What's Up With The Golf Balls?

[+Agent Okie]

I have noticed near several caches (about 5 thus far) that I have found a golf ball. The first time I figured it was just junk as a field was nearby. The last was in a small park and the golf ball was against a fence about 3 feet from the cache. I read another log this morning that mentioned finding a golf ball too.

 

Is the golf ball someone's trademark? Is it a finder marker for the owners? Is it just coincendence that caches I find are close to places where someone might practice golf?

 

What's up with that?

[+Planet]

The golf ball is the bane of the geocacher's life. For one cacher it is a signature item, but they clean it up and stamp a logo on it. For others, they consider it a fair trade item. Some of us just trash them out and let the dog play with it. I have a golf ball travel bug headed my way from TheAlabamaRambler via cache mail. It's even called Planet's Cache Mail. But if you're looking for a trade item, glance over the golf ball and look elsewhere. Now, brand new golf balls still in the box with tees included placed near a golf course is a different matter.

[+leatherman]

Golf balls are a cliché junk trade item. I have seen many complaints about them.

 

I wouldn't be surprised if someone is tossing them out of the cache in spite.

[+Threshold]

Golf balls are a cliché junk trade item.

What's so bad about leaving a golf ball in a cache?

[+briansnat]

What's so bad about leaving a golf ball in a cache?

 

A new one, nothing, but most of the the balls I've found look like old range balls that someone found on the ground on their way to the cache.

[+leatherman]

most of the the balls I've found look like old range balls that someone found on the ground on their way to the cache.

Yeah. All of the golf balls I've seen were ugly throw aways.

[+PandyBat]

Some of us just trash them out and let the dog play with it.

Please don't do this. Golf balls are dangerous for dogs, especially bigger dogs.

 

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=stor...og_040423171804

 

British vets find 28 golf balls in dog's stomach

 

MANCHESTER (AFP) - It was the mysterious rattling sound from the 18-month-old German Shepherd's stomach which first alerted the British vet to what might be wrong.

 

A subsequent operation removed no fewer than 28 golf balls from the dog's belly and -- unsurprisingly -- the mystery ailment which made her stop eating has been cured, her owner said on Friday.

 

Mike Wardrop said he was "gobsmacked" to discover what his pet, called Libby, had been up to during their daily walk around Didsbury Golf Club in Manchester, northwest England, where he lives and works as a bar manager.

 

The German Shepherd had developed a habit of hunting down golf balls and bringing them back to her owner, Wardrop said.

 

"It got to the stage where she would pick up four or five balls every day. She loved fitting them in her mouth.

 

"She would bring them to me and I'd have a laugh. I had no idea she was wolfing them down as well."

 

Libby stopped eating properly and when she began coughing blood was rushed to a nearby vets' surgery, where the problem was swiftly diagnosed.

 

"The vets didn't even have to do an x-ray because they could hear the balls and feel them rattling around," Wardrop said.

 

"They were having bets about how many would be in there. I think the highest bet was 11, so they were shocked when 28 came out."

 

Wardrop said he was keeping the balls -- which weighed a total of six pounds (2.7 kilogrammes) -- as souvenirs.

 

"They are all brown from the stomach acid but we are keeping them to show people," he said.

[+SBPhishy]

Please don't do this. Golf balls are dangerous for dogs, especially bigger dogs

 

That was my initial thought... though, I have cats. They just cough up hairballs...

[+harleycache]

What's so bad about leaving a golf ball in a cache?

 

A new one, nothing, but most of the the balls I've found look like old range balls that someone found on the ground on their way to the cache.

Good, I was worried for a minute. My first hide had a sleeve of new one's, Titlest I believe. Didn't want to think I was leaving junk!

[vagabond]

Here in So Cal you will find golf balls in canyons and the hillsides when there are houses built on the top, seems like home owners like to practice their driving technique from their backyards, and yeah theyre all old beatup range balls

[schon]

Some of us just trash them out and let the dog play with it.

Please don't do this. Golf balls are dangerous for dogs, especially bigger dogs.

Amen to that.

 

Our border collie, Boomer, needed surgery after swallowing a golfball sized rubber ball.

 

It was a $1000 lesson in what makes a good playtoy - but at least he's still with us.

 

CITO the used golfballs you find - whether in the cache or not.

[+TEAM 360]

"They are all brown from the stomach acid but we are keeping them to show people," he said.

Oh, yummy, just what I want to see.....

[+Torry]

The Golf Elves have long been the bane of the cacher. Since the early days of orienteering when hardy souls armed with their compasses and pedometer wouldtrek the woods for hours to the modern world of four-wheel drives and cell phones, the Golf Elves have been right alongside.

 

Often harmless to the casual cacher the Golf Elves are prone to be a bit "pissy" if provoked. Experienced cachers know to always be kind to the Golf Elves and follow a few simple rules:

- - Never go into the woods without first wiping your feet.

- - Always carry a can of anchovies. If you spot a Golf Elf immediately toss the can of anchovies high into the air while chanting, "Golf Elf: You Da Hottie." over and over.

- - Never stare at a Golf Elf's backside. Their are very sensitive about the brilliant canary yellow color scheme.

- - Avoid entering deep woods when you see the pizza truck delivering. The y hate being interrupted during their holy feast.

 

When provoked the Golf Elves will pester the cacher by replacing the swiss army knives, new batteries and Mtn-man geo-coins with old range balls that the elves create through a still unknown and largely digestive process. There is little the cacher can do after provoking the other than to demonstrate his harmlessness by putting the golf balls in his mouth and humming the theme to "Gilligan's Island."

 

I hope this has been helpful. Good night.

[+bushi]

My only complaint with them is finding them in caches that are way too small to hold them. I found a cache recently where the lid wouldn't seat properly because of the golf ball. That could have been a real mess if it rained hard. They also can really take up a lot of room in decon containers.

 

With that a question ... If you find one in a cache that's too small should you trade for it to get it out of the cache or just consider it geo-junk, toss it and trade for something else?

[+PandyBat]

"They are all brown from the stomach acid but we are keeping them to show people," he said.

Oh, yummy, just what I want to see.....

Don't touch the brown golf balls you find!

[+PandyBat]

With that a question ... If you find one in a cache that's too small should you trade for it to get it out of the cache or just consider it geo-junk, toss it and trade for something else?

Anytime you can't get a cache to close or it is overstuffed, take something out, especially the golf ball, to get the cache to close tightly. Otherwise the next person might find a soggy cache.

 

EDIT: Sorry...forgot to answer part of your question. If you consider it geo-junk, take it out. If you want to trade for it, go right ahead. I consider them junk so I will take it out regardless of a trade. In any case, take it out if the cache won't close because of it.

Edited April 26, 2004 by PandyBat

[+tirediron]

Please don't do this. Golf balls are dangerous for dogs, especially bigger dogs

 

That was my initial thought... though, I have cats. They just cough up hairballs...

But you know... you just can't get a good drive off the tee with a hairball!

[+carleenp]

As someone who likes to golf but is truly terrible at it, I like to liberate old golf balls from caches. Then when I am at the final hole on a local course where the ball has to be hit over a deep ravine with a creek, I use the cache balls. My parents do the same thing. I figure we have hit a large number of cache balls into the creek!

[+Monkey Toes]

Please don't do this. Golf balls are dangerous for dogs, especially bigger dogs

 

That was my initial thought... though, I have cats. They just cough up hairballs...

And how are these looked upon as trade items?

[+Melrose Plant]

As someone who likes to golf but is truly terrible at it, I like to liberate old golf balls from caches. Then when I am at the final hole on a local course where the ball has to be hit over a deep ravine with a creek, I use the cache balls. My parents do the same thing. I figure we have hit a large number of cache balls into the creek!

That's a good idea. I would do this if I weren't forced by my son to take the Hot Wheels car every time. I will reach my own personal Golf Nirvana the day when I'm not afraid to use a good golf ball to hit over the pond. Frankly I don't know why I own any good golf balls. It wouldn't make any difference.

 

BTW, I haven't run across any range balls in my area. Only new ones. I was surprised to find out they are geo-junk to many.

[Pto]

I learned of the golf ball thing on one of my first cache hunts in a park in a local suburb.

The parking area is up on a hill, with the rest of the park sloping downwards to a lower flat area, bordered by a thin row of woods, with some very fancy houses behind it.

(the houses face a lake, with thier backyards facing this park.)

 

Apparently the parking area provides a nice Teebox for people to hit out into these woods - people who dont know there are $300,000+ houses, BMW's, Mercedes etc sitting just behind those trees.

 

Well As Im searching, I begin to collect these old range balls to use as lake balls in the future. Just as I zero'd in on the cache stash spot, I heard a loud crashing coming thru the woods behind me. I turned around just in time to spot one of the homeowners coming at me in a rush, very red faced and cursing!

 

He is looking for the *S.O.B* that was hitting balls about 10 minutes before I showed up- Apparently one found his Lexus's hood - a second his wifes BMW Convertible's rear window. Here I stand, with a hond full of golf balls... . . .

 

It took some fast explaining, showing him my maps, print out & GPS'r - I told him we were standing within 2 feet of it, and showed him the arrow. I walked around a cluster of trees to grab it, then went over to him and showed it to him. He finally believed me, but warned me to never return to hit balls, "Or Else"

 

I signed the log quickly, and waited until he turned his back to replace the cache before retreating double time to the truck. Im pretty sure the homeowner was ready to do some seriuos A**kickin, and I wasnt waiting around for him to change his mind.

 

So, now whenever I see them - I hestitate to grab them-

In a cache? I have only ever seen junk balls- and personally consider them geo-garbage.

[+Damenace]

I have grown a fondness for golfballs since I have figured out a way to use them as micro containers. It really throws people off when they come across a golf ball then they realize it is the cache.

http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_detai...4e-d2046e53be0a

 

Damenace

[+sTeamTraen]

Don't touch the brown golf balls you find!

Dayum, first it was yellow snow, now brown golf balls; is there no end to the list of forbidden items we must memorize ?

[CoyoteRed]

... but warned me to never return to hit balls, "Or Else"

It probably would have been right about this time that I would have firmly said something to the effect that he'd look awful stupid standing in front of a judge explaining why he beat up someone for hitting golfballs into his house even though that person didn't have a golf club!

 

Sure I can understand the guy being angry, but threatening the first person he saw?

 

If he can afford that house maybe he can afford a $50 sign warning visitors to not hit golfballs in the park.

[+Monkey Toes]

Apparently the parking area provides a nice Teebox for people to hit out into these woods - people who dont know there are $300,000+ houses, BMW's, Mercedes etc sitting just behind those trees.

 

Apparently one found his Lexus's hood - a second his wifes BMW Convertible's rear window.

Is it somehow more of a travesty that it hit a luxury car? I wouldn't want anything to hit my civic either.

[+sTeamTraen]

Apparently one found his Lexus's hood - a second his wifes BMW Convertible's rear window.

Is it somehow more of a travesty that it hit a luxury car? I wouldn't want anything to hit my civic either.

No, but the fact that he felt obliged to detail the make/model rather than just saying "my car" tells you something about the kind of in-duh-vidual we're dealing with here.

 

Anyway, a lot of BMW convertibles have plastic rear windows, so probably no harm done

Edited April 27, 2004 by nickbrown

[+briansnat]

I was looking for a cache in a wooded area and noticed golf balls all over the place, probably hundreds of them. At first I couldn't figure out why because there isn't a golf course within 10 miles, but then I realized that there was a cliff a short distance from the cache and a few homes up there. My guess is that some homeowners hit balls into the woods from their backyards. I wonder if they know that there are hiking trails down there.

Edited April 27, 2004 by briansnat