Finding good balls at the range

Hit them. You rented them, you did not purchase them.

 

And even if it was acceptable to keep them, who knows what abuse they have really suffered.

Just hit it. Whenever I find a ball on the course, I just leave it there, even if there is no one around. That's just me and I bet I'm in a small minority.

 

The other day, I was chipping around waiting to tee off a guy from another hole comes over and just takes one of my balls. People...

 

I'm not that desperate.  Most of the ranges I'm familiar with only use balls made specifically for the range anyway.  Each spring my home course sells the used ones to a course Wyoming and the uses that money to defray the cost of new ones.

I don't think it's very appropriate to steal balls from a range. It's not like balls are a rare commodity or something!
 

A common occurence at my home course because the range runs parallel to #1 and # 7. Doesn't take much of a slice to land it on the range. I save the good balls for the end of the practice session to hit with 3w or driver. Mostly to see how solid I am really hitting it. Tough to tell with the range rocks. Actually I pick through all the balls as I am hitting. I hit the obviously old balls, discolored etc. first when I am warming up with wedges because it's not full swing stuff. Helps me maintain focus and concentrate on what I am there to do.

If it's not too worn and the same type I play, I put it in my bag.
I doubt the range keeper throws the random non-range ball into the machines. They get there when people accidentally hit it onto the range from the course or hit it at the range. No loss for the club.

I may have found a few decent balls in a bucket, but it is very rare. Most are scuffed up and cheap, so I hit them at the range.

Funny question.  I just had to track my ball at the edge of a small range from the first tee.  It was a real b... down a nasty hill too, I was afraid to take the cart.  But I found my ball!  Otherwise, it could have been in someone's bucket, or the "baggers pocket"  lol.

 

I digress

 

My last game this season (only 9 holes due to daylight) - I'm doing fine, zero lost balls, playing good.  On hole 8 it fades to the right to the medium cut between holes 6 and 8 - still a good shot to the green from there.  Then waited for the rest of my group to hit.  By the time we get there, a couple old duffers are walking up 6 and one asks - "Hey, you hitting a Top Flight?"  "Yes", I just played that ball, I couldn't find mine.  He offers from the 3 he's carrying - good Titleists, but clearly worn vs my new ball.  (I wonder if he shagged those from the driving range.....)

 

{use Titleist vs new Top Flight.....probably an even exchange}

 

Dork...

 

I pulled the next one left (consistency......) but even with the green (elevated, and really surrounded by reeds and trees - ugly), and by the time I get there to look, can't find it.  I find a couple in the tall reeds (I'm the last in my group there due to interacting with Dork #1 and this area would have zero balls from any other hole) and one of my own group offers to trade for one I found from a couple he found whilst looking for his own pulled approach shot.  I agreed - at which point I trade the one and he proceeded to throw me my 2nd ball.

 

Dork

 

most interesting hole of the course, I shoulda just gone in beforehand and bought a drink.  On the plus side, final hole of the season I just hit my 3 wood pure to the green on a par 5 (Dork #2 did also manage to walk in front of me as I hit that - good thing it was a solid and flying and he was in the low point of the path) - so maybe better to have not quit for the day - that shot alone was worth the green fees for the day.

 

 

 

as for the topic - I save the nice "non-range" balls to the end of the bucket for hitting Fwoods and Driver.  If they are clearly new and not the range's (the ranges I hit at all have striped range balls), I'll take them and put back an old one from my bag, (usually finding Calloway, Titleist or Srixon - occasionally will see a Nike - trading a scuffed Titleist normally)- and will still feel guilty about it.  really just not worth it.

The course where I work pulls the real balls out of the mix and resells the decent ones as "experienced balls" so when I find a decent ProV1 I keep it for my short game bag. We still throw away thousands of decent balls every year that we cannot sell. I threw away two 50 gallon garbage cans full last month.

Keep em. The club didn't buy those. They were lost on an errant shot. I keep a ziplock baggie of worn balls for practice rounds when I want to practice a tough shot and water or deep woods is in play.

 

Besides, I have lost my share of balls into a driving range so I figure I am just balancing things out. The only time I don't pick up a ball is when there is a reasonable chance it is in play for someone or it is in someone's yard. I have buddies who are terrible and play whatever so I save off brands for them and any Pro V1s that look decent go in the bag.

 

Penny saved...

Agree, hit it and I don't pick up balls on the course either.  I have enough in my bag to get me through the round!

Same, there to golf not to find balls. But there are plenty looking through the weeds near the hazards and OB every time I am there. I save them the trouble. When I have balls I'm ready to part with I just toss them on the ground near the tee if I haven't hit them into the range.

I come across 'real' balls at my local range that isn't even on a course. I suspect folks are grabbing found balls on course and using them at the range and then they get cycled through. In a large bucket, I might average 4-6 "real" balls out of 100-110 per bucket. Titlelists, Bridgestones, Slazengers and LOTS of Pinnacles. I will save them for about 3/4 of the way through the bucket and tee them up for the Driver. I will then go through a FULL pre-shot routine for each one, instead of the abbreviated routine with rangers. This is so I'm not completely pooped out by the end and get no real feel for what a real ball should do.

If its a ball that i want i will "trade" it for a crappy ball i have in my bag. I generally won't take it without giving one back.

Why are you throwing those balls away? Isn't there a local high school golf team you could donate them to, or a first tee, youth program etc. if not, get ahold of your local VFW. They'll get them to our boys overseas!

I feel not ethical responsibility not to "take" non-range balls from the range.  The 9th and 18th border the range, and it doesn't make any sense to me to think about the course "owning" a ball someone slices from the 18th into the range any more than they own random balls on the course that are 100% clearly lost.  If I see a nice ball in my bucket that's at worse a tad scuffed I feel free to take it.  I don't take any range balls that the course has paid for.