Hey Ball Hawks.. Whats the most balls you've found in one ditch?

[bernie]

I scurry. I jump into the mosquito infested tall grass. Two inches of water is nothing to me when I come out with a half dozen balls. So How About You? Whats the most balls you ever recovered after you jumped into the JUNK?? Mine is 29 Bernie

[old man1953]

I once stayed at a resort in the Mountains of NC. Had a per three on site. One hole was 167 from tee to green with a pond covering the whole distance. Drop was three yards in front of tee.. Lost four balls. Told my wife while we were setting around after dinner and a few drinks I am going to go get my balls back. This was like midnight. We dressed in black. I went into water. And felt with my feet for balls. Pond was only about six feet deep at deepest point. Had a pillow case. After a couple of hours and having to shoo away a few water snakes. And duck down to avoid a few late night walkers. Recovered around three hundred golf balls. Took back to room. Filled up tub put in a little bleach and sold last day we stayed to the pro shop all 300 for .25 cents a ball. :-D. Was well worth it. Not sure I would do it again. But that night at that time was worth it.

[Buzz1967]

I once stayed at a resort in the Mountains of NC. Had a per three on site. One hole was 167 from tee to green with a pond covering the whole distance. Drop was three yards in front of tee.. Lost four balls. Told my wife while we were setting around after dinner and a few drinks I am going to go get my balls back. This was like midnight. We dressed in black. I went into water. And felt with my feet for balls. Pond was only about six feet deep at deepest point. Had a pillow case. After a couple of hours and having to shoo away a few water snakes. And duck down to avoid a few late night walkers. Recovered around three hundred golf balls. Took back to room. Filled up tub put in a little bleach and sold last day we stayed to the pro shop all 300 for .25 cents a ball. :-D. Was well worth it. Not sure I would do it again. But that night at that time was worth it.

#Hardcore for you I like to ride my home course after a scramble and just turn right 180 yards on any fairway......the woods will be full of newly bought balls

[Pete F]

#Hardcore for you

I like to ride my home course after a scramble and just turn right 180 yards on any fairway......the woods will be full of newly bought balls

The ProV zone starts at 200 yards

[gregsandiego]

I scurry. I jump into the mosquito infested tall grass. Two inches of water is nothing to me when I come out with a half dozen balls.

So How About You? Whats the most balls you ever recovered after you jumped into the JUNK??

Mine is 29

Bernie

Is this during an active round?

[SavvySwede]

One par 3 where I work has a steep drop off that is marked as a lateral hazard. The members never bother to climb down to get their balls out so you can fill a plastic shopping bag with balls in only 5-10 minutes  This year it has filled in with tall weeds so I know the caddies haven't even been down there this season. I'll probably scoop a couple hundred out of it when fall/winter rolls around and the weeds go dormant.

[BuckeyeNut]

you might be a non-golfer if.......................

haha...no comment.

[Patch]

I had a part in the clean up of a closed down golf course. I was the only golfer it seemed. I don't know the exact number, but it was several hundred if not in the thousand plus range. I had several 35 gallon trash cans full in my garage at one time. Traded most of them to  golf courses for their driving ranges in exchange for free rounds of golf.

There is a drainage ditch that runs through the Desert Rose GC in Vegas that probably had several hundred in it before they did some flood control work on it. The ditch ran along the slice side of most of the holes.

[boogielicious]

We were playing a long par 5 hole a couple of weeks ago. In the middle of the fairway, about 130 out, there was a GUR line painted around a muddy part of the fairway. In the middle were three balls. They weren't embedded. They were just sitting on top of the mud in plain sight. Why they were left there I don't know. One was a ProV1.

[mcanadiens]

I don't generally go ball hawking, but it was too easy on one particular November day. One of our local courses had drained out several water hazards by this point. It was cold and blustery, so nobody was out except for my dumb ass. Two or three hazards are shallow enough to walk down and help yourself to the year's accumulation. I filled the larger pocket of my golf bag with about 80 or so. Out of that probably 60% were actually usable.

[gregsandiego]

I scurry. I jump into the mosquito infested tall grass. Two inches of water is nothing to me when I come out with a half dozen balls.

So How About You? Whats the most balls you ever recovered after you jumped into the JUNK??

Mine is 29

Bernie

I don't even make that much effort. Just by picking up what I find in the out of bound areas we hit into I usually come out net +12 or so per round. Haven't made a purchase in months.

[dennyjones]

They brought in a scuba diver to clean out golf balls in the lakes where our league plays, Mystic Creek.   He filled his minivan with bags of golf balls from top to bottom.    He said he found close to 10,000 in the several lakes on the course.

On the course I played last weekend, there were about 15 visible in a creek on a short part three.   The slope was very steep and about 40 feet down.   They waited for somebody else to grab them.   I'm just the opposite.   If my ball may be lost, I'll look for less than one minute and continue on.   I don't have the patience to search for golf balls.

[Grumpter]

If we are including 'jumping into the junk' when not playing then a few thousand. When I was young we used to clean out the pond on the golf course behind the house I grew up in. We split the take with the course. Afterwards we had to throw away the shoes and clothes worn.

While actually playing? Somewhere in the 15 to 20 range of which I keep none.

[Gator Hazard]

Every once in a while we will walk the course at night after the golfers are pretty much gone and I will carry a wedge with me in case I see a few balls in the edge of the water hazard or in the OBs.  I have found that one of the best spots is the OB on RHS of first tee, all the brush, shrubs and trees are filled with balls.  It has a lot to do with it being the first tee and that there is no driving range to really warm up on my course.  You can find all kinds of balls over there.  I have yet to purchase balls but I won't go and try and clean out a pond or something like that because I know the golf course contracts with companies who do that as a living.  Most I ever pulled out of one of those areas was something like 20 balls.

There are a few water hazards where the balls just accumulate, especially on the par 5 with the water protecting the pin.  There are plenty on both sides of the banks so having a club handy to scoop a few out is always nice.

[Jon Hoover]

you might be a non-golfer if.......................

haha...no comment.

Seriously, My top was 2 maybe when i was looking for my own ball other then that I don't use my time on the course looking for balls.

[dkolo]

Courses I play are slow so you're waiting on every shot. Plenty of time to go exploring for treasure.

[upndown21]

Not something I usually do but yesterday I played a pretty challenging course. One par 3 had a carry of about 200 with pretty heavy brush. My first one was on the edge of it and while looking I spotted 3 balls, all ProV1s and they all had the same marking. I feel bad for the guy who lost three balls on the same day, on the same hole, all within a couple feet of each other.... at least he was consistent.

[bernie]

Is this during an active round?

Yes, We tee off at 7:00 am on Thursdays and its wide open