How Many Golf Balls Do You Use Up in a Year's Play?

[Tommy Williamsen]

How many of you still have a shag bag?

I am surprised by the frequent references to a shag bag.  I thought they had gone out of style.  As a kid I used to hit balls at the local high school baseball field but I wouldn't dream of doing that now.  They'd arrest me.  Where do you use them?

I will go out on the course in the evening and hit shots from around the green.  Sometimes I will go in my back yard and hit lob shots.  That is until we run out of grass, then I will hit some out of the dirt.

[Tommy Williamsen]

I must have two hundred Pro-V1's in my shag bag.  

How big is your shag bag?  That's 20 lbs. of golf balls ...

I keep them in one of those cloth shopping bags for the supermarket.  When I use them I will just dump a bunch into another bag.  I don't have one of those red picker-uppers any more.

[Phil Benedict]

I don't live near my course and my yard is too small to do anything but chip, plus my wife takes a dim view of divots.  Maybe that's why I don't need a shag bag.

[PThomas]

One time a couple years ago I announced to the guy I was playing with "I just finished my 72nd hole in a row with this same golf ball and it still looks great". Then proceeded to hit my tee shot at least 60 yards right of the fairway, losing the ball on a tee shot I'd played 100 or more times without coming close to losing a ball.

So now I retire them after 36 holes no matter what.

Brent, that reminds me of the Players Championship this year, when Lehman came to 17 in the third round...one of the announcers started talking about how he had NEVER (!!) hit the ball in the water there in something like 55 tournament rounds...he kept talking about it, and two other announcers said to stop it , you'll jinx him...then you know what happened:  Tom hit it in the water!

[mike_beene]

True confession:One neighbor is never home and one doesnt care,I have a 100 yard shot,but never hit it when a car or my wife is looking.

[Andrew Summerell]

My wife bought me a large tub of Maltesers about 10 years ago & once the Maltesers were finished, that has been my ‘shag bag’ ever since. It holds about 40 balls in it, which is enough for me. I just flick the balls up with a sand iron into the tob when I’m collecting them.

As far as balls per round, I tend to use 1 per 9 holes, plus any I lose. I don’t look for balls, as I am incredibly lazy.

[Jim Sweeney]

3-4 dozen. If I'm lucky I win a pro-am or invitational early on  and I'm set for the year. Pro-V1s. Usually the cover gets worn to the point of embarassment before I change one. I'd guess I lose 6 per year. Some make it 3-4 rounds.

[Brock Peyer]

Is this a GCA question?  

When you say "use" you aren't including range balls are you?

Now that I think about it, I am using too many b/c I am hitting too many foul balls.

[igrowgrass]

Around 300 or more I'm sure...I've bought 13 dozen this year and gone through them all in 163 rounds thus far...usually I use 2 balls a round, more if I lose any.  I hate playing scuffed balls, so usually just give them to my friends if they are scuffed a bit. Any kind of hit against a tree or cartpath will usually mean a new ball for me, so I can go through a lot of balls.

The breakfast ball you hit off of #1 yesterday had seen a cartpath or two.

[JLahrman]

My wife bought me a large tub of Maltesers about 10 years ago & once the Maltesers were finished, that has been my ‘shag bag’ ever since.

Andrew, where are Maltesers sold besides Australia?  They're good but they're no Tim Tams.

[Andrew Summerell]

My wife bought me a large tub of Maltesers about 10 years ago & once the Maltesers were finished, that has been my ‘shag bag’ ever since.

Andrew, where are Maltesers sold besides Australia?  They're good but they're no Tim Tams.

I didn't realise they weren't in America. There are a lot of things that are great about America, but chocolate biscuits aren't one of them.

[James Bennett]

JAL

I expect that Maltesers are sold in the UK, but I am not 100% sure.

Re the Tim-Tams, have you tried tham with the bottom bitten off, and then sucking your coffee through the biscuit?  Try it next time you are 'down under'.

James B

[Doug Siebert]

I don't keep track, but I wouldn't be surprised to find I averaged 2 balls a round, with one ball being my average for a good round and those occasional really bad rounds where I might lose or OB 4 or 5 balls.  Its expensive to have a big hook!  I think I've bought 3 dozen so far this year, I will probably need one more.

A few years ago I managed to play something like 6 straight rounds with the same ball, but I was playing to 4 then.  Now I'm more like a 7 due to lingering injury and general crappy play, and I think I've probably only finished a couple rounds this year (out of maybe 20-25 total rounds so far) with the same ball I started.  Guess its pretty obvious where those strokes are going!

Bruce Katona -- how do you lose 1-2 balls a round (unless "use" isn't the same as "lose" for you) and still maintain a +2?  Or are the rounds that count in your handicap the ones where you never lose a ball, and the ones where you lose them all the ones that don't count?  If only it were the case with me....I still remember a few years ago shooting a 78 with 10 penalty strokes. Its bad enough taking 10 penalty strokes, but its really bad when you still have to count the score in your handicap!!

[JLahrman]

JAL

Re the Tim-Tams, have you tried tham with the bottom bitten off, and then sucking your coffee through the biscuit?  Try it next time you are 'down under'.

James B

Way ahead of you.  My Ozzie friends showed me the way.  It's all delicious.

To get back to the original question, I would estimate I lose 1.5 balls per round due to my skill off the tee.  So about 30 a year.

[Sean_A]

I don't know how many balls I go through a year, but I know that I go through more cigars on the course.  I buy 1-2 dozen and typically find 1-2 dozen good/decent balls.  So probably 3 dozen a year for maybe 75 or so games.  

Somebody asked about shag bags - mind you they aren't called that over here! Every decent UK player still has one (except me of course) because many courses in the UK only have a self-service range.  I often look at ours, but I would never dream of setting foot on it unless it was to retrieve an oob drive on 17.  

I can still recall some mates of mind going to Myrtle Beach (first time in the US for golf which I strongly objected to) and coming across the term "shag point" on a website for a restaurant/bar.  They thought that most funny and funnier still when I told them that is the dance floor of sorts. Of course their response was "I spose you could call it that".

Ciao

[JLahrman]

Sean, have you seen the movie 'Shag'?  It takes place at Myrtle Beach.  The movie is family-friendly.

http://imdb.com/title/tt0098300/

Anyway, I do have a shag bag as well.  I'm not that close to a decent range, so I often hit a few balls at the local soccer fields.  My shag bag is currently runnething over, not sure how many balls it holds but I've got a damn lot in there.

[Kalen Braley]

Sean,

The term is "shag bag", not "shag the bag"