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I try to always repair any damage I do also. And I usually fix 3 or 4 ball marks on the greens. But what really drives me crazy are courses that only have ONE rake in a huge bunker! And it is always at the other end from you!

...and if you do happen to hit into the end with the rake, you'll hit the rake and bounce to the other end.

...or there will be two rakes, but when you try to use the the one closer to you the head comes off.

What is the best way to repair divots if you are walking? I carry my own bag, and thank goodness I don't strike the ball well enough to take a real divot yet. I've often wondered, though, what do I do if I take a divot and can't fix it because I'm walking and don't have any sand?

If there's any dirt left in the plug that you extract when you hit the shot then retrieve it and put it back in the divot, step on it and walk on...if there's not much dirt left, just grass, then there's not much point in replacing it...you've done what you can do. The grounds crew should be responsible for repairing any untended divots.

Shade

A few weeks ago my buddy and I were out playing 18. It was a busy day with a lot of waiting. When we came up to #4 (par 3)the rowdy group of guys in front of us were teeing off. 2 out of the 4 hit nice shoots right on the green. Thats when my buddy pointed out the ball marks from 165 yards away. They looked like huge ant hills from the distance.

I commented that they will probably not even fix their marks. Sure enough they grabbed their balls out of the cup and walked right off. I cursed them to myself and teed off. (Nice shot within 6 feet ) My buddies shot had massive back spin and rolled right into the new ball mark. He cursed and we finished the hole.

At the next hole I confronted the group about the marks, they made the comment thats what the grounds crew gets paid for. I left it at that. I then fixed multiple marks from these guys the rest of the day.

At the end of the round on the way to the clubhouse I decide that I would not say anything verbally to them. Instead I ripped out a piece of paper out of my notebook and wrote them out a "Bill".
I handed it to the loud mouth of the group. He looked at it and said "What the %@# is this? Bill for repair?"

I said "Thats what the grounds crew gets paid for. Now go pay them."
And we left.

Have pulled up playing partners and on a couple of occasions opposing team memebers for not reparing plug marks or putting divots back,its not much to ask,most of us pay for the priviledge of being a member of a golf club,so its only fair to try to keep it in the best playable condition.

At which point I would have said "actually no. The groundscrew gets paid to keep the course nice, not clean up after people who are supposed to be adults and are supposed to know better."

I fix at least my own ball mark, and look for others I am close to if I have time. If it saves time I fix the mark of the people I'm playing with. I taught someone just the other day how to do it right, apparently no one had ever showed him.

yeah i agree. i try to fix mine as much as possable and my pitch marks but if there not 100% the grounds people should just go over it

I had an incident when i was in a fairway bunker near the lip, i hit my shot and as i was walking out of the trap a guy from the group behind me yells in an angry voice rake the bunker. I didnt have a chance to rake it yet and the guy yells, needles to say i had yelled back. But anywho, yes i cant stand seeing all the divots on the green unattended. Thats bad luck for somebody else, LOL.

I noticed just today how bad it's gotten. Played a nice course with bent grass greens (not many of those down here because of the heat), and noticed how many ball marks had been repaired incorrectly, and killed the grass.
Do people not get taught to push the grass back into the divot anymore?

After reading this thread I feel horrid. Yesterday hubby and I were watching our kid play a practice round. A storm was coming in, lightening and thunder, the course hadn't blown the horn yet, but I was watching the storm get closer...and closer. Last hole, kid hit a bad shot into a bunker, he then hit another ball, which landed into a different bunker..see where I'm going here....he then hit the final shot which landed on the green, maybe 3 feet from the hole. At this point lightening was very near, hubby went to one bunker, kid to the other to grab the ball. And let's get the heck out of here....NOW!

First thing out of his mouth was...Mom I need to rake the bunkers! I said no not right now you don't!
He felt so bad about not raking them. But it did rain, and I know the course will rake it every morning, this did happen around 6pm, There was no one behind us.

JustMe, that's a bit different than someone who's just too lazy to "clean up" after him/herself. I seriously doubt that the ground crew even noticed those bunkers not being raked. Since it rained, they would've been washed out anyway probably.
I wouldn't worry about it, or feel bad about it if I were you.

If I ever did try to tell anyone about their proper responsibilities, I'd do so very carefully. On the golf course as anyplace else, a confrontation can lead to more problems than it solves. I'm more likely to just bite the bullet and clean up after them unless I have a definite impression that they are leaving the mess out of simple ignorance. Then it isn't confrontation, it's education, and they usually appreciate having it pointed out.

Replacing divots is a difficult topic. 99% of all replaced divots just die anyway. It's like laying sod... first there still has to be a good root system attached to the grass, and then a lot of TLC has to be applied to keep the sod moist enough while the roots gain a new foothold. A replaced divot just doesn't get the watering it needs to recover, even if it was excavated deeply enough to actually have roots attached. When was the last time you saw a divot as thick as a chunk of lawn sod? That's what you have to have for it to have any real chance of regrowing.

Most responsible courses have gone to having sand or sand seed mix on the carts, and having it in tubs on the par 3 tee boxes. But having it on the carts still doesn't address the issue of those who walk and carry and don't need any additional weight to lug around the course.

My home course has the best solution I know of... we use local citizens within the county who have been convicted of misdemeanors (usually DUI offenders) and sentenced to community service as part of their punishment. We put them in a cart with a couple of 5 gallon buckets of seed mix and send them out (after being instructed on how to stay out of the way of golfers) to fill the craters. It gives them about the easiest way to serve out their sentences, and it keeps the course in tip top shape.

Here is what I find on this subject: Most golfers will make some attempt to rake traps because MOST golfers make such a mess in the bunker that it becomes very obvious that they should try to mask their comedy of errors. Most golfers do NOT replace fairway divots because high cappers don't realize how far the divots fly, and the rest are just too lazy to walk forward and pick it up and make the repair. As to ball marks on the green, low cappers usually repair them because they are more accustomed to hitting greens with approaches which leave marks, and understand how ball marks hinder accurate putting.. High cappers hit greens so infrequently or accidently run the ball up with a "Worm Burner", that they just don't understand that a lofted approach will leave a ball mark. If you play golf well and frequently, you will understand that this assessment is accurate.

This is my first season golfing, and this morning I got caught doing two things that I didn't know you arn't supposed to do: running on the green, and tossing a flag off to the side instead of setting it down. I got corrected both times by a friend, and needless to say I won't do either of those again.

My point is: for those people that feel it's necessary to remind people of etiquette, in some cases people do learn and change their behavior.