What is the average "Life" of a golf ball for you.

[trackster]

I use to have a trivia book when I was younger that said the average life of a MLB baseball was about 7 pitches.  That gave me the idea for this thread.  I would say for me it is maybe 20 holes.  I have currently used the same ball for almost 3 consecutive 18's.  But I can also loose 2 or 3 into the water on any given round.

[Jeremie Boop]

Usually I lose about 2 balls a round. This week was going well all the way until the last hole where I lost 2 in one hole.... Yeah I hate you golf.

No, I didn't mean that baby, you know I love you!

Ah, the love hate relationship with golf.

[David in FL]

I don't lose too many balls.....maybe once every 2 or 3 rounds.  I put a new ball in play on the first hole every round though.  A dozen or so of one-round balls stay in the bag for those times when I do need a provisional and/or lose a ball, and the rest go into the shag bag.

[LettucePray27]

The more expensive the ball, the faster I lose them.. but I have had great success with qstars (about 2 rounds per ball max). E5 last about 1 round. I will chalk it up to yellow being easier to find for my eye... unless it takes a drink

[AmazingWhacker]

Depending where I'm playing, I probably lose a ball every other round or so. Courses with long rough, though, and it's more often. I will generally use a ball until I lose it. I have a practice area in my garage with a net that returns the ball to my feet so I can practice with just one ball. It takes a long, long time to damage a ball. I usually break 3-4 practice balls a year - thousands of hits. So there is little chance of my game balls getting damaged before getting lost.

[Dave2512]

Loss isn't what claims my balls, the cart paths are the killer.

[boil3rmak3r]

I would guess I have a lost/water ball, on average, once every 3 to 4 rounds. Factor in that some of those rounds, I may lose two balls. I would bet I average about 1 ball every 2 rounds or so. Once last year, I realized that I was playing my 5th round with the same golf ball, so I put 5 dots on it. I continued to dot it with every round played. It had 8 dots and I was playing my 9th round with it before I lost it in the lateral water hazard my tee ball found on hole #3. Needless to say, with all the scuff marks from the cart paths and trees it had hit, it was time to replace the thing anyway...

[Ernest Jones]

I have played many a 9 without losing a ball but it is pretty rare for me to make it through a full 18 without losing one. Lost balls really bite my ass, I can deal with all manner of crappy shot but losing one just pisses me off to no end.

[RickK]

I don't lose a lot of golf balls.  In casual rounds of golf, especially when I don't warm up, I will pull a ball out of my bag that may have seen 2 or 3 rounds or maybe more before now.  Once the ball starts getting scuffed looking, I usually pitch it in a bucket I have for found balls I will never play and balls that have earned retirement by staying with me.  In tournaments, I start out with new balls.  Unless I am having a horrible day, I usually play the same round with the same ball.  As mentioned earlier above...the killer for me is cart paths.  If the ball gets cart path rash on it, it goes into the bucket after the round.

[MS256]

I probably average losing about one a round, almost always in one of the lakes but occasionally in the rough or the woods.

The back nine where I play has been closed to replant the greens and we have been playing the front nine twice so we get two shots to lose a ball on the island green par four. Most days I'm going to miss that green at least once.

(Yesterday I got lucky and made birdies on that hole both times, but that's unsual).

How many balls I lose also depends on where I'm playing. At Hidden Meadows in Tuscaloosa I better have several extra balls in the bag. Any ball that misses the fairway is likely in the swamp and likely will never be seen again. At Soldiers Creek, near Foley, if it's been too rainy to mow the rough you should win some kind of medal if you can get around without losing a handful.

[boogielicious]

Current ball has played 27 holes, a golf league 9 hole round and yesterday's 18.  I will keep playing a ball until it gets visibly damaged or lost.  Minor scuffs don't affect ball flight.

[Ratliff]

I can make it through a couple of rounds on one ball but I also can loose multiple to the forest on any given day.

[Lihu]

Depends upon the course. On my usual public and city courses I usually retire the balls into the back of my bag for hazard drops or hit them at the range. I used all of them the last So. Cal. outing, save one. So, 5/18 of a round?

[PirateJim]

The course near my home has water on just about every hole, mostly lateral rather than OB. Getting through a round with the ball I started with is, sadly, rare. That said, and considering I am not a big enough hitter to figure I'm deforming modern balls much, the only thing that would make me retire a ball is a bad case of cart path / tree rash. (Yeah, when not hitting them in the water I'm bouncing them off those... Sad really.)

[ghalfaire]

Depends on the day.  I don't lose many balls these days and on average probably a ball every 3 rounds or so.  But there are days/courses when it can be a couple of balls for the round.

[GaijinGolfer]

Depends upon how my swing is that day.  Ive played the same ball for several rounds and Ive had plenty of holes where Ive lost several on the same hole.

[geauxforbroke]

Depends on the course. If I'm playing a shorter course where I hit a lot of full wedges, a ball will last me 9 holes or so before it's scuffed up too much. Longer courses where I'm hitting mid and long irons, I can play several rounds with the same ball.

[avmech]

Depends on the temperature.  Gets hot down here in the summer, balls like to cool off, so they head to the water...............