch is a turf disease brought on by stress) it is hard to get it come back especially during the hot, stressful summer months.
Each hole will have two posts indicating where to exit the cartpath to drive to the fairway and where to head back to the cartpath (Par 3's will not have posts since they are all CPO). The first post on each hole will be along the cartpath and the second post will approximately 20 yards short of the green to indicate where to exit the fairway and go back to the cartpath. These posts will be moved frequently to help disperse cart traffic evenly.
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| If you ball is in the rough near the edge of the fairway, please park your cart in the fairway and not in the rough |
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| Another example of where not to park. Pull your cart up to edge of the fairway, while staying in the fairway, park and walk out to you ball. |
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