I have seen some very foolish behavior from golfers over the years. I’ve seen carts in bunkers, clubs thrown in the water, clubs thrown in trees and I’ve seen some things I wouldn’t write about in the Green Section Record – but I have never seen someone take a divot out of a green. Unfortunately, superintendents are posting images of this type of damage more frequently, and I can’t help but wonder why.

Are people losing their temper more easily? Are they filming destructive behavior in the hope of generating online clicks and engagement? The Rules of Golf require you to take free relief if your ball winds up on any green other than the hole you are playing, so there are no legitimate circumstances where a player should be hitting a full shot on a green.

Damaging a green out of anger, or for any other reason, shows an incredible lack of respect for all that goes into preparing that surface. It’s not easy to maintain a smooth and uniform stand of grass at a fraction of an inch, and people wake up early and spend countless hours working to make it happen. Causing damage to a green is not only disrespectful to all that hard work, it also forces someone to drop what they were doing and make an urgent repair, likely with play going on. This is not a situation that any maintenance team should have to deal with.

Taking a divot out of a green obviously creates problems for other golfers as well. They are allowed to repair damage on a green, but fixing a divot is not like repairing a ball mark and golfers may not be able to make an effective repair themselves. They can let someone on the staff know about the problem, but the repair won’t happen instantly and multiple groups are likely to be affected, especially if the damage is near the hole. Even a high-quality repair will take days or weeks to fully heal.

I recognize that people who intentionally damage a golf course are not really thinking about the maintenance staff or other players when they do it, so I guess it’s up to the rest of us to set the best example possible. I do think that the more respectful we are of the courses we play, the more likely it is that people around us will treat them with respect as well. And if you honestly get so mad after a missed putt that you might take a chunk out of a green, tap your ankle with your putter instead, I promise you’ll forget all about the putt.