Why Lake Balls Are Luckier Than New Ones

It’s simple – lake balls get found but you never found a new ball ever, any ball you find must have been hit once at least – unless the Pro’s understudy was stuffing them in the hedge to bump up his pay!

So what’s this post about? It’s about the attitude to take towards enjoying golf at a reasonable price. Anybody that plays golf regularly and this applies to golfers of all levels, perhaps excluding single figure handicappers’, should realise that the most perishable part of your golf bag is your ball stocks, I play off 16 HCAP currently but have played off as low as 8 HCAP in the past and even then I lost balls, good balls and expensive ones at that.

When you are playing a round with your mate/s never use brand new balls – ego prevailing of course, if you are Bill Gates or Tiger Woods Caddy then a few balls isn’t going to stretch your wallet – so perhaps close this post and read another one that’s more pertinent to you. If on the other hand you are regular golfer whether a 28 HCAP or 14 HCAP and golfing on a budget – never use new balls in practice.

Why? For a number of reasons, it may be different for you, for me however I use casual practice rounds with mates to try things out, make changes, you know, like a slighty different grip, stance, posture, take back or follow through ad nauseum.. Well anybody who’s honest enough with themselves and their game knows that experiments costs balls! It always does, even occasionally for Pro’s.

Use lake balls, finds, old knackers that someone has given you and put two or three balls down at a time and hit the shot in different ways – if you spoon one into the undergrowth – leave it there – it will be lucky enough to be found by someone else just like you.

Now, this may sound contradictory but you should always have a new ball in your pocket – what for?  For Putting. Any regular amateur golfer has enough trouble reading greens, winds, slopes and crowns to be compounded by hitting that old duffer with half its skin missing and covered in mud. Know when to use new balls – now I might be wrong but in 20+ years of golfing I didn’t see anybody lose a brand new ball on the green – even after a 4 Putt!

Now you have effectively transferred the luck from your lake ball, or finder, or old duffer-hand-me-down and you also got to keep your brand new ball for the shots where you really do need a new ball and you can’t lose it – Lake balls must be the luckiest thing in golf.