Losing a Golf Ball on the PGA Tour

[David L Yskes]

Ok, so i've had this thought, for the last couple of years, that if PGA Pro's ( mainly men ) didnt have course marshals and the crowd, to help them find a hit ball, that they would lose a bunch of golf balls....    

i started thinking about this a couple years ago, after a round in which i tee'd off and hit the ball just off the fairway, and couldn't find the ball i hit, even though i had seen it bounce and had a good idea of where it should be..  yet 4 people couldnt find the ball...  

And i'm sure a lot of us have played a round, where we hit a ball just into the rough, that might of been really deep or not, and couldn't find the ball...   

Heck even while i am typing this out, i'm watching the NCAA team match play, and watched a guy twice, hit a shot way right, into the trees and knee high grass... yet some how find's the ball he hit..   

[Carl3]

25 minutes ago, David L Yskes said:

i tee'd off and hit the ball just off the fairway, and couldn't find the ball i hit

That reminds me of an incident I saw this weekend where the group a few holes behind me was looking for an errant drive in the next fairway over. It was mowed real tight, but some of the rough was definitely in need of mowing. The guy remarked to his playing partner that the "ball should be right around here somewhere"  and he dropped the ball right in the middle of the fairway representing a +/-250 yard drive. So it had to make its way over/through some tall trees and through some rough and then land on a well-mowed fairway and then mysteriously disappear. It was also now in a position to take a full club over some trees to the green 90 yards away without any threat of interference of these trees. 

The more likely scenario was that it got caught up in the rough and he would need to punch it low under some limbs to the green 120 yards away. Pretty funny if you ask me.

Reminds me of the saying "he who has the fastest golf cart has the best lie."

Edited May 29, 2018 by Carl3
added saying at end.

[cutchemist42]

Id be curious to know the amount of lost ball penalties then on lesser attended events like the MacKenzie Tour. 

 

Edited May 29, 2018 by cutchemist42

[Patch]

I too have completely lost balls in places they should have easily been found. Mostly under a leaf, and a few times in the fairway.

As for the PGA folks having to find their own golf balls, that is an interesting scenario. Just them and their caddy looking, and hoping. I am inclined to believe they would lose balls more often.  

Definitely a good thing that all the extra help looking for a pros ball is not considered "advice"......lol

 

Edited May 29, 2018 by Patch

[p1n9183]

I hit the ball 260 carry but not very accurate.. but i rarely loose balls. 0 balls lost in 2018. maybe 2..3 in 2017 after 60+ rounds home and away. 
PGA tour Pro have an advantage to find a ball but a disadvantage because they play in taller rough that make it harder to find.     

[David L Yskes]

P1,           one of the courses i play, is fairly wide open, and i've still lost a ball or two on drives or 2nd shots that just went off the fairway... into ankle high grass...  and it's like WTF it should be right here !!!  when i ride up to that area..

Patch,          the thinking that got me to this, is ok, for the Pro's,  they are driving the ball a lot farther than us.. and are usually hitting it to a dogleg left or right, or up a hill or around some tree's... and dont see where their ball is landing...      yet most of us, are playing wide open courses and generally see our ball land... and the rough we are playing in is a lot shorter too...

 

[NM Golf]

Years ago I was watching an event and Phil Mickelson hit a drive well left into an area that even if you found it it was dead (rocky and on a sharp slope). He hit a provisional right down the middle and when he got to the general area where his first ball was likely to be, there were several people from the gallery looking for it. He took one look at that area and started telling people to stop looking for his original ball. He and Bones were both yelling "stop looking, stop looking." and about a minute later some jackass goes, "Here it is!" Phil was pissed, he knew right away he was better off in the fairway laying 3 than finding the original ball. 

[HJJ003]

Nothing more frustrating to me than hitting what I think is a decent miss...only to not be able to find the golf ball at all. And then I play with some people that can't seem to lose ball! A few of the guys have great "foot wedges", but one of my playing buddies is as honest as they come and he doesn't lose hardly anything. He is about a 15 Cap, but man even his worst shots often get found...and not just by him! Last round he push-sliced the heck out of a shot into some trees/marshy area. We drive up to the spot his ball went in and sure enough his ball was sitting twenty yards in front of us with a perfect lie....must have hit a tree and comeback..but man it was unbelievable. 

[David in FL]

These guys didn’t grow up playing, and winning with spectators and marshals finding their balls.

Pick the crappiest conditioned course you can find, and they’ll still shoot scores that will make your head spin.  

[SmiterofPV1x]

Depends on how and where I'm playing. I have glasses now, thought this would cure me.

Not a prayer.

I just don't pick up the ball very well. Doesn't matter where I hit it, even with improved 20/20 vision I just don't pick up a small percentage. Luckily I have a pretty good idea based on feel now. I usually know left/right/straight based on feel. I still have one shot or so a round when I play solo that I have no idea. It is frustrating but it's a part of golf. My playing partners act as spotters and depending on money involved usually determines how accurate they are. Last year I lost one that felt dead f****** center. My playing partner told me "right, maybe on the road". Huh??? 

Sruck with my gut and found it dead center, WAY down the FW. In the dead center of the FW. If you rely on others, consider their views on it. They won't care... sometimes.... if you find it. In fact sometimes they may have motive to not find it.

Disclaimer: I don't think that this one wasn't found because it was convenient. I think he genuinely lost it. But if I had just went with it, it'd have cost me a lot of money. So be careful. 

[Lihu]

11 hours ago, David L Yskes said:

Ok, so i've had this thought, for the last couple of years, that if PGA Pro's ( mainly men ) didnt have course marshals and the crowd, to help them find a hit ball, that they would lose a bunch of golf balls....    

i started thinking about this a couple years ago, after a round in which i tee'd off and hit the ball just off the fairway, and couldn't find the ball i hit, even though i had seen it bounce and had a good idea of where it should be..  yet 4 people couldnt find the ball...  

And i'm sure a lot of us have played a round, where we hit a ball just into the rough, that might of been really deep or not, and couldn't find the ball...   

Heck even while i am typing this out, i'm watching the NCAA team match play, and watched a guy twice, hit a shot way right, into the trees and knee high grass... yet some how find's the ball he hit..   

I think the main thing you're missing is that nearly all the pros know exactly where they're going to hit the balls and where they land. They probably can feel off the strike on the face where the ball is going with the exception of a strong wind.

[we5rnuts]

I too lose balls from time to time. One of the cheaper courses I play is pretty lax about mowing and I’ve even lost a couple in the middle of the fairway. Almost as bad as the ones that have rolled into ground squirrel holes at the base of trees. Once snake season starts, they can keep em. 

[upndown21]

14 hours ago, David in FL said:

These guys didn’t grow up playing, and winning with spectators and marshals finding their balls.

Pick the crappiest conditioned course you can find, and they’ll still shoot scores that will make your head spin.  

This! In college we used to play a goat track in south GA. One of my friends had his high school buddy who played college golf come visit in the winter one weekend. The course was full of hard pan areas that ran off into overgrown areas no more than a couple yards off each fairway and blind shots to such locations. The greens were like putting on old asphalt. My friends buddy shot a 63, it was Bubba at age 20. 

[saevel25]

19 hours ago, David L Yskes said:

Ok, so i've had this thought, for the last couple of years, that if PGA Pro's ( mainly men ) didnt have course marshals and the crowd, to help them find a hit ball, that they would lose a bunch of golf balls....    

They wouldn't lose that many. You have to think, there is about 125 golfers on Thursday and Friday. About 3500 tee shots are hit over those two days (excluding par 3's). Even if there was a total of 70 golf balls lost or hit OB, that is only 2% of the shots taken.

19 hours ago, David L Yskes said:

Heck even while i am typing this out, i'm watching the NCAA team match play, and watched a guy twice, hit a shot way right, into the trees and knee high grass... yet some how find's the ball he hit..   

I played a course that had tall grass on the left side. I got the case of the hooks over a couple seasons. I found nearly ever ball. It's not hard to get a feel for were the ball should be. I know if I hook a ball that it will end up this far away from the tee box. I already probably with in 20 yards of it.

[Lihu]

I can attest to @saevel25‘a ability to find balls 350+ yards away over 2 fairways 😂

In deep rough...😂😂😂

[saevel25]

32 minutes ago, Lihu said:

I can attest to @saevel25‘a ability to find balls 350+ yards away over 2 fairways 😂

In deep rough...😂😂😂

It's always fun to yell, "Get Right!" when hitting a slice because you want it to make it to the other fairway :)

[Buckeyebowman]

On 5/29/2018 at 1:06 PM, Carl3 said:

That reminds me of an incident I saw this weekend where the group a few holes behind me was looking for an errant drive in the next fairway over. It was mowed real tight, but some of the rough was definitely in need of mowing. The guy remarked to his playing partner that the "ball should be right around here somewhere"  and he dropped the ball right in the middle of the fairway representing a +/-250 yard drive. So it had to make its way over/through some tall trees and through some rough and then land on a well-mowed fairway and then mysteriously disappear. It was also now in a position to take a full club over some trees to the green 90 yards away without any threat of interference of these trees. 

The more likely scenario was that it got caught up in the rough and he would need to punch it low under some limbs to the green 120 yards away. Pretty funny if you ask me.

Reminds me of the saying "he who has the fastest golf cart has the best lie."

 

This is a good point. Many times I've had playing competitors hit into the rough, and they always seem to look a good 40-50 yards beyond where the ball actually hit. I'll walk back toward the tee and usually find it! I'll holler at the guy "What are you hitting?" You should see the crestfallen looks on their faces when I tell them "It's right here", but I guess you already have!

Ah, well. Hope springs eternal!

[Vinsk]

53 minutes ago, Buckeyebowman said:

This is a good point. Many times I've had playing competitors hit into the rough, and they always seem to look a good 40-50 yards beyond where the ball actually hit. I'll walk back toward the tee and usually find it! I'll holler at the guy "What are you hitting?" You should see the crestfallen looks on their faces when I tell them "It's right here", but I guess you already have!

Ah, well. Hope springs eternal!

And then they always say, “ back there!? Must’ve hit a tree....” lol.