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JohnBoyNC

JohnBoyNC

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I'm sure I'm not the only one who periodically goes on the hunt for lost balls. Whether you just pop in the woods while waiting for your buddy to hit or if you sustain your entire habit of this great game, share your anecdotes, your highlights or your terrifying moments with the rest of us.

I have three courses within 5 miles of my house and on a good rain day when I know the courses will be closed, I gear up in my rain gear, a small backpack a hand towel a 3 iron and my trusty companion, Georgia, a 14 month old lab mix. I'll go out for an hour or two and will find anywhere from 50 to 100 balls. Typically, 10-20% are balls that for me are keepers and I'm fairly picky about what I will play. This allows me to play all the different balls and helps keep my and several of my buddy's playing stash well stocked.

So, lets hear what you do, what you've found, your strategies, your funny stories, etc.

Here's a ball that I found the other day that has to have had the funniest personalization on it I've ever come across.uploadfromtaptalk1423656463095.jpg

It's a ProV1x.
 
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Here's one that made me wonder who this might be?!?uploadfromtaptalk1423658235747.jpg

A Rod Hundley or a Paul Hornung fan?
 
If it's quiet, I'll do a little ball hunting. Only personal one I saw was a happy birthday ball.
 
I used to look a lot more than I do now. When both of my kids were in high school they played on the golf team. I'd go watch their matches but I'd stay a half hole ahead or behind and observe from a distance. Neither child wanted me hovering. When the matches got slow (frequently) I'd jump in the woods and look for balls. Would usually come home with 10 to 20 and would pass on the better ones to my kids and bag the rest.

Strangest ball I found was just 2 years ago. A Pebble Beach logo'd Balata ball. Has to be at least 15 years old but looked like it had been lost recently.
 
I don't look as much as I used to but still do walk occasionally along the edge of the ponds at my course and pull some balls out with my retriever. I typically leave about 90% of them on the edge of the pond for someone else to grab. Only keep the ones that I will definitely play. Do find it humorous when I find numerous balls with the exact same logo knowing they were lost by the same poor guy.
 
On certain courses I play (more pricey ones), I'll go looking for balls if I have a few minutes to kill. I usually hit the mother load on par 3's over water, I have one of those grabbers that extend to about 6 ft. Right by the edge of the water I usually can fish out 10-20 balls pretty quick.
 
True story: One of my buddies at my old golf course yelled out whoa hoss there's a big one over here. When we all found out what he was hollaring about, it got our attention big time. They said "hey Bill/ole gray, take care of that rascal. Well it was one of the biggest rattle snakes we had seen in that neck of the woods in a loooong time! I hated to kill the critter but didn't want some other golfer to wonder into his domain and get bit on the arse. I grabbed a big stick and whacked him on the head until the poor rascal deceased. The crazy thing is another old boy took him home and cooked em. :bulgy-eyes:
 
Ole Gray said:
True story: One of my buddies at my old golf course yelled out whoa hoss there's a big one over here. When we all found out what he was hollaring about, it got our attention big time. They said "hey Bill/ole gray, take care of that rascal. Well it was one of the biggest rattle snakes we had seen in that neck of the woods in a loooong time! I hated to kill the critter but didn't want some other golfer to wonder into his domain and get bit on the arse. I grabbed a big stick and whacked him on the head until the poor rascal deceased. The crazy thing is another old boy took him home and cooked em. :bulgy-eyes:
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I would have expected nothing less from a Goat Track patron. :thumb:
 
Ole Gray said:
True story: One of my buddies at my old golf course yelled out whoa hoss there's a big one over here. When we all found out what he was hollaring about, it got our attention big time. They said "hey Bill/ole gray, take care of that rascal. Well it was one of the biggest rattle snakes we had seen in that neck of the woods in a loooong time! I hated to kill the critter but didn't want some other golfer to wonder into his domain and get bit on the arse. I grabbed a big stick and whacked him on the head until the poor rascal deceased. The crazy thing is another old boy took him home and cooked em. :bulgy-eyes:
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I need to come play golf with you up there.
 
There is a palmetto bush on a course I play regularly. It is about 240 out, and just on the blind side of a dogleg left, just outside of the woods. It is always full of balls, and for whatever reason, they are usually premium balls.
 
Ole Gray said:
True story: One of my buddies at my old golf course yelled out whoa hoss there's a big one over here. When we all found out what he was hollaring about, it got our attention big time. They said "hey Bill/ole gray, take care of that rascal. Well it was one of the biggest rattle snakes we had seen in that neck of the woods in a loooong time! I hated to kill the critter but didn't want some other golfer to wonder into his domain and get bit on the arse. I grabbed a big stick and whacked him on the head until the poor rascal deceased. The crazy thing is another old boy took him home and cooked em. :bulgy-eyes:
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We cook rattlesnake up every year and have soup. Never killed one on the course but we do out on our lease.
 
cwmonroe87 said:
We cook rattlesnake up every year and have soup. Never killed one on the course but we do out on our lease.
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They say it tastes like chicken but I'm not going to eat one of them critters. :nono:
 
I don't ballhawk as much as I did a few years ago. I'll usually just take a peek while walking down the edge of the fairway, or if I'm being held up I'll take a look at the common spots balls get lost (home course, I'm familiar with those places). Beats standing around stressing about waiting.

Best personalization - "Put it down - NOT YOURS"
Oddity - last year, found an Acushnet Club Special. Sitting up in the woods, so wasn't like it had been buried 30 years. Somebody dragged out an old bag or something for that to pop up. Wasn't in bad shape at all.
 
One of the guys I regularly golf with takes a rucksack with him on his daily hike, our course has 4 holes that has cliffs on the right side, my buddy walks a trail below. He finds so many that he'll just pile a bunch up for the next day. He'll then sort them out and give a bunch away to whoever hits that particular ball. It's crazy how many he gets.

Ole Grey: Rattle snakes are protected here (endangered), yeah, like that's gonna stop from killing it.
 
jmatt said:
I don't ballhawk as much as I did a few years ago. I'll usually just take a peek while walking down the edge of the fairway, or if I'm being held up I'll take a look at the common spots balls get lost (home course, I'm familiar with those places). Beats standing around stressing about waiting.

Best personalization - "Put it down - NOT YOURS"
Oddity - last year, found an Acushnet Club Special. Sitting up in the woods, so wasn't like it had been buried 30 years. Somebody dragged out an old bag or something for that to pop up. Wasn't in bad shape at all.
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Heck I used to play those when I first started playing 40+ years ago! You might better hold on to that sucker as it could be worth something. Maybe take it out to Vegas and hock it off to the Porn Stars show.


gizmo3putt said:
One of the guys I regularly golf with takes a rucksack with him on his daily hike, our course has 4 holes that has cliffs on the right side, my buddy walks a trail below. He finds so many that he'll just pile a bunch up for the next day. He'll then sort them out and give a bunch away to whoever hits that particular ball. It's crazy how many he gets.

Ole Grey: Rattle snakes are protected here (endangered), yeah, like that's gonna stop from killing it.
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Cool! We'll have to box up all these suckers in Georgia and ship em up to you guys for safe keeping. :D
 
I don't go out of my way to look for lost balls, but I've found quite a few while searching for my own, or for someone else's ball in my group.

I played a course over the weekend that was just thawing out from some snow and inclement weather. I must have seen a couple of hundred balls lying in the mud either just off of some greens in waste areas, or just in front of some tee boxes in waste areas. The mud was still too soggy to try and get them, but either the staff of the club, or some adventurous golfer will end up with a bunch of balls. And this was a high end golf club.
 
I only look for balls whenever I'm looking for my own, which happens more than I'd like to admit.
 
Miller Time said:
I only look for balls whenever I'm looking for my own, which happens more than I'd like to admit.
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I just knew you were going to post your Ole Gray ball find.
 
DawgDaddy said:
I just knew you were going to post your Ole Gray ball find.
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It was weird because it wasn't even in the woods.. it was just laying next to one of the pine trees left of the fairway on 10. "Ole Gray - TOWER OF POWER" I busted out laughing.
 
DawgDaddy said:
I just knew you were going to post your Ole Gray ball find.
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Miller Time said:
It was weird because it wasn't even in the woods.. it was just laying next to one of the pine trees left of the fairway on 10. "Ole Gray - TOWER OF POWER" I busted out laughing.
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You playing with my balls boy! :deadhorse:
 
Will ride or walk the edge of the fairway while playing and if waiting will look a little, but not hold anyone up. Lot's of times I'm first out and alone and find Sunday and Monday mornings a good time to find balls. On one part of the course balls will almost glow in the morning sun that may not be seen in the shade the day before. Works good because I get to play much better balls than I'm willing to buy.
 
One of the old guys that plays with us is a certifiable ball hawk. Drives me crazy sometimes. He has so many golf balls it's ridiculous. He has a Titleist staff bag stuffed to the gills that weighs at least 100 pounds. I rode with him a couple months ago where he found 47 balls in one round.
 
I live on our course here, and I love going out after tournaments and picking up golf balls from the OB areas. I probably found close to 350 after our big scramble tournament last year. I use the nicer ones, give the OK ones to the high schoolers, and hit the rest into the ponds. I honestly haven't bought golf balls since 2012. I find it all very interesting. I keep back all the really interesting golf balls, I'll have to take a picture of them tonight. I've found balls from Torrey Pines, Whistling Straits, KClub, Ryder Cup logo balls.

I've found several Top-Flites that were all marked with various profanities. I'm not much for language, but they were at least pretty clever about it. The strangest thing was when I found 3 e-6 #3s deep in the woods sitting right next to each other. 2 were touching. That guy was having a bad day.
 
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