taking lost golf balls found in the woods, ethical or not?

[JoeMal]

I've got two 5 gallon buckets full of lost and found balls in my garage.  I have been blessed with some vague immunity to poison ivy and one of my regular courses has two dog legs that everybody tries to cut and most never make it.  Unfortunately for them, when the ball hits the tree and falls into the woods, there is a giant patch of poison ivy so nobody even really goes in to look for them.  I can go in there and get 20 balls without even really trying.

On a side note, I have lost a ball in the woods on a course, went there again and found my ball in a different set of woods.  Somebody else found it and lost it.  That ball has 9 lives for sure.

Cool story :)

[NJpatbee]

At my level, balls should really dont make a difference. I cannot tell much from a ProV1 to a mid range Nike. But for the love of God, almost any Top Flite I have tried to hit literally feels like a rock. I don't know what it is, but that's the honest truth.

Have you tried the Gamer series, especially the Gamer Soft or Tour?  TF does still sell some hard distance only balls, but they had an impressive lineup a number of years ago with the STRATA and Z-Balata balls with tour wins behind them.  The sale of Top-Flite to Callaway changed much of that and most quality TF technology was incorporated into Callaway's line.  Callaway did come up with the 3 piece TF Gamer and Gamer V2 which were quality 3 piece balls to prop up the TF offerings.  To Dick's credit, after they purchased Top-Flite, the 3 piece Gamer Tour and Soft were added which are both exceptional in their class with the Gamer Soft on the GD Gold Hot List for 2015.  My complaint with the Top-Flite and Maxfli balls has more to do with the fact that Dick's is not primarily a golf equipment manufacturer and tends to have a hair trigger if sales numbers are not what they expected (e.g. U/3, U4, U4x).  However, since you are buying directly from the manufacturer they can be sold quite inexpensively (2 dozen Gamer Soft/$30).  Economics aside, their is little similarity between the TF XL and the TF Gamer Soft and if you have not tried the Soft you may be pleasantly surprised if you do.

[rkim291968]

Quote:

Originally Posted by boogielicious

Quote:

Originally Posted by rkim291968

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wally Fairway

Not only do I pick them up if I find balls in the woods, weeds and rough - I take 1 stroke off my score for each ball found.

I figure if someone had to add a penalty stroke for losing the ball that it only makes sense that finding a ball should mean deducting a stroke, right?

This is a great idea!  You can get the added distance too where it applies since lost ball means penalty + distance.

I've heard this referred to as, "Canadian golf rules!". Is that correct @Ernest Jones

?

i like those rules.... i knew my canadien heritage would come in handy someday...

Another tweak to the system - if you find a ball you lost, you should be allowed to modify your score on that round.   Instead of double bogey (penalty + lost distance), you get a par!   It's a nice system, eh?

[ccotenj]

@rkim... i LIKE it... :-D edit: except for me it would be double instead of quad... :-(

[Hatchman]

I've got two 5 gallon buckets full of lost and found balls in my garage.  I have been blessed with some vague immunity to poison ivy and one of my regular courses has two dog legs that everybody tries to cut and most never make it.  Unfortunately for them, when the ball hits the tree and falls into the woods, there is a giant patch of poison ivy so nobody even really goes in to look for them.  I can go in there and get 20 balls without even really trying.   On a side note, I have lost a ball in the woods on a course, went there again and found my ball in a different set of woods.  Somebody else found it and lost it.  That ball has 9 lives for sure.

Funny. If you chose to play a ball from there what club would you select? Anyone...

[MrDC]

Ethical? who cares about that, but I'm very careful about picking up balls, if there's no chance that it's a live ball, and it's quality, I'll reluctantly grab it, but for the most part that's uncommon, I don't lose many myself so it's not something I need to do, I'd rather let it lie and hope that a player finds it, because it's a great feeling to think a ball is gone, look for a bit, be about to drop and then "bam!" there it is! that brings out a new motivation to play well, I don't want to possibly take that away.

[pumaAttack]

Ethical? who cares about that, but I'm very careful about picking up balls, if there's no chance that it's a live ball, and it's quality, I'll reluctantly grab it, but for the most part that's uncommon, I don't lose many myself so it's not something I need to do, I'd rather let it lie and hope that a player finds it, because it's a great feeling to think a ball is gone, look for a bit, be about to drop and then "bam!" there it is! that brings out a new motivation to play well, I don't want to possibly take that away.

if there is ANY chance, I do not pick it up.

I often play late in the evening and am often the last group out.  If there is nobody else around, I call it safe and pick up the barely hit PROV1....

[DaveP043]

At the club I belong to, many of us put distinctive marks on our balls, so when we find one, we often know who hit it there.  Its always fun to walk into the tavern after a round and drop a buddy's ball in his lap.  Of course, if they're not marked, they're fair game for the finder to keep.

[phan52]

Ethical? who cares about that, but I'm very careful about picking up balls, if there's no chance that it's a live ball, and it's quality, I'll reluctantly grab it, but for the most part that's uncommon, I don't lose many myself so it's not something I need to do, I'd rather let it lie and hope that a player finds it, because it's a great feeling to think a ball is gone, look for a bit, be about to drop and then "bam!" there it is! that brings out a new motivation to play well, I don't want to possibly take that away.

I usually don't touch a ball that is in play until I look around to see if there is any possibility somebody nearby hit it there. But if there is nobody else around, I will pick it up because I have accidently hit the wrong ball on a couple of occasions when I came upon a ball near where I hit it and it obviously didn't belong to anybody else in the vicinity. Yes, it is my fault for hitting the wrong ball, but it happens and I look at it as protecting others who may hit it there.

[No Mulligans]

I thought it was; 'first one to find it gets it'.  Like an Easter egg hunt.  Isn't that the culture.  Ethical dilemma, really?

[Mac62]

At the club I belong to, many of us put distinctive marks on our balls, so when we find one, we often know who hit it there.  Its always fun to walk into the tavern after a round and drop a buddy's ball in his lap.  Of course, if they're not marked, they're fair game for the finder to keep.

I mark my balls distinctively and everybody I regularly play with knows the mark (and the brand I play).  One of my buddies has, over the past couple years, returned probably two dozen of my lost balls that he found in subsequent rounds while looking for his ball.  I guess it's a good thing that our miss patterns are somewhat similar.

[Hatchman]

Alright, I'll have to give an answer to the question I asked about what club to hit from the woods if you do find your lost ball...a "tree" wood. Boooo!

[boogielicious]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ccotenj

yea, there aren't any ethical questions at all in this thread...   i'm struggling to find an "ethical issue", and i can't find one...

pick up the ball...  either use it, give it to one of your buddies, hit it at the range, or toss it in the ball bucket at the pro shop...

but don't ponder the "ethical dilemma of doing so", as there is no ethics involved...

The ethics are if you believe a lost ball is actually property of the course.

If you believe it is another persons/groups property, then is it ethical to "steal" that property.

I don't think anybody really thinks its the course's property, so no ethics are involved.

The lost ball is not the property of the course. They did not own the ball in the first place and give you the ball to play with as they do with carts.

There is a famous law case, Pierson v. Post , that set the precedent of possession and ownership, aka, "Who owns the fox?" Essentially, as long as the owner of the property was not the owner of the item, then the possessor of item has ownership. You've also heard it as, "possession is 9/10th the law."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pierson_v._Post

So, there really are no ethical dilemmas in this scenario.

I am not a lawyer, but my wife is. I remember helping her study for the bar with index cards. She had to explain all these types of cases. This one stuck in my head.

[Abu3baid]

The lost ball is not the property of the course. They did not own the ball in the first place and give you the ball to play with as they do with carts. There is a famous law case, Pierson v. Post , that set the precedent of possession and ownership, aka, "Who owns the fox?" Essentially, as long as the owner of the property was not the owner of the item, then the possessor of item has ownership. You've also heard it as, "possession is 9/10th the law." [URL=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pierson_v._Post]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pierson_v._Post[/URL] So, there really are no ethical dilemmas in this scenario. I am not a lawyer, but my wife is. I remember helping her study for the bar with index cards. She had to explain all these types of cases. This one stuck in my head.

Is there any point in time where the "owner" of the property is deemed to have "abandoned" that property? In that instance doesn't the owner of the land have a claim to that said property? Their claim to it seems to be stronger than that using the property to play golf, ie the other golfer who picks up this abandoned ball? I don't know the answer, just thinking out loud.

[turtleback]

The lost ball is not the property of the course. They did not own the ball in the first place and give you the ball to play with as they do with carts.

There is a famous law case, Pierson v. Post, that set the precedent of possession and ownership, aka, "Who owns the fox?" Essentially, as long as the owner of the property was not the owner of the item, then the possessor of item has ownership. You've also heard it as, "possession is 9/10th the law."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pierson_v._Post

So, there really are no ethical dilemmas in this scenario.

I am not a lawyer, but my wife is. I remember helping her study for the bar with index cards. She had to explain all these types of cases. This one stuck in my head.

Legal <> ethical

So the fact that there is a legal decision says nothing about the ethics of the situation, IMO.  There are many unethical things that are legal and plenty of illegal things that are ethical.

[14ledo81]

[QUOTE name="boogielicious" url="/t/83690/taking-lost-golf-balls-found-in-the-woods-ethical-or-not/90#post_1181544"]   [CONTENTEMBED=/t/83690/taking-lost-golf-balls-found-in-the-woods-ethical-or-not/72#post_1181138 layout=inline]The lost ball is not the property of the course. They did not own the ball in the first place and give you the ball to play with as they do with carts.[/CONTENTEMBED] There is a famous law case, Pierson v. Post , that set the precedent of possession and ownership, aka, "Who owns the fox?" Essentially, as long as the owner of the property was not the owner of the item, then the possessor of item has ownership. You've also heard it as, "possession is 9/10th the law." [URL=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pierson_v._Post]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pierson_v._Post[/URL] So, there really are no ethical dilemmas in this scenario. I am not a lawyer, but my wife is. I remember helping her study for the bar with index cards. She had to explain all these types of cases. This one stuck in my head. [/QUOTE] Legal <> ethical So the fact that there is a legal decision says nothing about the ethics of the situation, IMO.  There are many unethical things that are legal and plenty of illegal things that are ethical.

I agree with @turtleback on this one.

[DrvFrShow]

Sometimes I'll be in the one of the first foursomes out. If I find a Pro V1 or Callaway Chrome Soft and there's no one around to claim it I'll pick it up. If I find a Top Rock or Pinnacle I'll leave it.

[Duff McGee]

Some of my best stretches of holes I've ever had were when I was having a horrible round and found some kind of "awful ball" and played it out of spite. I remember a few in particular. One was the cheapest Top Flite and one was a cheapo Nike.