If you are a scratch golfer, then proceed to the next article.  If you are not, then stay right here.

As a player who finds himself in the development stages of “his swing”, I am constantly losing balls because the shot does not quite go where I expect. The golf ball naturally gravitates towards the woods, the water, the other fairway or in that rare case that I hit into the fairway, it evaporates into thin air (I still can’t find it). Because of this phenomenon, I am torn between buying good golf balls and less than stellar balls.

In this weeks Golf Digest magazine, there is an article describing the person who buys the top of the line golf equipment including clubs, bag, shoes and skimps on the golf ball. A good golf ball can be the difference between a score in the 90s and a score in the 80s – not that I’ve ever seen a golf score with two digits, but you get the point. A good golf ball can average about $2.45 a ball.  However, I’ve found a way to have your cake and eat it too; it’s eBay. For every ball that you hit and lose into the woods, there is someone finding two of them and they are willing to sell them to you at a great discount on eBay.

You know the story. You tee up on 15. You’re a few hours in along with a few beers. You crush the ball with a slight fade into the trees (you even hear the clang against the bark). You decide to hit your mulligan (again). Same outcome. You get to your drop spot and again, hit a fade into the woods. Now the competition turns to keeping it out of the woods. By the time you are done, you’re out three balls ($7.50). Over the course of a round, this can add up for golfers like myself.  I have learned my lesson; buy good golf balls, but don’t pay full retail.

I now go onto eBay and search for the used golf balls.  This search takes me to auctions consisting of all the top of the line brands.  You can get Titleist Pro V1s, Bridgestone e6s, Callaway Tour Is and many more for a fraction of the cost of a new ball.  These balls will be comparable to a new ball with possibly a corporate logo or player pen marks. Your friends will be jealous and when you lose this ball, you’ll realize that you’re out $1.00 as opposed to $2.45.  You can then use the savings to fix the back window of the house you just hit.

Grip it and Rip it!