Refurbished Golf Balls

[Aceboympk]

Hated them when I bought them on-line. I suggest only buy them after inspecting them in person.

[muzz]

I can see it for a shag bag but why would anyone play someone's used ball on the course? I would rather play new x-outs if money is tight.

I disagree with this 100%

X-Outs are REJECT balls for some reason, Used balls(NOT reconditioned) are not, the AAAA or AAAAA are like One Hit Wonders, they look and play new,kinda like letting someone else drive the car from the lot, then buying it the next day when they return it because they didn't like it. The balls aren't all scraped up, you can reach into a bag full of 4-5A balls, and other than a logo here or there, never know that it was a used ball. Reconditioned is different, I'm not a fan of "painting" and stamping, who knows what that thing looked like. To each his own, but the 4 and 5 A balls look and play as new for < 1/2 price.

[Fozcycle]

That's right muzz

There is a big difference between used, recycled, reconditioned and XXXouts. See my earlier post....

Also, remember that XXX outs & Practice balls do not conform to USGA standards and are therefore not useable in tournaments that abide by USGA rules. See The Rules of Golf, Appendix III. As for "Reconditioned", the balls have been modified and do not conform to USGA standards.

[halcon]

That's right

I got this form usga.org: 5-1/4 Status of "X-out," "Refurbished" and "Practice" Balls Q. What is the status of "X-out," "refurbished" and "practice" balls? A. "X-out" is the common name used for a golf ball that a manufacturer considers to be imperfect (usually for aesthetic reasons only, e.g., paint or printing errors) and, therefore, has crossed out the brand name. A "refurbished" golf ball is a second-hand ball that has been cleaned and stamped as "refurbished." In the absence of strong evidence to suggest that an "X-out" or "refurbished" ball does not conform to the Rules, it is permissible for such a ball to be used. However, in a competition where the Committee has adopted the condition that the ball the player plays must be named on the List of Conforming Golf Balls (see Note to Rule 5-1), such a ball may not be used, even if the ball in question (without the X's or without the "refurbished" stamp) does appear on the List. In most cases, "practice" balls are simply listed, conforming golf balls that have been stamped "Practice," in the same way that golf balls often feature a club or company logo. Such balls may be used even where the Committee has adopted the condition that the ball the player plays must be named on the List of Conforming Golf Balls. (Revised) According to this, a Practice ball may be used in competition; as Fozcycle stated, x-outs and refurbished balls are non-conformant.

[ryanf]

I got this form usga.org:

So where does a ball from most of these places like Lostgolfballs.com fall? It's pre-owned, cleaned up but NOT stamped "refurbished". Are only "reconditioned" (those that are cleaned AND painted) stamped and categorized as "refurbished"?

I would imagine used golf balls from places like lostgolfballs.com are not considered refurbished since the ball is only cleaned, which is permissible under the rules, and not "improved" (or refurbished) in any way by altering the actual composition of the ball (taking off the clear coat, painting, stamping, adding clear coat). I'm I reading the rules right?

[muzz]

A refurbished ball has been altered, a used ball hasn't.
The used balls from lostballs should never be an issue, as they are simply washed.

[Fozcycle]

A refurbished ball has been altered, a used ball hasn't.

Winner Winner Chicken Dinner!

[The Diver]

I am a full time golf ball diver. I havent really heard of anyone refurbishing anything but Pro V1 golf balls. But i guess you guys are buying them so they must be out there. Personaly i wouldnt buy them. They are scuffed and discolored balls that have been repainted and lettered and who knows how old they are. Pro V's have such a soft cover that one hit will leave a scuff or knick on the ball. If you have to buy a refurbished ball make it a Pro V just cause it probably has only made it through 9 holes before it was retired from being all beat up. Pro V's only last on average a month in the water before they blister up and the refurbisher's wont buy blistered pro v's. I have found a couple refurbished pro v's on my dives and the work the refurbishers do is crap in my book. All they do is paint the ball white and they are to cheap to put the clear coat on the ball which will make the paint chip with a hit or two. Lettering they stamp on the ball is way out of line. Next time compare a reg pro v next to refurb. pro v and look how the brand name follows the pattern of the dimples. If they would just take the extra time and clear coat the ball it would be just like having a new pro v. Refurbishers are just after an easy buck. You will get a better deal if you just check out golf balls on craigslist. You can pick the ones you want out of buckets of balls and most pro v's will only cost you a buck.

[GaijinGolfer]

Ive tried refurbished balls in the past and theyre OK but the performance isnt the same as a new ball.  IMO, youd be better off to spend that money buying new distance balls over buying used or refurbished tour balls.

[misterjohn]

I've bought used balls from golfballnut and lostgolfballs with excellent experiences at both places. The mint quality balls are hard to distinguish from new out of the box. Side by side testing of new versus used mint Srixon soft feels yielded no difference in performance that I could see. I also had occasion to try some refurbished Nikes that I picked up at Target on sale a while back. These looked great right out of the box but performed horribly. They did not act like new Nike balls of the same model. They felt harder and didn't go as far. Worse yet, the like new look goes away really fast. Even after hitting them only a couple of holes, the refurbs looked like hell. They went into the shag bag shortly after this experience and got tossed out soon thereafter because the feel was so weird they weren't even good shag balls, especially for short game practice. Bottom line: used balls are good and offer excellent value. Refurbished balls should be avoided.

[NuclearMike]

Buy "Recycled", not "Refurbished".  Recycled balls are found in the normal course of play, cleaned, and sold.  Refurbished balls have their logos removed followed by waxing and reapplication of the logos.  These are likely to be water balls with a shorter life span and lower true specs than new or recycled balls.

[Buddy1]

I recently purchased some golf balls from Lostballs.com and found them to be of very poor quality. They have a 30 day money back gaurantee but they will not answer the phone or respond to emails.  I have to have my ccd company file a dispute.  I would never and I mean never buy from them again.  Costco is much better

[x129]

What quality did you get? I generally get AAAA (one from the top) and out of a 100, there are only about 10 that look like they have been hit. Obviously YMMV

Originally Posted by Buddy1

I recently purchased some golf balls from Lostballs.com and found them to be of very poor quality. They have a 30 day money back gaurantee but they will not answer the phone or respond to emails.  I have to have my ccd company file a dispute.  I would never and I mean never buy from them again.  Costco is much better

[Jeffrey71]

Originally Posted by NuclearMike

Buy "Recycled", not "Refurbished".  Recycled balls are found in the normal course of play, cleaned, and sold.  Refurbished balls have their logos removed followed by waxing and reapplication of the logos.  These are likely to be water balls with a shorter life span and lower true specs than new or recycled balls.

There is a pawn shop in my town that gets golf balls from a guy who goes around and find them. The pawn shop sells them cheap. I can get a dozen pro V1's for $15. I've used them several times. For where my game is at right now they're great. Now, I will be getting some new balls for an upcoming tournament, but for my usual weekend rounds, the pawn shop balls are working just fine. I'm actually playing the NXT Tour, I get them for $7 a dozen.

[SAGolfLuvr]

The pre-owned PRO V1s I bought at Walmart worked great for me. I would recommend them to everyone.

[GaijinGolfer]

My advice: save your money for new golf balls.

[tiger187126]

i use lostgolfballs.com and i will say the mixed eseries bucket i got was more than impressive in quality for AAAA rated balls, but the b330-rx and penta tps i got were more in line with the sub AAAAA rating and a few looked like they were straddling the line into AAA territory. (i sit down and mark all of them when i get them, so i get a close look at each one).

i'm still very happy, and at the price if i have to relegate 5 out of 50 to the practice bucket then it's still a good deal. unless i see a deep discount (i got some b3330-rxs' for $28 new which is what led me to get the used bucket of them) i don't buy new balls.