Balls: In or Out of the Sleeve?

[FlappyGilmore]

If I have new balls, I mark them and put them back in the sleeve. If they are older and don't have a sleeve to be in I will put them in the bag sleeveless.

If the ratio of balls in my bag favor sleeveless, I will get rid of the sleeves for my other one for the sake of consistency.

[GaijinGolfer]

No sleeve.  When I buy them, I open the sleeve, dump them in one of the pockets of my bag and throw the sleeve away.

[acerimusdux]

Starting out, when I couldn't hit the ball straight at all, I was buying the cheap balls in those mesh bags that were like 2 dozen for $10.   I kept the bags, and now fill them when I buy new balls.  Sleeves and boxes go in the trash, balls go in the sack, sack goes in the bag.  I hate fishing for loose things in the big pockets of my golf bag.

[rustyredcab]

Mark balls (lots of markings) and put without sleeves in bag.

[lumpuckeroo]

I mark my balls, put them back in the sleeve and back in the box.  When I get low, I dump 4 sleeves in my bag.  I also try to play with the 4's, then 3's, then 2's, then 1's, so I know when I'm getting close to the end of the dozen.  Lately I've been playing custom numbers from TaylorMade so I just have to wing it!

[bkuehn1952]

Balls go in the bag without the sleeves.

When I receive a dozen balls as a gift (I rarely purchase new golf balls), I typically go in and rearrange the balls so each sleeve has different numbered balls instead of all of them being #3, #2, etc....  When I need to supplement the supply in my bag, I grab a sleeve, mark them and place them in the bag.  I don't want an over supply of balls with the #3 (or #2, etc...) since when I hit a provisional I like to use a different number.  Making sure I put a #1, #2 and #4 in the bag makes it somewhat easier to grab a different number.

[Ernest Jones]

I take them out and mark them all with cryptic slogans. Then I put them back in the sleeves, put the sleeves back in the box and return them to the store. ;-)

[iacas]

Boxers.

[Fourputt]

I don't buy by the sleeve.  I buy by the box, so open and put my ID mark on all of them, then I usually put 3 sleeves in the big pocket (where I keep my jacket, rain pants, etc.), and open one into my ball pocket.  I then add to the ball pocket as needed.  Although I do it like this, I may not put all of one sleeve but instead mix them so that I can always identify a provisional ball from my original ball by number, if not by the color of the marker used.