How to Repair a Pitch Mark (and Why Almost Everyone Does It Wrong)
Every green you play is a record of who came before you and whether they cared.
Repairing a pitch mark takes ten seconds when it's done right: insert the tool at the edges of the mark, push the turf toward the centre, work around the crater, then tamp it flat with your putter. The mistake nearly everyone makes is levering the middle upwards, which tears the roots and kills the very grass you're trying to save. Edges in, never bottom up.
The method, step by step
- Find it. Your ball's crater is usually a foot or so behind where the ball sits, on the side it flew in from. High, soft approaches leave the deepest ones.
- Work the edges. Insert the prongs at the edge of the mark, angled slightly outward, and push the surrounding turf in toward the centre. Repeat around the whole crater.
- Never lift. Prying the depressed middle upward feels productive and tears the roots underneath. Closed from the sides, the grass knits back; levered from below, it dies.
- Tamp it flat. Two gentle taps with the putter sole and the surface putts true again.
The greenkeepers' rule of thumb: a mark repaired properly within minutes heals in a few days, while one left alone can scar the surface for weeks. Multiply that by every group on a soft autumn day and you can read a club's culture off its 9th green.
Fix yours, plus one
The habit that separates golfers the committee loves: repair your own mark, then the abandoned one next to it. It costs one extra tool press per green, and since you're already standing there while the group walks up, it costs no time at all. The same visit is when you mark your ball, which is why the tool and the marker belong in the same hand; the rules half of that ritual is in how to mark a golf ball.
The tool is a system, if you pick the right one
Ours are magnetic with a marker seat on top: the ball marker clips onto the pitch mark repairer, so the two jobs you do on every green arrive in one hand, £14.99 for the tool and under £27 for the matching pair. How the magnetic carry works, hat clip included, is in magnetic golf ball markers.
Pitch mark FAQs
Is it legal to repair a pitch mark on your putting line?
Yes. Since the 2019 rules update you can repair pitch marks, spike marks and most other damage anywhere on the green, including your line, without penalty. There's no excuse left.
Can you repair a pitch mark with a tee?
In a pinch, and better than nothing. A proper two-prong tool spreads the pressure and closes the mark cleaner, and unlike a tee it's magnetic, visible and hard to lose.
What's the difference between a pitch mark and a divot?
A divot is the strip of turf your club removes from the fairway; you replace it or fill it with the provided mix. A pitch mark is the crater your ball leaves landing on the green; that one's fixed with the tool, edges inward.
Why do pitch marks matter so much in autumn?
Soft greens take deeper marks, and every group leaves more of them. It's the season the fix-yours-plus-one habit does its most visible good.
Ten seconds, edges in, tamp flat. The pitch mark repairers collection makes it the best-looking ten seconds of your round.