We've launched the new forums! Read more here

Finding balls when you play.

I'll pick them up when I see them, but unless Its a really backed up day, and I'm waiting in an area where there would be a lot, I don't actively look for balls (we call that Easter Egg hunting). I throw what I find in the cart and look at them after the round. I'll keep good balls for the shag-bag, the rest I just leave in the cart.
 
If I am looking for mine in the tall grass I will pick one up if I find it, otherwise I don't go out of my way to look for them.
 
I usually find 2 or 3 balls a round when helping to look for another players ball. I toss them in the cart basket and give the good ones to my neighbor (usually looking for his ball) and the ugly ones I give to another friend who uses them for target practice at his gun range.
 
Since I don't practice except occasionally at a driving range with driving range balls, I don't need practice balls.
I'm not going to get better at my age, and I play socially, not competitively.

But I do believe that "ready golf" contributes to lost balls.
If people play in order and watch each other's shots, fewer balls are lost.
This is especially true with seniors and their diminishing vision.

Young people are impatient and like "ready golf" to speed up rounds, but to me, it's like playing alone with a group.
But no, I don't usually pick up lost balls since I know that I'm not going to play them.
 
I don't hunt, recycled balls are cheap so no interest for me.

If I see a ball in play and I'm 100% sure it's not active I'll check it, if it's a quality ball I'll pick it up, if not it stays where it is.
 
There tends to be some back up on tees on my league night, so I'' find a few during the wait sometimes. Some good, some bad. I keep both, play the good and throw the bad in my shag bucket at home.
 
I'm happy to keep playing found balls - I do buy used balls and on very rare occasions, new ones. Nothing is as depressing as hitting a $4 ball into the drink...
 
I like looking around on courses where there are a lot of tourists or high end play. Seems a lot of people buy ProV1's and hit them into the woods. Plus play is usually pretty slow so there is plenty of time to mill around in the woods between shots.
 
I will grab them if I come across them the while in the search for my ball, but only if they are in good shape and a ball I would play. I use to pick up whatever I cam across and keep it, but those days have passed. With that said sometimes I will pick them up when I find them during a round, drop them in my bag and hit them on the range before the next round at my home course. Always nice to find a decent ball in the range ball bag.
 
i give them to someone else unless I've only got 2-3 left in the bag during a round.
 
When I am looking for mine, if I see one i'll go over to get the model if it doesn't impact pace of play. I usually play Truvis or a ball with TTT, so mine is usually obvious to fine. But when I am able to get to another ball I will grab it if it's a model I was thinking about trying, or something similar to what I am already playing. Good for the holes with a lot of carry or when my game is in the dumps and I need to just play through the slump, loosens the swing up a bit knowing the next ball I hit isn't directly from my wallet.
 
I don't normally pick up other balls. When I was little I picked up a ball and got yelled at by some old guy. Scarred me for life.
 
If I find them when I'm looking for mine then I will pick them up. I don't have a problem with using "experienced" balls, since I do tend to loose some. Since I'm not good enough yet to play with higher end balls I tend to play lesser expensive balls, so when I do loose one I'm not worried about it. I do have a buddy that tends to ball mine all the time & it gets annoying when you are trying not to hold up the group behind you. I do tend to give away a lot of what I find unless they are a really good ball.
 
I stopped once I began playing the same ball year round.

Nothing against the pickers, as I used to be one. You just sometimes don't know what you are getting with the found balls. How long has it been in the water for? How long has it been buried for. Hit one junk ball and it might change your mind.

The worst is a course here has a range that goes down the side of a fairway. Yellow range balls everywhere. What ball was commonly in my bag before? You guessed it, Yellow balls lol. Had a hell of a time finding my ball on that hole.

Now if I find one, I will either toss it to another in the group who will use it, or take it to the next tee box and leave them there for someone else to use.
 
I don't find very many when I'm playing. I'm usually kind of surprised when I do, but as long as I'm sure they're not in play I most definitely pick them up if I can easily.

I don't use them, because I'm ballticular. I used to give them to golfing buddies, but they're reserved for my high cap wife now. If I haven't stocked her bag or mine with those extras it can get ugly. I'm not known for carrying more than a sleeve or two, and they're quality balls, so I really don't share all that well. lol

I found her a dozen when we played Sunday, so that was a good start to the year. I think the snow melt helped.
 
Last edited:
I used to collect, but dont anymore. Every now and then I'll come across an odd brand or something I want to try and will hold on to it. For the most part I'll toss them back into a visible area in the second cut or drop them off near the green or on the next tee box for others to keep.

The real fun is when I come across one of my own lost balls from months before (distinctive marking)... its happened more often than I care to admit.
 
I usually play early morning and I also tend to walk. I often find balls in the rough or along the tree line from the past evening. I can tell when there has been an outing the day before as I'll find a bunch of balls with the same logo. I keep the Pro-V's give the Bridgestones to the guy that plays those in our group and the Callaways to the other guy. The rest I usually leave beside the cart path or on the next tee box. There is also a guy who puts a bucket of strays at the edge of his backyard on the 18th tee with a sign asking for donations. I sometimes drop a few there, but that's probably not what he means...
 
I used to go ball hawking and carried a ball retriever in the bag. After getting the retriever regripped a couple of times I just kinda said the heck with it and stopped using it. I will still pick up a lost ball if I come across one if I think someone else is not hitting it. The one thing that drives me crazy is the people who will slow play down because they think they have found the golden horde and have to spend extra time retrieving them all.
 
I don't go looking for them but find them all the time. Probably one of the advantages of walking is you see more stuff than you would when zipping around in a cart. Will only keep them if they are relatively unblemished urethane covered balls. The rest I leave in a pretty visible location for others to pick up if they choose.
 
Luchnia said:
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?
Click to expand...
I usually keep the pearls (premium ones), even if they are a little beat up and put them in the shag bag for practice. I also like using them when I am hitting multiple balls on the course in the evenings when I am out just practicing. This way if I hit one in a direction too far from the others, I don't have to walk over to get it.
 
I know where the errant balls can be found and make a game out of it. Those I find I give to other golfers or put in my practice bag I use for chipping. Growing up all my practice balls were found balls.
 
Urethane go into the shag bag... others I'll offer up to my group, or take them to the next tee box
 
Our course is littered with hazards. Currently I have the following:

ProV1x: 503 balls or 41.75 dozen
ProV1: 151 balls or 12.5 dozen
Other Premium: 105 balls or 8.3 dozen
Mid-Range: 254 or 19 dozen
Inexpensive: 292 or 24.3 dozen
Shag: 96 or 8 dozen
Junk Balls: 192 or 16 dozen

Total: 1,590 golf balls or 132.7 dozen
 
Unless they are premium balls I will play, I give them to my playing partner who tends to play whatever he finds.
 
When I am looking for my own ball and run across one, I will grab it. Doesn't happen nearly as often as it used to thankfully. If I am playing on my own and the groups in front are slow, I will look for balls in water hazards while I wait for them to move on. On the course I know which water hazards are the most likely to hit into, since I have hit into them myself before :ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO:

A day or two after Christmas was particularly slow and this was my results from my ball picking. :eek:
Some pretty nice ones that I will use, and some that were taken to be used for my back yard hitting practice.

UDIU3730.JPG
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top