Thursday, July 19, 2007

Hunting For Balls



Hunting For Balls

I grew up around a golf course, and instead of investing my time in learning the game, I waded in to the murky world of black market commerce. Several days a week, I’d ride my banana seat bike over to different parts of my neighborhood course and dive in to the woods looking for lost golf balls. Then on Saturday mornings, when all of the men came out to play their weekly rounds, I’d set up shop by the largest water hole and display my booty. The price was always 3 excellent balls for a $1.00 or 5 lake balls (sold to bad golfers who knew they’d just plunk them right in to the lake below us) for a $1.00. It was a cash only business. No receipts. Always keeping an eye out for the course superintendent. Ready to run and hide to set up shop another time.

I hunt less and less now, but I still find it to be an excellent way to unwind and get away from everything. Just this past weekend, I donated my entire 4,000 ball collection to the YMCA yard sale nearby. Yesterday, I took my little digital camera with me on a hunt and managed this footage.




3 comments:

Unknown said...

I have balls in my butterfly bushes that you can get with your ball grabber. I can't reach them. You worked so hard and they just come to me - sometimes very dangerous to be in my backyard. When slicing off the 12 fairway they ricochet off my roof.

Newt said...

Before you lived there, I used to make a living out of searching for balls along the right side of the 12th fairway. There was quite a nice tangle of scrub trees and briars to wade through. That meant that there were always lost balls in there to be found.

Anonymous said...

Thank you for the many LAUGH OUT LOUDS to this video. It is a jewel!