The USGA has a very good instruction and video on how to properly repair ball marks on the green. Here is a link to that instruction.  http://www.usga.org/articles/2018/07/repairing-ball-marks--5-things-every-golfer-should-know-.html#expanded 

Golf Course Review
Over the holiday I wanted to see what was available from a value perspective for playing golf in Northern Michigan. If you are not aware, Michigan has very nice, well-conditioned golf courses nearly everywhere. In the metropolitan areas the pricing is quite reasonable, with many locations offering 18 holes with cart for under $50; some for under $25, even for non-seniors.
In the resort areas, like many norther Michigan locations, the pricing is a bit steeper. Their limited season and the very splendid conditions the courses and facilities are kept may contribute to the higher pricing. The holiday times are prime times for northern Michigan golf.
I decided to go to the Petoskey, Boyne, Charlevoix area for a holiday golf experience. It was July 3 and the boating activities, fireworks, festivals and parties were in full swing.
I visited and looked over several golf courses on July 2 and decided to play a small, kind of out of the way golf course in the East Jordan, Michigan area. East Jordan is located at the southeast end of Lake Charlevoix, between Boyne City and Charlevoix. The course I selected was “The Mallard”.
   

To me, it represents a very nice northern Michigan golf experience at a very reasonable price. It is a picturesque and well maintained 9-hole course. It is not very long, at only 5946 from the tips (white tees), or 5130 from the red tees. I played two 9-hole rounds with cart for $20. The greens are somewhat challenging, but I found them to be a bit slower than those at the courses I usually play in southeast Michigan. The fairways were in very good condition. The rough along the fairways is not too difficult except that there are patches of short white clover that make it difficult to find your golf ball should you miss the fairway and go into one of those areas. For a pleasant up-north golfing experience you may want to consider playing a round of golf at the Mallard Golf Course, off of M-66, near East Jordan, MI.

Instruction
If you have not seen them, I have a couple of new instruction videos on my Vimeo.com/golfinstructioncourses web page (https://vimeo.com/golfinstructioncourses).
Hit ‘em straight!