can we get a mod to close this thread? It's from a "one post wonder" spammer that hasn't been back since his initial post from 2007.
these stupid "get rich quick" diving for golf ball schemes pop up here every 6 months or so. they are all scams.
Well, it seems to me that while $100k per year is probably looking at your prospects with rose-colored glasses on, there are those who have done it. The market has changed of course, but it doesn't mean diving for golf balls isn't legit.
It's one thing for those who snuck onto courses to filch balls and sell them for $.25 or whatever to talk about something they haven't done professionally/commercially and quite another reality for those who invest time, money, equipment and refine the recovery operation. The simple truth is there aren't a lot of divers comfortable with zero-next to zero visibility diving where you often can barely even read a gauge slapped against your mask. There are public safety search and rescue divers who couldn't handle it, recreational divers with the fanciest equipment and dive computers who couldn't find a barn in 3ft of water if it came down to it, and others who are just too claustrophobic to dive in conditions where there may be no light only 7 or 8 feet down (due to pond edges, trees, muddy wind & rain-stirred water) and using a dive light means you can see all of 3 or 4 inches away.
There ARE legitimate companies out there. You CAN do it full time, but you're going to have to travel. There's so much misinformation out there it's almost funny. One young guy in a dive shop said to me once, "I suppose someone's got to do it." That's the typical response from those who make an annual trip to the latest dive spot they read about in magazines and buy the most expensive gear and latest gadgets to show off on their annual dive. As I see it, any day diving is better than a day sitting in an office or behind some counter. You're perfecting skills, techniques and competence and it is a valuable service.
Large vehicular rakes/collectors can damage courses and disrupt play. All the hooplah about contaminated water and rashes...perhaps on a poorly managed course. Those designed properly have--as another board member pointed out--a "riparian buffer zone" that keeps the water from becoming a chemical vat. I mean, DEQ, EPA have requirements that must be met. I have yet to get any skin problems from diving for golf balls. One earache which was my own fault for not equalizing my ears properly and diving with slightly stuffy sinuses...that's it. Only took a couple times to get into a regime of pre-dive mineral oil in the ears, proper equalization, something to help open sinuses if they were stuffy or simply calling off the dive if I'm clogged.
My biggest concern has been naegleria fowleri...call it paranoia, lol. With average seasonal temps rising globally and cases of it across the southern USA on the rise, it's a legitimate concern because you're purposefully stirring it up as a matter of your work routine. A good fitting mask is crucial; going with a full-face mask and learning to use it would be a smart move for anyone doing this--access to a coms system never hurt either. Seriously though, I'm not sure why so many divers look down on golf ball retrieval. Only thing I can guess is that either (1) they don't have the business acumen to succeed at it or work for legitimate companies, (2) they can't handle zero visibility diving and/or are a bit claustrophobic, (3) don't have the level of search & recovery skills needed or aren't clever enough to create, adapt & refine techniques, (4) they're just snobbish, (5) they discover it actually involves real work. Three of those reasons are attempts to mask (pun?) inadequacies a particular diver has and have nothing to do with the field itself. All of those can be overcome with training or perseverance if one has the desire. You can't do much about the last two though.
People that do well diving for golf balls are those who take calculated risks, display professionalism, and are self-reliant. Thing is, if you're a good diver with navigation & search skills, if you are comfortable diving in zero-visibility, don't mind some work, and you aren't snobbish it can be a lot of fun. It's a challenge and not everyone's "thing" to be sure, but I am constantly surprised by the number of those who denigrate it. You get good at doing it and you find your air lasts a lot longer than those purely recreational divers. Most become more safety conscious (and thus confident) because you go through checks and procedures several times a day every day and dive in a particularly demanding set of conditions. The number of professional golf ball retrieval divers dying percentage-wise is far lower than the number of recreational divers who go out in 50 ft. visibility water and die for lack of skills, being physically out of shape, having weak skills and being under-prepared for contingencies. That's just a fact.
Comments like the one I heard from the dive shop jockey mentioned above aren't going to ever likely go away, but who cares? Not I. Let them think "someone's got to do it," if they like. I've worked as an eBusiness/systems support consultant (still do, $20-50/hr depending on what I'm doing...I majored in eBusiness) and been self employed for the better part of the last decade. I also do golf ball retrieval and enjoy the hell out of it. Any day diving beats a day trying to unscrew what others have screwed up or working out eMarketing strategies. In fact, I'm hoping early next year to leave tech/IT behind and pursue golf ball retrieval even more--as one aspect of a broader move into professional diving and a larger plan to purchase a sailboat and start a private charter service down the road...spend my time sailing the world.
While I don't think I'm going to make $100k a year off golf balls, for someone who wants to work as an independent contractor and control their own destiny--and would rather put on a wetsuit than a tie, it's not bad at all. If you're willing to be professional, have a willingness to learn customer service and the other basic business skills any self-employed person needs, and have the mettle to dive in conditions most other divers simply can't handle...and then excel at it...you might enjoy it. How much you earn will depend on the number of courses you dive and how far you are willing to travel. Those who make knee-jerk claims about the impossibility of numbers of balls on courses etc really don't seem to have any clue. You can dive the same course multiple times, multiple water traps/ponds over the course of a year. A lot depends on exclusivity. If you sub-contract for a company with an exclusive access deal, and they have a lot of courses with such deals, you can do pretty good.
It's a job that might be seasonal and short duration. Or...if you're enterprising, you might dive up north in summer and then down south in winter. Who knows, you might enjoy diving for 6 months and then working as a trail guide for outdoor therapeutic programs...or running your woodworking business during the winter...or working as a divemaster. The bottom line is that golf ball retrieval diving is not for everyone but it IS a legitimate industry with professionals working in it. It's come a long way from those who used to sneak onto courses to make a few bucks. Golf courses, like any other industry, have the same need & pressures to streamline business processes, maximize profitability and generate multiple revenue streams.
All that said, if you own your own golf ball retrieval company and do the cleaning, sorting, packaging, shipping, reselling...you CAN make $100k. Keep in mind, it's a more expensive business model to pursue. A retrieval rake system on a gas-powered golf cart can easily be a $16,000 investment...and not all courses like those these days, because they often tear up the course. As everything "green" carries more & more cachet these days, more greens keepers are following suit as every industry does...and that creates potential for divers, who are more environmentally friendly and less obtrusive...and more effective (those rake systems push a lot of balls deep into the muck, meaning they become permanent "trash" and lost revenue).
Is it demanding? Raking through muck in the dark and stuffing golf balls away for 4-6 dives near an hour in duration and lugging 40-65 lbs. of balls around (not to mention swimming with them on the surface and towing them around underwater) may or may not be considered demanding. As a former infantryman of many years who lugged around more than 100 lbs of gear in the Middle East, I rate it as moderately demanding...but that's just me. Your shoulders, neck and arms will be well exercised if you're doing a thorough job.
Are there hazards? Of course. Lots of them. While a lot of novice divers try their hand at it, it's not the place for the inexperienced really. If you're already tense and jittery because you can't see, worried about what your hand is going to grab or if you're going to get cut or bit by something...and your BC/wing bladder ruptures...and you have 55 lbs of golf balls in a mesh bag and 20 lbs of weights on you...are you going to keep your cool? There are those who panic. There are those who cut themselves free, drop weights, go back to shore, doff their gear and then go free dive to retrieve their hard work sitting on the bottom...maybe. Some will give them up and go home.
Then, there are those think, "Cool, now I have an excuse to go shopping for a new one," continue collecting another 5 lbs worth of balls and drag themselves across the bottom of the pond, sinking 6 inches into the muck the whole way because they have no more buoyancy, drag themselves up on the shore...dump their balls and smile because they just remembered something else they wanted to pick up when they head to the dive shop. They might even go on another dive or two, confident that they're just going to work the dive old school as if they were just wearing a tank pack with no BC/wing.
I'm not saying that will happen to you, but even with a dive buddy if you're WORKING in zero visibility conditions you better be supremely confident and have some skills. (As an aside, here, it behooves you--as with any business--to have backup equipment/systems, especially if you must comply with laws).
If you're that latter sort of personality, you're probably a golf ball retrieval diver just waiting to happen. And no, I'm not talking about doing things half-assed, but rather, about not panicking, being calm, in control and self-reliant. Yes, there are OSHA regs...and yes you're engaged in commercial diving. You may need to be bonded in some states or have commercial insurance. Yes, you should approach this as you would any other occupation--with a desire to do it right, professionally, as best you can, with the right equipment for the job, and in compliance with the law.
But, if you've ever thought about diving for golf balls, don't let the negative comments from others dissuade you necessarily. I would be willing to bet that 95% of negative comments on the work are by those who either couldn't cut it for whatever reason (physically, mentally, business acumen) or never had someone competent show them the ropes. If you took the average guy who played football in high school and gave him one day to try walking on to an NFL team...well, you wouldn't expect they would make it either. Most probably wouldn't/couldn't walk on at a university level. Probably not after a few weeks either. Just using that as an analogy to say that someone who "tried it once" isn't always the best person to offer an overview of the job.
Just as an example...because there ought to be realistic examples...consider this: 3000 balls per day x 3 days per week...for only 40 weeks. At $0.08 per ball, that's $28,800. You only actually worked 120 days...but throw in a couple hours building a pallet every other week to ship the balls if you don't turn them over locally. You had four days off EVERY WEEK and didn't even work 12 weeks of the year at all. You didn't have deal with office politics and you are DIVING. You had 245 days of vacation...or to pursue a second career/job/love or go sailing to beautiful spots to dive for weeks at a time.
Some other guy will slave away for two weeks vacation--after spending 4 years pursuing a degree and going tens of thousands of dollars in debt--and start out at the same...or maybe, just perhaps $32-40k. How often will HE dive? On his two week vacation. I'm not saying it's necessarily what you would want to do your whole life, but, then again, it might be. The example I cited above is certainly possible and realistic. It's a tough field and most are scared away by claustrophobia and alligators. For those with a tough mind and some business sense, it's an opportunity.
Good luck to anyone trying it. To those who did try it and didn't like it, that's a shame. It isn't glamorous, but then again, you get a lot of comments from men and women from all walks of life like "You've got balls just for going in there..."
I'm happy to take far less than $100k and a comment like that now and then. Money's the very LAST thing life is about...
