Are Used Golf Balls Or Balls Found in Lakes Still Good to Play?
It is estimated that more than 500 million to 750 million new golf balls are sold every year on a worldwide basis. It is also estimated that somewhere between 125 million and 500+ million recycled or second-hand balls are recovered and sold to golfers worldwide – golf balls primarily culled from ponds and lakes on golf courses (a.k.a. “Lake Balls”). It is not known how many additional Lake Balls are retrieved and played by ordinary golfers during the course of their rounds. And while the exact number of used balls sold in the market remains elusive, what is clear is that billions of new balls have entered play over the past few years around the world; and many of those end up lost and found as Lake Balls that are teed up again and again. Besides the freebie a player might find in the rough, woods or edge of a pond, there is an active market for buying and selling recycled golf balls – often at a discount of up to 50% off of retail. So, with the opportunity to pay such a discount, are t
