Run out of balls.

[USER1999]

I have a tad of OCD. I always have 12 in my bag plus two in my glove to start the round (one in play and provisional). Far rather have a spare in my pocket as some holes it makes more sense to leave the bag bag up the fairway than taking it all the way to the tee, and so saves time should it go wrong.

12? Plus 2? Wow. How many do you expect to lose? My last 5 or 6 rounds I have had 4 balls in the bag. If I lose those, I am walking in. I don't remember the last time I needed 4 balls in a round.

 

[HomerJSimpson]

Think it goes back to my junior days especially when I was starting and could lose 5-6 a round and so became paranoid about having enough balls. As a result I always carried a dozen (plus ball in play and a provisional to save walking back to the bag) and its simply become a habit

 

[Coffey]

A friend of mine was playing a hotel course alone but eventually joined up with another who he didn't know.

The guy ran out of balls around the 15th and my friend lent him some. He ended up borrowing and losing 3 of his brand new prov1's and never replaced them

I think the guy lost 12 balls that day.

My worst was losing 9 around Lough Erne, like any course around a lake, if you aren't hitting it well it is very easy to lose balls. I lost two on the first hole. The scary thing is, it wasn't even that long ago and I was playing off about 12 at the time.

 

[patricks148]

played with a guy in the Nairnshire county championship a few years ago an this guy shot the lights out around ND (his home track) level par gross using a 3 wood off the tee, get to the 2nd round at Nairn and he strts using the driver off the tee.. lost a ball on almost every hole apart from the par 3's, had to loan him a few balls and he even wemt on the practice ground on the 18th so he had a couple of balls to finish the round... didn't break 100..

I asked him why he used the driver and he replied that Nairn was longer off the back tee's.... which its wasn't at the time about 100 yards shorter..

 

[Swango1980]

I usually have about 60 golf balls in my bag, so should be alright. If I've lost 2 or 3 Callaway Chromesofts (or Vice balls I'm trying), I then dig out the miscellaneous balls (pretty much anything except Top Flight, Pinnacle, Commando, Hitlist (Yes, I found a Hitlist ball once)).

A guy turned up once with a brand new dozen Titelist ProV with his name printed on them. He lost 7 on our 5th hole alone. I worked out it cost him about £35 to play just that hole, and I bet he didn't feel he got value for money.

 

[Orikoru]

Never. When I was a beginner and more rubbish my bag would always have a bunch of balls that I'd found in the rough etc, so there'd be at least 10 in there. Nowadays I tend to have two sleeves of new balls, perhaps one or two others lying loose in the bag, so 6 or 7 balls in there plus the one I'm playing with. And I've never lost more than 3 in a round. Nowadays I only lose a ball once every three or four rounds anyway. My bad shots are more fats and thins than big slices or hooks, so you don't lose as many that way - most frequent loss of ball is probably in horizontal ditches.

 

[Orikoru]

I usually have about 60 golf balls in my bag, so should be alright. If I've lost 2 or 3 Callaway Chromesofts (or Vice balls I'm trying), I then dig out the miscellaneous balls (pretty much anything except Top Flight, Pinnacle, Commando, Hitlist (Yes, I found a Hitlist ball once)).

A guy turned up once with a brand new dozen Titelist ProV with his name printed on them. He lost 7 on our 5th hole alone. I worked out it cost him about £35 to play just that hole, and I bet he didn't feel he got value for money.

Christ, doesn't that make it substantially heavier??

 

[Swango1980]

Christ, doesn't that make it substantially heavier??

Absolutely. Even with a trolley bag, it was like pushing a small car around the course. For first time in about 5 years, I used a carry bag at the weekend due to last weeks weather. There is no way I could transfer all the balls across, so picked out about 10. I was worried though, I've certainly been known to lose more than 10 balls in one round before, it's not exactly pretty at our place when you miss the fairway. Mind you, if you're in the trees that much, your bound to find a few as well. Though, normally a Pinnacle, Top Flight or Donnay is what you find. But, once you've lost you're 7th ball, you start to becoming less selective in the ones you find and keep.

 

[sunshine]

Christ, doesn't that make it substantially heavier??

This is nuts. Just thinking about when I walk along the range with a basket of 60 balls. Firstly, I don't know where I would fit 60 balls in my golf bag, unless i'm filling up the main clothing pocket down the side. Then of course, the extra weight, I'm guessing almost 3kg extra. Finally, the pointlessness!

 

[trevor]

I tend to lose more playing on my own as you don’t always see the ball land when on your own and I can’t be bothered spending ages looking for a ball if you’re not sure where it went. So I have run out of balls before but never in a proper game.

 

[Swango1980]

This is nuts. Just thinking about when I walk along the range with a basket of 60 balls. Firstly, I don't know where I would fit 60 balls in my golf bag, unless i'm filling up the main clothing pocket down the side. Then of course, the extra weight, I'm guessing almost 3kg extra. Finally, the pointlessness!

It all builds up, because generally I'll pick up more than I find (I don't always lose 10 balls), and then I can't be bothered emptying it. It's a pretty big PING trolley bag, and the pocket I put the golf balls into it is like the Tardis. It is heavy, with those, golf clubs (with mud), various waterproofs, drinks bottles and goodness knows what else is in there that I've long forgotten about. If my trolley ever gets stuck in a mound of deep stones in a gravel path, I almost need a JCB to get it out.

PS, it is useful come March or so. I tend to really get the golf bug then, and go out for a couple of hours before work once a week. Grab a basket at range, go to the 15th and just hit ball after ball before going to collect them. I wouldn't fancy going to fetch them after just hitting 6-10 balls each time.