No Balls Lost

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Paulsearle1405

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Ok so I am an unofficial 18 handicapper who usually loses 5 - 8 balls a round. I normally buy srixon distance or something around that price basically because I lose so many.

I'm not one to spend ages looking but will have a look then get annoyed & drop one.

I bought a sleeve of the volvik vivid orange balls before goING out today & couldn't believe getting round 18 holes with 1 ball. I didn't play particularly well but not loosing a ball made it feel like a great round.

These balls are obviously dearer than my normal balls but I always felt confident I would spot my ball.

I have read some negative reviews on these regarding feel & spin but to be honest I don't hit the ball consistently enough to notice

I know my next round I will hit 10 balls out of bounds but today I am chuffed. That's all
 
Paulsearle1405 said:
Ok so I am an unofficial 18 handicapper who usually loses 5 - 8 balls a round. I normally buy srixon distance or something around that price basically because I lose so many.

I'm not one to spend ages looking but will have a look then get annoyed & drop one.

I bought a sleeve of the volvik vivid orange balls before goING out today & couldn't believe getting round 18 holes with 1 ball. I didn't play particularly well but not loosing a ball made it feel like a great round.

These balls are obviously dearer than my normal balls but I always felt confident I would spot my ball.

I have read some negative reviews on these regarding feel & spin but to be honest I don't hit the ball consistently enough to notice

I know my next round I will hit 10 balls out of bounds but today I am chuffed. That's all
Click to expand...

Well done. I did a negative review and it's a ball I don't like in terms of feel at all but it really doesn't matter what you use if you're playing well enough to not lose one. Out of interest how come you are losing so many per round. Is it issues off the tee and do you have a plan B if the driver is misbehaving
 
Plan B would be to pull out my hybrid but to be honest my driving is pretty steady. I tend to lose balls in leaves mainly or by the time I've waited for playing partners I've misplaced where I'm looking. I think a lot has to do with concentration, today I could spot the ball a mile off, had a couple of near misses in bushes but then it just sticks out lol
 
5 to 8 balls a round? That’s 10 to 16 shots over before you start but you’re an 18? I would look closer at what is costing me so many penalty strokes and leave that club at home. Assuming driver, teeing off with 3 wood or hybrid isn’t as exciting or manly as driver but when you score well it makes up for it, works for me anyway!
 
As many as 8 balls lost in a round and you're around 18 handicap?? I'm off 23 but if I lost 3 balls in one round I'd think that was pretty terrible.
 
Orikoru said:
As many as 8 balls lost in a round and you're around 18 handicap?? I'm off 23 but if I lost 3 balls in one round I'd think that was pretty terrible.
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Depends on the course I suppose. Maybe it’s very woody or lakey. It’s very easy to lose balls on my course. Lots of burns, Woods and thick rough. I lose 2 or 3 every round sometimes more if it’s a real bad round. But because of the course I find loads and am usually +4 by the end of 9 holes!
 
We used to do the same, ie drop a shot rather than spend time looking for lost balls.
Was telling the local pro about this and he said, even that even though it's "mate's rules" if we aren't going back to where we took the original shot we should drop 2 shots as we're not losing distance.

So that's what we do now.

Can be very painful in winter with low sun and blinding frost reflections making it bloody hard to find even some reasonable shots :(
 
Paulsearle1405 said:
Ok so I am an unofficial 18 handicapper who usually loses 5 - 8 balls a round. I normally buy srixon distance or something around that price basically because I lose so many.

I'm not one to spend ages looking but will have a look then get annoyed & drop one.

I bought a sleeve of the volvik vivid orange balls before goING out today & couldn't believe getting round 18 holes with 1 ball. I didn't play particularly well but not loosing a ball made it feel like a great round.

These balls are obviously dearer than my normal balls but I always felt confident I would spot my ball.

I have read some negative reviews on these regarding feel & spin but to be honest I don't hit the ball consistently enough to notice

I know my next round I will hit 10 balls out of bounds but today I am chuffed. That's all
Click to expand...

Which is the correct thinking - the next thought being to ignore the reviews and the ball you are using...and as others have said - sort out your game off the tee - so go to a hybrid or 4-5W.

And again - as others have said - if you lose 5-8 balls a round you are not going to be 18 h/cap so don't fool yourself into that thinking, you need to accept your are probably more like mid-20s and in that acceptance you'll know that you won't get to 18 without stopping losing balls as you do.

Good luck and know that you can sort it and that you will go to the 18 h/cap ball - fairy godmother permitting
 
18 handicapper losing 5 to 8 balls per round? That is 10-16 penalty shots!! I suggest you get down to Specsavers, invest in a decent pair of glasses so you can find these balls and you'll soon be Cat 1 :D
 
My home course has an 18 and 9 hole course. I usually play the 9 hole, because I struggle to find time for 18, plus it's a lovely course,

However, today there was an event on using the front 9 of the 18 and the 9 hole course, leaving the back 9 of the 18 free to play.

I've never played it before, and nor had my son, who played with me. We didn't have a course map either, so were unfamiliar with the layout.

Add the fact that it was quite busy and there were two couples behind us, and I wanted to keep up the pace, between us we lost 15 balls... in 9 holes.

Some I am sure we could have found if we weren't trying to avoid holding the players behind us.

Some I could have admitted my driving was terrible... my son dropped to 3W and didn't hit a shot wrong off the tee. I didn't...

However, this did make me think: what strategies are there to avoid losing balls, and finding them?

Particularly off tee shots where the ball goes out of sight?

I am wondering about a very colourful ball too...

Any hints or tips?
 
May be worthwhile considering the Wilson DX2 Optix balls which come in various "loud" colours and can be had for £15.99 a dozen, or £11.99 for the white DX2's.
 
Dornenglanz said:
what strategies are there to avoid losing balls, and finding them?

Particularly off tee shots where the ball goes out of sight?



Any hints or tips?
Click to expand...

Stop hitting the club that's making you lose so much balls. I bet if you hit a 7 iron off the tee you'd lose a lot less balls and score a lot better, wanna take that bet ?
 
I absolutely agree that one approach losing fewer balls is not hitting a club that isn't working well, but that's not really what I'm talking about in this case. It's more when you've hit a really not bad shot, but the ball goes out of sight, or you hit a shot that's just off the fairway, and it lands in some rough... people I've played with seem to manage to find their ball quite quickly - I really struggle.
 
Dornenglanz said:
I absolutely agree that one approach losing fewer balls is not hitting a club that isn't working well, but that's not really what I'm talking about in this case. It's more when you've hit a really not bad shot, but the ball goes out of sight, or you hit a shot that's just off the fairway, and it lands in some rough... people I've played with seem to manage to find their ball quite quickly - I really struggle.
Click to expand...

A few things that might help:

- watch it intently and focus on a marker on the line (tree/stake etc)

- know how far you have for each shot before playing and get a feel for the distance you will have hit it, based upon strike/shape etc

- use a GPS if you have one to calculate estimate landing area

- park your bag in the centre of said area as a reference point (people end up wandering miles away from the probable area)

- if still no luck, fan out and search methodically in lines (think police searching for evidence) rather than going round in circles like many do

- don't get stressed by losing balls - EVERYONE has been there, done that

- if the likely area would give you a reasonable shot out then have a good search (up to 5 mins if in a comp) whilst calling the group behind through

- if it's likely to be deep in trouble with no real way of extricating yourself then don't bother searching too long and just use your provisional (assuming you've hit one)

HTH :thup:
 
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