Leave range balls on the chipping green or pick them up?

[hoselpalooza]

someone got angry with me when i politely asked him to pick up his medium bucket of range balls from the chipping green after he started walking away to the parking lot.

 

his response was: "i thought this was a driving range?"

 

it's a muni course, if that makes a difference.

 

so the question i have for you guys is: who's job is it to pick up balls on a muni chipping green?

 

• the people who hit the balls
• employees of the course
• the poor souls who arrive at the chipping green when it's already covered with range balls and need to clear a path to every single target on the green

Edited June 28, 2021 by hoselpalooza
a word

[sui generis]

Range balls are collected by the person paid to collect range balls. 😉

[dugue4]

I always pick mine up, but I don’t usually use range balls. 

Edited June 27, 2021 by dugue4

[rogolf]

Our course puts a small bucket of range balls on the chipping green each morning for anyone to use.  They are picked up be the golf shop staff at the end of the day.

[Quasimoto]

I have no comprehension of why someone would want to practice chipping and putting with range balls.

They have virtually nothing performance wise with urethane cover balls, and can’t be good for getting a feel for the greens. Just one opinion though.

[Hawkeye77]

Guess it depends. I have my own tube, used to have a shag bag.  I’ve seen chipping greens where the balls are just there all the time and they have a pvc contraption to rake them up, I always did when I was done (but you usually had to just to get started, lol).

 

Someone carries over a medium bucket and balls aren’t usually just left in the area as a matter of course I’d expect them to leave the green like they found it.  

[zachillusions]

My club has buckets already at the chipping greens for members and a PVC rake for clearing them. That said, the golf shop employees pick up the buckets and clear the greens at the end of the day. Thats kinda one of the luxuries of being a club member in my experience.

[bcski]

The answer varies by the course you are at that day.  Resort courses put range balls at chipping area - who's traveling with a shag bag?

 

Muni's vary, semi private vary, private vary...

 

No real answer. sorry OP.

[ArtMBgolf]

If you bring say 10 range balls to the chipping green, I feel it's OK to leave them 
there when done practicing.   
 
If someone hit an entire bucket of balls onto the chipping green, then it is
rude to leave them there.   However this is probably rare.  I have never seen it.  
Someone who chips that many range balls probably has a unlimited range
membership.    There are some guys out there who would pick the flooded 
chipping green and use them on the range, so it can benefit others.        

[TheDominator273]

If the chipping area has a PVC rake or shag bags to pick up balls with the person hitting balls should clean up after themselves, otherwise it's the responsibility of the course to keep the area cleared up for people to use.

[Righty to Lefty]

If I see that they are provided by the course for that area I will pick them up and use them and then clear the area and put them back when I'm done. That being said if I saw they were from someone who left them I will still pick them up  and chip with them...but my reward from that effort is that those balls are going back over to the driving range to be hit! I feel that is fair!

[caniac6]

We have a pvc thing to push balls off of the green, and I push balls off before I start, and clean it off when I’m done. 

[Augster]

Do you pick up the range balls after hitting them at the range? No. The course hires someone to do that. 
 

Same as at the chipping green. Chip ‘em and leave ‘em. 

[DaveLeeNC]

9 hours ago, zachillusions said:

My club has buckets already at the chipping greens for members and a PVC rake for clearing them. That said, the golf shop employees pick up the buckets and clear the greens at the end of the day. Thats kinda one of the luxuries of being a club member in my experience.

 

That is exactly how it works where I play. 

 

During most of Covid there were signs all over our chipping/putting greens saying 'bring your own balls for chipping practice'. You would occasionally see range balls   (typically Titleist NXT Practice Balls) laying around but not often. 

 

dave

Edited June 27, 2021 by DaveLeeNC

[Quasimoto]

8 hours ago, Augster said:

Do you pick up the range balls after hitting them at the range? No. The course hires someone to do that. 
 

Same as at the chipping green. Chip ‘em and leave ‘em. 

And yet many courses I have been to have a sign at the putting green. “No Range Balls”. I feel this is so that the rude and inconsiderate that leave range balls all over the green can’t practice that bad habit that day. 

[LeoLeo99]

I don't pay for range balls at the chipping green.   I use the pvc thing to scoop a dozen or so balls already there to one area off the green and chip those.  Maybe that's bad form?

[MK7Golf21]

17 hours ago, Quasimoto said:

And yet many courses I have been to have a sign at the putting green. “No Range Balls”. I feel this is so that the rude and inconsiderate that leave range balls all over the green can’t practice that bad habit that day. 

 

depends, if its a golf course putting green then I think leaving range balls all over the green is kind of rude. If you are talking about just a golf range then leaving range balls on the putting green is acceptable, they should have staff to pick them up throughout the day and its not a big deal to clear them off if you want to practice in an area they are left.

 

When I go to the range I actually like going to the putting green first to check if someone left a bucket of balls on the green, I pick them up, practice short game and then hit them. Saves me 10 bucks buying a bucket.

[hoselpalooza]

On 6/27/2021 at 6:09 AM, Augster said:

Do you pick up the range balls after hitting them at the range? No. The course hires someone to do that. 
 

Same as at the chipping green. Chip ‘em and leave ‘em. 

 

i don't personally agree with this opinion, but it seems like it's common enough that if i continued complaining to people about leaving range balls on the chipping green, i may be perceived as a jerk. so thanks for sharing your opinion, i respect that.

 

based on the comments in this thread, i have a couple of ideas to share with my local muni:

• make a PVC "sweeper" and leave it by the chipping green. this will at least reduce the amount of time people have to spend removing balls from the green.
• ideally, have the employees who pick the range stop by the chipping area regularly to clean it.

thanks to everyone who shared their thoughts, much appreciated 👍

[Quasimoto]

3 hours ago, hoselpalooza said:

 

i don't personally agree with this opinion, but it seems like it's common enough that if i continued complaining to people about leaving range balls on the chipping green, i may be perceived as a jerk. so thanks for sharing your opinion, i respect that.

 

based on the comments in this thread, i have a couple of ideas to share with my local muni:

• make a PVC "sweeper" and leave it by the chipping green. this will at least reduce the amount of time people have to spend removing balls from the green.
• ideally, have the employees who pick the range stop by the chipping area regularly to clean it.

thanks to everyone who shared their thoughts, much appreciated 👍

I agree. I also think that if one approaches a putting green at a course and it has no range balls on it, and no PVC rake, that should be a pretty strong hint that the range balls stay on the range. But, I suppose that requires a modicum of logical thinking.

[Medson]

I used to go to a course that has “one large bucket of balls per day” membership. You can see range balls at the chipping area all the time. It is very annoying as I have to pick up the balls before practice chipping. 

 

I usually just collect all the range balls and put them into a bucket. 

 

 

[Mr. Bean]

On 6/27/2021 at 11:41 PM, Quasimoto said:

And yet many courses I have been to have a sign at the putting green. “No Range Balls”. 

 

This is rather common around here the reason being to avoid the problem OP experienced.

[davep043]

To me this is a reasonably simple situation, leave the area in at least as good condition as it was when you arrived.  If the custom is to leave the balls on the chipping green, fine.  If you walk up and there's not a single ball there, then remove the balls you've used before you leave.  This is no different, in my view, than repairing ball marks and raking bunkers, simple consideration to those who will follow.

[lefty1978]

Private club. We don't have to pick up, paid staff takes care of it. Some do, some don't. Never a big deal.

[DaveLeeNC]

Interesting issue where I play. At the main facility we have a couple of putting greens and a couple of pitching greens. There are always range balls (lots of them) on the pitching greens and they are typically something like Titleist NXT Practice, so serviceable around the greens but not perfect (for me anyway). 

 

I used to always have a dozen or so retired ProV1's in my bag for chipping practice, but I was always losing them because I could not find them among all the other balls (or other golfers would inadvertently pick one or more of them up). 

 

I play little and practice less these days, so the range balls are fine w/me for chipping practice now that just consistent contact is a bigger issue than spin control. 

 

dave

Edited June 29, 2021 by DaveLeeNC

[Mr. Bean]

3 hours ago, davep043 said:

To me this is a reasonably simple situation, leave the area in at least as good condition as it was when you arrived.  If the custom is to leave the balls on the chipping green, fine.  If you walk up and there's not a single ball there, then remove the balls you've used before you leave.  This is no different, in my view, than repairing ball marks and raking bunkers, simple consideration to those who will follow.

 

Indeed.

 

To me this is an identical issue with trash. I do not throw my trash on the streets/golf course, some do. I honestly cannot understand why they do.

[hoselpalooza]

6 minutes ago, Mr. Bean said:

 

Indeed.

 

To me this is an identical issue with trash. I do not throw my trash on the streets/golf course, some do. I honestly cannot understand why they do.

yeah, as kids we were taught to leave the places we visit in better condition than we found them. I wish more people would practice this. It’s so easy to do.

[Carl Spackler3]

When in Rome

[hoselpalooza]

5 hours ago, Carl Spackler3 said:

When in Rome

sometimes I struggle with this (e.g. go with the flow and don’t complain) versus “be the change you want to see in the world” and maybe ruffle some feathers. Not always an easy choice 🙂

Edited June 30, 2021 by hoselpalooza

[4x4GGG]

Wow. This thread is such an inspiration for the ways that I will never ever choose to be. 

 

Shopping cart guys are paid to get carts from all over the shopping center, but that doesn't stop me from putting my cart in a cart return space. Waiters are paid to serve me but it doesn't me I'm a jerk or going to yo-yo them all night.  I play a lot of very private courses that I'm not even close to being a member at and maybe because of my 25 years in hospitality I think too much, but I could never stand the thought of chipping 30 balls up to a putting green hole and just walking away from them. I'd, at an absolute minimum, go up and Putt them back to a small pile on the side of the green or fringe. "You don't collect your range balls"... really? I mean really? We don't see a difference with safety? Is that an honest to god answer??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? Chip your balls and at least putt them back to the ball monkey on the fringe. 

 

 

[caniac6]

I think it makes sense to clear the chipping green just to open lines to the holes you are chipping to.