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

[isukgolf]

Used to be a lost ball ***** ... looked for them ... on certain golf courses I knew the places to "fish" with my ball retriever ... about 2 years I stopped losing a bunch of balls ... so now I actually never even pick them up in plain view, and use the balls I have in my bag.

[Jeremie Boop]

sure - but I'm sure somewhere someone here has a pet peeve about found balls

Probably something like, I hate when I need to borrow a ball and someone gives me one they found instead of a new one.

[Moppy]

Does anyone think it is unethical or wrong to take a lost ball? I am just interested in hearing that side of the story, because I can't imagine everyone is just 100% in agreement here? What's wrong with TST?

[Hellstorm]

Probably something like, I hate when I need to borrow a ball and someone gives me one they found instead of a new one.

I do that to my buddy all the time.  He looks at the balls I find and tries to lay claim to all the Bridgestone balls because that's what he buys.  So if I throw him a rock flight and he knows I picked up a Bridgestone, he gives me some lip and calls me a cheap ba***rd.

[ccotenj]

[QUOTE name="ccotenj" url="/t/83690/taking-lost-golf-balls-found-in-the-woods-ethical-or-not/36#post_1180663"] if you are, ummm, directionally challenged off the tee, and you play the same course often, you sometimes even have balls that come home again... :-D [/QUOTE] Many a times.   I also see others playing with my "lost" balls.

i know "someone" who has lost a ball on one hole, and found it later in the round (while searching for yet another wayward tee ball)... :dance: [quote name="isukgolf" url="/t/83690/taking-lost-golf-balls-found-in-the-woods-ethical-or-not/54#post_1180698"]Used to be a lost ball ***** ... looked for them ... on certain golf courses I knew the places to "fish" with my ball retriever ... about 2 years I stopped losing a bunch of balls ... so now I actually never even pick them up in plain view, and use the balls I have in my bag.[/quote] when i first started playing as a kid, we used to go out and look for balls practically every day... funny thing was that finding a top-flite was a bonus back then, since you could get a lot of play out of one (until you lost it yourself)...

[Abu3baid]

You go first. You give us some sort of rationale as to why it is "wrong" to pick up a ball you found ten yards into the weeds, for example, that had a patina of mud that indicated it had been there for a while. I would love to hear it. It might be better than the thread where a guy was asking if using the broken tees on a par three during a tournament was cheating.

Well, how about like anything else that you didn't "pay" for you aren't entitled to it.. If you find your own ball and can distinctly identify it then ok, but if it is not then leave it for its owner to come pick it up. The course owns the property and they are entitled to what ever is on the course and not claimed within a week lets say.. So, that's how they justify picking the balls up and selling them back.. They also want to tidy the place up do that it doesn't look littered with balls.. That aught to get us started.. :)

[Archie Bunker]

Quote

when i first started playing as a kid, we used to go out and look for balls practically every day... funny thing was that finding a top-flite was a bonus back then, since you could get a lot of play out of one (until you lost it yourself)...

Back when I started playing (in the 1960's), balls were "expensive" to me. The best balls (Titelist, Maxfli, Wilson Staff, Spaulding Dot) were only sold in golf course pro shops at around $1.25 each (!). So, any one you found in the woods you certainly kept and played with until you lost it again. Today, balls must seem less expensive, since there are so many more of them available in the woods.

[pumaAttack]

If I find a ball, and its a quality ball, I will check my surroundings and make sure its nobody else's ball.  If its even remotely possible, I do not pick it up.

If its a crappy ball, I let it rest :P

It drives me nuts when people pick up a ball in the fairway when other people are playing the adjacent fairway.  It is probably their ball...

I see no ethical problem with taking a lost ball.  They are not the property of the course.  I have donated plenty myself too.

[Elmer]

Driving down the left side of 18 a month ago I spied a ball in there about 8 feet.  Whipped out the retriever and snagged it....

Wife "what is is?"

me "just a Wilson"

Wife "you throw that back in there right now!"

I couldn't have been more proud at that moment...

She's a Keeper!

[ccotenj]

[QUOTE] Back when I started playing (in the 1960's), balls were "expensive" to me. The best balls (Titelist, Maxfli, Wilson Staff, Spaulding Dot) were only sold in golf course pro shops at around $1.25 each (!). So, any one you found in the woods you certainly kept and played with until you lost it again. Today, balls must seem less expensive, since there are so many more of them available in the woods.[/QUOTE]

yup... i started in 1971, and there is NO way my parents* were giving me money to buy new golf balls... i made a vow to myself during those many hours searching through the woods... when i was a "grown up and had a job, i was gonna play brand new titleists all the time"... and i did for a long time... now, since i suck and don't get to play very often anyway, whatever is on sale at the golf store works... :) * they didn't play... however, junior memberships were dirt cheap at a close-by golf course... i mean really dirt cheap, $35 a season... heck, that worked out to probably 15 cents a round... :bugout: 2 and sometimes 3 rounds a day, all summer long...

[Moppy]

I have definitely found balls that I lost on one hole on my way back around on another. So I guess there is that. But not in the woods or a swamp, but in the rough on another fairway.

[Mac62]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Abu3baid

Does anyone think it is unethical or wrong to take a lost ball? I am just interested in hearing that side of the story, because I can't imagine everyone is just 100% in agreement here? What's wrong with TST?

Mac

WITB:
Driver: Ping G30 (12*)
FW:  Ping K15 (3W, 5W)
Hybrids: Ping K15 (3H, 5H)
Irons: Ping K15 (6-UW)

Wedges: Cleveland 588 RTX CB (54*, 58*)

Putter: Ping Scottsdale w/ SS Slim 3.0

Ball: Bridgestone e6

[rkim291968]

One of my golf buddies loves to terrorize me with found balls - he knows that I despise all things Nike, and he manages to find a Nike ball almost every time we play.  For the rest of the round, that thing ends up in my cup holder, tucked in my head covers, sitting in one of the club slots in my bag, etc.  It's gotten to the point that as soon as I see it the first time, I throw it down and hit it into the nearest OB or water hazard.  Then I'm good - until he finds another one, and he seems to have a magnet for them or something!

LOL.  Maybe, he has whole bunch in his pocket and slowly placing them in and around you to annoy you.

My range ball sucks (limited ball flight, too worn out, ...).  So, any balls I find, I used them at range.

[mtsalmela80]

The hate for the Top-Flites runs deep.

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.

[Mr. Desmond]

Ethical?

If in woods under leaves and not near a neighboring hole and  with no golfers in vicinity, I think you're good.

I typically give any lost ball to a playing partner.

[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?

[pumaAttack]

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?

I keep two scores for my round.

How many strokes over par.

How many balls I find.

I like it when the latter is higher than the former.

[Dave2512]

I don't keep any I wouldn't use. Just leave them in the cart for the course to toss in their used ball barrel. Not just in the woods but everywhere. Couple times I've ran across golfers using balls I've lost.