Pitchmarks

When I first took up golf as an 11 year old boy, one of the first lessons my dad gave me was not how to  tee the ball up or even how to 'keep my head down' when swinging a golf club. It was how to repair a pitch mark. This was one of the first etiquette disciplines that Leek golf club (and my old man!) instilled into me from a young age. I was always taught to repair at least 2 pitch marks whenever I walked onto the green, and always to ask if i could repair one that just happened to be on my 'line'!
When I was out on the course the other day checking the greens for any disease I couldn't believe my eyes at some of the pitch marks that had been left! I wish I had taken photos of some of the ones on the 4th green. They honestly were humungous! It is imperrative that golfers get into the habit of repairing them. Especially at this time of year with the greens being soft with all the rain that we have been having. The reason for repairing them is twofold they create a bobble should your ball be unfortunate enough to hit one. The other reason is it weakens the grass plant and allows disease such as fusarium to infiltrate. Someone asked me the other day why my green staff don't repair pitch marks as part of their morning routine. When I explained to them that it took me 10 minutes to repair all the pitch marks on the 4th green and if it took 10 minutes to do every other green thats 180minutes for 18 greens. I can then begin to work out a costing for my staff to do it by using this formula using 'minimum wage' as an example:
3hrs (180mins) x £6.31 (min wage/hour) = £18.93/day
18.93 x 7 (days/week) = £132.51
£132.51 x 52 (weeks/year) = £6980 per year

£6980 per year to repair pitch marks!! Haha I know I have been very pedantic here but it certainly puts a point across that by repairing your own + one other pitch mark could potentially save YOUR golf club nearly 7k per year! Not to mention better agronomics and a smoother putt!
Please see this video for the best way to repair a pitch mark: