Jump to content
Check out the Spin Axis Podcast! ×
Note: This thread is 5405 days old. We appreciate that you found this thread instead of starting a new one, but if you plan to post here please make sure it's still relevant. If not, please start a new topic. Thank you!

Recommended Posts

Posted
I like to spend 5 minutes or so... while the rest of my foursome walks to the next shot, to look for balls in the bushes; they are more plentiful than you might believe.
I must explain.
Years before I actually played, as a munchkin, I had a friend who lived on a course. We'd walk around on the wooded areas, find a bunch of lost balls, and then go down to the range and sell them to guys trying to hit a few. Very lucrative as a youth.
As an adult though, I have access to a very nice course (my parents own a house there), and there's no feeling I like more as someone who doesn't buy balls than "F***, ANOTHER Titelist?!"
The weird thing is, other than the fact that it's great to play with balls that I wouldn't pay for, is "why don't I meet a lot of other golfers who do this?"

In my Stratus bag:
Driver DymoSQ 10.5*
3 Wood DymoSQ 13*
3H Burner High Launch 19*
Irons Tour SpecialWedge Classic Grind 56*Putter Dual Force 668Balls Burner


Posted
It's a good idea. I'm just way too lazy, and cannot afford the distraction to my fragile golf game.
  • Upvote 2

Driver: Cleveland Launcher DST

Hybrid: Cleveland Mashie 3H

Irons: Cleveland Launcher

Wedges: Cleveland cg 15 46, 52, 56, 60

Putter: Odyssey tour black

Ball: Titleist NXT Tour


Posted
I like to spend 5 minutes or so... while the rest of my foursome walks to the next shot, to look for balls in the bushes; they are more plentiful than you might believe.

Because if you spend even one minute, let alone five looking for balls you'll fall well behind the guys you're playing with.

Figure out how far you walk in five miutes. That's how far you'll be behind your playing partners. About two holes, I'd say.

In the race of life, always back self-interest. At least you know it's trying.

 

 


Posted
Figure out how far you walk in five miutes. That's how far you'll be behind your playing partners. About two holes, I'd say.

Whoa! Two holes in five minutes! That would be awesome! Get a round finished in less than an hour! :)

Driver: Cleveland Launcher DST

Hybrid: Cleveland Mashie 3H

Irons: Cleveland Launcher

Wedges: Cleveland cg 15 46, 52, 56, 60

Putter: Odyssey tour black

Ball: Titleist NXT Tour


Posted
As a young boy I caddied for my father and would look for balls while I caddied cuz it was hard to afford to buy balls with how many I'd loose. I guess I never got over that cuz when I'm in the rough helping playing partners look for balls I'm also looking for tour quality balls for me.

I'll p/u most any ball, but its got to be tour quality for me to keep it now.

Posted
Whoa! Two holes in five minutes! That would be awesome! Get a round finished in less than an hour! :)

IF he did it a couple of times a hole.

In the race of life, always back self-interest. At least you know it's trying.

 

 


Posted
To respond to the "not enough time" folks... if I'm playing with my friends, of course there's no time. If I'm playing with my step-dad however... who hits at least two balls badly from anywhere, and who takes at least three minutes with any shot, I can find plenty of time. And ball hunting at night is super-fun with a flashlight.
All I'm saying is that I'm not super-wealthy, nor good enough with my budget to justify paying 40 for a box of balls.
But if I spend 5 minutes in the bushes, I can find 12-15 Callaways, and TM's to justify doing it. And that feels good.

In my Stratus bag:
Driver DymoSQ 10.5*
3 Wood DymoSQ 13*
3H Burner High Launch 19*
Irons Tour SpecialWedge Classic Grind 56*Putter Dual Force 668Balls Burner


Posted
BTW, just so I make sure no-one misunderstands, this is on a twilight-nobody on the course situation. Not a saturday thing.
And a late-night, with flashlights, maybe we'll get attacked by Racoons if we're lucky thing.

In my Stratus bag:
Driver DymoSQ 10.5*
3 Wood DymoSQ 13*
3H Burner High Launch 19*
Irons Tour SpecialWedge Classic Grind 56*Putter Dual Force 668Balls Burner


Posted
I don't usually have time on the course, and honestly I don't see too many in the spots you'd think they'd be on my home course. However, I do go fishing for them on the island green hole after I'm done with my round. Usually just keep a few, and throw the rest on the bank for anyone that wants to pick them up.

Driver: i15 8* UST Axivcore Red 69S
3w: CB1 15* Grafalloy Prolaunch Platinum 75s
5w: G10 18.5* UST V2 HL
3h: HiFli CLK 20* UST V2 Hybrid
4h: 3DX 23* UST V2 Hybrid5i-pw: MX-23 TT Dynalite Gold S300GW/SW: RAC 52*and 56*Putter: SabertoothBag: KingPin


Posted
On the few occasions that I've managed to convince the wife to play/walk a round with me, she has always had far more interest in turning up lost balls than anything else. Maybe it's a hunter/gatherer instinct!

Motocaddy S3
MX700 10.5° Driver; Aldila VS Proto 65R
MX700 5W; Aldila VS Proto 85R
MX700 20°, 23°; Exsar HS4R
MX300 5-PW; FST KBS Tour R MP-T 51°, 56°, 60°; Dynalite XP Gold S300Bettinardi BlackCarbon BC1Bridgestone e6+ balls


Posted
I will pick them up when I see them or when I look for my ball. I usually do not play them. I practice with them some but I try to stick with the same ball for consistency. Every once in a while I will find one I would like to try and play it.

As a kid I treated them like gold because I had no money. I searched for them daily only because I was dropped off at the golf course all day.

"My ball is on top of a rock in the hazard, do I get some sort of relief?"

Awards, Achievements, and Accolades

Posted
As a kid I treated them like gold because I had no money. I searched for them daily only because I was dropped off at the golf course all day.

That sounds like child abandonment - very sad. Did you have to sell those balls to buy food? Maybe that's what the OP is doing.

  • Upvote 1

Mizuno MP600 driver, Cleveland '09 Launcher 3-wood, Callaway FTiz 18 degree hybrid, Cleveland TA1 3-9, Scratch SS8620 47, 53, 58, Cleveland Classic 2 mid-mallet, Bridgestone B330S, Sun Mountain four5.


Posted
Read my signature. If you do, you never have to buy balls again unless I actually play a competitive round which I will buy new.

Brian


Posted
That sounds like child abandonment - very sad. Did you have to sell those balls to buy food? Maybe that's what the OP is doing.

Mom and dad always did hate me. I was fifteen and chose to be there.

"My ball is on top of a rock in the hazard, do I get some sort of relief?"

Awards, Achievements, and Accolades

Posted
One of the benefits of walking is that you can easily look for balls as you play. You can take a minor detour through the woods or other areas where people lose balls nd pick up a few without holding up play. Depending on the ball I find it'll either go in my shag bucket at home or the bag to be played when needed.

Nike Vapor Speed driver 12* stock regular shaft
Nike Machspeed 4W 17*, 7W 21* stock stiff shafts
Ping i10 irons 4-9, PW, UW, SW, LW AWT stiff flex
Titleist SC Kombi 35"; Srixon Z Star XV tour yellow

Clicgear 3.0; Sun Mountain Four 5


Posted
Nothing wrong with keeping an eye out. But when I play with my dad at least once a round he whips out the extendable ball finder and actually goes like fishing with the damn thing in the pond. He usualy makes away with liek 12+ balls but damn I am like embarassed when he does it hahha.
 Driver:callaway.gifBig Bertha 460cc 10* Hybrids: adams.gif A7 3-4H  Irons: adams.gif A7 5i-PW
Wedges: cleveland.gifCG 12 50*, CG 14 56*, CG12 60* Putt Putt:odyssey.gif White ICE Tour Bronze 1 Putter

Posted
I go swimming in par 3's i got 200 balls in my bag, 150 still in my car and I gave away 300.

Driver: adams.gif Speedline 9032LS RIP Shaft (Stiff)

3 Wood: adams.gif Oviation 3Wood

Hybrids: taylormade.gif Rescue 18* 3H - 22* 4H

Irons: callaway.gif X-24 Hot Irons 5-PW

Wedges: cleveland.gif CG15 52, 56

 

Putter: odyssey.gif PT 82

Ball:  e6


Note: This thread is 5405 days old. We appreciate that you found this thread instead of starting a new one, but if you plan to post here please make sure it's still relevant. If not, please start a new topic. Thank you!

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now


  • Want to join this community?

    We'd love to have you!

    Sign Up
  • TST Partners

    Carl's Place
    PlayBetter
    Golfer's Journal
    ShotScope
    The Stack System
    FitForGolf
    FlightScope Mevo

    Coupon Codes (save 10-20%): "IACAS" for Mevo/Stack/FitForGolf, "IACASPLUS" for Mevo+/Pro Package, and "THESANDTRAP" for ShotScope. 15% off TourStriker (no code).
  • Posts

    • I would think of it in terms of time. The time it takes to get the arm angle into a good position to deliver the club with proper shaft lean. Another component is rotation, but that is also a matter of timing. It relates to how the body stalls to give the golfer time to hit the ball. If you have to get 80+ degrees out of that right elbow in one third of a second versus 50 degrees in the same time then you have to steal time from somewhere. It is usually body rotation. That does not help with shaft lean.  I agree in that amateurs tend to make the swing more complicated than pro golfers. 
    • I haven't been able to practice like I wanted and won't for the next week.  1. The weather sucks in Ohio this year. I have been mostly inside hitting foam balls. Just kind of my basic stuff.  2. I woke up last Saturday with a left side rib muscle on fire. If I turned or leaned a certain way it would spasm that almost buckled my knees. I have been taking a break to let that settle. I don't want to get a long term injury. I think I pinched a nerve or just aggravated a muscles.   3. I am going on a mini-vacation to Florida (screw you Ohio weather) with a friend, and rolling that into a work conference I have next week. I will be with out my clubs for a week.  I will be back next in two Fridays to hit the ground running with some warmer temps and better weather in Ohio, hopefully. I would really like to get more out on the course and the range.     
    • Day 580 - 2026-05-04 Played eight holes. Sometimes golf kicks you in the nuts. 😉 
    • I work with a lot of golfers who want more shaft lean at impact, who currently have AoAs that range from +2° to -2°, and who love to see the handle lower and more "in front of their trail thigh" from face-on at P6. And a lot of these golfers try to solve the issue by working on the downswing. They do something to drag the handle forward. Or they just leave their right thigh farther back so the same handle location "looks" farther forward. Or they move the ball back in their stance. Or they push themselves down into the ground to get the handle lower and increase (decrease?) their AoA (to be more negative). The real fix is often to get wider in the backswing. To do LESS in the backswing. To hinge less, fold the trail arm less, abduct the trail arm less. I had a case of this over the weekend. Before, the player had 110° of trail elbow bend, "lifted" his trail humerus only a few degrees, etc. The club traveled quite a bit around him, and he tended to "pick" the ball from the fairways. In the "after" swings below (which are mild exaggerations — this golfer does not need to end up at < 70° of elbow bend. These were slower backswings with "hit it as hard as you normally would" intent downswings), you can see that he bent his elbow about 70° instead of 110° and lifted his right arm an extra ~15° or more. You can't see how much less this moved his hands across his chest (right arm abduction), but it was also decreased. His hands stayed more "in front of" his right shoulder rather than traveling "beside" them so much. The two swings look like this: The change at P6, without talking about the downswing one little bit (outside of him telling me that he tends to pick the ball), is remarkable: Without 110° of elbow bend to get out (which he gets to 80°, a loss of 30°), the golfer actually loses slightly less elbow bend (70 - 50 = 20), but delivers 30° less elbow bend, lowering the handle and letting the elbow get "in front of" the rib cage… because it never got "behind" or "beside" the rib cage. If you look at this video showing the before/afters of P6, you'll note the handle location (both vertically and horizontally) and the shoulders (the ball is in the same place in these frames). This golfer's path was largely unaffected (still pretty straight into the ball, < 3° path and often < 1.5°), but his AoA jumped to -5° ± 2°. I've always said, and in talking with other instructors they agree and feel similarly, that we spend a lot of time working on the backswing. This is another example of why.
    • We had a member of our senior club who developed a mental block on pulling the trigger. I played with him to see what the membership was talking about. I timed him a few times when he would get over the ball. 45 seconds. He knew he had a mental block and would chide himself, “Just hit it!” Once on the green he was okay and chipping was a bit better. It was painful to watch him struggle. Our “bandaid” was to put him in the last tournament  tee time with two understanding players. We should have suggested to him to take a break from our tournaments. I agree with the idea that when a player realizes they have a problem, the answer is to go fix it and not return until they are able to play at an acceptable pace.
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

Welcome to TST! Signing up is free, and you'll see fewer ads and can talk with fellow golf enthusiasts! By using TST, you agree to our Terms of Use, our Privacy Policy, and our Guidelines.