How Many Golf Balls Do You Lose Each Round?

[RickK]

I voted Zero but the statement I never lose a ball does not fit me.  And, I don't lose 1 or 2 a round.  Let's just say it is rare when I lose a ball.  I may go for days/weeks and never lose a ball and then play and lose 2 or 3 in one day. If the 2 or 3 happens, I am having a horrible round for whatever reason.  Played 6 times week before last and never lost a ball.  Played 4 rounds last week and lost 2 (drowned them actually because of 2 ugly 7 irons into 2 greens...same hole both times.

[AlDena]

More than 0, less than 1. Yesterday, however, I lost 2. both on the same hole. From the tee. "Anybody see where that went?"

[Lihu]

Voted 1-2 but it depends upon where I play, and if I have time to look for it.

3 minutes is too long for some folks behind you 😂

[Rkrider99]

I had to go 1-2 as an average. There are times I lose 3 or 4 in a round, and then, like right now, I've played the same ball for the last 10 rounds, the logo is actually wearing off, but the ball keeps going in the hole, so why change it.

[Wally Fairway]

Played 9 after work on Monday, lost 0, found 4.

So not to start a new thread, but how many balls do you typically find in a round?

[Lihu]

2 hours ago, Wally Fairway said:

Played 9 after work on Monday, lost 0, found 4.

So not to start a new thread, but how many balls do you typically find in a round?

This is a great question! I find a lot, but leave them alone unless they are obviously not in play 😂

[Double Mocha Man]

9 minutes ago, Lihu said:

This is a great question! I find a lot, but leave them alone unless they are obviously not in play 😂

Great answer. How often has your ball in play been "found" by someone else before you could get to the ball?

[Wally Fairway]

1 hour ago, Lihu said:

This is a great question! I find a lot, but leave them alone unless they are obviously not in play 😂

Well, as there were only 2 other groups on the course and they were 3-4 holes ahead/behind us so the balls weren't in play for anyone.

[tehuti]

On my local 9 I usually lose at least one to the creek gods, and maybe slice one over the fence on the par 4 third hole.

[BogeySwine]

Played this morning, 46* and about 20 MPH winds. Most of the leaves were moved off the fairways. (Thank you grounds crew!) I hit a third shot into a par 5 and never saw the ball as it settled down in a low area in front of the green. When we got near the green the whole low area was covered by leaves in an area about 15' X  40' close to the green. Walked around it without seeing it. Walked through it once down and back but never found the ball. Found three balls while playing without looking during the round so I wasn't the only one who couldn't find my own ball. Fall golf is great but play the cheaper balls you've found all summer!

[chile]

lost 5 (all on the front 9) into the fields the other day 😕

[WillieT]

Started the year with an "on average" of 5-6 balls per round (errant tee shots, water hazards, etc).  Lately that has migrated to around 2 per round.  Therefore I chose 3-5 just to reasonably accurate.  Also tend to find a good number of balls so my "net" loss/gain has been more of a gain lately.  Yep, we do double check to make sure its not a ball someone is playing in a parallel hole, etc.  Typically not, but we have spotted balls for folks when we saw them coming.....makes for great course etiquette.   

[WUTiger]

I actually lose about one ball on average round, but usually get a second (or a third) damaged beyond playability:

An approach lands 10 feet left of green on the cart path, gouging the cover. Or, a punch shot out of the rough hits a metal stake marking a new sod area, and gets a little slice in the cover.

[Darkfrog]

I lose 3-6 balls per round. Usually I lose 2-3 balls into OB/penalty areas from wayward shots, and the others really have no business being lost but seem to disappear into thin air. I'm great at finding other player's balls, but for some reason I struggle to find my own, even when I watch it land and follow the bounces to the area where it settles.

A goal of mine since starting lessons is to play a round without a lost ball, and I made it through 16 holes two weeks ago and then suddenly became crippled by the anxiety of achieving my goal and promptly launched a drive OB.

[sjduffers]

Tough to answer: on my regular courses it's usually 0, with 1 lost once in a great while. On courses that I don't know well, it's probably 1 to 3 on average.

But I once found myself teeing up the last ball in my bag on  hole #15, and I had already lost 16 balls by that point. I was playing by myself on one of those "target golf" types of course, with a bunch of canyons, blind shots, forced carries and what not, in the middle of winter when the course was super-saturated and you could lose a ball in the middle of the fairway if it plugged... I was anticipating some of this as I had culled the bag and only kept a bunch of "to be donated" balls in there.  Anyway, I overshot the #15 green, into a hazard, but was able to find it, play it and finish the round with that last ball.  Phewww!

[Double Mocha Man]

A golf buddy and I once came across a young guy on the second green who wasn't moving.  Upon speaking with him it turned out he was a beginner and had started the round with a dozen balls... but had lost them all by the 2nd hole!  So we coughed up about 5 or 6 balls for him so he could continue to play.  And we moved on.  There is water on the side and in front of the green on the 3rd hole.

When we were completing #9 we looked across the course and the same guy was standing on the 3rd fairway... out of balls again!

[WillieT]

On 10/21/2019 at 3:24 PM, WillieT said:

Started the year with an "on average" of 5-6 balls per round (errant tee shots, water hazards, etc).  Lately that has migrated to around 2 per round.  Therefore I chose 3-5 just to reasonably accurate.  Also tend to find a good number of balls so my "net" loss/gain has been more of a gain lately.  Yep, we do double check to make sure its not a ball someone is playing in a parallel hole, etc.  Typically not, but we have spotted balls for folks when we saw them coming.....makes for great course etiquette.   

Wanted to amend my number as it was a first for me this week - I played the entire round with the same ball.....never have done that before.  Of course when I was browsing through the thread and read Double Mocha Man's thoughts: 

On 10/16/2019 at 11:07 AM, Double Mocha Man said:

Great answer. How often has your ball in play been "found" by someone else before you could get to the ball?

I had to chuckle as on one hole I hit an errant tee shot onto the adjacent fairway.   A man was walking his retriever and he noticed we were looking for a ball. When he asked I said it was a pink one (trying out some Pinnacle Soft's in pink) and he said, "my dog found it and has it in her mouth".  Got the ball back with no harm and even offered to give it back to her as she was enjoying it.  Anyway, that was a day of two firsts - having the ball "found in the fairway" by a retriever and playing a round not losing a ball.