Divers Needed - Golf Ball Diving

[coldsmoke]

I dove for golf balls a few years ago.

My perspective:

If it weren't for the chemicals, rotting algae, and the ever so pleasant decomposing semi-liquid goose poo it's a great job. By the time I dealt with and paid for fills, got to the site, got kitted up, mucked around in the nasty for a few hours, and cleaned up my gear, I ended up making about $15 bucks an hour. I tried a few courses thinking that maybe I just hadn't found the motherlode. But they were pretty much all the same.

When I was 16 I would have jumped at the chance to make $15 per hour doing anything. Now I'm not sure there is a price that would get me back onto the goose poo milk shake.

Of course, YMMV

Best,

Hunter

 

[BekaLynn]

Here's what I find confusing. At $0.10 per ball, $1,000 represents 10,000 balls. If I am to pick up 10,000 balls in say 30 hrs (6 hrs a day, 5 days a week), that's 333 balls per hour or 56 balls per minute, on the order of one per second. Frankly I think most people would be hard pressed to do that on the surface.

Somebody got out the calculator for that one... I never thought to break it down that far...

 

[Anti-Hero]

Wouldn't be easier to get a pair of waders and a net? I can't imagine a golf pond being more than 4-5 feet deep. At the most a LONG net and a raft and maybe a rake would suffice.

 

[DiverBizz]

I would love to dive the golf courses I have played. I could retrieve all the golf balls I have deposited over the years. I just don't think I would like the muck and blue stuff all over my gear.

 

[frothchild]

Somebody got out the calculator for that one... I never thought to break it down that far...

He got the calculator out but got the wrong answer. It averages 5-6 balls per minute, not 56 balls per minute.

 

[frothchild]

I dove for golf balls a few years ago.

My perspective:

If it weren't for the chemicals, rotting algae, and the ever so pleasant decomposing semi-liquid goose poo it's a great job. By the time I dealt with and paid for fills, got to the site, got kitted up, mucked around in the nasty for a few hours, and cleaned up my gear, I ended up making about $15 bucks an hour. I tried a few courses thinking that maybe I just hadn't found the motherlode. But they were pretty much all the same.

When I was 16 I would have jumped at the chance to make $15 per hour doing anything. Now I'm not sure there is a price that would get me back onto the goose poo milk shake.

Of course, YMMV

Best,

Hunter

Thank you for sharing your experience, and everything you mentioned about cleaning is true, but that is also why this isn't meant for everyone. The fact is, it is generally a dirty job, a smelly environment and viewed down upon by most staff of the course, but when you hit those big numbers, it doesn't matter. For those that put the time in, have found that the money is there to be made. Some people are good at this and others aren't.

What I don't understand is why so many people are quick to put this down, simply by either not having done it or for having had a bad experience.

I am not promising to make anyone a millionaire, rather a means to make some cash on a part time basis or try and make a job of this.

 

[frothchild]

I would love to dive the golf courses I have played. I could retrieve all the golf balls I have deposited over the years. I just don't think I would like the muck and blue stuff all over my gear.

Ultimately it is each to their own. Some divers wont dive the north east because it is cold. Remember, this is NOT recreational diving, it is working in an underwater environment that is not pleasant.

I have from time to time come across ponds that are actually fun to dive (good visibility), but in the end, if it was easy, clean, warm, safe, Anyone / Everyone would do it. Instead, it is those that are willing to go in the areas that others aren't. It has been showcased on Dirty Jobs, and numerous articles over the decades have been written about it.

So while you personally may not want to get your gear dirty, you don't have to because I am seeking people that are.

 

[frothchild]

Wouldn't be easier to get a pair of waders and a net? I can't imagine a golf pond being more than 4-5 feet deep. At the most a LONG net and a raft and maybe a rake would suffice.

You make an excellent point, in fact some of the courses i manage, I send teams. One person will work the deeper locations and the other works the edges and shallows.

Personally, I like the diving part, but depending on the environment, the shallow water worker can make more than the diver, but again it is team work.

In regards to the raft, there are times it practical, but the other part is about not being a disturbance to the golfers. They have priority and we are simply contracted workers.

 

[dumpsterDiver]

I did GB diving for around 3 yrs as part time work. It takes a while to develop the skills to be efficient. It takes manual dexterity, stength and endurance and also an understanding of the game of golf (to some extent) and it just takes time to perfect the armsweep motion and to train your reflexes to grab a ball upon touch (before your brain even knows what it is). Most always the vis was less than 18 inches and 6-8 inches might be average, with a lot of work entirely by touch. It provides you a lot of alone, quite time jogging through mud and you really don't need to go to the gym that day if you worked.

I think I was generally picking up 2,500 to 3,000 balls per day with maybe 4-5 hrs in the water doing 2.5 to 3 scuba tanks per work day. I know some days approached 5,000. I don't know why you people seem so negative? It is definitely an honest days pay for an honest day of work. Although I would not do it for $1000 per week, unless things got bad.

 

[frothchild]

I did GB diving for around 3 yrs as part time work. It takes a while to develop the skills to be efficient. It takes manual dexterity, stength and endurance and also an understanding of the game of golf (to some extent) and it just takes time to perfect the armsweep motion and to train your reflexes to grab a ball upon touch (before your brain even knows what it is). Most always the vis was less than 18 inches and 6-8 inches might be average, with a lot of work entirely by touch. It provides you a lot of alone, quite time jogging through mud and you really don't need to go to the gym that day if you worked.

I think I was generally picking up 2,500 to 3,000 balls per day with maybe 4-5 hrs in the water doing 2.5 to 3 scuba tanks per work day. I know some days approached 5,000. I don't know why you people seem so negative? It is definitely an honest days pay for an honest day of work. Although I would not do it for $1000 per week, unless things got bad.

Thank you for sharing your experience. And your right, it may not seem worth it for only $1000 a week, but for many these days things are getting tough and some may be looking for a means for extra cash.

You also nailed it on the head in regards to what the experience is like. So again, thank you.