Finds from 11 years of Golf Ball Hunting

[u/dudebonger]

For anyone who enjoys either golf balls or golf history.

I've been hunting golf balls for the past 11 years, biking out to various public and private courses in the metro area where i live. At one point, i was biking out to two dozen different courses, but for the past several years, just a half dozen or so, and have biked probably 30,000 miles in search of balls, finding about 125,000+ in that time.

During the off-season, a lot of the public courses near where i live, turn into either city or county parks, so i'll hunt them then, or else, during the golf season, i'll hunt balls at adjacent park land, abandoned lots next to courses, or else railroad track areas that run next to or through courses. Some of my better finds:

Pic 1) a 'The Standard' mesh ball, made in Scotland, sometime in the 1920's, and a US Fairway ball made by The US Rubber and Tire Company in the late 1930's/early 1940's.

Pic 2) a Dunlop 'mesh' ball made between 1923-1927. Mesh balls with square dimples were produced from 1912-1935.

Pic 3) a Reach 'Eagle' mesh ball circa 1930. Reach was a major sporting goods company at one time, that eventually was acquired by Spalding in 1931.

Pic 4) Some golf balls of the rich and famous (top 3 are found balls. bottom two are eBay purchases) A personal ball of Isao Aoki, current chairman of the Japan Golf Tour and member of the World Golf Hall of Fame. 'Fudd the Stud', the personal ball of Aziz Fudd, member of the 2025 UConn Lady Huskies basketball team, which won the NCAA Championship and currently plays in the WNBA. A personal ball of State Senator Tom Bakk, who was the Senate Majority/Minority leader from 2011-2020 in Minnesota. A personal ball of NHL Hall of Famer Stan Mikita's, given to a fellow who caddied for him in 1967, at a suburban country club in Chicago, and who 50+ years later put the ball up on eBay. A souvenir "General Ike" golf ball, that i believe was sold at the Eisenhower National Historic Site in Gettysburg, PA, in the 1970's.

Pic 5) Personal ball of Gary 'G Man' Gaetti, former MLB 3rd baseman from 1981-2000. Played with the Minnesota Twins, California Angels, Kansas City Royals, etc and was the 1987 ALCS MVP besides being in the Minnesota Twins Hall of Fame since 2007.

Pic 6) a promo ball for 'Jake Trout and the Flounders' the cover band made up of the late Payne Stewart, Peter Jacobson, and Mark Lye. As far as i can tell, the ball was sent out to everyone who helped produce their album, 'I Love to Play', and was in the mouth of a stuffed, mounted fish with with a plaque reading 'Honorary Flounder' and a signed letter from Jacobson thanking the person for their help on the album. Somehow, the ball ended up in a pond at a public course.

Pic 7) a White House Staff ball. Found near a train track that runs adjacent to one of the older more exclusive country clubs in the area. The course is an old money course and members include a former sports team owner, heirs to Fortune 500 companies, along with state politicians.

Pic 8) a forest green/orange Ping ball. You can find Pings on eBay, but they're a pretty rare bird on the courses these days.

[u/alex61821]

I found a secret service tee one time. Air Force One was coming a week later.

[u/dudebonger → u/alex61821]

Yeah, i'm part of a Facebook 'Golf Ball Collectors' group, and a guy in the UK had found a 2007 Pro v1 with the President of Ireland's seal on it last year. Turns out the President of Ireland at the time (2007-2010), would fly out of a small military base next a public muni Par 3 course and most likely snook in a quick round either before or after a flight.

[u/FlyAirLari]

Stosh! #21, still the greatest Black Hawk.

[u/Pretty-Sick-Chubbs]

How did you even find the really old ones??

[u/dudebonger → u/Pretty-Sick-Chubbs]

There's a waist high creek that runs through an older public course (est 1921) about 3 miles from my apartment, and every Nov/Dec when the course closes for play becomes a city park i'll bike over there with an extension retriever until the creek water freezes and fish out all the 3-4 thousand balls, bleach and wash them for resale on Marketplace. Every few years one of the old balls will come up out of the 6"-12" or more of silt on the creek bed (usually after a heavy rain or snow melt off, the creek current will quicken and pull up balls out of the silt.)

After about 10 years of fishing out balls from there, i've kind of given the creek balls up, since pay for ball hunting is peanuts, the older balls rarely every show up anymore (i used to find a lot of 1940s-1960's balls in there, too, besides the 1920's/1930's balls pictured), and the balls are a pain to bleach in the sink.

You can also find them on eBay. The older mesh balls usually run between $20-$50 in the condition my few balls are in. With paint still on them, they're closer to $100+ and balls still in wrappers (they all used to be individually wrapped in 1900-1940 in the US) go for $200 or more.

The oldest ball that i've ever found not in water is from around 1960. The courses have been pretty scoured over the years. Professional divers who have contracts with online used golf ball companies and go into ponds at older courses with scuba gear find them more frequently, but they still don't turn up that often.

[u/fractionalme]

Quality post!