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no ball mark left. There’s no ripping the roots. You’re just trying to put it back the way it was. Fromanagronomicstandpoint,what makes the method work so well? Aspinall: It’s because you’re putting the grass back exactly as it was before, or as close as possible to that. The more grass that’s there, the more healing and photosynthesis can occur. When you have dirt pitch marks, you won’t be able to grow grass back through that. When you stick your tee in the mid- dle of the pitch mark and push towards the outside, you’re creating a hole with a level surface around it. Then, when you push the grass back in from the sides, you’re filling in that hole. That’s so interesting. So how does this method compare to other ways you’ve seen golfers repair pitch marks, and what are the things we’re doing wrong? Aspinall: The biggest issue with how many people repair pitch marks is that they twist with a two-pronged tool. That rips the roots and damages the grass, creating those brown spots you see on some greens. With this method, you’re not disrupting the root zone at all. You’re almost making an aera- tion hole, but the roots are still intact. There’s no twisting motion, which is the worst thing. As soon as you rip the roots, you’re damaging the grass. Why isn’t this method used more often? Aspinall: It’s a great question, and I’m not sure. Until a couple of years ago, I’d never seen it, but when someone showed me, I’ve done it ever since. I’ll never fix a ball mark a different way again. There’s no better way to repair a ball mark.
The ‘Augusta Method’ of Fixing Ball Marks How the club uses this ball-mark trick to maintain perfect greens BY DREW POWELL
A legacy is a gift passed on.
How does Augusta National maintain spotless greens with no imperfections? Money and manpower, for one, but the club also uses a unique method of repair- ing ball marks. In a social media video, PGA Tour winner Ben Crane explained how he learned this “Augusta method” from members at the club, so we caught up with Steven Aspinall, head superin- tendent at Watchung (New Jersey) Valley Golf Club, who discussed how everyday golfers can use the method. Golf Digest: Steve, could you explain how this method of repairing ball marks works and why it’s important? Aspinall: One of the most important things is you need to be using either a tee or a single-pronged ball-mark
repair tool to do it properly. You go vertically down into the middle of the deepest part of the ball mark, and you do a circular motion.
FIND THE MIDDLE This is how pros fix ball marks without leaving any brown spots.
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As you’re doing that circular motion, you’re trying to push the grass up and out towards the edge of the mark. When your ball hits the green, the impact creates a wedge of grass on the backside of the pitch mark. Once you have that hole in there, you pat that grass back into the middle of the pitch mark to fill it in and get it back to the same level. You’re pushing that back in, trying to repair whatever grass you can. I’ve found that it eliminates the en- tire ball mark. If you do it right, there’s
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74 GOLF DIGEST SOUTH AFRICA
MARCH/APRIL 2026
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