Ball diving?

[pchaney301]

Anybody ever go out to the course at various times and go diving for balls? I've heard of people making huge finds and was just curious if any of you guys go.

My youngest brother called me last night to inform me and he and 2 friends of his went last night and found a whopping 1284 balls. He said over 1/3 are more than likely ProV1's and another 1/3 other tour balls...the last 1/3 just randoms. I was amazed to say the least.

....maybe I should have thought about that title a little more....ha

[David in FL]

Most courses allow professional divers to clean out their hazards these days in exchange for a percentage of the take.

I ran into the guy diving on my home course a couple of weeks back and asked him how he was doing. The course is tight and has a ton of water......he got 11,000 balls the day before and was expecting another 10,000 that day!

He can have them. Between the gators, water moccasins, and snapping turtles, you couldn't get me in one of those ponds on a bet!

BTW, unless they had permission, your brother and his buddies were trespassing. Given the value of what they found, they could likely be charged with felony theft too. Something to think about.

[pchaney301]

Yeah, your right. That would no doubt be something to think about.

They are ok though. His friend's father owns the majority of the course and the land it's on, and they were in their privately owned lake that sits next to a fairway on the course. So technically they were just going for a swim in a private lake. Just found a few suprises...ha

I'm with you though, the snakes and crazy turtles keep me away. We have alligators, but none on the course.

[AlCzervik]

I would put on some goggles and trunks if the local courses would let me.

[BigBoy]

Maybe I've had one too many beers tonight - but I just had a idea that maybe a golf ball manufacturer gained access to a time machine sometime in the future and traveled back in time to introduce the idea of putting lakes on golf courses - imagine how much sales would drop if the USGA ever banned water on courses -

its a conspiracy I tells ya!

[microcrayfish]

I was playing a course once and they had one of the water hazards drained for some reason (it was a man made one) and there must have been thousands of balls sitting at the bottom of it. I don't think they'd let anyone dive there though because they usually have a big tub of used balls for sale for 50c - $1 each in the pro shop so they're making money off them.

[fendermallot]

Another note: Did you know that golf courses are probably the most polluted land that "normal" people will ever set foot on? All the chemicals that go into making the course pretty and green year round... Do YOU want to swim in that run off? Not me... it's tempting though.

[ItsAllRelative]

Yeah, the water is VERY dirty.

When I was younger, a couple buddies and I spent about an hour in a pond on the home course here. Came away with a 5 gallon bucket each. Took about a week of washing my hands to get my fingernail coloring back to normal though...

Edit: Those golf balls smelled AWFUL too.

[pchaney301]

I'm from Mississippi. All the water is dirty down here!

I'm sure you could drain the lakes at any local course and find thousands of balls. Just thnk about the 17th at TPC Sawgrass!!!! Any kind of island green like that would be a magnet for lost balls. I bet there are so many balls laying around in there.

Those balls on Ebay had to come from somewhere!

[goblue107501]

I grew up in a huge scuba diving area and they would let people come in and dive the lake and clear out balls once a year or so. I don't even think the divers wanted the balls, they just wanted a place to dive and have something to search.

Most of them would get a stripe painted on them for use at the range. The better balls they would sell in the clubhouse for like .25 or .50 each. This was 15-20 years ago though.

[HytrewQasdfg]

Yeah, the water is VERY dirty.

No way man. Everybody knows those used lake balls are just as good as new pro-v1s.

[ApocG10]

I'll stick to buying my balls.

Although at my course, most times if you lose it in the drink, its the ocean! They usually dissapear forever. there are a few fresh water hazards, but 11 holes play off the side of a cliff overlooking the ocean.