A divot is a small chunk of grass and soil that gets torn up from the ground, usually by something hitting or digging into it. Golfers see divots all the time: when a club strikes the ball, it often scoops out a piece of turf that goes flying through the air. Good golf course etiquette includes replacing your divots so the grass can grow back.

You might also see divots on a soccer field where cleats have dug into soft ground, or on a lawn where someone dropped something heavy. The word can describe the chunk of earth itself or the little pit left behind where it used to be.

While divots are normal in golf, too many can make a course look rough and patchy, which is why groundskeepers work hard to repair them and why players are expected to fix the ones they create.