How Do Golf Ball Markers Work? (Explained)

Before I played a round at Gillette Ridge Golf Course last week, I bought a pitch mark repair tool, and it came with a ball marker. It’s cool to have because I love that course, and it has the course logo on it. 

But of all the equipment in golf, how do golf markers work?

A ball marker is a device that will allow you to identify where your ball goes when it is not on the ground. This will help get your ball out of the way if you are playing ready-golf and your partner’s ball is farther away. 

Let’s look deeper into what else they can be used for, how to place it, and how to do it without fear of the dreaded penalty stroke.

How do golf ball markers work?

Golf ball markers are unique because they help you mark and identify your ball on the putting green. Golf ball markers are also a term you use to add a unique identification mark to a golf ball.

How do golf ball markers work?

They work by helping you mark your ball and identify it when it matters most! Find your ball and sink it.

What is a ball marker in golf?

There are two different areas of significance regarding the term ball marker.

The first method to use a ball marker is to mark the place on a putting green of a golf ball.

• You hit your ball onto the green but now want to get it out of the way so no other ball bangs into it. The ball marker is a small, flat object you place on the putting green where the ball is.

You can then lift the ball and put the ball back in its place when it is your turn to putt it.

• The second way the term “ball marker” is used is to identify the ball. This device will help the golfer add an identification mark to a golf ball.

The identification mark will be something along the lines of an alignment stripe or even a decoration. It will be something that will help you set your golf ball apart from the others.

How to place the ball marker?

The ball marker placement will be something you consider two different ways, depending on the type of ball marker you are talking about.

When you talk about a golf ball marker you are using to mark your ball’s place, you will put it down on the green where it lands.

On the putting green, you will pick up your ball and place the small and flat ball marker right in its place.

It is also poor golf etiquette to place your golf marker in the way of someone putting a line or “path” to the hole.

There are times when it would be practical to make sure that the ball marker itself is not in the way of your fellow golfers. So use your putter to create a space between the ball out of the way of where the golfer behind you may be putting and place your marker there. e

When you go with the term ball marker to add an identification mark to the golf ball, it is up to you where the ball marker goes.

You can add an identification mark anywhere on the ball to help it stand out. This will be something that is up to you and only you as the golfer and owner of the ball.

What does Tiger Woods use for a ball marker tool?

Every professional golfer is unique in their style. Some golfers have certain superstitions in terms of things that they do on the course.

They may think that the act is going to help them in some way. Think of the great Tiger Woods, the 14-time major winner.

The man who has been golfing for decades still does the same thing every time he gets to a putting green.

Tiger Woods will use a coin for his ball marker. Not only will he use a coin, but he will be sure to put the coin heads up.

There is nothing else that Tiger Woods will use on the green. The ball marker of choice for arguably the greatest golfer to ever live is just a coin in your pocket; heads up.

Can I use a coin to mark a ball instead of a ball marker?

If Tiger Woods can use a coin as a golf ball marker, why can’t you? You need a small, flat object to act as a ball marker. You can use a coin or anything else resembling that shape.

As long as the object does not have enough thickness so that it would intrude on any other golfer hitting the green, you are good to go.

Use a coin or something else, and be creative with what works for you on the golf course.

Coins

Clips

Poker chips

Tees

Putter

Beer/Bottle Cap

You never know; you may find a lucky coin that helps you land putts like never before!

How Pros mark their balls?

Final Thoughts

You don’t need anything fancy to mark where your ball goes on the green.  

In many instances, they become more of a talking piece of a course you have been to in the past or even a poker chip that looks cool. 

Just be sure to get something skinny and shallow because the very purpose of it is to get out of the way of a golfer behind you. 

I tend to lean on a good marker’s more “unobtrusive” nature. But as I mentioned before, I get most of mine from pitch repair tools anyway, which is good enough for me. 

Learn how to practice your golf play even during the cold season in this other article: How To Practice Golf In The Winter? 8 Tips To Get Better.