Ball Finding Tips

[pueblo]

Do you tend to wander around in the rough looking for "one-hit wonders"? I can't help myself. A normal day is 8 to 12. My best is 36, honest. Our 18th hole will give up 4 to 6, just off the fairway next to the lake. Three or four more in the lake next to shore. What's your record?

[mitchl17]

Originally Posted by pueblo

Do you tend to wander around in the rough looking for "one-hit wonders"? I can't help myself. A normal day is 8 to 12. My best is 36, honest. Our 18th hole will give up 4 to 6, just off the fairway next to the lake. Three or four more in the lake next to shore. What's your record?

I tend to wander the rough looking for my own balls :P

[golf4fun12]

i don't look for balls cause it is a waste of time. yeah, you can find a pro v1. but the rest are wilson balls

[meenman]

I dont hunt for balls and will rarely pick one up unless its shiny white right off of the fairway. I get a bit annoyed when I play with the older guys that think that they might hit the lottery when ball hunting. My normal golf partners may pick up a few as they hunt for theirs in the water if they have already ESC'd the hole as they wait for the rest of us to finish up, but they stop once the rest of us are ready to move onto the next hole.

[golf4fun12]

Originally Posted by meenman

I dont hunt for balls and will rarely pick one up unless its shiny white right off of the fairway. I get a bit annoyed when I play with the older guys that think that they might hit the lottery when ball hunting. My normal golf partners may pick up a few as they hunt for theirs in the water if they have already ESC'd the hole as they wait for the rest of us to finish up, but they stop once the rest of us are ready to move onto the next hole.

you are lucky you get paired up with people who will stop looking for golf balls when you start moving forward. I get stuck with people who will search for golf balls on hole 12 in the lake while we are teeing off on the 13th tee box. and we have to wait. and people behind him get pissed. and we start to lag behind the group ahead of us. just bad times. are people that cheap to have to search for golf balls?

[jmanbooyaa]

I lose golf balls frequently and if the course is busy I head towards where I think it might have landed and take a quick look if I don't see it I throw out one near that spot and hit my next shot. It is very annoying when someone takes a long time to search for a ball and if there is water and the ball retrievers come out forget it you might as well take a seat because this type of golfer is not going to be denied

[Zeph]

Try these . I used to search for balls, but when I started playing only one type of ball and stopped hitting it as much into the woods, I quit. When I find a ball now, I give it to someone else or throw it where someone else might find it.

[Gerald]

Huhhhh ......

Originally Posted by pueblo

Do you tend to wander around in the rough looking for "one-hit wonders"? I can't help myself. A normal day is 8 to 12. My best is 36, honest. Our 18th hole will give up 4 to 6, just off the fairway next to the lake. Three or four more in the lake next to shore. What's your record?

Balls that are not your own are mostly property of the course you are playing at, or they can be of another player, but they are not yours !!!

I am no saint, if I bumb into a Pro V1 in an impossible place, I will put it in my bag, but all of the rocks end up in the clubhouse where we have a bin for ball for the youth players.

Besides that I rather concentrate on the game, than spending time on finding balls that are not mine.

Last week standing at the first tee, took a brandnew Pro V1x out of a sleeve, hit a 250 yds push to the right and it landed on another fairway, Yelled FORE ! and saw it landing middle of the next fairway ...... my buddies also hit their balls and I went to my ball....... the group on the other fairway had found a brandnew Pro V1x, put it in their bag .......

Anyway we asked them to give it back, it took some ..... to get my ball back, totally pissed off ....... why can't people keep their hands of balls that can not be theirs ....... reported the guy and he is banned for a month !!!

[NEOHMark]

I'm kind of picky about what I hit, so I leave 90% of the stray balls right where they are as I walk by them.  But to purposely go off and look for strays?  Never.  IMHO, the added delay would be inconsiderate to the groups behind me/my group.

[saevel25]

The only balls i pick up are in the highgrass (not rough, i mean british open tall), and bushes and trees. I keep anything that fits my game..

[Aquaguru]

I will only pick up balls if I stumbled across them while looking for mine.  And if they are anything less than the balls I play I will give them to my partners or just throw them out into the fairway so other guys don't hold up other groups by randomly looking for balls.

I hate when some of the guys I play with take forever looking for there ball when it clearly goes OB.  But hey sometimes it "magically" appears with a good lie when I turn away haha.

[Kieran123]

Originally Posted by golf4fun12

i don't look for balls cause it is a waste of time. yeah, you can find a pro v1. but the rest are wilson balls

What's wrong with Wilson balls?

[Zeph]

Don't think I've ever found a decent Wilson ball in the woods. They probably make good ones too, but people either don't play them or don't lose them.

[B-Con]

I don't go looking for them. Ever since I started researching balls, I always have a very specific ball I want to play. I'm either in the midst of evaluating one or I'm expecting the specific feel/performance of one, so I have no interest in playing a different one. It's not like my game will suffer if I don't have my specific ball, but I lose them rarely enough now that I'm not desperate for them. Also, since I'm picky about getting half-decent wedge spin, I reject any ball that I don't know to be suitable for my needs. I cannot tolerate excessive roll-out, and at my skill level I can't work magic with less spinny balls. I will pick up balls that I happen to come across to see if they're a model I'm interested in. If so, I'll keep it and use it later at the appropriate time. If not, I might keep it for my shag bag, but that's iffy.

[plugged]

I don't pick up balls that are in the fairway, but lost balls that obviously are not in play I pick up.

[B-Con]

I don't pick up balls that are in the fairway, but lost balls that obviously are not in play I pick up.

I will pick up balls in the fairway, but usually I won't if they are in motion. ;-D

[WUTiger]

Quote:

... yeah, you can find a pro v1. but the rest are wilson balls

Many years ago I would tend bar occasionally at the big country club in a college town. I would monitor who was having Monday scrambles. If it was a high-dollar or politically connected group, the swag bag usually contained a sleeve or two of Titleists or other high $pin balls.

Holes 12, 13 and 16 ran along a shaggy creek bed, and foursomes would lose about two balls each going through the maze. The morning after the scramble, I would go jogging with a small pack on my back, and dump the balls into it as I scoured the creekbed. One day I got about 24 balls, most of them new Titleists, plus a nice run through the shade on a hot summer day.

[Steel]

I never pick up a "lost" ball in the fairway.  I have had Gerald's experience several times and it almost resulted in a fist fight once, when you are playing balls that are $60 per dozen your fuse gets a little short when some rubber head either picks up your ball or hits it without checking it.  When it comes to looking for balls, if I hit a shot into the weeds I will have a quick look, or I will help my partners look, never more than 2-3 minutes unless we are waiting for the green or fairway to clear.  If I find a stray, I will pick it up, I am very particular about the type of ball I play in the summer when conditions are good, but when it is cold and wet, in the winter I will play with almost anything that is round and white