Types of Golf Ball Markers: Which One Belongs in Your Pocket?
Every golfer marks their ball with something. The something is where it goes wrong.
Golf ball markers come in four types: the coin, the plastic freebie, the novelty marker, and the magnetic metal marker. Judge them on the four things that matter, weight (around 10g), size (20 to 30mm), visibility across the green, and whether it's in your hand when you need it, and the magnetic metal marker wins by a distance. Here's each type, honestly assessed.
The coin
Legal, traditional, and the default for a century. A 10p has decent weight and a lifetime supply. It's also small, grey, invisible against wet grass, and lives loose in a pocket with three tees and a pencil, which is why the pre-putt pat-down exists. We've covered why golfers use coins and where the habit came from.
The plastic freebie
The pro shop giveaway with a logo. Weighs nothing, flips in wind, disappears in grass, and gets replaced weekly because nobody mourns it. Free is its entire argument.
The novelty marker
Full-size poker chips, oversized coins, souvenir discs. Visibility is excellent; the problem is bulk. A real casino chip is thick enough to interfere on someone's through-line, and anything over about 30mm starts getting polite requests to move it. The trick is novelty at regulation scale, which is where our casino series lives: the artwork of the chip, the footprint of a proper marker.
The magnetic metal marker
Heavyweight metal, hard enamel artwork, and a body that snaps onto a hat clip or divot tool so it rides to the green instead of hiding in a pocket. Right weight, right size, visible from the far side of the green, and never lost. The full mechanics are in magnetic golf ball markers; ours are £11.99 in over 20 limited edition designs.
What the rules say about all four
The Rules of Golf accept any artificial object as a ball marker, so every type above is legal; leaves, twigs and interesting pebbles are not. The lifting-and-replacing procedure, including the one-stroke mistake that catches golfers every weekend, is in how to mark a golf ball.
Ball marker types FAQs
What do most golfers use to mark their ball?
Coins, still, which is why the pre-putt pocket search is a universal ritual. The golfers who've switched to a magnetic marker on a hat clip have stopped searching.
Are poker chip ball markers legal?
Yes. The only cost is practical: full casino thickness sits tall on the green, and playing partners can ask you to move anything on their line. Chip artwork at standard marker scale keeps the look without the conversations.
What size should a golf ball marker be?
20 to 30mm across and around 10g. Under that it flips in wind and vanishes in grass; over that it starts interfering with other players' putts.
Which type of ball marker is best?
Magnetic metal, and it isn't close: right weight, right size, visible, and attached to your cap instead of lost in your bag. Our countdown of the best is in the best golf ball markers UK guide.
Whatever type you carry now, it's the most-handled thing in your bag after the glove. The golf ball markers collection makes it the most-noticed too.