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3 Reasons You Should Use Recycled Golf Balls

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Recycled golf balls
Recycled golf balls (image by Greg D’Andrea)

I just picked up a refurbished iPad – I saved a good amount of money and can’t tell the difference between it and its brand new sibling. Yet many consumers avoid refurbished or recycled products because they fear a loss in performance…golf balls included.

Recycled golf balls have basically been reclaimed after being lost on a golf course, cleaned and repackaged for resale. The balls are typically categorized into groups (e.g. ‘excellent condition’ – hit once and lost; and ‘good condition’ – maybe minor blemishes but absolutely playable, etc.).

There are valid reasons recreational golfers should consider purchasing recycled balls over new ones – here are three:

1. You won’t notice the difference.

According to a study by GolfBallTest.org, there’s virtually no difference between recycled golf balls and brand spanking new ones. In fact, this includes balls that have been submerged in water. Only those that have been submerged for a substantial amount of time (and show obvious signs of wear) is there significant performance loss (and those balls won’t qualify to be repackaged and resold anyway).

As a personal testimonial, I myself have purchased/played with recycled golf balls on a pretty regular basis over the past five years and have not noticed a difference – performance appears to be the same as does my score vs. when I use new balls.

2. Cost.

You’ll save a good amount of cash switching to recycled balls – sometimes half price or more over new balls of the same brand or type. Check out some of the deals on CYCL’d Golf – a dozen Pro V1’s for $27? It’s crazy! Plus CYCL’d Golf has fun with it – their box turns into a putting aid so you can work on both speed and accuracy!

CYCL'd Golf's box doubles as a putting aid!
CYCL’d Golf’s box doubles as a putting aid!

3. The environment.

In the U.S. alone, golfers lose an estimated 300 million golf balls annually. Three hundred million! I know I’ve done my fair-share to contribute to that number. And those lost balls weigh heavy not only on our scorecards; not only on our wallets; but also on the planet (not just by being litter or hazards to animals, but also by possibly leching zinc into our water systems). Using recycled golf balls will help curb the amount of balls left out in our environment.

If these reasons aren’t enough, perhaps head over to CYCL’d Golf’s website and enter their contest to win a year’s supply of recycled golf balls! Or head over to GolfStinks’ Facebook page and check our wall for a chance to win a box of recycled balls, courtesy of CYCL’d Golf!

The Things We Lose On the Golf Course

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In 2006, I spent a couple weeks in Japan and purchased a Yomiuri Giants hat for my father while attending a baseball game at the Tokyo Dome.

My dad loved that hat. None of his buddies knew what the logo was and he enjoyed explaining it to them. Anyway, a few months after I gave it to him, he was wearing the hat while we were out hacking up this local 9-holer.

When I was dropping him off home after the round, I noticed he didn’t have it on and asked him about it. “Ah sh*t! I think I left it in the basket on the cart!” He called the course but they didn’t have it. He called again the next day to see if someone turned it in, but still nothing. He even drove down to the course a couple days later to check the lost and found bin…nada. The hat was lost.

But that got me wondering about something I had never thought about before – the fact that golf courses have a lost and found bin to begin with.

Let me ask you something: How many head covers have you lost on the course over the years? Every damn time you get on the tee-box you have to take the head cover off your driver and put it back on after your shot – It’s so annoying. It’s far easier to just leave it in the cart basket until the round is over. Ah, but inevitably it will just be left there to end up in the infamous lost and found bin (or end up on another driver who’s owner also lost a similar head cover the week before).

A better solution would be to leave the head cover in your trunk, since that’s where you need most of the club head protection. Problem solved.

But sadly, the club head cover and the hat are not the only things left on the course. Let me ask you something else: How many times has someone driven up to you in a cart and asked you if you left your pitching wedge on the previous green? How many times have you been the one in the cart doing the asking?

It’s one thing to leave a club head cover but quite another to leave a $100 club. Yet, we golfers do it all the time. Here’s the classic scenario: You’re in a cart (another reason to always walk) and your ball is just off the green. You can’t take the cart too close to the green so you grab your wedge and putter and walk over to your ball. After you chip on, you grab your putter and leave your wedge on the fringe. And there it stays until someone from one of the groups behind you finds it.

If you’re lucky, someone honest will find it and return it. If you’re not lucky, someone dishonest who needs a shiny new pitching wedge will get one for free. The good news is, vary rarely do we leave our $400 drivers!

But how many golf gloves have you left behind? How many divot repair tools? Watches? Cameras? Cell phones? Wedding rings??? Yep, these things can all be found in abundance in your local pro shop lost and found box.

We’ve all lost things on the course one time or another. We humans are prone to be forgetful (a major airline reports 10,000 lost items a week) and the golf course is no exception.

But there’s one item we all leave on the course and never even think about it – one item specific to the golf course. We never call the pro shop asking about them; never wonder what ever happened to them; we don’t even really care that much about losing them (in the long term, anyway).

I’m talking about golf balls, of course. We all leave those behind. In fact, golfers in the U.S. alone lose an estimated 300 million golf balls annually. Three hundred million!!! I know I’ve done my fair share of contributing to that number. And perhaps of all the things we lose on the course, the number of golf balls (whether we care or not) weighs the heaviest – on our scorecards, on our wallets, and on the planet.

If you care about my last point at all, purchase recycled or refurbished golf balls. Studies have shown that recycled and refurbished balls do not lose any playability compared to their new counterparts. Not only will you be supporting efforts to limit the number of these lost balls scattered about the earth, but you’ll be saving money to boot. So, that takes care of the planet and your wallet.

Your scorecard, on the other hand, I cannot help you with…You’re on your own with that one.

Golf Ball Hell

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100_0231You can have a nervous breakdown trying to pick out golf balls. I hope I’m not alone in this assessment, but I can literally stand in front of a wall of golf ball boxes for like an hour, trying to figure out which ones I should pick.

Newbies to golf typically will purchase the cheapest options – Top Flite or the like, where $10 can buy you 20 balls. I envy those new golf hacks – the choice is easy for them. $10 for 20? That’s a no-brainer. They figure the balls are destined for the drink or lumber yard anyway, so why spend more?

However, I’ve been playing golf for 20 years. I know why I won’t spend $10 for 20 Top Flite’s. I’d like to have my ball last more than a hole without scuffs on it, thank you very much. And I’m not a terrible golfer either – I understand what “feel” means when it says “better distance and feel” on the side of the box – I want it to land softly and “hold” the green.

But I also know I’m no “player.” I don’t “work the ball” too often, I don’t really “cut it,” or intentionally draw or fade it with much success…So I don’t need to spend $45 on a dozen three-piece balls like the Titleist Pro-V1. Yes, I’ve narrowed it down to the $20 to $30 range for a dozen balls. That’s where I’m most comfortable – where I get a decent ball for a decent price. But there are so many options in that price range – which inevitably leaves me standing for an hour in the golf-ball section of my local sporting goods store.

To make matters worse, I just realized there are now more options for me to choose from…Options that I previously ignored when I was shopping for balls: Recycled golf balls. Most golfers intentionally overlook recycled (or refurbished) golf balls for various reasons, but my main reason was that I always heard once balls were submerged in water or out in the elements for a while, quality and distance would be hindered. But a new study done by GolfBallTest.org says otherwise. In their tests, there was virtually no difference between new and recycled balls of the same brand. This is intriguing.

After reading the white paper on the study, I picked up a dozen recycled Nike One balls at Target for $9.99 and played a few rounds with them. I have to say, I was impressed with them – impressed to the point where I will probably buy another box next season. If this study gets some publicity, it may change the golf ball industry!

But another new discovery has me ever more intrigued. There are companies out there that will actually custom fit you with a golf ball…and do it all online no less. GolfBallSelector.com touts “a mix of quantitative and qualitative measures to generate precise [golf ball] recommendations.” For just $19.95, you get a one-time fitting to match you with your balls. Interesting. You’ll find a similar site at TheRightBall.com. So there’s two ways you can look at these golf-ball-fitting sites: Either they’re a rip-off and not worth considering; Or your days of wondering what golf ball to use are over.

While one day I may fork-over the 20 bones and take the Golf Ball Selector test, I think for now I’m gonna stick to my recycled Nike balls…at least until another study comes along and shoots the GolfBallTest analysis out of the water. Until then, I am glad to report less of my life will be wasted on choosing golf balls. Hmmm, this post has me thinking – I wonder what grips I should put on my clubs for next season?

4 Ways to Golf Eco-Friendly

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Reusable bottles: One way to help stay green on the golf course...
Reusable bottles: One way to help stay green on the golf course…

Let’s face it, regardless of whether you believe in global warming or not, as a golfer you should be doing all you can to help protect the environment we live in. After all, golf is a game that, aside from the cart paths, is played in nature’s entire splendor. And if we inadvertently ruin nature, it wouldn’t be much fun teeing-off from a driving range mat and hitting onto a green made of AstroTurf, would it?

So what can we as golfers do? By now, most of us have seen those cork-screw-shaped florescent light bulbs, chemical-free cleaning products and that Energy Star logo on our electronic toys…not to mention all the hybrid cars on the road these days.

But can you play golf more eco-friendly? Haven’t given that notion much thought? Or wondering how that’s even possible? Well, if you want to be green while on the green, here are some tips to get you started:

Tip # 1: Change your golf tees. According to Eco Golf, there are over 2 billion golf tees used in the United States annually. Two billion! That means millions of trees are cut down each year just to support your golf ball on a few drives. What’s worse, sometimes tees don’t even last a few drives, as many tend to break after just one swing (especially those new “long” tees people are using with oversized drivers). Ultimately, even if the tee doesn’t break, we’ll still forget to pick it up because we’re either admiring our drive or swearing at it.

The good news is there are eco-friendly tees out there to buy. The aforementioned Eco Golf, located in Knox, Indiana, is one such company. It manufactures three different biodegradable tee styles which you can purchase directly from the company. Another option is the Bonfit Biodegradable Zero Friction Tee. I purchased a pack of 50 of these and they lasted me the entire season. Hey, tees may be a small thing, but all that wood adds up!

Tip # 2: Carry a non-plastic water bottle. So if golfers go through 2 billion tees every year, how many of those stupid cone-shaped 7 oz. cups would you say we go through in a year? Is it just me or do we fill-up those snow-cone cups about 10 times when we’re thirsty? Not only is it annoying, but think of all the wasted paper and plastic!

The eco-friendly and healthy answer? Begin carrying a non-plastic water bottle like one from Klean Kanteen. I purchased a bottle from them last year – it fits perfectly in the bottle holder on my golf bag. It’s much lighter than you’d expect too, and you don’t have to wait till the next water jug or MOFOBETE to rehydrate.

Tip # 3: Leave the cart at the clubhouse (if possible). I’m sure I don’t have to explain the environmental implications caused by gas golf carts, but this is a tough one to abide by for a couple reasons: First, many courses require you to take a cart (especially on the weekends) and second, many golfers simply can’t play without one due to health reasons. For those of us fortunate enough to be able to walk 9- or 18-holes, we should probably avoid taking carts at all costs. If you must take a cart, try and stick to the “cart paths only rule” to limit gas usage. And, it wouldn’t hurt to petition your course to switch over to electric carts either.

Tip # 4: Choose your golf balls wisely. According to the NGF, an estimated 2.5 billion golf balls are lost every year (and you thought you were the only one that stinks at this game). Up until recently, there weren’t any biodegradable golf balls on the market. But now, you do have a biodegradable ball option for actual course play – Dixon Golf is touting the world’s first 100 percent eco-friendly golf ball. According to the company, the Dixon “Earth” ball does not sacrifice any of the playability of normal two-piece balls, despite being constructed of all recycled materials.

But, if you’re worried your balls will decompose in your bag between rounds, there are also used golf balls, like those from Used Golf Ball Deals. These are brand-name balls that are priced based on the amount of damage they have.

So there you have it – a few ways we golfers can help the environment. After all, we mine as well save a few trees to help compensate for the ones cut down to build the course in the first place.

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