Practice Tee and Divot Patterns

Our practice tee gets used heavily, and any effort made by the golfers to disrupt the smallest area in a manner that allows for the quickest recovery will help us keep the tee in the best possible condition.  I mentioned yesterday (Practice Tee and Chipping Green Schedule) that the scattered divot pattern is bad.  Creating divots in a line will disrupt less surface area.  This was addressed in a post last year (Practice Like a Pro), and we will post on the blog and in the clubhouse regularly this year about this method.

The pattern on the left side in the picture is how we would like divots to be taken on the practice tee. Placing the ball immediately behind the previous divot will make a divot pattern in a line and disrupt less area.  Both areas in this picture have had 25 balls hit from them, but the area on the left has disrupted much less area.  This picture is from "Dirty Divots,"a Golf Week article written by David Phipps, Superintendent at Stone Creek Golf Club in Oregon. (His blog can be found here)

The picture on the right illustrates how to create the preferred divot pattern.










Here is a video talking about this type of divot pattern from Dan Meersman, Superintendent at Philadelphia Cricket Club. (His blog can be found here)