Lots of golf balls equal cash

tnt-hunter

Bronze Member
Apr 20, 2018
1,791
9,165
Mountain Maryland
🏆 Honorable Mentions:
9
Detector(s) used
Fisher CZ-21, Minelab Equinix 800, ,Garret AT Pro,
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
I have been hunting golf balls at one of the local golf courses for a number of years. I had a group of golfers that I kept supplied. I hunted balls when it was pouring down rain or the ground was frozen (without snow of course) and I couldn?t metal detect. During the pandemic the management of the golf course changed. The security folks said I had to get a permission from the new management. My old permission wasn?t good any more. Well the new management did not respond to my letters or my phone calls. Most of my buyers either found their balls elsewhere or quit playing. So I decided it was time to quit as well. I made inquiries and found a buyer on line who came to my house today and bought my remaining 16,884 golf balls. He paid $.25/ball for some, $.20/ball for others and the least desirable brought $.16 each. My total payment was $3,039.08. I know I didn?t find the balls today, but I did find a lot of cash today. Here are pictures of the balls in my basement and loaded in his van on the way out.

D89344D2-0FF0-4680-AB77-09D1FCE79FA5.jpeg 018EE30A-3FA7-4EAE-BB24-61B72A0913BB.jpeg

Thanks for looking, stay safe, good luck and may your coil (and your eyes) lead you to good things.
 

Upvote 31

ARC

Gold Member
Aug 19, 2014
37,301
131,855
Tarpon Springs
Detector(s) used
JW 8X-ML X2-VP 585
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Impressive... well done.

there was a guy down here who was a local course diver who was attacked and killed by a gator.
 

RTR

Gold Member
Nov 21, 2017
8,180
32,469
Smith Mt. Lake Va.
Detector(s) used
Teknetics Liberator
Falcon MD-20
***********
Blue Bowl
Angus MacKirk sluice
Miller Table
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Man,that's a lot a balls:)
 

UnderMiner

Silver Member
Jul 27, 2014
3,783
9,642
New York City
🥇 Banner finds
2
Detector(s) used
Minelab Excalibur II, Ace 250
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
16,884 golf balls... your REMAINING 16,884 golf balls. That's alot of golf balls. Congrats on making bank in a very unique way, I know I wouldn't be able to collect that many golf balls :)
 

crashbandicoot

Gold Member
Sep 27, 2020
12,132
27,107
Dumas,AR
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Bummer on losing your permission,congrats on your payday.Gotta get me some new specs,I thought your headline said lots of balls equals cash!
 

The Urban Prospector

Bronze Member
Oct 18, 2014
1,181
1,903
Wherever I am.
🏆 Honorable Mentions:
2
Detector(s) used
Tesoro Eldorado,
Garrett AT Pro,
Minelab Excal II,
Minelab Equinox 800,
Nokta Legend,
Garrett Pro Pointer,
Garrett Pro Pointer AT,
Human eyes
Primary Interest:
Other
Nice balls!
 

McKinney_5900

Bronze Member
Jul 30, 2010
1,140
930
I ran into a local a few years ago who befriended me about metal detecting, and he said he had been collecting golf balls and selling them. I started picking up any after that, figuring to gift him later on. He said he did well selling them. I don't have but maybe 50 golf balls now, but I still put them in the pouch as I happen across them. I can't fathom 16,884 balls. I have every one I found, scattered around.
 

screwynewy

Hero Member
May 10, 2011
988
1,034
North Carolina
Detector(s) used
Equinox 800
Teknetics T2 SE
Teknetics G2+
Primary Interest:
Other
That's a crap ton of golf balls. I gotta ask, did you sit with the buyer and go through every single ball to sort them out? I bet that took a while. This guy can easily double or triple his money selling them on ebay.
 

OP
OP
tnt-hunter

tnt-hunter

Bronze Member
Apr 20, 2018
1,791
9,165
Mountain Maryland
🏆 Honorable Mentions:
9
Detector(s) used
Fisher CZ-21, Minelab Equinix 800, ,Garret AT Pro,
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
That's a crap ton of golf balls. I gotta ask, did you sit with the buyer and go through every single ball to sort them out? I bet that took a while. This guy can easily double or triple his money selling them on ebay.

Yes it is a lot of balls. I used to sell them so as I found them (between 100 and 300 a trip) I would wash them and sort them. I kept them in bags of 50 so the counting was easy and the sorting was all done. The buyer took my word for the number. Yes he will make money from the deal, but it would take a lot of time and effort on my part to sell them on eBay or any other on line method. He also spent money to get here and transport the balls back to his business in Texas. So for me this was a quick easy way to get out of the golf ball business. He is happy with the balls and I am happy with the money. (Also my wife is happy we have empty space in the basement and my kids are happy they don’t have to get rid of all those balls sometime in the future.) It doesn’t get much better than that. Thanks for looking, stay safe and keep swingin.
 

Underwonder

Bronze Member
Jul 31, 2017
1,645
2,985
RI
🏆 Honorable Mentions:
2
Detector(s) used
White's XLT Spectrum, TRX Pin-pointer, Garrett AT Pro Pin-pointer, Eagle II SL with Bigfoot, Equinox 600, Equinox 800
Primary Interest:
Relic Hunting
Funny collection and story. I am glad it turned out well for you. Your post caught my eye as on most of my MD hunts in the woods, I usually happen upon a golf ball. ….but I guess I haven’t reached 16,000 hunts yet…. LOL
 

TooManyHobbies

Bronze Member
Dec 24, 2007
1,935
2,015
CT
🏆 Honorable Mentions:
2
Detector(s) used
Whites MXT,
DetectorPro HH Underwater
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Well done. I had a friend that hunted a course at night and sold the balls for $5/doz. in egg cartons. That was 25 yrs ago.
 

Onewolf

Jr. Member
Aug 19, 2021
27
111
Shreveport La.
Detector(s) used
Ace 250-Delta 4000-Nokta Pulse Dive
Primary Interest:
Metal Detecting
I am an avid golfer and have not bought balls in years because of what I find when I play. I am talking about $5 dollar balls I just happen across. Who knows how many I would have if I actually hunted them.
 

Phil

Sr. Member
Dec 4, 2012
270
553
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
I helped a buddy modify a dredge to recover golf balls in ponds. He makes more dredging golf balls than most gold miners.
 

Top Member Reactions

Users who are viewing this thread

Top