Member Clubs
Aggressive spikes can create craters in
greens, as can twisting or dragging your feet.
minimum, it raises the possibility that
those playing after you will hit a shot into
your footprint.
But there are some financial implica-
tions, too.
“When golfers don’t take care of the bun-
kers, it requires staff members to rake them
more frequently—which means we have to
have more people working,” Cote said. “If
bunkers don’t have to be raked more fre-
quently by members of our staff, that labor
can be shifted to taking care of actual playing
surfaces versus hazard maintenance.”
Both Cote and Whitmire say they’ve
seen the “old” Rules of Golf etiquette begin
to fall by the wayside.
“When I started playing golf in the ’70s,
golf courses were crowded,” Whitmire
said. “Course officials had no problem
telling you to leave if you didn’t take care
of the course. Plus, our club had a policy
that anyone under 16 had to be approved
by the pro before they were allowed to play.
“The pro went through and explained
proper etiquette such as raking bunkers,
repairing ball marks, and pace of play, and
if you were caught not obeying the rules,
you were disciplined. We just don’t see that
as much anymore.”
3
REPAIR YOUR BALL
MARKS
Leaving ball marks unrepaired
is another alarming trend the supers have
seen increase over the last decade.
“This is something that should be drilled
into golfers’ heads,” Cote said. “When
we hosted the NCAA regional qualifier, I
noticed a marked difference in the num-
ber of ball marks every day. Players were
Ball mark repair tools can help quickly
restore damaged greens.
vsga.org
scouring the greens for
their marks—as well as
any others—to provide
themselves with the best
possible conditions.”
When fixing your own
ball marks, please keep
an eye out for others you might see, too.
Every little bit helps. And the best way to
repair a ball mark? Use a tool, but a tee or
even a key works well. Begin by pulling
in the sides, then lightly tap down with
a putter.
“Banging in the edges with the putter,
then tapping it down disturbs more area
than needed,” Whitmire said. “A properly
repaired mark can be completely gone by the
next day, while a non-repaired, or improp-
erly repaired mark, can be seen for weeks.”
4
SHOE SELECTION
Just as tire tracks can damage a
carefully manicured fairway, so
can golf spikes. Although the days (and
sounds) of metal spikes are behind us,
some of the spike designs offered today
continue to leave a lasting impression.
“There are many types of spikes offered
today, and some of the designs are down-
right scary,” Whitmire said. “I don’t think
my old soccer spikes were as aggressive as
some of these new shoes.”
Whitmire sees the majority of spike-re-
lated damage during mid to late summer,
most notably on our region’s many bent-
grass greens.
“Bentgrass naturally loses some of its
root systems in the summer, and becomes
somewhat soft and succulent,” he said.
“Aggressive spikes create these craters
in the greens—especially when someone
drags their feet or doesn’t pay attention to
how they are walking.”
The worst, he says, is the golfer who has
a habit of twisting his or her feet when they
miss a putt.
5
RESPECT THE STAFF
The hard-working maintenance
crew members are literally in the
line of fire every single day.
“The staff has a job to do, and in many
cases, it has to be done while play is going
on,” Cote said. “It’s always been my goal to
schedule work so that the worker-golfer
interaction is minimized, but there are
times when it’s unavoidable, and we have
to work during play.
“So, when you’re playing, and there are
workers on your hole, understand that
they’re aware of your frustrations at times
and are doing their best to work around you.”
Whitmire said his staff tries to get 70- to
80-percent of its work done during the first
four hours of a day, but that still leaves addi-
tional work to be done. One of the most dan-
gerous situations is when golfers hit into staff
members who are hand-watering greens.
“We work around groups when hand-wa-
tering because you can normally find a gap
and just check the greens during that time,”
he said. “Unfortunately, some golfers only
have two or three hours to play—but they
want to get in 18—so they skip around and
get into the same gaps.”
The staff member watering the green
thinks they have time to do the checks and
water, but suddenly, someone’s on the tee.
During the longest months of the year,
your super and his or her staff will work
from before sunup to after sundown.
Should you have a surprise encounter
with a crew member, feel free to express
some gratitude.
“A wave, a thumbs-up, or a, ‘Thank you’
mean more than you think to the average
worker,” Cote said.
J A N UA RY / F E B R UA RY 2 0 19 | V I R G I N I A G O L F E R
11