Range Balls

[Furrankee]

when tired, do you take them home and save them for a future practice?

So here's what happened. I bought a large bucket of balls (150) and proceeded to practice. After about 100, I simply got tired and decided to call it a day. Usually when this occurs, I put all remaining golf balls in my golf bag and save them for a later practice day (usually tomorrow). But instead, I put the balls in a basket, went to the clubhouse and asked for a plastic bag to take them home. The worker looked at me indignantly and said "no" because taking property belonging to the golf range is not allowed. Reasonable enough I thought, so I proceed back down to the golf range and hit the rest.

My question is: don't most golfers "bag" their balls once they're tired? I understand that some of you may practice at a country club where balls are free. But what about the average golfer having to pay for their balls? I don't want to get into how over-priced some ranges are nowadays, but it makes sense for anyone who wants to practice to buy the largest bucket of balls and split them for a later practice because you get more bang for your buck.

I guess the reason I bag is because practicing costs so much in my area. Compared to some of you who say they're allowed to practice on grass for $60 a year? My goodness, I'd die for that kind of rate.

Was I wrong for bagging the rest of my balls?

[shook23]

I either hit them all, or leave them/give them to a kid etc...

[RagingAardvark]

I don't tend to get buckets that big, but no I've never taken any off the course.

[Charlie_Foxtrot]

Four Observations:

 

1. There is a big sign at my range that says "Removal of equipment or balls is considered theft and will be prosecuted."

 

2. There is a reason you get a discount (relatively speaking) for each successively larger bucket of balls. Because the range wants you to spend a little more money while you are there each time.

 

3. If I have extra balls and I'm ready to quit, I find a kid to give them to, or leave them next to the stall. I figure I can use all of the extra good karma I can get.

 

4. I can see where you are coming from. You can't always predict when you will get tired or when your swing will take a turn for the worse and you need to stop before you just make things worse. And after all, you did pay for the balls.

 

Bottom line for me: I don't bag the extra balls. It's just a buck or so after all. Not worth the risk of possible bad karma.

[smarshal75]

I leave my balls behind for someone else. You might ask the guy in the shop if you could exchange the remaining balls for a token. Just tell them you thought you could hit more but burned out. I would bet if you have more or less a small bucket left, the shop person would kick you a token for next time. Kill'em with kindness.

[Furrankee]

Four Observations:

 

1. There is a big sign at my range that says "Removal of equipment or balls is considered theft and will be prosecuted."

 

2. There is a reason you get a discount (relatively speaking) for each successively larger bucket of balls. Because the range wants you to spend a little more money while you are there each time.

 

3. If I have extra balls and I'm ready to quit, I find a kid to give them to, or leave them next to the stall. I figure I can use all of the extra good karma I can get.

 

4. I can see where you are coming from. You can't always predict when you will get tired or when your swing will take a turn for the worse and you need to stop before you just make things worse. And after all, you did pay for the balls.

 

Bottom line for me: I don't bag the extra balls. It's just a buck or so after all. Not worth the risk of possible bad karma.

 

Hey Charlie, I'm totally with you on all points, and I'm glad that at your practice range, there are signs that lets people know the consequences. At my range, however, I've never seen any signs that say not to take golf balls. There are signs that say "no chipping" on putting greens. Anyway, I'll check tomorrow.

 

Another thing is, I never ever had any intention to intentionally take balls off the property. I just thought it was allowed. Now, knowing that I cannot, I'll probably never take balls off the range property again.

[bjackson]

Personally, I have never taken range balls home to use later. however, I see how this is a great point. if you can pay a cheaper rate for more balls, go ahead. however, I often just leave my extras behind at the stall i was hitting from, or give them to a person near me. but then again, i get my range balls free at my home course (employee). Do what you feel is okay. as long as you return them( to the same course) soon enough, i see nothing wrong with it.

[expunge]

What kind of balls (oy..had to do it) do you have to take their golf balls off property? I remember the guy came buy and picked up the baskets before I was done and had about 75 left. I put them in my bag and was walking twords the sand traps, got distracted talking to a buddy and went home with 75 range balls. When I was carrying my bag to the car the next day I couldn't figure out why it was so heavy. Went back to the range and got another bucket, mixed in the ones from the day before and was on my way.

 

I don't know how I could walk into the range shack and say "can I have a bag for these please?". I would think that the laughter would hurt me so much I couldn't ever go there again.

[golfscene]

The way I look at it is simple. You bought the range balls either you hit them or you leave them. Taking them home is stealing them from the range and like the signs say people who do that should be prosecuted for it. Thats just my opinion and I'm a little sensitive about it from this year working at the Canadian Amauter when I saw people pocketing bags of range balls everyday and not returning them. Well lost 12 dozen Pro V1 practice balls that way.

 

And I'm sorry but I'm with expunge I would be afraid of getting laughed out of the place if I asked for a bag to take the range balls home with.

 

Brad

[wedgetoafoot]

You guys are too kind. Personally, this almost never happens to me since I love practicing even if I am tired. I don't think it is wrong as long as you actually bring them back. Honor isn't about wasting your money, and I would be inclined to think this if I drove a beater or a beamer.

 

If they end up in your shag bag, that is another story. The rule is there to deter people from taking the balls off of the property. Management knows that once something leaves the property, the chances of it coming back is significantly lower and can become a serious cost issue.

 

I wouldn't really ask a golf course employee for a doggie bag though, bad form.

[choeppner]

At the quality of the balls on my range....I would never even think about it. I have balls in my shag bag that are better. LOL I always go to the range and get the biggest they have (I always hit for free since I teach golf clinics there) Then When I am done, I just give whatever balls I don't us to the guys around me, or just leave them right there.

 

-CHRIS-

[tm8838]

At our range we have signs with "range rules" and theft of range balls is on there, also we charge $8 and you can hit as many balls as you want. They are set up on the range in pyramids so go out there and have fun.

[titleistpro2]

He's not trying to steal anything here boys, just plans on using them there a different day. While it probably would look a little suspect of someone was watching you, if your motivations in the right place...I'd say talk to the owner or manager, and say, "Hey, I live around here, spend a lot of time and money here. On the rare occasion I get tired, sore, emergency pops up, etc...Can I strike an agreement with you to put the remaining balls in my bag and come hit them in a day or two."

Karma doesn't exist, but treating people the way you want to be treated is a good policy, and honesty and openness is usually a good thing.

[packerfan1]

I almost never buy more than a bucket of 40 or 50 balls...I find that hitting many more balls than that in a relatiely short period of time is a recipe for becoming tired, and when you become tired, your swing becomes sloppy (or in my case sloppier than it normally is).

 

When I have had left over balls, I just leave them, or if a kid is around, I give them to him to hit. Most times I take one of my kids to the range anyhow, and they will hit balls until they fall over from exhaustion.

[thusgone]

This is the second time I have heard of this kind of thing happening. This year they instituted a new rule at my club that you can't buy more than one bag of balls per person at a time. I thought this was pretty stupid and I said so. The pro told me that they had "lost" several hundred dozen balls in the previous year by members getting more balls than they could hit in one session and then taking them away (presumably with the intention of hitting them at the range another day). Evidently the extra balls don't always make it back to the range, and either end up in someone's shag bag, or rattling around in their trunk unitl they're cleaned out an put in the garage.

 

I like to give any leftovers away to the next guy. It makes us both feel good, and, as has been noted, my karma can use all the help I can give it. Also, it's nice to walk up to the range and have someone give me their leftover range balls. So I think it's a custom that's worth sustaining.

[raehtz10]

Karma doesn't exist, but treating people the way you want to be treated is a good policy, and honesty and openness is usually a good thing.

 

Not trying to lead in a different direction, but try to be careful shooting down things like Karma. It is part of the Buddhist dogma, and I can only imagine if we started saying something like that about the Resurrection. Just be careful, there is a whole can of worms that could be opened...

 

Sounds pretty innocent, but they may be WAY more responsive if you asked them to let you keep them there rather than take them and hope you come back.

[choeppner]

I;m a firm beliver in Karma. I was talking to one of my friends earlier this year that plays on a High School Golf team. He was telling me about how low the budget was for them and how their coach couldn't do anythign for them. I sent the coach 6 Scotty Cameron Newports for his top 6 players. Nothing but good stuff has happened since then.

 

-CHRIS-

[HipCheck]

No problem with taking them home and using them at a later date, as long as you're donating them back to the range.

 

Then again, it's easier to ask the attendant for a small token in return for the balls -- it's much easier on your back.

 

But I have a great relationship w/my driving range's owner, so he could care less what I do. I bring old golf balls in sometimes and donate them to the range.

[Ken_In_CA]

Boy, never thought this topic would splint so many hairs. I'm with you furrankee, the price of balls are pretty steep and over time adds up. I spend most of my off time, there, bought several clubs there, visited the snack bar and played their 9 hole course several times over and will continue to do so. I'll put extras in my bag and usually come back in a day or two. Personally I see no problem with this, and as karma goes, play as you see fit, as long as you DO return the balls within a timely manner, no problem.

 

Now what about those that intentionally take a "few" range balls to hit over the water on the course, isn't this the same as stealing? I see this as WORSE, both in moral and karma, cuz they didn't intent to return it back to the range.

 

My 2 cents,

Ken

[raehtz10]

I love the water balls discussion...talk about setting yourself up for failure.

[Charlie_Foxtrot]

Here's a new twist:

 

What if, in the course of hitting range balls, you discover a ball that is clearly NOT a range ball (at my range, every single one of the balls is the same brand and model and is marked Range Ball with the stripes - they are rocks, but overall in good shape.) The ball in question is one that somehow made it into the range from the adjacent course and was picked up by the ball-picker.

 

Bad form to liberate that ball from the range?

 

Is a Pro V1/Nike One worth the potential karma hit? Does the answer change if its a Nike Mojo?

 

At our range we have signs with "range rules" and theft of range balls is on there, also we charge $8 and you can hit as many balls as you want. They are set up on the range in pyramids so go out there and have fun.

 

L.M.H. -

 

If you tell me that you also hit off grass at your range, my head may explode.

[choeppner]

Heck No. I pocket all the non range balls I can. LOL Any ball other than what is original to the range is fair game.

 

-CHRIS-

[DiscountDansGolf.com]

To think, we get peolple at our golf course that poop out after 5 holes and want to come back the next day and start from #1 to give it another try.

About that time Dan gives them a choice of which leg they want broken, and welcomes them to try to make it past the first tee.

[titleistpro2]

You pick up found balls on the course, don't you? Non-range balls are fair game, for sure.

[Ducky]

I don't know what is more silly, that you 'bag' the remaining balls on a regular basis, or that you asked the staff for a bag to take them home in.

[Charlie_Foxtrot]

To think, we get peolple at our golf course that poop out after 5 holes and want to come back the next day and start from #1 to give it another try.

About that time Dan gives them a choice of which leg they want broken, and welcomes them to try to make it past the first tee.

 

Forget about all the amazing reviews by satisfied customers and the legends of DD's great prices. I am buying my next set from DD on the basis of this post alone. :drinks:

[k_dubs]

I don't know what is more silly, that you 'bag' the remaining balls on a regular basis, or that you asked the staff for a bag to take them home in.

I agree. I have never contemplated either action. That's like leaving a movie theater in the middle of the show and asking for a DVD. :drinks:

[Charlie_Foxtrot]

I don't know what is more silly, that you 'bag' the remaining balls on a regular basis, or that you asked the staff for a bag to take them home in.

 

 

OOOOO! OOOOOO! I know the answer to that one!

[Mike_C]

I don't see what the problem really is if you bring them back, but I understand that not all of the customers would do that once they put them in their bag.

 

I did it once, but only after I hit just a few and it started raining, I was damned if I was going to pay $7 to hit about 15 balls....

 

But on the flip side, sometimes when I don't have enought time to hit even a small bucket of balls I will dig into my bag for 5-10 old scuffed up balls or balls I found on the course that will never play with (rock flites, etc.) and hit them down the range just to get a little feel going, and donate them to the club/course. They are better balls than the crap range balls that most of the ranges have around here anyway, especially at the end of the season, some of the balls look like they have been run through a rock crushing machine or something......

[Furrankee]

I don't know what is more silly, that you 'bag' the remaining balls on a regular basis, or that you asked the staff for a bag to take them home in.

 

I hope this argument below clears my thinking.

 

Here are the rates at my range.

 

$8 - 60 balls (small bucket)

$14 - 180 balls (large bucket)

 

Purchasing one small bucket at a time (for three practices): $24 - 180 balls

 

OR

 

Purchasing one large bucket and save balls for later: $14 - 180 balls

 

 

$10. Call me cheap, but over a year, cost savings adds up to about $500 a year. That's a sumo squared. And again, I always bring the balls back the following day, usually, and hit them back into the range. Never do I think about stealing.

 

 

About the "asking for a plastic bag", I asked for a plastic bag because carrying 75+ balls in your golf bag makes for an extremely heavy bag, especially when it creates an "end load" at the bottom. Asking for a bag and carrying it by hand, like groceries, lessens the load.