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Finding balls when you play.

Luchnia

Luchnia

You will never conquer golf.
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My buddy and I find a huge amount of golf balls while we are playing and the more I think about it, I realize that may not be a good thing, because that indicates where we are hitting and how poor our shots are! Ok, I am joking a little here, but we really do find a lot of them and sometimes especially on the hilly courses around here with water. We occasionally find some nice high end balls. I bet I have found around 200 (just a guess here - probably a lot more) balls last year alone in around 40 rounds.

I take them home put some dish detergent and bleach in the sink and let them soak a bit and wash them and pick out the nice ones. I have found so many, I have stocked my practice area at home with them with mostly new ones and give them to anyone that needs some balls.

I keep a ball retriever in my bag and sometimes if I am at a water hazard I will grab a few. One time at a water hazard I found so many, I could not believe it. I am wondering if it is just because here in central VA we have tons of woods, hills, creeks, ponds, etc. Do the rest of you wind up finding a lot of balls when you play a round, or do you even bother picking the easy ones up?
 
I dont or if I stumble across one, I give it to someone else in the group.
I never struggle with some that do it, unless they are not playing ready golf and are looking when it is their turn to hit. Which happens all too often sadly.
 
I used to find a lot. That was because I was looking for my ball in the woods. Now I’m keeping it in play more often so I don’t seem to find to many.
 
I certainly don't mind someone "ball mining" during the round if they're playing ready golf otherwise. I played with someone yesterday who can't see as far as he hits. Anyways, he found this ratty, dirty old ball and was playing it for a few holes. I was sooo wishing he would find a better, cleaner ball to play with to make my life easier! He finally lost it and put a cleaner and easier to see ball into play. He also happens to be the only guy in my weekly foursome that has a ball retriever, so it's definitely a part of his plan to locate balls. If i can't retrieve my own ball with the club in hand them I'm dropping and moving on.
 
I have no problem picking up balls when I see them out on the course. I did get a ball retriever recently but only because I was tired of seeing tons of really nice balls just out of reach on a couple holes at my home course. I am generally playing alone and the course is slow when I am there. I know which holes I am likely to pull balls from around the green and I just grab the retriever with my putter. Once I putt out, I will grab any balls I see and move on. I don’t soak and wash and all that and to be honest most of them end up in the woods behind my house buried in leaves as I just use them for backyard practice into the woods.
 
i use to but not anymore. Once I had 2 5 gallon buckets of premium balls that I never used, I quit. Now I do not bother.
 
neophyteguy said:
I certainly don't mind someone "ball mining" during the round if they're playing ready golf otherwise. I played with someone yesterday who can't see as far as he hits. Anyways, he found this ratty, dirty old ball and was playing it for a few holes. I was sooo wishing he would find a better, cleaner ball to play with to make my life easier! He finally lost it and put a cleaner and easier to see ball into play. He also happens to be the only guy in my weekly foursome that has a ball retriever, so it's definitely a part of his plan to locate balls. If i can't retrieve my own ball with the club in hand them I'm dropping and moving on.
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Glad you guys mentioned this. I like the term "ball mining." Me and my buddy are not ball miners per se. We just pick them up if we see them mostly or if a slow day and the course is empty we might "mine" a few while we are discussing our shots. I have plenty of balls, but I look at it this way, if it is laying there and all I have to do is bend over and get it, I pick it up. Hope that makes sense.
 
I find some but do not go looking for them. I keep the Urethane tour balls for practice and give the surlyn balls to my son.
 
I very seldom pick any up, but my cousin who plays along with me most of the time makes up for both of us so it's a wash.
 
I find balls all the time. I'll keep the majority of them because they go into my shag bag or bucket in my personal backyard driving range. I have woods that back to my house that are about 175 yards away. I can hit my entire bag from my yard. Then my next door neighbors son likes to go in the woods & retrieve whatever he can find. So it's an endless supply. (y)
But I played a lot of golf growing up with my father and we always walked. Cause he was cheap in the early days of my childhood, so he would make me "get some exercise." So we would walk along the woodline off the edge of every fairway and look for balls. We played a lot of hilly courses too. One particular course near my home (Pohick Bay GC) used to be very wooded & hilly. (it has since been opened up & cleared of trees) A lot people refused to play there because it was too hilly & too narrow of fairways, so they would continually lose a lot of balls. We would find so many golf balls that our bags were busting at the seams after walking the entire 18 holes. We would have to empty the bag after every round from playing there. My father was too cheap to ever buy golf balls. "Why do I need to buy golf balls, I have a ton of them in the bag." I don't think I ever saw him tee up a brand new ball unless I gave it to him for X-mas. Even then I would find dozens of brand new balls still in the box at his house.
So yeah. To this day, I still look for balls. Especially if I play a "High End" golf course where everyone uses ProV1's. I like finding brand new balls that look like they've been hit once or twice. But .... I don't hold up play by doing so. (y)
 
I don't go looking for them, but if I find any whilst looking for my own I will pick them up and tend to just give them to Jen - as a beginner it doesn't really matter what ball she uses

When we went out on Saturday to play a few holes, I hit a bad shot and pretty much knew where my ball would be, but I couldn't find it - however, I found 6 other balls that I picked up and gave straight to Jen.....typical, I lose 1 and she ends up with another 6
 
I don’t actively look for overlooked balls. If I see one, I’ll pick it up. If it is a type of ball I play, I’ll keep them in a practice bucket. Others, I’ll give away.

I don’t mind others searching but will say something if they’re holding us up.

I have one friend who’s goal appears to be to find as many balls as he is over par for the day.
 
Two angles here...If I am carrying...my bag weight is important so as I find them I leave them on tee boxes and such. and only a perfect ball find shall enter my bag...If I'm in a cart I'll fill it up and leave them for staff. Nobody plays faster than me so looking only happens when play is backed up.
 
I find some occasionally, mostly in woods or water but unless its a high quality ball that I would play I'll leave it for someone else. I would use those balls for shots I don't have confidence in haha. I don't go looking for balls though and being completely honest I don't care if you do. UNLESS you are holding up play because your messing around in the water with your ball retriever.
 
If it's a good ball I'll pick it up. Those are the provisional balls I use for water hazards. Otherwise if they're lousy I'll leave them laying where I saw them. Normally it's a lot of Callaway I'm seeing. I don't see a lot new Titleist.
 
Growing up I only played balls I found but now I don't pick them up or give them to a playing partner that you know will have a good use for them.

I like the idea of leaving them on the next tee box like @GolfTravelDude mentioned.
 
I don’t pick up any balls along the way anymore. I have a friend who will pick them up as he goes and donates anything he finds to the junior programs or first tee
 
I won’t intentionally search for balls while playing because I like to play fast. If I’m searching for one of mine and come across a lost ball, I’ll pick it up (if it’s a competitors ball, I’ll stomp it into the ground j/k). I did give my bosses each a personalized dozen of Pro V’s last year for Christmas that said “Please return to their name”. They lose a lot of balls so it was the gift that kept on giving!
 
I work as a starter/player's assistant at Crystal Springs in NJ. We have a ton of outings. Usually the sponsors will give goodie bags with tee shirts, etc. and balls. Many times they will give out Titleist balls. After the outings we will find SO many great balls because many of the participants play so poorly or only once a year at an outing. We only pick up the good balls, and throw the bad ones (no name balls) away. I rarely have to buy balls for myself.
 
If i stumble across one, i give it to Danny, he sticks them in his kids bags so they don't get into his. I do not play found balls. I actually start a round with a new ball and if i play if for the full 18; i toss it
 
When riding ill snag them if I pass them, if I'm walking and near the edge of woods ill keep an eye out. I keep a pocket in my bag just for these balls and give them to friends when we play.

I did take a nice snell out of my range bucket yesterday. Guilty as charged.
 
I don't go out of my way looking but, if I see any while looking for my ball, I will pick it up and leave it in the cart or throw it out in the fairway for someone else. I've gotten so I don't even look anywhere in the woods or real tall grass with the explosion of deer ticks and lyme disease we are currently having in Maine. ?
 
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