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

[mtsalmela80]

Hell I used to live near rail road tracks that ran parallel (on the right side) with a Par 5 at Trump National Hudson Valley. I would go along with a back pack and collect NOTHING but premium balls by the dozen. That was living....now I'm restricted to the munis, but I'll play almost anything I find.

[Jeremie Boop]

Since I play by myself a lot, I tend to have a lot of free time while I wait on people ahead of me. Any time I end up waiting for longer periods of time and I'm close to a tree line/woods I'll head in and pick up whatever I find. I'm similar to @Hellstorm in that I don't get poison ivy really. The main problem for me is not many people play a quality ball here. I find a lot of rock flites, pinnacles, nikes, etc. There have been times I've started a round with 5 or 6 golf balls and before I finished the round had 30+. I just wish I found more premium balls :-)

[DeadMan]

Completely fine. But don't hold up play, and don't pick up a ball that might be in play.

[Patch]

My rule of thumb is never pick up a stray ball until it has stopped rolling.

Yep, that's what works for me.

About 20+ years ago I volunteered, with others to clean up a golf course that went out of business. It was in a national forest. The deal was we could keep anything golf related we could find during the clean up. All kinds of of stuff was found. Myself I took home well over 2K of golf balls. Maybe more as I never counted them. I had 8, 35 gallon trash cans full of these critters. The idea was to give them  to my home course's driving range in exchange for some free rounds of golf. Unfortunately, the supervisor I made the original agreement with was replaced by a guy who was going to replace all the range balls with a some yellow, limited flight, pos ball. I still have a couple of trash cans full of these "lost" balls. Don't ask

[turtleback]

What is everyone's opinion on taking balls from the woods when playing? Do you consider it stealing from the course? Or finders keepers?

Bear in mind almost all courses typically have the 2 for 1 used ball bucket that undoubtedly is from their own staff finding balls around the course?

For example, I rip a drive hard right into the woods, take a minute or two (if there is no group right behind) to find the ball and come across a couple pristine ProV1s. What is the right thing to do?

I don't think it is wrong to pick it up if it is clearly lost and not some player's ball, but I personally do not.  I've had too many occasions where someone picked up my ball because they convinced themselves that it was "lost".  But more importantly, I do not want to tick off the golf gods.

Besides, if that lost ball were any good its prior owner wouldn't have lost it.

[Jeremie Boop]

I don't think it is wrong to pick it up if it is clearly lost and not some player's ball, but I personally do not.  I've had too many occasions where someone picked up my ball because they convinced themselves that it was "lost".  But more importantly, I do not want to tick off the golf gods.

Besides, if that lost ball were any good its prior owner wouldn't have lost it.

If I hit a ball I found and it goes OB or into an area with long grass I leave it. If someone asks me if I'm going to look I say "nope, that was a ball I found, but it must want to stay lost."

[Moppy]

The only thing not ethical about it, if you are sure nobody is still hot on its trail, is slowing up play looking for them. I have seen a lot of that from a certain partner. Its hard for me to complain too much because I can easiiy afford whatever ball I want, and for him, they are a real cost.

[NJpatbee]

I lose more balls than I find and of those I find, I am somewhat selective about what I will keep or leave for the next golfer.  I will keep a ProV1 so I can give it to my playing partners that want them, and for myself I will keep a Gamer of any kind, NXT Tour, Softfli, Supersoft, Duo, SoLo, or similar ball.  As long as I am comfortable the balls have been abandoned I see no ethical issue in throwing them in the bag.

[rkim291968]

Bear in mind almost all courses typically have the 2 for 1 used ball bucket that undoubtedly is from their own staff finding balls around the course?

I find that unethical.  They are stealing my ball and selling it for $$$.   They should treat the balls as part of "lost and found"  and I must be able to reclaim them at later time.  The least they can do is, once a month, give me a part of the sales proceed.  The balls don't grow on trees.  My balls are clearly marked and unique to mine, and I don't scratch them easily as I lose my balls early in their life.   Some balls I find are in so poor condition that I ethically remove them from everyone's sight.

[flopster]

Sometimes I don't bother since these guys like to hang out in our tall grass

[Archie Bunker]

To me, a "lost" ball in the woods is simply one that has been abandoned by its' original owner, and not part of the property of the golf course. This also applies to balls in the rough or in ponds. I tend to pick up plenty over the year (since I mostly walk), and hit the crappy ones out into the driving range over the winter months. I haven't bought a ball in 20+ years.

[nevets88]

If there are no groups behind, in front and beside me and in general, I can't see anyone else near all possible source trajectories of resting ball on the course, I'll pick it up. But lately, I don't even bother to pick up balls I see on my way around the course.

[Pete F]

I pick them up and return them later.

Not necessarily to the same spot

I have found that a walk in the woods on a rainy day is productive and no chance of picking up a ball in play, I've pretty much quit looking while playing, it takes too much time.

[Golfingdad]

As long as I can be sure it isn't somebody's ball in play, and it's a ball I'd actually play, I'll take it.  I've had a few rounds where I played poorly and lost several balls, and had my day brightened a bit near the end of the round when looking for my 5th or 6th or whatever lost ball of the day, and subsequently finding 5 or 6 decent others to replace the lost ones.

[Elmer]

I find that unethical.  They are stealing my ball and selling it for $$$.   They should treat the balls as part of "lost and found"  and I must be able to reclaim them at later time.  The least they can do is, once a month, give me a part of the sales proceed.  The balls don't grow on trees.  My balls are clearly marked and unique to mine, and I don't scratch them easily as I lose my balls early in their life.   Some balls I find are in so poor condition that I ethically remove them from everyone's sight.

So if I walk into the my local courses pro shop and find 1 of my balls with my distinct mark on it, it would be unethical of the course to refuse to return the ball to me!

I am one of if not the only person on my home course to play yellow Bridgestones. Not to mention my balls are all marked distinctly! They could check my bag and see all of them marked the same way.

But they would most likely refuse and then sell my ball back to me.

[rkim291968]

Quote:

Originally Posted by rkim291968

I find that unethical.  They are stealing my ball and selling it for $$$.   They should treat the balls as part of "lost and found"  and I must be able to reclaim them at later time.  The least they can do is, once a month, give me a part of the sales proceed.  The balls don't grow on trees.  My balls are clearly marked and unique to mine, and I don't scratch them easily as I lose my balls early in their life.   Some balls I find are in so poor condition that I ethically remove them from everyone's sight.

So if I walk into the my local courses pro shop and find 1 of my balls with my distinct mark on it, it would be unethical of the course to refuse to return the ball to me!

I am one of if not the only person on my home course to play yellow Bridgestones. Not to mention my balls are all marked distinctly! They could check my bag and see all of them marked the same way.

But they would most likely refuse and then sell my ball back to me.

Those b*****ds!   Try writing on your ball "return to sender [Elmer]" .

At our course, members can recognize other members' balls by their ball marks.   A joker or two will return the lost balls to the golf shop with specific note of "Return to so an so.  Found in such and such."  There is a little bit of "you are losing too many balls" chiding going on with it.   All in fun.   Me?  I just return those balls to the rightful owner next time I see them.  "Hey, look what I found!"  Otherwise, I will get rid of them one way or another.    Other members will religiously collect the balls to donate to nearby high school golf teams.   Very ethical, if you ask me.

[mdl]

Agree. Great analogy.

Take a quick minute to check your surroundings though and be sure that you're absolutely certain you're looking at a ball in play from a neighboring hole. Remember too, that finding a stray ball during the normal course of play is all well and good. Taking time and slowing pace of play to specifically search for stray balls is not.,,,

This exactly.  I feel totally free to pick up any stray balls I find looking for my own as long as it seems clear that there's no chance this is a ball in play from another player on a different hole.  For this reason, I tend not to pick up balls just in some heavy rough between holes or in similar situations, even if in looking around it doesn't look like there could be a player whose ball in play this might be.

But unless you're on a totally empty course, it's super lame to drag ass searching for lost balls.  I've never done it (and wouldn't do it), but I've never been more tempted to just hit into someone and try to force a play through than when someone in front of me is slowing play on an extended ball search.

[rehmwa]

Since I play by myself a lot, I tend to have a lot of free time while I wait on people ahead of me. Any time I end up waiting for longer periods of time and I'm close to a tree line/woods I'll head in and pick up whatever I find.

This, it keeps the round really relaxing for me too and I'm not pushing those guys for no cause.