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Driving range ball dispensers

BigLeftyinAZ

BigLeftyinAZ

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When I was at the range this morning before my round,this poor guy put his money into the machine and only approx 6 balls came out instead of the 70 that should have come out.Then the machine didn't give his change back.

What do you think of this machines ?
 
I don't like them. I'd rather someone hand me a bucket full of balls.
 
BigLeftyinAZ said:
When I was at the range this morning before my round,this poor guy put his money into the machine and only approx 6 balls came out instead of the 70 that should have come out.Then the machine didn't give his change back.

What do you think of this machines ?
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Sounds like one of the Tucson muni machines.

Generally, they are pretty reliable. I have seen it do that before, but rarely. A lady was getting balls just after me one day and it happened to her. I keep all the clubhouse phone numbers in my cell, so I called the clubhouse for her and they came out, opened up and gave her the full measure of balls.
 
C-Tech said:
Sounds like one of the Tucson muni machines.

Generally, they are pretty reliable. I have seen it do that before, but rarely. A lady was getting balls just after me one day and it happened to her. I keep all the clubhouse phone numbers in my cell, so I called the clubhouse for her and they came out, opened up and gave her the full measure of balls.
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It was Randolph.
 
BigLeftyinAZ said:
It was Randolph.
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The one on the north end is ALWAYS broken, the one in the middle always gives out just enough too many to have you chasing the ones that spilled all over the ball room, and the south one takes 3 dollars and only gives out 35 balls...not that I have ever been there mind you.
 
C-Tech said:
The one on the north end is ALWAYS broken, the one in the middle always gives out just enough too many to have you chasing the ones that spilled all over the ball room, and the south one takes 3 dollars and only gives out 35 balls...not that I have ever been there mind you.
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There are two rooms that dispense balls?Or are you referring to the two machines in the one room?
 
BigLeftyinAZ said:
There are two rooms that dispense balls?Or are you referring to the two machines in the one room?
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There are 3 dispensers in that room. When you enter, there is a soft drink machine directly to your left, straight ahead of you are 3 dispensing machines. The northernmost machine takes $5 for 70 balls, as does the center one. The one on the southernmost end only takes $3 and dispenses 35 balls for that. The northernmost machine is always broken. It appears to be the oldest of the machines.

If you are going during the day, Silverbell has a much better driving range and their ball dispensers seem to work better even though there are only two of them. Silverbell is not lighted, so no night range there.
 
C-Tech said:
There are 3 dispensers in that room. When you enter, there is a soft drink machine directly to your left, straight ahead of you are 3 dispensing machines. The northernmost machine takes $5 for 70 balls, as does the center one. The one on the southernmost end only takes $3 and dispenses 35 balls for that. The northernmost machine is always broken. It appears to be the oldest of the machines.

If you are going during the day, Silverbell has a much better driving range and their ball dispensers seem to work better even though there are only two of them. Silverbell is not lighted, so no night range there.
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I thought the grass on the range was a bit fluffy and was in need of a mowing.
 
BigLeftyinAZ said:
I thought the grass on the range was a bit fluffy and was in need of a mowing.
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I haven't had a chance to go there in a couple of weeks. It could be they are getting ready for the overseed and letting stuff go to have enough money for the additional payroll during the overseeding period???
 
LOL,I forgot to mention that the guy next to me kept spraying me with his divot dirt.Almost moved away,but my stall was in the shade.
 
Out here you pay first at the pro shop. They give you a receipt with a 6 digit number that you punch into the key board at the driving range dispenser. I think we are now paying about $0.12 a ball now. This time last year it was $0.07.
 
The ones at my range are pretty reliable. And if something does go wrong, the staff will usually crank out extra balls for you for the trouble. So it's sorta win-win.
 
BigLeftyinAZ said:
LOL,I forgot to mention that the guy next to me kept spraying me with his divot dirt.Almost moved away,but my stall was in the shade.
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Was that you? I kept hitting dirt onto you so I could have the shady spot.:laughing:
 
C-Tech said:
Was that you? I kept hitting dirt onto you so I could have the shady spot.:laughing:
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I highly doubt it.This guy could barely hit the ball out of his shadow.For sure not a 9 handicap. Plus I've never seen someone tee up a 3 wood as he did,Was my driver height.
 
BigLeftyinAZ said:
I highly doubt it.This guy could barely hit the ball out of his shadow.For sure not a 9 handicap. Plus I've never seen someone tee up a 3 wood as he did,Was my driver height.
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It is worth a trip to Randolph driving range around 7 in the evening just to watch the strangeness out there.
 
The course I work at the machine is 9 years old and only has one option for balls about 40 balls per token. Two problems with that is 1) limited flight balls and 2) the machines jams two or three times a day. Only holds about 3000 balls and during the season we are filling it 2 to 3 times a day.
 
They bought a machine for our club, used it for about 2 weeks and went back to the old way. We just go down to the cart garage, grab a bucket and load up out of a couple of big tubs. It's soooooo much easier.
 
I hate those things, always get jammed up.

I don't have that problem at my Country Club, they put out Den caddies full of balls at every mat!
 
The course I played at last weekend had them and they took dollars. One dollar got you about 2/3 of a small bucket, not a bad deal. The only thing I don't like about the dispensers is that they all act differently and usually result in me running after stray balls
 
Around here, they're pretty reliable. I guess I'm fortunate. 2 of the 3 ranges I frequent has ball dispensers (the other one is super old school, they don't have a sorter or anything, but rather a table with rails on it, each rail holds a sack full of balls, they just move a board down for each sack to be filled)

You buy a token in the pro shop, and take a basket to the machine, drop your token for th prescribed # of balls (there are different token shapes for different quantities)
 
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