Taking good balls from range buckets

[iacas]

I like how the course can find someone else's property and it's fine but someone else can find the same property and it's stealing.  You guys are great.

The course didn't "find" the ball. The owner abandoned it.

The range at Whispering Woods is right of a 480-yard par four. I've seen guys venture onto the range to get their ball. I've seen other guys hit one over there and not even bother to go look for it.

Let's put it this way: the ball you find in a basket at the range definitely isn't yours.

[flopster]

A guy got banned at a local course for doing this exact thing, but he was taking every single playable ball less the striped ones.

[Strandly]

The course didn't "find" the ball. The owner abandoned it.

The range at Whispering Woods is right of a 480-yard par four. I've seen guys venture onto the range to get their ball. I've seen other guys hit one over there and not even bother to go look for it.

Let's put it this way: the ball you find in a basket at the range definitely isn't yours.

Unless it's the first time I've played the course then the ball very well could be mine.

[Jeremie Boop]

I do it, if it's a pro v1 or v1x then I'll pocket it. I mean for the price they charge for the reused balls at the range I don't feel bad about it. Besides, it's not like they paid for that ball, it was found and they just threw it in there. Now, I find actual regular range balls on the course now and then... that's pretty crazy that people will actually take regular range balls out on the course.

[Judah Ben-Hur]

I have a couple of pre-printed forms that I keep in my golf bag that covers "lost" balls.  It basically states all the legalities and then I can add my my name, the date, what make and model of ball, color, any markings, what course, and what hole it was "lost" at.  My newer forms also has a picture of the ball in question so it can be tacked on the board so all parties are aware of what the ball looks like and who its rightful owner is.  It is sort of like the posters you see of "Lost Cat, black with green eyes, goes by the name of Felix" that are posted on telephone poles.  I give it to the pro shop or starter when such an event of a "lost" ball should arise.  It might slow down play a little when I have to take a ride back to the club house to serve my papers but I find it best to cover my legal stuff before heading out to the next shot.  I have tried in the past to just post it near the tee box but the papers get weathered pretty quick so a little trip back to the shop works best.  I can also get a hot dog and Sprite while I'm there.  My playing partners get a little miffed at times when this happens but some have asked me to print them up some for their golf bags.  I paid good money for my Pinnacle, Top Flite Distance XL, or ProV1's.  I have not abandon them so the course does not have a right to sell it or use it on their ranges without my express written consent.  If they do, then they are the ones that are stealing.  If I happen to find one of them in their range bucket before a round then I charge them rental fees from the date that it was "lost".  It may get funny looks from the course workers but in the end, they do not want to waste money in court fighting a battle they know they will lose.

I hope some schmuck does not believe this.  :-)

[ChrisWev]

Unless it's the ball you play with (the one's you buy) I would just hit it back onto the range, or if you see a guy whack a game ball towards you on the range and it's safe, just wedge it back to him.

I must loose 10 balls a week at our practice area but find another 10 of different types. Only bother using my collection of nomad balls when I'm just concentrating on the swing, not where the ball goes.

Any meaningful game time or ball flight stuff I want to be using the same ball ever time.

[gatsby47]

I have never found a pristine a-one golf ball in the buckets of balls that I have rented. I do empty my overloaded bag into a bucket paper labelled as "for Junior Golf " and then left by the door all season. I guess my point is that over the course of a season through searching , gifts, prizes, and the occasional responding to Knetgolf and getting another big whack of Titleist NXT's I accumulate a shitload of golf balls. I know most guys do the same, especially golfers who prefer to play one brand only. Whenever I have deigned to answer one of those on line surveys where they ask you firstly what golf balls you play - check off all that apply. I can always check them all off. including range ball yellow big 2 line stripe. I will be on the lookout hereon and I will let the world know if I take one out of a bucket. Of course, my action could prove to be the vertible straw breaking camel backs and releasing destruction upon the world by annoying the golf gods. If that happens, look north to New Brunswick, It'll probably be my sudden and horrible demise.

[jsgolfer]

The thread isn't about you hitting a ball into the range, the thread is about taking premium balls out of a bucket of balls you rented to use on the range.  Would you be okay if I went to the bowling alley and decided one of the loaner balls looked good and fit me well so I just threw it in my bag to take home? When you take property that isn't yours it's stealing.  You can attempt to justify it however you like, but it's property that doesn't belong to you and thus you have no right to it.

Totally different, the bowling alley paid for the bowling ball, they did not pay for the found golf ball. It just ended up in a bucket.

[Lihu]

My local ranges are on course with no nets or fences, and thus collect slices and hooks from the adjoining holes.  (And yes the adjoining holes are littered with range balls making it difficult to find your ball if you hit it close) The range balls themselves have a yellow stripe painted on them, lately every bucket I buy has at least 3 decent balls in there, without the yellow stripe.  Yesterday I found two ProV1's,a B330 and an E7.  I used to just hit them back down the range, but I decided to start just taking them if they are in good shape, pays for the bucket and then some. The pro shop does also find these balls and then sells them in a bucket loose for $3 a piece, so maybe I shouldn't take them after all... it's sort of a moral ambiguity.  I'm curious if there are any opinions on this. I suppose the ethical thing to do is pull them out of the bucket and turn them in to the pro shop when I leave.

I tried turning them in in the past, and they all told me something to the effect "finders keepers". I don't think it's a moral issue taking them. These are generally the balls that get stuck in the ball machines. In fact, I feel a little guilty hitting them down range sometimes for my driver and wedge shots.

[boogielicious]

Please lets keep this thread civil. On a lighter note, I have found my own ball in a bucket. I've told this story in other threads. Sometimes it take a scuffed ball and hit it at the range just for a distance check. Two years ago at the end of the season I did this at a local course. The next season, the first bucket I got had my ball in it. It was like a pet returning home! Of course I gave it right back to the range where I hope it lives on.

[JonMA1]

I've never really thought about taking a range ball from a bucket. I do see non-range balls from time to time and those I use for 3 wood and driver.

I'm not so sure I would chastise someone for taking a golf ball or two out of the bucket, but it sure looks wierd or desperate. If I get to the point that I'm having to take balls from the range when I play, then maybe I should play a cheaper course.

I'm not going to play moral police officer... If you feel guilty doing it it isn't worth it. If not, more power to you. I just think it looks weird.

This^^^^.

I'm really surprised at how many people here would consider taking a range ball. I'm not judging, its just something I wouldn't have guessed.

I will walk through the marsh, the woods, tall grass, etc. and pickup up as many as a couple dozen balls per round that have been abandoned (I asked the course when I first joined and they said they didn't care in the least). But I would never consider taking a ball from a bucket that I rented.

[dave s]

to the OP:  If you have to ask, you probably know the right answer.

What I told my kids growing up:  If it's not yours, it's never ok to take it.

dave

[Aflighter]

If you have to even think about taking a ball you found in a range bucket then maybe you should have bought some golf balls than pay to hit sum balls.Ive never even thought about taking one because its just a ball plus I rented them not bought them.I understand the thought about course not really owning them because it was just someone elses that the cart machine ran over.Really all the course did was same thing we all do when we find a lost ball.Heres the big difference though.When we find a ball we either use it eventually or some sale it.If the golf course is using it as a range ball then they are getting paid for it over and over and over and over.....haa. And you think one is high at 3$.

[Pete F]

If you find the ball of your dreams in a bucket, you need to broaden your horizons.

It is rumoured that 300 million golf balls are lost each year in the United States. If the loss of a golf ball was of any great significance, do you think we would lose so many?

I know some courses throw the ones they see in the 50 cent bucket in the pro shop and i"m sure the kid running the picker grabs the ProVs if he sees them.

[Sticker]

Hmmm... Here is my thought (as if it means anything to anyone).  When I am hitting range balls and come across a good playable ball I take it.  By the same token, if I hit a ball into the range area during a round, I leave it.  It turns into a wash.

If I do not take a good ball out, then I would feel compelled to walk out in the range area to get the ball that I just hit into it.

It is not stealing... just a way to even things out.

[mcanadiens]

If you find the ball of your dreams in a bucket, you need to broaden your horizons.

It is rumoured that 300 million golf balls are lost each year in the United States. If the loss of a golf ball was of any great significance, do you think we would lose so many?

I know some courses throw the ones they see in the 50 cent bucket in the pro shop and i"m sure the kid running the picker grabs the ProVs if he sees them.

To an ole cheapskate like me, the big difference is in your last sentence.

I'm much more sympathetic to the course that would take those lost balls and resell them for 50 cents. It really more of a service to the golfer that rolls in and realizes he might be a few balls short of a load. That golfer has been me a time or two.

If the course is gouging out $3 for the same ball, my sense of fair play might try to redistribute some wealth.

[ghalfaire]

My local ranges are on course with no nets or fences, and thus collect slices and hooks from the adjoining holes.  (And yes the adjoining holes are littered with range balls making it difficult to find your ball if you hit it close) The range balls themselves have a yellow stripe painted on them, lately every bucket I buy has at least 3 decent balls in there, without the yellow stripe.  Yesterday I found two ProV1's,a B330 and an E7.  I used to just hit them back down the range, but I decided to start just taking them if they are in good shape, pays for the bucket and then some.

The pro shop does also find these balls and then sells them in a bucket loose for $3 a piece, so maybe I shouldn't take them after all... it's sort of a moral ambiguity.  I'm curious if there are any opinions on this.

I suppose the ethical thing to do is pull them out of the bucket and turn them in to the pro shop when I leave.

Well the Pro shop didn't pay for them either and probably  you are nor allowed on the range to get your ball back (I don't do that but sure have see a few that do).  So I don't see it personally unethical to keep the "good" balls.  If the course thought it was worth while they would sort them out before they went in the bucket.

[David in FL]

A lot of courses will sell found, "lightly experienced" golf balls in the clubhouse for $1 a piece or some such. Would it be ok to take balls out of that tub without paying for them? There's your answer....