Lake ball diving

[stefanovic]

Should this be considered a sport?
Is it classed under jobs in golf?

So how do you become a professional golf ball diver?

"To become a golf ball diver, an individual must be certified for unrestricted commercial scuba diving, which may require up to 200 hours of diving experience. They must also be certified in first aid and dive rescue, in good physical health, and should enjoy working outdoors at all times of the year."

Never imagined I might meet one, but I met two yesterday when walking alongside a course, and they had travelled 100 miles.
I see that in the (you know where) it's a multimillion dollar industry.

 

[oxymoron]

I used to dive and this kept cropping up in conversations . If i remember correctly it came with all sorts of conditions such as HSE involvement , insurance and even who the salvaged balls belonged to ,
so unless you were certain of a large haul it was probably not worth the effort .

 

[stefanovic]

The divers had many large nets and sacks bursting with balls, they'd fished out thousands.
A course with plenty of lakes, this was in Warwickshire.
Go to any scuba diving centre and I'm sure they will tell you there's good money to be made in golf!

 

[Slab]

There's several holes with bodies of water at the local course including an island green par 3, so there are many thousands of balls fished out each year
I don't know the H&S for it out here but probably a bit looser than the UK, its not full diving gear & I've seen the fellas 'ducking' for balls a few times and they seem to get plenty out

 

[The Fader]

Whilst "legal" ball divers probably have H&S and diving qualifications to adhere to and permission to be there - what about " chancers"?

One of my wife's friends ex-husband did it as his"full time job". Definitely no formal diving qualifications nor course permissions. Made a fair living. Went diving all round the North of England most nights. Would never say where he had been!

Said it was well worth the odd bit of scampering over hedges etc. to avoid being caught and the very occasional fines for trespass.

Had 2 industrial washing machines in his garage. Sold the best balls as individual dozens via fleabay and the rest "wholesale" though he would never reveal who he wholesaled to!!

 

[jim8flog]

The ' who owns them' has already been decided in the courts.

The golf club owns them and the same applies to any ball abandoned anywhere on the course.

 

[doublebogey7]

https://www.theboltonnews.co.uk/news/5967349.thats-a-fair-way-to-deal-with-frogman/

Be careful you could find yourself spending time at Her Majesty's pleasure.

 

[Tashyboy]

There’s four ponds at our place and I have seen a couple of lads there during the day.They do it with permission of the course owners and they get thousands of balls which the course gets a cut.