Walk into any golf shop and you'll find a rack of two-prong divot tools. Plastic, zinc alloy, stamped steel — usually under $10, often free. The two-prong design has been the default for decades. Most golfers have never questioned it.
But there's a reason every golf course superintendent prefers single prong. There's a reason the USGA recommends single prong. And there's a reason the golfers who are most serious about course care carry single prong tools.
Here's the full breakdown.
The Case for Two Prongs
The two-prong design is intuitive. You jab both prongs into the sides of a ball mark, lever the turf up from the edges to the center, then smooth it over. It's fast. It looks correct. And for decades, that's how most golfers learned to do it.
Two-prong tools are also cheap to manufacture — stamped from sheet metal in any shape, any color, easy to customize with logos. That's why they dominate the promo market and pro shop impulse bins.
If you use the levering technique gently and the green is in good shape, a two-prong repair is better than no repair. So in that sense, they work.
Why Single Prong Is Technically Superior
The problem with two prongs and the levering technique is root damage. When you lever turf upward, you tear the grass roots underneath the surface. The blades come back up so the mark looks repaired — but the root system is severed, and that mark takes two to three weeks to fully heal instead of 24–48 hours.
A single prong tool used with the correct rotational technique avoids this entirely. You insert the prong at the edge of the mark and rotate around the perimeter, pushing grass horizontally inward from multiple angles. The roots stay intact. The mark closes properly and heals overnight.
The GCSAA (Golf Course Superintendents Association of America) specifically recommends this single-prong rotational method. Superintendents see the difference in recovery time directly — greens repaired correctly heal in 24 hours. Greens repaired with the lever method show brown patches that persist for weeks.
What to Look for in a Single Prong Tool
Material. The prong needs to be rigid enough to apply consistent pressure without flexing. Brass and stainless steel are both excellent — they're dense, don't corrode, and hold their edge. Plastic and zinc alloy flex under pressure and fail at the prong.
Length and diameter. A tool around 3.5 inches long with a 3/8 inch diameter fits naturally in a closed fist and gives you the leverage for rotational pressure without your fingers hitting the green surface. Too thin and it rotates in your hand. Too thick and fine motor control suffers.
Weight. A heavier tool gives you tactile feedback through the turf. You can feel when you've moved the grass enough without looking. Solid brass at around 40–50 grams is ideal.
Single piece construction. Folding tools, multi-tools, and spring-loaded prongs all add failure points. A solid single-piece machined tool has nothing to break.
The Verdict
If you're serious about fixing ball marks correctly — and about the condition of the courses you play — a quality single prong tool is the right choice. The technique is slightly different from what you may have learned, but it's not complicated, and the results are dramatically better.
The Ace Divot Tool from Milled Goods is CNC-machined from solid 360 brass in Chandler, Arizona — the same equipment used for aerospace and medical components. Single prong, 3.5 inch OAL, 0.375 inch diameter. Machined finish. Lifetime guarantee. $35.
If you're going to carry a divot tool — and you should — carry one that works.