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What to do with old golf balls?

Are golf balls at all biodegradable or recyclable (other than as lake balls)? I know that vets occasionally have to remove golf balls from the intestines of domestic animals, so how much are they a threat to wildlife?
 
Are golf balls at all biodegradable or recyclable (other than as lake balls)? I know that vets occasionally have to remove golf balls from the intestines of domestic animals, so how much are they a threat to wildlife?

Maybe if the balls were bigger animals couldn't swallow them :smirk:
 
Are golf balls at all biodegradable or recyclable (other than as lake balls)? I know that vets occasionally have to remove golf balls from the intestines of domestic animals, so how much are they a threat to wildlife?

Good question. Be interested if any one knows but I suspect not. I have found golf balls from the 1950's that are only just beginning to degrade and they were made from more natural materials. Can modern balls be ground up and re-used in anyway like tyres or plastic bags?
 
Good question. Be interested if any one knows but I suspect not. I have found golf balls from the 1950's that are only just beginning to degrade and they were made from more natural materials. Can modern balls be ground up and re-used in anyway like tyres or plastic bags?

When I was a kid back in the late 1950's my cousin and I discovered a bag of hickory shafted clubs and gutta percha golf balls in the cellar, that had belonged to our recently deceased grandfather, probably dating back to the turn of the century. The balls looked OK, but had gone a bit of a brown colour. We took the clubs and the balls to a local park and tried a few shots, but found that the balls had gone rather hard with age and tended to shatter into pieces. That was my first introduction to golf btw, but it was it was a few more years before I started taking it seriously. :)
 
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When I was a kid back in the 70s I used to walk along the beach in Lossiemouth collecting golf balls....Slazengers, Penfolds, Dunlops... all the old classics.... and I'd sell the best conditioned ones back to the local golfers!

Times have changed! These days, there's couses where some b....s that stand just out of sight, then try to sell the one you've just hit back to you!

As for my pickups...they tend to be used on the any of the holes with water threatening!
 
I have a spare set clubs - Nike Covert/XHOT 3W/TM BURNER 2.0 3 HYBRID, TM TOUR BURNER IRONS 4-SW, TM 60º RAC WEDGE, ODYSSEY DART - in case anything happened to my #1 set or a mate who normally doesn't play comes out for a hack - all found balls get lobbed in that bag.
 
We save ours and have a ball skimming comp on the lake
Are golf balls harmful to aquatic life? They may be to Avian life, because one of my playing partners hit a Canada Goose squarely on the head with one last week. After heading the ball into a nearby lake, the Goose collapsed onto the ground for a few seconds before groggily getting back onto his feet and staggering round in circles until it regained its composure! :mmm:
 
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Are golf balls harmful to aquatic life? They may be to Avian life, because one of my playing partners hit a Canada Goose squarely on the head with one last week. After heading the ball into a nearby lake, the Goose collapsed onto the ground for a few seconds before groggily getting back onto his feet and staggering round in circles until it regained its composure! :mmm:

Praying you have a video of this?!?!
 
Praying you have a video of this?!?!

Unfortunately no! Many years ago I hit a seagull in flight square on with a drive. Both the gull and my ball dropped like stones into a cross fairway ditch. I lost about 100 yards off my drive and ended up in a water hazard, but at least I was better off than the poor Gull, who went to meet his Maker in the Sky! :(
 
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The very best ones may get used when I don't see the point in wasting a premium or new ball, ie, in winter, or on summers evenings.
The next best ones go in the practise bag, for use on the practise ground.
The worst ones go into the box for junior coaching.
 
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