Opinion & Analysis
How do you mark your golf ball on the green?
Putting can be one of the most superstitious aspects of this weird and wonderful game we play. The sequence of marking a ball to clean it or get out of the line of sight of a playing partner and then replacing it can play a major factor in a golfer’s pre-shot routine. OCD tendencies can creep in, and golfers can rely heavily on their favorite marker to help them confidently coax the ball home.
I’ve run into a lot of players in my days playing, all with their own idiosyncrasies. I’ve seen ancient coins, fluorescent plastic, poker chips, ring pulls and even some mini-satellite dishes being used. And I’ve witnessed some bizarre rituals of ball marking, taking the coin out of certain pockets, kissing it, putting it down face up, positioning it to point a certain way. I must have at least 30 markers in my bag — some are gifts, some are from corporate days and some are keepsakes from courses I have played — but I inevitably always use the same old one.
In this article I’ve come up with a list of common characters and their ball-marking tendencies. Which ones are in your four-ball?
Custom Cory: We all know the guy with a “special” marker, one from Scotty’s own personal collection that color matches the paint-fill scheme on his Circle T putter. His marker is worth more money than the collective sets of clubs of his group. He keeps it in a special felt-lined pouch and looks with pride as he places it down to mark his Pro V. He name drops it a few times per round, but says very little when you putt him off the greens with your Walmart $20 special. Afterwards, he curses to himself as he climbs into his Porsche that he needs to buy an even more exclusive marker for his next round.
Namedropper Nick: Nick throws down his Augusta marker on a regular basis, usually when he is wearing his Augusta hat and shirt. “Did I tell you I was at the Masters this year?” He’ll switch it up to a Pebble Beach or a Torrey Pines marker occasionally. He’s played them all, and he has a vast and extensive collection of ball markers held in several rosewood display cabinets in his “golf cave” at home. It’s fun to watch Nick and Cory try and subtly outbrag each other.
Plastic Patrick: At the start of the round, Patrick puts his hand into his bag and pulls out a fistful of tees, markers, pitchmark repairers and pencils. His pockets bulge with so much crap that he waddles on the green, and he spends a few minutes every time looking for a marker when he needs to mark. “No wait, I got one here! Just give me a minute” as he goes through the entire contents of his pocket. And then he can’t remember which one is his when it comes to his turn to putt. “Didn’t I use a red one? No wait, that’s right, it was a yellow one!”
Superstitious Steve: Steve has been using the same quarter for the past 25 years. It has been blessed several times by the local priest. He always marks his ball heads up with the nose pointing to the target. It’s his “lucky quarter” stamped with the year he was born. Those missed two footers today were the fault of not aligning the left nostril to the hole correctly. If he ever loses that coin he will just quit golf.
Boozy Ben: Ben is a corporate golf-day specialist getting limbered up before the round with a six pack. He will generally not mark his ball, oblivious of the fact that it may be on his playing partner’s line. The “can’t you just hit ’round it?” question gets met with a death stare. So he’ll either just go ahead and finish out or mark it with a tin of beer.
Howard the Hack: He plays a lot with Boozy Ben. It seems he doesn’t possess a marker and instead uses a tee, a pitchfork or even his glove at times. He’s even been known to hawk one down on the green as a temporary marker. He’ll often ask to borrow a marker, which is fun when he and Cory play together. Cory keeps a cheap back-up marker just for Howard.
Gizmo Gary: Has just acquired a “state of the art” marker designed by NASA that has a GPS stamp that links wirelessly to his watch and tells him where his marker is on the green. It’s painted green, a design flaw, so it takes Gary forever to actually find it within 1-2 meters of where the GPS put it. Oh, Gary!
Random Ronnie: Watch out, Ronnie’s out again without a marker so instead he uses an old pitch mark or a blade of grass or his shoe to mark his ball. “Sure that’s close enough” is his regular quip as he always seems to end up a little closer to the hole when it comes to replacing his ball. When he does carry his marker, he has extremely nimble fingers and usually can make up several inches in placing his ball down somewhere nearer the marker.
Forgetful Felix: Felix enthusiastically offers to move his marker several club heads out of your line. Nothing is too much trouble to give you a little space. But of course, he will forget to replace his ball. He is often seen in the rough looking for his ball a considerable distance away from where it actually is.
Robot Ray: Ray has his pre-shot routine down pat. He keeps his magnetic white marker on his visor. The routine goes like this: mark ball, wipe it twice and replace it while aligning the logo exactly inline with his read. Then the marker goes straight back on the visor. Ray once had a breakdown when he reached up and found his marker missing. He resolved to use a stronger magnet on his visor, which helps with his OCD therapy.
Aronimink is not a storied club, but when Donald Ross himself proclaimed it to be as good as he can design and build, one had to take notice. Jay Sigel was the pre-eminent male amateur golfer from the mid-1970s to the mid-1990s. He might have called any number of Philadelphia clubs home, but he chose Aronimink. It served him well. Gary Player won a PGA Championship here in 1962, and was followed by the 1993 winner … nobody. Aronimink gave that event away to Inverness, for reasons of which it is certainly not proud. So be it. We had to wait sixty-four years for the PGA to return to Newtown Square, but here we are. Aronimink has been neo-restored by Gil Hanse and team, to return Ross features with an eye toward defense against the dark arts, errrr, high-tech equipment.
Day one saw Rory McIlroy and Bryson DeChambeau dig big holes, to the tune of plus-four and plus-six, respectively. Since the first-round lead will be minus-three at worst, many shots will need to be made up for the power couple to reach contention. By nightfall, seven golfers held the day-one lead at three-under par 67. Shots and sticks caught our attention, and we are proud to present Five Things We Learned on Tech Thursday at the 2026 PGA Championship. Thanks to InsideTourGolfer, Today’s Golfer, and GolfWRX for initial equipment research.
First, meet Min Woo Lee
Min Woo Lee, aka Dr. Chipinski, has once again thrust himself into the conversation of Can he, will he, when will he? Lee has so much talent, wins not nearly as often as we believe that he should, and has no major near-misses (much less titles) on his wiki. The young Aussie is getting older and wiser, but is he able to avoid the scarring that holds the older and wiser back from breaking through? Philadelphia offers another opportunity. Min Woo signed for five birdies and two bogeys on day one, and grabbed a share of the opening-day lead at Aronimink. Winners transcend history and the moment, and Lee will need that sort of ascent to lift the Wannamaker on Sunday.
Second, meet Aldrich Potgeiter
The young South African golfer can rip driver with the best of them. Aronimink tips out at nearly 7400 yards, but beyond the fairway bunkers that ensnare only the mortals, Potgeiter can take his chances with wedge from the rough. On Thursday, he spent plenty of time in the spinach. Like Popeye, he used his muscles to gouge and thrash and dig his way out. Six birdies against three bogeys on the card brought AP in a three deep.
Third, meet Martin Kaymer
Not a major event takes place without a where’s he been throwback moment. We know that Martin Kaymer left the PGA and DP World tours for LIV golf, but the two-time (US Open and PGA) major winner has a lifetime exemption into at least one major event, and he seizes the opportunity each May. Kaymer joined the six-seven brigade with four birdies and a solitary bogey on day one. Kaymer was never a long hitter, and the years are kind to no golfer. The German champion will need to uncork every bottle of guile and strategy in his cabinet to remain in contention. For today, though, he occupies a rung on the ladder of Tour Tech.
Fourth, meet Scottie Scheffler
Let’s see, he’s the defending champion at the PGA, and he found his way back to the top tier with five birdies against two bogeys. To be a favorite and then play up to that stature and expectation is quite difficult. Just ask Rory, Bryson, and some of the other pre-tournament heartthrobs. Scheffler’s game is complete, and to knock him off the OWGR #1 pedestal, one needs to defeat him at the majors. Aronimink is the sort of course that fits Scheffler’s game. Better yet, it unfits the game of many of his challengers. Don’t expect Scheffler to go away anytime soon. Come Sunday, he’ll be around.
Fifth, meet Stephan Jaeger
Clocking in for the unheralded players shift are Ryo Hisatsune and Stephan Jaeger. Hisatsune logged seven birdies on day one, but gave most of them back with four bogeys. Still, he’s tied at the top for a time. Jaeger pitched five birdies against two bogeys, including a run of three consecutive, from holes four through six. Odds are that one of the two will hang around through 36 holes. Odds also suggest that both will be gone by Saturday evening. Still, the PGA Championship has historically been the major most likely to be won by an under-known. Both Hisatsune and Jaeger feature on that list, so good luck, lads!
On this episode of the Club Junkie Podcast, I head to the Titleist Performance Institute for a full driver fitting with the new Titleist GTS lineup. We dive into the fitting process, talk about what made the biggest difference in performance, and break down how the different GTS heads and shaft combinations compare on the launch monitor. If you are thinking about a new driver setup for this season, there is a lot to take away from this one.
I also get into Brooks Koepka and the gear setup he brought to the PGA Championship, including the putters that caught my eye during the week. There are some interesting equipment trends showing up at the highest level right now and we break down what stands out.
To wrap things up, I talk about reshafting a few wedges, what I learned during the process, and swapping an adaptor onto a new shaft for another build project in the shop. A gear packed episode from start to finish for anyone who loves golf equipment and club building.
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Excited for this week’s WITB as we get to add the new Titleist GTS woods to the bag! I was fit at Titleist’s TPI facility in Oceanside California a few weeks ago and my new clubs just showed up. I am also adding a cool set of irons that I built last year some wild custom wedges into a new golf bag. Speaking of the bag I have a new Ghost Anyday Black Ops stand bag that I will be using on my Motocaddy Remote M7 electric cart.
Driver: Titleist GTS3 (11 degrees @ 10.25)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Red 6s
3-wood: Titleist GT1 3Tour (14.5 degrees)
Shaft: Graphite Design Tour AD CQ-7s
5-wood: Titleist GTS (18 degrees)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Red 7s
9-wood: Titleist GT1 (24 degress)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Red 7s
Irons: Bettinardi CB24 (5-PW)
Shafts: KBS C-Taper Lite 110 stiff
Wedge: TaylorMade MG5 (50-09 SB)
Shaft: Mitsubishi MMT 125 Stiff
Wedge: TaylorMade MG5 (56-12 SB)
Shaft: Mitsubishi MMT 125 Stiff
Wedge: TaylorMade MG5 (60-08 LB)
Shaft: Mitsubishi MMT 125 Stiff
Putter: Dan Carraher ZT Proto
Ball: Callaway Chrome Tour
Bag: Ghost Anyday Black Ops Stand Bag
Justin Rose WITB 2026 (April): Full WITB breakdown with new McLaren irons
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Kristoffer Reitan’s winning WITB: 2026 Truist Championship
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Aaron Rai’s winning WITB: 2026 PGA Championship
Nelly Korda WITB 2026 (April)
Justin Rose on the switch to McLaren Golf, learnings from previous equipment moves
Photos from the 2026 PGA Championship
Patrick Reed WITB 2026 (May)
Driver: Titleist GT3 (9 degrees) Buy here. Shaft: Aldila Rogue Silver 130 M.S.I. 70 TX 3-wood: TaylorMade Qi35 (15 degrees)...
Aaron Rai’s winning WITB: 2026 PGA Championship
Driver: TaylorMade M6 (9 degrees) Shaft: Aldilda Synergy Blue 70 TX 3-wood: TaylorMade Qi10 (15 degrees) Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Blue...
Michael Block WITB 2026 (May)
Driver: TaylorMade Qi4D (9 degrees) Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Black VeloCore+ 5 X 3-wood: TaylorMade Qi4D (15 degrees @14.25) Shaft: Mitsubishi...
Bryson DeChambeau WITB 2026 (May)
Driver: Krank Formula Fire Pro (6 degrees) Shaft: Project X Prototype 3-wood: Krank Formula Fire (10 degrees) Shaft: LA Golf BAD...
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John
Sep 12, 2016 at 4:22 pm
This dude get fired from Buzzfeed or something?
Egor
Sep 10, 2016 at 4:07 pm
A fun read and I’ve met and play with several like this. You forgot the one who never has a ball marker and doesn’t even bring a tee or fork to the green with him.
Also, misuse of OCD. I don’t have it, don’t know anyone with it, but I shudder a bit when someone uses it incorrectly – much the same as “exponentially” (No one can explain the word after they use it to describe some level of positive growth) and “irregardless”
Sorry for my OCD in calling out the exponential misuse of OCD. Irregardless – a great article – thanks!
Double Mocha Man
Sep 10, 2016 at 12:38 pm
A dime is the best marker. Won’t deflect balls putted over it. Doesn’t speak to any kind of insecurity or braggadocio. Effective, simple, we almost always have one and can afford it. When I have to provide a dime to partners who “forgot” their ball markers I always insist I get it back because it’s a large portion of my 401K.
Dave Dudus
Sep 10, 2016 at 10:39 am
I glue a golf course freebie marker to the bottom of a cool guitar pick and use that. The edges are beveled some the interfere less with any other ball that goes over them. Geeky but usable.
John
Sep 12, 2016 at 4:20 pm
…why not just use to pick without gluing it to something? Guitar picks are pretty common, just don’t know anyone who felt the need to glue it to something…
Jk
Sep 10, 2016 at 2:31 am
You forgot the resort guest hack who just uses the button on his glove.
Brian
Sep 10, 2016 at 4:58 pm
That’s what that removable button is for…
Brian
Sep 9, 2016 at 9:03 pm
“Those missed two footers today were the fault of not aligning the left nostril to the hole correctly. If he ever loses that coin he will just quit golf.”
Who makes their buddy putt out a two footer?
Smokin'Gun
Sep 9, 2016 at 7:55 pm
USELESS
DeadFish
Sep 9, 2016 at 3:50 pm
LMAO, these are funny. I don’t fit any of these. I’d be this guy’s profile
Player Pete: Lives the “Play it as it lies” even on the green. Unless his ball is in your line he won’t touch it. He has a ball marker, and always has it ready, but never uses it. Pete doesn’t mind putting a dirty ball. The only time he will clean it is when the ball is covered in mud and would clearly result in a horrible putt. So make that 2 times Pete will mark his ball.
TCJ
Sep 9, 2016 at 1:18 pm
Hard shank… it stings the hands it does!
B Hock
Sep 9, 2016 at 12:00 pm
Top Notch!!!
Messico
Sep 9, 2016 at 7:57 am
Lol