A divot repair tool and a ball marker are the two smallest things in golf that fix the two most common courtesy failures: unrepaired ball marks on greens and marking your ball with whatever's in your pocket. A pocket combo tool — an all-metal divot fork with a magnetic, pop-up ball marker attached — solves both at once, lives in your pocket all round, and costs less than a sleeve of decent balls.
Why ball marks matter more than you think
Every approach shot that lands soft leaves a small crater on the green. Repaired promptly and correctly, a ball mark can heal in a few days. Left alone, the turf dies back, the depression scars over, and the green putts bumpy for weeks. The USGA has published guidance on exactly this — how to fix a ball mark so the turf actually recovers — because unrepaired and badly repaired marks are one of the most persistent maintenance headaches on public courses (USGA).
The right technique, per the USGA: insert the fork at the edges of the mark and gently push the surrounding turf toward the center, working around the perimeter — then tamp smooth with your putter. The classic mistake is prying upward like a lever, which tears the roots and guarantees a dead spot. A proper two-prong tool makes the correct motion natural.
Why the marker half earns its spot
Under the Rules of Golf you're entitled to mark, lift, and clean your ball on the putting green — but you need a marker to do it. A coin works until it's the one thing you forgot. A magnetic marker that snaps onto your divot tool is always exactly where the tool is, and the pop-up button release means you're not fumbling to peel it off with a glove on.
There's an etiquette benefit too: a flat, purpose-made marker sits tight to the turf and stays out of your playing partners' putting lines, unlike a chunky coin or a tee stabbed into the green (which damages the surface you just fixed).
What to look for in a pocket combo
Three things separate a tool you'll keep for years from one that ends up in a drawer. Material first: all-metal construction survives being sat on, dropped on cart paths, and run through the wash cycle you'll inevitably forget about. Plastic forks snap at the worst time — mid-repair, prongs in the turf.
Second, the magnet. It should hold the marker firmly enough that it doesn't rattle loose in your pocket, but release cleanly with one press. A pop-up button design does this better than a bare magnetic recess you have to pick at.
Third, pocketability. The whole point is that it's on you — not in the bag on the cart thirty yards away when you reach the green. A slim profile that disappears into a pocket (or clips into the bag's valuables pouch between rounds) is what makes the habit stick.
Build it into your green-side routine
The pros' habit is worth copying: walk onto the green, fix your own mark, then fix one more. It takes fifteen seconds. If everyone in your foursome does it, the group leaves every green better than they found it — and putts truer on the back nine of every course you play, because everyone else is doing the same for you.
Mark your ball whenever it's in a partner's line or you want to clean off morning dew and mower clippings — a clean ball rolls truer, and on the green you're always allowed to lift and clean once marked.
The forgotten combo, solved
The NuRich Divot Repair Tool with Magnetic Ball Marker is exactly this pocket combo: all-metal fork, magnetic marker with a pop-up button release, sized to carry in a pocket or clip inside the bag. It pairs naturally with the rest of the NuRich golf line — groove sharpener, groove brush, and ball line marker — all of which you'll find alongside our bottles and lids in the full NuRich collection.
Toss one in your pocket on the first tee and it quietly upgrades every green you walk onto — yours, and everyone's behind you.
This article is for general informational purposes. Always follow your course's local rules and maintenance guidance.